A closer approach

Time's getting short and summer is almost over now.

There are new aspects in my life these last months before the trip.
Notably, I decided to rent a spare room in the flat where I'm living since February (and that I will quit just before I start travelling), because I thought that that could enrich my life experience; so in short, now I have a flatmate.

This month I signed up for several language certificates examinations, Basque, French and English... just in case, I think they can be valuable when I return (to find a job or whatever, not sure what I am going to do afterwards).

I will start Russian lessons soon, in the beginning of October, and I'm looking forward to it.

In October too, I will travel to Morocco for over 9 days, looking for new adventures closely similar to the ones I will possibly have in Asia. I won't take any plane to go there either, just buses, train and ferry, in the same fashion of the Asian quest.

When I come back from this, greatly refreshed, I will initiate the arrangements for the great trip to Asia. That will inevitably take me to Madrid some days, applying for visas. (Russia first, China second).

I have been lately thinking about getting a health insurance for the trip, but I have no idea of it works, so most probably I will ask in a travel agency (like Blue Planet).
It is very likely that I'll fall sick in one year of travelling so it's a safe bet.
Also, my flatmate reminded me that in many countries tap water is not a very healthy drink.
A friend of mine just came from Hawaii and he suggested me to use some cleaning pills that they used to obtain drinkable water from waterfalls and rivers there.


The political situation in my country is changing very fast recently, so it may be very different when I come back. This reinforces the idea that you never go back to where you started in this kind of travel.

I have almost entirely decided already to take two years of work leave instead of just one, this way I will have time to think things more all over, and search for new perspectives in life after the big trip.

One of the things I have yet to do is to contact both Berria newspaper, in order to offer them my Basque blog about the Asian trip, and Basque radio network, just in case they're interested in knowing about my whereabouts during the trip.

Jump Into The Abyss

The feeling of derailing one's life increases as the date approaches.

I am of course currently enjoying a perfectly fine summer full of activities here in the surroundings of my homeland, but I realize too that this will be my last summer here in a long time.
The unpredictability of the changes that may happen to my life after the Asian trip provokes me a feeling of an ending of the things "as I used to know them", so now it's like I am living the last true days of my current life, and whatever changes may occur, they will change everything forever, like the course of a river that alters its path once and then the stream never returns to the former.
One said that the end is the only thing that gives meaning to something, so now that is the way I feel, immersed in meaningful events.

And it is not a dark sensation, no, not at all.
Now the sun shines high, days are pleasant and enjoyable and the routine is bearable.
It's the time to have fun, to do what you have always been doing these estival days for the whole span of your life.
But summer too will end pretty soon, and autumn will mark the no returning point up to the beginning of my trip, when I will start asking visas, looking for medical insurances and spreading the new of my depart among my beloved ones that still don't know it (and won't like it a bit).

One whole year (at least) of travelling, not being a mainstream worker as I am now, is a big deal, and I know it will not always be sunny mornings and happily warm days, there will be loads of raining afternoons, sadly cold nights and lonely passages too.
I think too much about it, anyway, and most probably these matters must be faced from the heart.

This is not only the much feared jump-into-the-abyss but also the enticing walk-through-the-threshold, the gate to a different world, and once you cross it, there is no come back.

Lagman

I have been talking perhaps too much about Couchsurfing in this blog, but nonetheless it truly has given me so much, so many experiences related to travelling, that I cannot avoid referencing it here.

For instance, I could say (thinking about my last post) that Couchsurfing provides a way to exchange non-monetary values.
Because Couchsurfing doesn't use money; you never pay in cash for your hosting by this system, neither can a host ask for it.

But Couchsurfing is not free about free hosting, of course it is not.
One way or another, both host and guest pay an invisible fee for its services.
And this fee is the desired exchange of cultures, languages, travels, adventures, ideas, thoughts...

You may show the place where you live but at the same time you're learning new things of this place and from the place where your guest comes from.

It not only allows you to see your homeland through foreigner eyes (and question what you see, then), but also to observe distant places while you stay at home, imagining them as your guest narrates them to you.

Of course, in this stream of travellers going from one destination to another, stopping by your place briefly, you may catch a tip or a valuable piece of advice for your own next trip.


Sometimes, you even get a hint of taste from a far-away country you wish to visit.

This was my case yesterday, quite literally.




These days I am hosting a young photographer from Kyrgyzstan which currently lives in Dubai.
She is of Russian descent (third generation), and according to what she told me, Russian is still a very common language all over Central Asian countries (so I reassert myself in my intention of learning it).

Last night she cooked a traditional Kyrgyz dinner.

She called it lagman, but I found out that it is also spelled laghman or la mian (in Chinese), being originally a recipe from China, especially of those peoples on the Silk Road (Hui and Uighur), and it is considered a national dish in Kyrgyzstan.

It was a kind of a stew of beef or lamb, with vegetables and noodles. Definitely yummy.

I thought I could almost relish the Central Asian steppes, the dust-covered paths through the Tian Shan mountains, the craggy shapes over the Taklamakan desert, and the green meadows where horses stomp their hooves on the grass.


Also, she told me that most Kyrgyz people cross the border to Kazakhstan when heading to China, so it would be wiser going from Ürümqi to Almaty by train, and then crossing to Kyrgyzstan than my original plan trying to get through Irqeshtam pass or somewhere between these countries.

The final depart to Asia seems to draw nearer every day.

Value

I think that one of the things I love about travelling is its pure non-monetary value.

We live in a society that values mainly physical goods, that judges one person's achievements by the money s/he got, and infers related abstractions (power, wealth, sympathy, prowess, triumph, leadership...) out of the things people have, people buy, people want badly to acquire and people are told that they need.

Knowledge, skills, relationships, tales cannot be seen, because they're invisible values that require hard work to obtain, a lot of time and effort, but they're nonetheless more permanent than any of the expiring products we're constantly offered.

Things are not important... the real value lies in what we do with them, so if you don't use something it's because you don't need it anymore.
For instance, books are only containers of knowledge, their physical attributes not being important. Once I read them, I like giving them away, so this knowledge keeps on moving.

We cannot pay to get the abstractions that we want to have in our lives. We have to live in order to get them.

I know that this all sounds like antisocial chitchat, because everyone out there has thought about this, and has come to the same conclusions.
Then s/he resumed his/her daily routine.

A single minute lived within a trip worths a whole life of everyday 's shades of gray; so intense, so new all that surrounds you (smells, colours, sounds...)... it makes our brains work harder to capture every sensorial piece of this foreign world, thus effectively enlarging our memories, slowing the (perceived) pace of time and widening our understanding.

I read that too, somewhere, that the only way to make our lives longer is living new experiences. They may not be longer in actual time, but they are for our minds.

Whatever learnt by travelling is never forgotten.

Every cent spent in travelling is invaluable.

Languages

Languages, I love languages, indeed.
They're my only true everlasting love and lifelong lovers will they be.

I like learning them, writing them, listening them, reading them, speaking them.
I don't master several at all, but I like learning bits of many of them.

I hide a comforting pleasure everytime I learn a new word or comprehend a grammatical structure.

These cherished abstractions are a useful tool too. Especially when travelling abroad.

Even nowadays I make many mistakes anytime I write or speak in English, and sometimes don't grab instantly the meaning of what people are saying, but English has been so far the longest standing language in my life (apart from my mother tongue, of course).

Basque language too has been here and there all over my life, sometimes nearer, others further (now currently I'm at the peak of it).

Latin at school came afterwards. An old, ancient language which provoked me new feelings and rewarding learning.

Soon after that I started creating my first own conlangs, based on the knowledge I had of English, Basque and Latin, which in turn led me to other Indoeuropean languages (Germanic and Celtic branches, and then Sanskrit and Old Indoeuropean).
I learned some Quenya too, of course, during my Tolkien-fan years (that spanned a long time, actually).

I had also one year of French at the end of high school, but wasn't very profitable.

The quest for the origin of Basque language took me to the Finnic languages (I learned some Hungarian while travelling there with my father, and Finnish has been a favourite language for some time now), and as far as ancient Sumerian and Altaic languages (we're talking about my early youth now).

When I started university (Computer Sciences) I learned to write and read in Greek and Cyrillic alphabet, an acquired knowledge I have never lost.

Further on (still at university) I started German classes for 3 years (and managed to get an intermediate level at some point) and Japanese with a hired native teacher (the lessons were at her flat).

I did even continue studying Japanese when I went on my Erasmus to Bath (England, where I got back my ability to move around easily in English), at the local university there, and eventually I passed the exam of the lowest of the 4 Nôken Japanese Language Degrees.


In my last year in the university I took one term-long Classical Hebrew lessons, which was the most exotical (of the scarce offer) one they offered. I had never really been into Semitic languages, but it was cool enough.


When I started to work I quitted all of this. On the other hand I began seriously to improve my Basque language and marked a kind of start to my solo trips all around Europe.

In the meantime I also assisted a short course of Arabic script, but I don't keep in mind much of it.

Catalan and Gascon (Occitan languages) got my attention too, Catalan since childhood when I used to watch TV in Catalan during my summer holidays on the Mediterranean, and Gascon since I (recently) discovered that was not a dead tongue.

Last year I resumed my French learning and now I can somehow express myself in this language, but haven't mastered it yet, sure.

Apart from all of this, I have read books about the grammar of many other languages, but just for fun, no real skill gained.

Lately, last year travelling in Bulgaria I managed to ask questions, read signs and understand some of the language, and this year in Greece I prepared myself before going there reading about its grammar (which proved handy).

Now I have just registered myself in a basic Russian course in the language school here (A2 level), so I can grasp a bit of it before I depart to Asia next year (I will take these classes, roughly from October till January).

I consider it will be extremely useful in Russia, given that many people there are not very fond of English.
Besides, a workable knowledge of it will be able to help me through Central Asian countries, where it still works as a secondary language (instead of English).


But sure enough I will have to go back to what I knew of Japanese and deepen into Chinese, to easen my trip thoroughly and make it more rich and enjoyable.



Couchsurfing too has helped me a lot in keeping fresh some of my language abilities, which I greatly thank.

Travelling Musicians

I talked about Into The Wild before... now I will about what one can say is another of the influences in my wanderlust.

Little known even in the Basque Country, few years ago two Basque musicians who play a wooden percussion instrument called "txalaparta" travelled to some countries in Asia, Europe and Africa (namely, Mongolia, India, Lappland and Sahara) in order to learn about their cultures and their landscapes, and to mingle their musical traditions: Nomadak TX


I consider myself a travelling musician too.
I am very fond of these kind of initiatives that get to the roots of peoples' cultures and find them to share a great deal with other peoples all around the globe.

I have had my own amazing experiences in this field.




In Sardinia I met "launeddas" players, in Bulgaria "gaida" bagpipers and especially while travelling in Greece, I had the luck of spending two intense days with Yannis Pantazis, a versatile musician that played a wide range of instruments, and mainly the Greek "tsambouna", a sort of bagpipe similar to the Basque "alboka" I play.




Next week I depart to Scotland, a relatively short trip that will be my last one in Europe.
I hope I will be able to meet traditional musicians there too, and play together with them.

And of course, next year's travelling in Asia will surely widen my vision in this field too.

Riots

Violence among ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek in Kyrgyzstan's Osh province has forced Uzbekistan's government to close the border between these countries, due to the high influx of refugees.

This may endanger my whole trip back from Asia, as these countries are a keypass to Europe (given that Afganistan and Pakistan are even more dangerous).

I know I won't be there till one year from now, and that things may change a lot in the meantime, but this is just an example of sudden riots that could spread anywhere in the countries I have to travel through next year.


"Tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have fled their homes in Kyrgyzstan and headed for Uzbekistan.

The violence began in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad on Thursday and has left at least 138 dead. "
BBC says.

That area is exactly the Chinese border I was going to cross (and hopefully I will do anyway), from Kashgar to Osh.
Going to Kazakhstan may be an alternative route in case the country hasn't stabilized yet when I go there, but the whole idea of the trip could be seriously damaged if I cannot get through Central Asia.


As I have said, it is just an example. I have been aware all these months of this kind of violence appearing anywhere else, like Thailand, for instance, or the warlike movements in the Korean sea.

Political unstability may put an end to my trip, but I cannot foresee any of these dangers that I may have to cope with.

Unpredictability plays hards.

Shards of a life

I've got memories from all the trips I've done... they somehow make sense when put together, just like a parallel life to my boring day-to-day, as if that was the only real life and every day was a stand-by time till the next trip.

Like pieces of a strip, cut and joined together they make a whole story on their own.

I wonder what I will feel when I travel for one year in a row. May I forget my 'other' life?

Sometimes, when I sit in front of the computer in the office, images from a past trip suddenly appear in my mind, a narrow street of Bulgaria, a wild path in Norway, a hidden park in Lithuania...

I talked last week with a CS guest that I hosted, an amazing girl that had been travelling in Latin America for 7 months and she told me that the travelling soon becomes a kind of work routine, and you feel it natural, as if you had been doing it for the whole of your life .

I will soon depart on a new adventure, I embark on my longest trip so far.
Bye till I return from Greece in April!

America or not America?

Since I started planning the 2011 Asian trip I have been doubting whether I should go ahead, and take the 2 years leave that the company I work for offers, and spend my 2nd year off in a trip from Argentina to Canada.

The idea is to get back home in December 2011 (finally from Turkey, via Greece or Bulgaria and then Central Europe), stay there during Winter Solstice's celebrations and New Year's and then leave again in January or February.

I know it sounds amazing, but there are matters to be considered.

First, two years without working seems to be a lot of time to me, and I'm not sure if I will have enough money left from the Asian trip, despite I have been saving some money since 4 years ago.

Apart from that, my mind could change dramatically after two sabbatical years, and it will be harder to rejoin the "everyday's" world.

On the positive side, if I don't do both trips in a row, there may not be a chance like that anytime soon, and my company only allows me to take work leaves in an interval of 4 years (they also say that 2 years's leave is the minimun time to be asked).

It is true that travelling there will be a lot of easier, visas are not normally required for people that have my citizenship and I can move around only with Spanish and English.


Besides, it will give me the opportunity to recontact many people from America that I have hosted at my place during the last 3 years.


I think that that travelling could give me the final picture of the real thing... to fill my expectations of travelling for a while, and complete my life experiences in a way that I may need to satisfy my eagerness for discovery.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba, united States and Canada...

Greek challenges

This month I will travel to Greece for three weeks.
This is going to be one of my last trips before the Asian one.

I had been thinking, for a while by now, ways of improving my natural travelling abilities, so to easen eventual troubles during my next year of wandering... and so took I these thoughts into account when walking through Ireland in November.

Minimizing the baggage, walking more on foot, doing some hitch-hiking, staying longer, climbing local mountains and couchsurfing more were the goals that I fulfilled back then.


Now in Greece, I'm planning to do more hitch-hiking than usual (I wasn't a fan of this before, since it's absolutely uncommon where I live), to write more on my travelling log, to taste more local food, to follow a specific budget when spending money, to learn local language and useful phrases (I did this in Bulgaria too, with some success) and to practise it, to phonecall less home (it won't be frequent during the Asian trip) and to travel by boat/ferry (I did this too in Ireland, in fact, and it wasn't a pleasant experience... I'm not so used to the waves' movement).

Besides, I'd like to play more music on the street (I play a Basque folk instrument that I always carry with me) and maybe I will adventure onto the mount Olympus (I've read that it's not so difficult to climb).

It will also be my longest trip ever so far (21 days in a row).


I deem visiting Greece unavoidable in my quest for knowledge of the peoples of Europe, before I depart from this continent.
The European cultural baggage has got a deep source in this country, necessary in order to get the full picture of it, after having beaten the tracks of other countries.

Apart from Greece, I'm thinking of doing a "quick raid" into FYROM (Republic of Macedonia) and Albania, so to grab an idea of what these countries feel like, the only non EU ones (save for USA and the ones included in the Schengen agreements, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) I will have ever been to, and quite underdeveloped yet, measured by European standards, but closely related to Greek culture in its wide sense (I suppose...).

Keigo

This week I have hosted a Japanese guy whose name was Keigo.

He wrote me in Couchsurfing in order to ask me for hosting, and I gladly agreed so when I found out that he was doing a World trip for several months.

He had started in Japan (of course), then headed to Korea and China (where he spent many weeks), then went to the South, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia... After lingering several days in some lost islands in the Pacific, he went back to the North, and after Myanmar, Nepal and India.

Up to this his trip is quite similar to mine, but then he took a flight to Kenya, and visited Madagascar (where he considered relaxing for a while, sort of holidays).

He soon ended up in Morocco and then Andalusia in Spain.
Finally he reached Bilbao, where I hosted him.


He was one of a kind of a guest like I had never had, curious about everything and very respectful, one evening he even cooked tasty curry rice.

He left yesterday, and now he plans to go the Mediterranean (Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Italy) and then a bit of Central Europe, and most probably returning to Japan (Saitama).

Now he's kind of a link to my future travel to Japan, within this first stage of my Asian trip, from Bilbao to Tokyo by train and ferry.

I'm pretty sure that I will meet him next year :)

Into the Wild

I've been in Couchsurfing for almost three years by now, and some time ago a friendly girl from London that I hosted at my flat told me that I should watch "Into the Wild" (the film), in order to understand some things about people that always have travelling in their minds and that sort of things about like why do we live in society, why do we work, and so.

Well, I said to her that I had seen the trailer of the film and knew what it was about, and didn't want to see it, because I'd feel so envious of a guy who's really chasing after his dreams, leaving everything behind. She told me that doesn't matter, because there is somehow a lesson to learn from this film (which is a real story, by the way).

In the end I saw the film and was fascinated and moved by the story, beautifully told... even if I knew that I hadn't really learnt so much because what happens are things I already knew, some of them I didn't want to admit.


I watched twice, and then I bought the book last week.
After having read it, I'm shocked by the similarities in the personality traits that McCandless and I share.

That said, what I really wanted to remark on this post are the differences between that unfortunate guy and myself on this matters of travelling...

I feel that in a certain way we're determined by our place of birth and the experiences associated with our childhood and youth years, so McCandless was deeply North-American and his thoughts came out of his States-based point of view.

He wasn't a bit interested in learning anything from different cultures or peoples, he somehow couldn't see further than North America while doing his walk around it, once and again in circles.

Definitely I won't do serious hikings or trekkings during my Asian trip because I want to enjoy the travelling itself, the discovering, the meeting of new people, the difficulties I will have to face... but I won't fight against nature and society, that is not my purpose.
If I wanted to get lost in the wild I wouldn't plan thousands of miles of a route, just in order to climb some minor mountains... I'm not saying I won't walk through wilderness, but that won't be my specific target.


We all, avid travellers, feel identified with McCandless and his feelings of freedom on the road and spiritual achievement within the nature... but that's not everything we've got in mind.

Blue Planet

A week ago I had a free day from work so I spent my time in making ID photographs (that I will need for the visas) and going to a local travel agency.

This agency is called Blue Planet, and apparently it sells exotical and independent trips.

They told me that they work with an agency that specifically manages visas for anywhere in the world.

So I have left that burden in their hands for the time being.

I'm currently more focused on my soon-to-be trip 21 days long to Greece (in March).


Still waiting an answer from them, though (not that I'm in a hurry about this, anyway...).

Purpose

Some people have asked me about the purpose of the trip.
Some others have questioned the meaning of it, while yet another one has told me "what are you running away from?"

These are nothing but the reflection of other people's fears and doubts about the victory against conventionalisms.
The very mirror of First World societies' advices in favour of immobility and alleged mainstream uniformity.
People dumping their unsecurities from their comfy lives in a falsely safe bubble, apart from "world's" unknown dangers.

The purpose of this trip is nothing but the desire for discovery, for knowledge, of oneself (sure), and of different truths, cultures, peoples, languages and stories.


Asia has always been veiled by mystery and mysticism, by prejudices and ignorance, despite of the so many times said One World culture of our days, the age of global communication and the end of exploration.

It has exerted too a profound attraction over me for as long as I can remember, and convinced that real learning can only take place by living it, for once I will leave aside the books and search it on my own.

This trip departs too from the conviction that one can do what one wants to do only if he's able to overcome his/her surrounding social pressure.


And this is what I want to do, and I'll do it because I can do it.

In summary, this purpose is the purpose of one life.

Black patches cleared

After spending one weekend in Madrid, I've got some fresh news about the trip's uncertainties.




On the positive side, I read that there are plenty of travel agencies in Kathmandu where you can easily arrange a group tour into Tibet, so this way I could get back into China on the way from India.

Then I'd head to the West, and then now I know that there are several ways of attempting the crossing into Central Asian countries.

For instance, a possibility that I hadn't taken into account, there is an express train working all year-round from Urumqi, in Xinjiang, to Almaty in Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

I became aware too of the buses from Kashgar (Xinjiang) to Osh (Kyrgyzstan), through Torugart pass, but only in warm weather (I hope there is enough of that in September/October 2011).


On the not so positive side, guides keep repeatedly saying that crossing from Myanmar to India not possible to tourists. Maybe I'd better start thinking new paths ahead from Southeast Asia to the Indian subcontinent (I thought about a ferry trip from Thailand).

Having this new pieces of information, Thailand appears as a likeable base for exploring Southeast Asia (given that no visa is needed, and the ones needed for other countries can be applied for in Bangkok).


In the next days I will get in contact with the Chinese consulate (in Madrid), but their working time is very little really, so I don't know if I'll have success.

Visiting time (in person) is only available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9:30 to 13:00, and telephone service on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 to 12:30.

I will probably write them an e-mail, because I'm not in a hurry, but in the end, before the trip I will definitely have to go there during those short periods.


PS: I bought a small phrasebook that includes Burmese, Thai, Lao, Khmer and Vietnamese. It could be helpful, but I will write on languages during the trip in some other post.

Timing & Weather

This is what I've got about the provisional dates and locations of the trip:

February 2011
- Poland (Warsaw)
- Belarus (Minsk)
- Russia (Moscow)

March 2011
- Russia (Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Vladivostok)
- Japan (Chubu, Tohoku, Hokkaido)

April 2011
- Japan (Kanto, Kansai, Chugoku, Kyushu)
- Korea (Gyoengsong, Chuncheong, Gangwon, Seoul)

May 2011
- China (Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, etc.)
- Mongolia

June 2011
- China (Xian, Canton, Hong Kong, Yunnan, etc.)
- Thailand

July 2011
- Vietnam
- Laos/Cambodia

August 2011
- Myanmar
- India (East & South)

September 2011
- India (West & North)
- Nepal (Kathmandu)
- China (Tibet, Urumqi, Kashgar)

October 2011
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan

November 2011
- Iran
- Armenia

December 2011
- Georgia
- Turkey

Finally, I noticed the need for departing earlier than Spring in order to get better weather conditions in other countries.
This way I get to Japan on time for the Hanami (cherry blossom flowering), I avoid typhoons in Southeast Asia and wintery weather in Nepal and Central Asia.

Maybe it's a bit of a fast itinerary (11 months, 20 countries), but it is the only feasible way of doing it within one year:


Poland (3-4 days)
Belarus (3-4 days)
Russia (20 days)
Japan (1 month)
Korea (2 weeks)
China (1 1/2 month - 2 months)
Mongolia (1 - 2 weeks)
Thailand (2 weeks)
Vietnam (1 week)
Laos or Cambodia (2 weeks)
Myanmar (2 weeks)
India (5 weeks)
Nepal (1 week)
Kyrgyzstan (1 week)
Tajikistan (1 week)
Uzbekistan (10 days)
Iran (3 weeks)
Armenia (1 week)
Georgia (1 week)
Turkey (3 weeks)

(Total: about 330 days maximum)



I will write more on this in detail soon.

Happy new travelling year 2010!

I started this blog few days shy of the coming of a new year.
It wasn't purposedly done like this, but the thought of the incoming year make me feel like I should be doing something about the trip in 2011.

I just wanted to bid you a happy new year full of great travel experiences.

I myself will be travelling in Greece, Scotland and probably Morocco in 2010, my last trips before the Great Asian Journey.
Kind of a rehearsal.

Certainties & uncertainties

I continued my research on possible routes through the countries and found more about it.

Truly, there is an open border from Myanmar to India, despite of WikiTravel not being decisively positive on this:

Crossing into or out of Myanmar proper by land varies between difficult and impossible.
A land border crossing exists between India and Myanmar at Moreh/Tamu. While there have been confirmed reports of some travellers crossing into Myanmar from India, with their own transport as well as with permits arranged in advance, the general consensus is that obtaining all the necessary permits is very hard. At the least, a foreign (a person who is neither a citizen of India nor a citizen of Myanmar) will need to get a Indian permit to visit the state of Manipur, and an MTT permit to enter or leave Myanmar at Tamu. Travellers may also need a permit to travel from Tamu to Kalewa, although there are unconfirmed reports that this is no longer required.


Generally about getting a visa to Myanmar:

Some additional restrictions, requirements or conditions may be applied to applications - reports have included a need for a detailed itinerary, a detailed job history, etc. be prepared for some unusual questions (either on the forms, or from the Consulate staff) when applying for your visa.


The period of validity for the visa is rather wide:


Tourist visas are issued for a single entry, valid for two months from the date of issue. The visa is good for a stay of up to four weeks (from date of entry). Successful applicants will also be issued an "Arrival Form".



My point is that I will have to get used to the fact that there are borders that I won't know the way to cross them till I am there. That doesn't mean I must be discouraged by this, nor oblivious to these troubles...


On the other hand, I have read reports that said that is it possible and frequent hopping from one embassy to another, obtaining the needed visas for the following countries, not necessarily issued in your home country before the trip, then.
For instance, the Myanmar arrangements could be done in Bangkok.

Knowing this, I will probably depart home 'only' with the visas for Belarus, Russia and China (not neccessary for Japan, Korea, Thailand, Georgia, and in Nepal, Armenia and Turkey issued at the border), so I'll try getting the ones for Mongolia and India in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and/or Myanmar in Thailand (there is a boat service from Yunnan to Thailand, with no Laos or Myanmar visas required), and so on. This will obviously lengthen the journey, but it is the only way to do it effectively.

I already wrote about the procedure to get the Russian and Belarussian visa, so the next step is the Chinese one. I am not sure about it yet; I will call the Chinese embassy to question several matters, like the advertised 'three months multiple entries' visa is easily granted and whether I could enter China from Nepal somehow (as an independent traveller or getting a tourist group, and its visa, right in Nepal).


Then Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan) poses another challenge.
If I could re-enter China from Nepal I will head North, West and then East up to the Kyrgyz border (hitch-hiking or hiring local drivers if public transportations are not available), but I have no idea what requirements are needed to get the visa for Kyrgyzstan. I would be able to ask about this in Urumqi, most probably, but then I won't know till I'll be there, again. I'm positive about Kyrgyzstan and I don't think it will be hard getting in, and then paying for the visas of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan there.

Turkmenistan is another matter:

It has a reputation for being one of the more difficult to obtain. The hoops you'll need to jump through vary by nationality, but often involve needing to apply in person at their consulate in your home country, and letters of invitation from someone within Turkmenistan.


It is between Uzbekistan and Iran, so I will have to cross it (or take a plane out of there, which seems quite easy from Tashkent international airport, but not sure if there are flights to Iran, actually).


In case I gave up traversing Central Asia, my only way to Iran from India would be Pakistan (as quickly as I could), whose visa is easily obtained (in India?), apparently.


I am positive about Iran too and visas don't seem to be hard to obtain, but they're mostly issued at airports as I read:

In 2006 the rules for obtaining a tourist visa changed and it has become much easier for nationals of many countries to get in to Iran by obtaining a visa at the airport. Visa are issued at the Imam Khomeini and Mehrabad airports in Tehran, and also the airports at Mashad, Shiraz, Tabriz and Isfahan. The visa is valid for up to 17 days and costs US$50. You will receive the forms on arrival.

Extending a tourist visa is very easy and can be done in most cities.


Anyway, I must remember to bring with me some passport-sized photos for all these visa forms!!

Forbidden Passes

These days I'm searching intensively for all the related information... mainly because I want to assure the viability of the trip.

But the more I search the more difficulties I find.

The proposed itinerary got obsolete just after the first half an hour of information gathering; there are many borders that aren't that easily crossed.



I'd mention three examples:

- Crossing between Myanmar and the Indian subcontinent doesn't seem to be possible, at least not for ordinary or independent tourists.

- Apparently there is not way out from India to China (I couldn't find any references). The only possibility would have been entering Nepal from India, and then from Nepal to China but that road is only allowed to Chinese or Nepali and to package group tourists (this could be solved if I get into one of those groups in Nepal, but maybe planning should be done in advance).

- Getting into Central Asian countries (namely, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) from China is challenging. Transportation is scarce, but apart from that, one should get to Urumqi (in Xinjiang or East Turkestan/Uighurstan) almost from Central China, and from there to Kashgar (1000 km away, in the Kyrgyz area of China), about 60 to 100 km from a border crossing with Kyrgyzstan.
There are a number of border crossings between China and Kyrgyzstan, but only Irkeshtam and Torugart are used, the former not usable by tourists (only for Chinese and Kyrgyz) and the later accessible to tourists if they're being driven through by a local (and a need for a special pass/visa).


Except those, not small, gaps passing from one country to another without taking planes could be done in my itinerary. I will have to think a workaround (quite literally) for those, then.



I'm not writing anything about the (pan)American trip that will take place after the Asian one, but it will be thoroughly easier (for instance, the only part not crossable by road in the whole continent is a gap of about 100 km between Colombia and Panama).

Entering RUSSIA

As I told before, getting the visas is what worries me the most now.

I checked yesterday all the matters about them on the WikiTravel, and what I read didn't reassure me at all:

Obtaining a Russian visa is a costly, time-consuming, and often frustrating process. Most visitors should start the process at least two months in advance, but it can be done in a few weeks if you are willing to spend a little extra.

Great, isn't?

Well, I had already been warned about this, so it's not so surprising.
I couldn't remember why, but while reading all the requirements for the Russian visa I had a familiar feeling. In the end, I remembered that I had been trying to get one in order to visit Saint Petersburg when I travelled to the Baltic states and Finland, but I declined, considering it too difficult just to spend a couple of days there.


Actually, loads of people get in and out of Russia everyday so it shouldn't be such a hard matter... if you're ready to pay for it and waste some days of your life in bureaucracy.


Recently I learned about the personal invitation process by which it's seemingly easier to get it. I know Russian people who could invite me, but probably they themselves don't know the required bureaucracy, and that doesn't free me from the obligation of requesting the visa once I get the invitation.

If you have friends or relatives in Russia you could ask them to sponsor you for a private/homestay visa. They would need to seek an invitation through their local Passport and Visa Division of the Federal Migration Service (formerly OVIR). The problem with these invitations is their tendancy to take a least a month to process. The inviting individual also becomes solely responsible for all your activities while in Russia and can be penalized heavily if something were to go wrong.


An invitation is required compulsorily anyway.

The positive side of things is that I will only enter once Russia and leave it once (hopefully) and won't be there for more than 30 days, all of which makes things really easier.

I have read too that buying Transsiberian tickets could be accomplished more efficiently in Poland, Czech Republic or even Germany than in Moscow (I suppose if you're not Russian), so I'm a bit confused about this.

One important thing to keep in mind is that I should declare all kind of valuable (or that seem to have some value) when I enter Russia, because otherwise I may not be able to get them out of the country when I leave.
I plan to bring at least a videocam and a musical instrument.


Registering in the country seems to be obligatory too:

You must register your stay within three business days of arrival in country, and within three days of arriving in each new city. If you have an active itinerary and are not staying in any one place for three days, you must register at least once in the first city you visit. Your sponsor (the one who issued the invitation) is responsible for registering you.

And, last but not the least, one shouldn't lose the migration card that is received at arrival (you need it to get out of the country):

Not being able to present a migration card when leaving Russia can result in fines and can potentially result in a wait of several days while the authorities decide what to do with you.


Entering Belarus (a country that shares some kind of super-entity together with the Russian Federation) seems to be easier, since no invitation is required, but you must also pay for the visa and fill all the documents in (including a medical insurance). I will only stay there for a few days (I have no idea what to see yet).

The Russian and the Belarussian visas must be asked for in advance, that is, in your home country, so no frontier visas are issued (too bad).


One important fact about VISAS is that they've got a FIXED DATE on them, which means that you cannot enter the country BEFORE the ENTERING DATE and you cannot leave the country AFTER the LEAVING DATE, even by minutes of difference. And this disquiets me the most.

Ok, let me explain it: that is absolutely not a problem in the case of Belarus and Russia, because they will be at the beginning of my trip, so I will precisely know when I will enter and more or less when I will leave it.
That won't be the case for some other countries. Shit!
A tourist visa normally only lasts 30 FIXED days (up to 90 days in some Asian countries, though), during which you can enter, be and leave the country (but note that most of the issued visas are single-entry).

So regardless of what you think about the complicated process to get a Russian visa, it won't be my biggest problem.
The biggest one actually is not knowing when exactly I'm going to enter countries like Myanmar, that I will reach after being travelling through Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand and maybe Laos.
That wouldn't be a problem if visas were issued at the frontier points, but that is not so common.


I will post more on different visas for other countries, but I think that the hardest ones will be those from Myanmar, Vietnam, etc.
Japan and Korea are ridiculously easy to get in, Thailand welcomes its foreign visitors too, China is not so hard either (I can pay for a multiple entries visa up to 90 days without problems, apparently), nor India.




I wonder if all these visas could be requested in the Consulates here in Bilbao (there won't be all of them, obviously), because it seems probable that I will have to spend at least two weeks in Madrid (a city that I particularly dislike) submerged in this bureaucracy...

Booting

Funny how things work.

Today I have probably bought the trekking boots that I'll wear during this mind-blowing trip.



It is a kind of a link of my present with this planned future.

My old trekking boots were bought in June 2007, just before I departed to Iceland, and they've accompanied me not only through those lands of ice, but also to those in Gascony, Graubünden, Bayern, Sardinia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Karelia, Aland, Leon, Zamora, the Pyrenees, Bulgaria, Berlin, Norway and Ireland (not to mention the local mountains here in the Basque Country).
I couldn't find a better companion for my journeys in the wild.

Now, almost three years later, they've got a hole upon the thumb toe of the right foot and they deserve retirement.