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Arriving like a 1980’s popstar in Bluefields |
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| We have always liked it: destinations that are visited less often and that are more difficult to reach. When we searched in our travel guide for a nice place in Nicaragua to escape the crowds. <more> | ||||
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"The Banana Republic of Honduras" |
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| Honduras is a true "banana republic", there is not much discussion about that. For years the country has been one of the largest banana producers in the world, together with Ecuador. <more> | ||||
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Working for just a tip |
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| Due to the good humoured nature of the Mexicans, you would almost forget that they live in a country with many problems. <more> | ||||
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Babies don’t feel pain |
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| For the first time during our long journey we decided to invest some time and money to learn a language. We are no language people, but now we felt to put some energy in it. <more> | ||||
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Strict controls at the Azeri border |
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| Border crossings in Central Asia and the Caucasus are sometimes accompanied by some hassle. In recent years, corruption at the borders has become less of a problem, but .... <more> | ||||
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Eating out in Kazakhstan |
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| Ten dishes are listed on the menu of the restaurant where we eat tonight. While the waitress watches us closely, we try to decipher the Cyrillic script. <more> | ||||
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Kyrgyz taxi mafia |
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| Travellers often make the joke that the first thief they usually encounter in a new destination is a cab driver. This profession has a bad reputation in most parts of the world. <more> | ||||
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As long as a car moves, it needs no repair! |
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| The Opel Zafira which we are in, stutters and rattles while we drive off the shared taxi station. "As long as the car stutters, it still works", will be the thought of our driver. <more> | ||||
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Shit trolley |
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| It is September and the tourist season in Italy is coming to its end. The days are getting shorter and the exorbitant amounts of Euros that the campsites asked in high season, are history. more> | ||||
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Our gays only dance on boats |
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| The car ferry between the Albanian port of Durres and the Italian city of Bari went smoothly. The eight hour boat ride was comfortable, thanks to the two-person cabin that we were able to book. <more> | ||||
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Sex sells |
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| Bulgaria is a macho country. Here, the roles between men and women is often still very traditional. The guy is tough and is the breadwinner in the house, while the wife has to please the man. <more> | ||||
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My mom thinks I'm going to war |
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| In recent years, a large amount of new small guesthouses occur due to the increasing number of tourists. Many local families who have a few small rooms available, make them available. <more> | ||||
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Stop! Police! |
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| In Armenia, the traffic police is overrepresented in the streets. Men with big hats and even bigger police coupon books to write down traffic violations, are found on almost every street corner. <more> | ||||
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"In Iran, everything is for free" |
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| We often ask other travelers who travel through Iran: "What do you like most about this country?". "People are very friendly; they give you everything, so everything is for free!”. <more> | ||||
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Farmer seeks woman |
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| In Netherlands we have a TV-show called ‘Farmer seeks woman’. It is a reality soap in where farmers, often with a below average IQ or EQ, but often both, enter a process to find a woman. <more> | ||||
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Don’t call us Russians! |
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| With both a bottle of vodka in one hand and a package of fruit juice in the other, they come and join us. Two men who need to share a single bottle of vodka is said to be saddest scene ever. <more> | ||||
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Brad Pitt of Turkmenistan |
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| There is no frequent and reliable public transport between the cities in Turkmenistan. There are some long distance buses, but local people seldom use them. <more> | ||||
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Teahouse talk |
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| There aren’t many things as pleasurable as sipping a tea in a traditional Iranian teahouse. These atmospheric places are perfect to have a good conversation with the normal Iranians. <more> | ||||
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You’re my heart, you’re my soul |
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| It is difficult to argue about taste, because it is so personal; especially when the subject is music. Some artists and bands are immense popular, others not. <more> | ||||
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A “real” traditional village in the Baliem Valley |
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| Jiwika is a small village in the Baliem Valley The village has houses and churches with corrugated iron plates, but when you follow the blue sign “Mummy”, you enter into a different world. <more> | ||||
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Brown or white pussy? |
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| Say you have a brown pussy and you are happy with that. In fact, everybody in your surroundings has a brown pussy, so you never thought about changing colour. And why should you? <more> | ||||
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Religion in Indonesia |
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| Indonesia is world’s biggest Muslim country and the way people experience their religion is, as in most other countries, very diverse. At least, that is what we experienced during our stay. <more> | ||||
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Preferably, I would like to smash your skulls right now |
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| It is very hot when we stroll through the city Ernakulam, nearby the touristy town Kochi in the southern Indian province of Kerala. As often happens, somebody approaches us. <more> | ||||
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A stroll through a public toilet |
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| A small child squats next to the street. He doesn’t wear any pants and this is convenient, at this moment. This little boy knows exactly what he has to do. <more> | ||||
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Beggars also need skills |
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| Beggars deserve respect, just as every other living being. We can still vividly remember the time that we saw Indian schoolchildren throwing stones at an older beggar. <more> | ||||
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Fountain of the body |
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| One of the beautiful things about travelling is that you meet a lot of interesting people. Not especially local people, but also a lot of other western travellers. <more> | ||||
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Not so welcome anymore |
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| We already knew that the border crossing between Albania and Greece is a slow one. A very slow one, people mentioned earlier to us. And indeed, it took us a long time to cross. <more> | ||||
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We don’t steal cars here |
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| After almost a day of driving in our Landcruiser through the remote mountainous areas around the Albanian town of Berat, we park our jeep just outside the hotel. <more> | ||||
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Hospitalized for an ear infection?!? |
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| Ear infections are always annoying, but when Edwin’s pain isn’t bearable anymore, we decide to visit a doctor. We are at the moment in the South of Thailand, in the small city of Chumphon. <more> | ||||
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Encounter with the Sharia Police |
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| After a lousy night of sleep in our noisy hotel in Kuantan at the east coast of Malaysia, somebody knocks eagerly at our door. For a while, we try to ignore the knocking. <more> | ||||
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Mighty Minds |
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| On a Saturday we visit the Berjaya shopping mall in Kuantan, a city on the eastside of Malaysia. The open, central part of the mall is filled with people. <more> | ||||
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Hunted buttocks |
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| It seems like yesterday, when I think about the summer holiday that I spent with my parents in Portugal. I needed to go to the toilet urgently and there wasn’t a lavatory nearby. <more> | ||||
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Safari mafia practices |
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| Last years during our travels, we unfortunately experienced several times that some local people who earn their money in the tourist business, treat their customers like walking ATM’s. <more> | ||||
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The safety of Chennai’s airport: simple to get around? |
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| Terrorism is a hot topic in India. As in the US, India is also obsessed by everything that has to do with terrorism. The reason is that also India is often targeted by terrorists. <more> | ||||
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It isn’t always fun |
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| It doesn’t happy often that we book a tour to visit a sight. But now we did. The Ajanta caves, one of the important Buddhist monuments in the world, aren’t easily reached by public transport. <more> | ||||
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Looks are king in Korea |
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| Never before, did we visit a country during our journey in where the looks are as important as in Korea; South Korea to be precise. <more> | ||||
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Techno Freaks |
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| “One double cheeseburger meal and one Bulgogiburger meal, please” are we asking the girl behind the counter of the Loteria fast-food chain. <more> | ||||
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The price tag of development |
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| We are at least 10 years too late in some places of China. The Chinese are busy to spoil lots of the gems of their country with overdevelopment. <more> | ||||
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Womanizer becomes a Berber |
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| Sometimes, like today, we run into people whose life story keeps hanging around in our mind for quite some time. He is only 66 years old, although we would guess him at least 75. <more> | ||||
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Took life toll on him, or does he lie like print? |
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| It is already after six o’clock in the evening when Peter joins us for a beer. We are sitting in the restaurant of a low key beach resort on Bohol and just witnessed a great sun set. <more> | ||||
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There are simply too many of us |
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| Humanity has the characteristic to think that everything can be managed in the way it wants. However, the problems regarding the climate change could be an issue that is too large and complex. <more> | ||||
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The warmth of the sleeping bag |
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| During the decision process of the countries and regions that we are going to visit, we always take the climate in consideration. Before we started with our journey, But we're not always right. <more> | ||||
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Wanted: Assholes |
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| It is October when Delta Airlines flight 25 arrives at the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta. Atlanta is just a stop over for us, because we are with the family of Edwin on our way to Florida. <more> | ||||
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China’s ‘celebration’ |
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| We are watching with open mouth of astonishment, on October 1st 2009 in our small hotel room in the Taiwanese capital of Taiwan, the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the PR of China. <more> | ||||
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Considered travelling: stop the herd behaviour |
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| The Lonely Planet travel guides are a big success. These travel guides are available for almost all our earth’s destinations and are mainly used by budget travellers. <more> | ||||
