davidsmeaton.com

i haven’t done a travel update in a while, however i have been thinking about the travels … constantly.

i was actually reading an interesting article about how some of the ’stan’ countries are very interesting and very safe. particularly, uzbekistan’s capital tashkent. so i got to looking at my map (again) and discovered that i could change one part of my route to workin at least 3 more countries. from delhi i planned to go to lahore and on to karachi. i can cross pakistan’s border there into southern iran and follow the trade route all the way to tehran.

however, if i go from delhi into lahore, i could head north to islamabad. then i can probably get a train north into tajikistan. i may have to pass through far western afghanistan, but i don’t think it would be too problematic. after reaching dushanbe, i could keep going west to tashkent, then south into turkmenistan all the way to ashgabat. that’s very close to the iran border and not too far at all from tehran. whilst in iran, i might venture south to a few areas of interest, then circle back to the north east and exit to turkey.

although it might be more complex, i think it could be a lot more fun. from my understanding, none of those countries are dangerous and i should have no trouble moving around and getting trains from place to place. it’s a much more interesting route than skirting the bottom of pakistan into iran.

i spoke to a student of mine yesterday and she told me all about her travels in asia during the summer break.

she flew to thailand and from bangkok she took busses all the way down to pipi and krabi, then crossed the boarder by bus and went into kuala lumpur. from there, another bus took her to singapore. she stayed in singapore and then flew to vietnam. starting in the south in ho chi minh city, she bussed in stages all the way north to hanoi.

she told me that the busses in vietnam cost her a total of around $50. she could also go by train. it was more comfortable but 3 times as expensive.

however, she confirmed my belief that that it’s possible to get all the way from beijing down to singapore by land. followinging the coast to shanghai, then hong kong, i can cross into northern vietnam and bus or train down to ho chi minh city. from there, i can bus across to phnom penh and then into bangkok. i can follow her trail down past phuket, into malaysia and singapore.

that means i can return the same way, or catch a short flight into myanmar, whichever is the cheapest.

it’ll be an interesting journey. with the exception of north korea (if i go there), the first flight i’ll need to take is into and out of myanmar. once i get out of myanmar, i might not need another flight until i get into the middle east or africa.

it seems that i will be able to bus and train almost everywhere, and have an amazing journey while i’m doing it … it will also include trains into tibet and a train across russia into tibet at the end of my journey.

what a great way to travel.

i’m determined to do something unusual with my world trip … should the finances support it, i will travel by plane as little as possible.

of course, leaving korea and places like hong kong, singapore and kuala lumpur may require plane trips. entering and exiting myanmar is likely to also require flights. the same goes with getting to the americas.

i also thought that i’d need to fly between india and turkey. however, i’ve looked at a good world map and i’ve discovered something interesting: it may be possible to travel by sea from india to oman, from there i could go into yemen and across to ethiopia and kenya. i could backtrack out of africa into saudi arabia, head to mecca (on the west coast), through jordan and israel, then across to egypt.

conversely, i might be able to head into oman, go to UAE, saudi arabia, qatar, and yemen, then across to ethiopia, kenya, then north to sudan and egypt.

either way, i’m not sure about india to oman. but if it’s possible to travel by sea, then i can avoid flying … and from egypt, i can easily get into turkey and greece, which will be my entry point to europe.

**edit - having had a second look at the map, a trip from karache (pakistan’s coast) into muscat (oman) seems to be very possible, even if it’s aboard cargo and freight ships. so i think i may be able to avoid flying … and it also means adding pakistan as a likely destination, as well as most of the saudi arabian peninsula.

interesting possibilities!!