Norway

Cuba

The 1st thing you need to know about Cuba is their two monetary systems. Old pesos versus Cuba convertible dollars (CUC). The bank exchange rate is 24/25. So sometimes paying dollars they calculate 24 but usually paying 50 peso price with 2 dollars is not an issue.

The government and economy is like soviet union 1991 before it broke down. Nobody owns anything and state runs most of the stuff but quality and supply is questionable. There is defencecy in almost any area. Internet is available only on major hotels with a expensive price 5CUC/h or more. Other electronics and mobiles are the same price but its hard to find original brand names like in all 3rd world countries all china. They fix and use all the old cars so all the taxies are 50+ years old american antique. They call them machina and they go up to suprisingly expensive 25000CUC for fully restaurated. Thats why horse is still main way of transportation in many rular areas.

But they have relatevely cheap camion witch is a truck used as publik transportation.

So if u dont mind beiung sometimes trasported lika an animal, you can go even as low as:

citybus (laguagua) 5km 0.025CUC 1 pieso 0.005$/km

train 1000km 5CUC 125 pieso 0.005$/km

camion 100km 1CUC 15 pieso 0.01$/km

bus laguagua 100km 2CUC 50 pieso 0.02$/km (long distance omnibus - tourist not allwed)

old makina shared 100km 5CUC 125 pieso 0.05$/km

tourist bus 100km 8CUC 200 pieso 0.08$/km

old makina 100km 10cuc 250 pieso 0.1$/km

private taxi 100km 15CUC 375 pieso 0.15$/km

fast horse 1km 1CUC 25 pieso 1$/km :)

                                                

Its just pitty because of politics these people are now pushed and pulled for their cheap labour and in future on low financial level.

There are 330 sunny days in a year witch makes it nice beach tourism magnet but you need visa to go in and dont forget the 25CUC leaving tax on departure. They have one of those traps in Israel too.

And overall it reminds me lot of india without the relogous shit and overpopulation. Its a land of amazing playas and cheap transprtation :)

Total visited 34 countries (15.1% of the world)

Happy new Year to everybody from Dublin ;)

Back from Egypt

Everything that has a beginning has an end. Also my trip is finished for this time and journey bought me back to Estonia.

Egypt was nice and really enjoyed it. I wanted to stay more so i throw away return ticked and traveled around going even Jerusalem in Israel.

I started in Hurghada witch was just a fishing village few decades ago. Now official population over 200 000 are local people who moved to the area to earn around $200 per month mainly from tourism. Understandable because its visited by 2 million tourist every year who just want to lye on the beach and enjoy sun. So its full of tourist resorts and hotels and unfinished buildings from rapid development. Businessman dont take bank loans and build bit by bit witch, in my opinion is good, because they dont have so much responsibilities and stress and can stay friendly and happy. There are lot of tourist from Russia and Russian language is even more common than English but you will manage with one of them. Children at school learn also Russian, English and Arabic. And sometime even french or dutch on top.
Nearby tourist village El Gouna is an eye catcher and one of the things not to miss along with El Dahar bazaars and Red Sea boat trips.

Luxor in the other hand is old town with lots of temples and tombs. Many tourist come in for a day trip to visit infamous Valley of the Kings or Hatshepsut temple where 62 people were killed in 1997 probably by al-Queda.
Tourists means money for Egyptians and they dont take no as an answer when trying to sell you something, show their shop or invite you to banana island. Witch might be actually just 10 min trip to the other side of nile to eat some bananas. Sometimes after a long chat when its sure that you are not buying anything they might start to talk about their big family and sic starving children witch is little bit annoying but otherwise there are some nice people around, good places to stay and sight to see witch have create historian value.

Cairo is already almost hassle free. Prices are cheaper and people friendly. When it was not possible to travel to/from Luxor with cheap shared taxi then now you can go any anywhere without the driver to need to worry loosing their license. But make sure you dont miss Giza Pyramids and Egypt Museum.

When rest of the Egypt reminds a lot of India then Alexanria
with its wide streets, crossroads and few traffic lights that everybody ignores is almost like European town. It was founded 3rd century BC and there is not much left of Amphitheater nor the World Wonder Lighthouse but you can visit the infamous Library. City has been one of the most important in ancient times and even now its the second biggest in Egypt.

The holy land Israel is not so holy after all. Of course there is beautiful Jerusalem and Bethlem where all the Pible story took place but we have to remember that it wasn't also nice what happened to Jesus in the end.
Now there are lot of army and guns on the streets around you all the time like Sri Lanka where they had trouble with Tamil Tigers.
Everybody, including girls have to go through 3 year military training where they learn to kill everything without questions and compassion. Of course training makes you strong and Jews are otherwise wise but its hard to understand why they keep Palestinia occupied and killed innocent people in Gaza. Maybe Hitler genocide wasnt for no reason. Palestinia is allied with Russia and Israel gets lot of help from US but their politics and intentions are bit weird. I was there by the time of riot because of opening Jews synagogue and taking over Jerusalem so they were shooting all day. Anyway it makes me little bit creepy to walk around empty burning streets but it happens there all the time everybody is used to this. But i know how fast you can get killed with bullet.
Otherwise its nice country with beautiful landscapes, mountains and deserts. Access to two different seas and Dead Sea which they now calling sea of life because its cancer and skin healing properties. Cities are quite organized, prices higher and reminds lot of Europe except Palestinian side where life is more easygoing like Egypt or India.
Don't forget the $25 border tax on departure ;)

Dahab in Egypt is a little tourist town on the beach. There is one of the most beautiful coral reef i have seen just few meters from the beach so its sin not go to swim every morning. Just like Sharm el-Sheikh but instead of big hotels and tourist resorts there are small houses for rent on the beach. With a prices lower than $200 a month i wonder why people dont stay there and work over internet for long term because thats what im gonna do next time.
Corals cover only 0,5% of the seabed but offers protection and home for 25% seas pieces. They fossilize and are found all around the world as limb stone. In last 2 million years that animal group have changed to earth the most.

Still Lot of Places to Go

Estonian Winter

Arrived back to Estonia where it had snowed heavily. Temperatures often reaching -30, cars getting stuck and streets impossible to walk. Winter that people havent seen for many years.
I moved to Tallinn to do some work and see some friends. Staying with Jagna in the same house where i started my travels 3 years ago. One day she suggested me for a travel show on the TV where you quickly have to pack your bag and be first in the airport in order to win a trip and i was the first one! Whatta suprise...
So now im in Egypt learning to enjoy charter flights and 5-star hotels.
Special thanks to Jagna and everybody else.
More updates coming soon ;)

La Gomera

So, if you ask where I am again. Then I'm on a small island called La Gomera, located north west from Africa. It belongs to Spain and people speak spanish in here. And at the moment its actually time for siesta.
Landscape is volcanic as you can see but on this spot its sandy and water has washed most of it away. So its a good place for camping. Down to swim is 15min climb or 50m free fall and up is almost the same. To civilization, village or shop is about 1 hour walk.

So thats how I spend my days. Enjoying peace and silence and ocean sounds.
And ofcourse Happy New Year to everybody!

Estonia

Too long I havent written not even a word in here. Its not that i have been lazy but actually i have been quite busy. Last economic crisis was quite disaster in Estonia too. But Im not gonna talk about people who are millions euros in depth or the unemployment rate.
So what has been keeping me busy? First of all when there is so many people looking for work its impossible to copeat with them specially when i have been traveling past 3 years not sitting behing computer. so i had to forget that and take my own inicative. I started to repair laptops, firstly only few but later bought and sold lots of them. Its a very time consuming but what else to do all those gray days in estonia. At least i didnt burn moneywise and actually managed to collect few coins.

Eurotrip

Afther 3 months in Belgium i got call from friend whos van was in Holland. Fellow Estonians borrowed it and went to Amsterdam but when brakes give up and they didnt bother to bring it back.
So i went over and managed to repair it in few days. As opportunity came i also decided to drive it back to Estonia and see my family. I took the route specially by smallest roads and stopping in nice villages making pictures of outstanding architecture.
Germany with their infamous red brick houses and tidy towns was interesting. Took my time and did some sightseeing in national parks and camped outside every night.
The change to Poland was obvious, bad roads and ugly soviet buildings. But inspite of that the boulevards and landscape were nice with some remarkable cities.
Lithuania was also beautiful, good roads and very nice scenery with lots of churches and castles.
Latvia was getting more remote but spent some time looking around and also found awesome palace and few old castles.
In Estonia went to see my grandparents house to refresh my old memories. And was hiding in my uncle's house until birthday to surprise my parents. But they already know me and my mum told to dad the day before that she has a feeling that we will meet soon.

Anyway, safely home!

Belgium

It is only 2/3 of the size of Estonia but its little bit more hilly and the highest point is nearly 700m. Only 66km beach line in Belgium is fully urbanized and not an real eye catcher imho. Over 10 million people speak half-half French and Dutch. They dont like to mix too much so who knows how this country was shaped. And when guys are kissing each other cheeks then they not gays but just greeting.

In the other hand Brussels is called the capital of Europe where all main citys are 1000km reach. Among other important institutions its also the headquarters of the European Commission, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).

Although the influence from the last economic crisis has been minor i haven't managed to get proper job in here. Looking work as English speaker in this country is painful, at least out of Brussels. But also I haven't had privilege to use legal job agencies and i haven't made any great efforts to learn official languages too. So lot of room for improvements. Lets see how it goes.

For while its possible to follow my travels in Google Earth. Now i have finished drawing all my trips in past two years and little bit more. And soon i will add to it all my pictures around the world ;)

You can download My Travels under the right section.
Once you save the link to Google Earth all the updates come automatically.

!ncredible India

Always welcoming India where serving is everything. Its hard to describe those endless rice fields and crazy highways where its not uncommon to come across with wild pigs or even elephants. There are more temples than villages and religion plays big role in everyday life. People are speaking many local dialects among 22 official languages and English in bigger places. Its amazing how economically they can live and how over half of 1,1 billion Indians still using fire as primary heat source. Sometimes it feels like going 500 years back in time except people have mobile phones and satellite dishes on mud huts. But pollution and hygiene becomes a real problem and many people dont have access to clean water. Have to be very careful with diseases and take extra care when traveling in remote areas.

Indians work hard and even when quality is questionable they still achieve a lot with their can do attitude. Doing business they always smiling at your wallet not you and trying to trick you in ever step.
Many companies are building factories in India where labor costs nothing and environmental restrictions are absent. In that sense its like highly populated China whos probably gonna lead the economy in long term. There are already more millionaires in Japan than USA.

India is crazy and if you are crazy you like it,
otherwise it might make you crazy ;)

Happy New Year!

Perth

With 1,5 million citizens is the most remote city in the world. Is like nice little oasis in the middle of desert with its friendly people and laid back attitude.

Western Australia total population reaching just over 2 million (0.84 people per km2) is quite wild and empty just some industrial factorys and mining towns. Most economy is based on those minings, minerals, iron ores and exports what brings more wealth per person than other states.
Like this Australia with its resources and China with its production might start to play key role in world economy if USA continues with their credit and consumption strategy that lead to last economic crash.

To left out Australians general 'f..king backpacker' attitude then people who are traveled by them selfs are always nice and helpful.
They like to say: "There is everything in Australia that they dont have in Europe".
But same time: "There is everything in Europe that they dont have in Australia" ;)

And there is defenely something about the sun. The higher it gets the less people seem to think including myself. Apparently there is some chemicals that body produces that make you active but same time nervous. Somehow same chemicals stop your body growing when you smoke. Thats why there are no tall people under sun.

There are total over 0,5 million indigenous people living in Australia. Last ones found in a bush around half century ago. Even thou they seem quite primitive they have other qualities, for example they often know time by sun or stars.

There is theory of Portugese discovering Australia long before James Cook was born. The maps invented in 1520s where just upside down. There is also Machado-Joseph Disease witch comes from Portugal but is somehow found in Groote Island and Northern Territory.

In the end of the year i finished my around Australia trip and went back to Darwin. There wasnt much changed, couple of high buildings finished and couple of new ones growing. Even same people on the street witch made me thinking that if you dont change anything in your life then not much changes by itself.

Adelaide

Its beautiful city with bit more than million people. The city center is surrounded with park and it takes little bit more than half an hour to make a full round on a bike. Despite goverment offering free bikes for a day my bike went to permanent ride by himself and havent returned since. The city has also interesting O-Bahn busway, witch is normal bus going fast on special track - cant see that everywhere in the world. The weather gets quite hot in the day time but cools down after sunset.

Anyway, after realizing that i have only two months left i got myself organized to travel light and quick and ended up selling my van and booked a train ticket to Perth. 

It will be nearly 3000km trip witch is mostly empty, like real wild west :) Also thats what it takes to go across Europe but its just a distance between two cityes in Australia.
From there its close to 5000km to Darwin where I will catch a plane to India.

And as always, everyone is welcome to join and share the fun in Australia ;)

Heads up!

Melbourne

Aah... Melbourne, the city full of young students, live music, marvoulous nightlife and possums. 

Most of the time i stayd in Abbotsford Convent where Lentil as Anything is showing its strenght as interesting restorant without prices. Customers can taste all sorts of indian food and pay donation based as much as they like. They also have lots of other projects to help refugees on the track by providing shelter and work. It is a place to meet nice people from all around the world.

I managed to keep myself busy doing many different types of assainments. Starting from washing dishes and baking bread to chipping playstations. 

Also become clear my future plans about India in the end of the year. My dream was to discover west coast before that so i packed bags and hit the road.

New Zealand

The Land of Long White Cloud - Aotearoa is the Maori name for this country.
The language have similar macron-like bars over vowels like Estonian. It seems like Vikings have done well because all Eastern Polynesian languages nativity spoken on Pacific Ocean islands have similarities with Scandinavian languages.

Maori's are the first native tribes to declare peace with colonizing Europe. Even when it was hooks and all the land got taken anyway. But they got it finally back from the government in 1940s.

The land is in quite active spot on the map being uplifted quietly and having crack straight through. One of main volcanoes erupted 25 years ago and native hot spas all around the country gives good hint of that. But enjoying the bath between snowy mountains with great view of Micky Way and burning you feet on hot water beach makes it all once in a lifetime experience.

On the edge...

The most southern point of Oceania is Stewart Island in New Zealand witch is accessed by copter, plane or ferry but have to be careful when booking return ticket because the island is not so small as it looks. Being almost twice the size of Hiiumaa in Estonia and having only 400 inhabitants, all living in main town Oban, makes it mostly deserted and covered with wild bush, soft moss and muddy swamps.

Island has amazing bird life beginning with famous kiwis witch are under
protection to fantails and robins who follow your walks and sometimes come so close you can almost touch them. Deer, possums, cats, rats and other animals are introduced in last few hundred years. Department of Conservation (DOC), witch is the biggest land owner in NZ, wants to get rid of those animals to protect the unique bird life and return the island to its original state. They are still using 1080 poison even when its banned in most countries in the world but luckily its washed out by heavy rain falls and hopefully soon they find other ways to solve the problem.

Northern part of the island has tramping tracks and is covered with DOC huts witch are used also by hunters. Shortest walk is has nice broad walk and takes 3 days. You can shorten your trip with water taxi or plane witch lands on the long beaches when the tide is low.

It all makes the island quite popular among bird watchers and trampers around the world but unfortunately the southern part of the island is unaccessible by land. It is probably possible to invent a track using compass and topographical map but not in the winter time when it will be more like a army operation. Because you have to sleep outside and water in the mountains is collected between strong bush roots witch may lead to being stuck in few feet mud. Perfect way to see around is kayaking in good weather conditions.

It is a land where deep fjords cut winding cracks through tall, snow-capped mountains, a land of dark forests and desolate tundra, raging rivers and foul fens - enclosed by the world serpent - a land of wondrous beauty and lurking terrors, where short summers are shadowed by long, harsh winters, and where the wild places are slowly diminished by the ever-expanding hand of civilisation.