Crossing the Iran-Iraqi Kurdistan border at Bashmagh/Penjwen
My experience and guide to crossing the Iran-Iraq border at Bashmarq-Penjwen.
Tourism
Aru Valley: Kashmir’s hidden mountain gem
Srinagar left me feeling like I needed to explore Kashmir a bit more instead of going straight to Ladakh, and so I headed to Aru Valley, a place not even mentioned in my guidebook. I’d hardly seen anywhere so green in my life, and it appeared like a landscape that belonged more in Switzerland than anywhere near India.
Majuli Island: Northeast India’s island escape
Locals of India’s Northeast all spoke of Majuli Island as if it was some incredible paradise that I needed to visit before leaving the region. After leaving Longwa village behind, I decided it was the perfect time for a scenery change and some much needed R&R. And Majuli Island wasn’t too far away, or at …
Southeastern Myanmar: Hpa-An and Mawlamyine
Myanmar is a pretty big country, I soon discovered, and with a maximum 28 day visa it doesn’t leave you much room to explore the country extensively. I had spent most of my time in the northern half of the country, as most people do, and so I decided for the remainder of my days …
Kalaw to Inle Lake Trek
Inle Lake is considered one of Myanmar’s top tourist sights and the increasingly popular trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake is the best way of getting to the lake’s edge. This is a part guide and part personal experience of the trek and my time in Nyaung Shwe at Inle Lake.
Sikkim: travelling where nature smiles
After dismissing the northwest of India because of the cold and snow at this time of year, I decided to explore the northeast instead. It wasn’t just the slightly better weather that appealed to me though, it was also the fact that it is the most underexplored area in India and government restrictions on foreign travellers still remain. My first state in the Northeast was Sikkim, one of the least populated states in India and famous for being home to the third tallest mountain in the world.
Why you SHOULD visit Kolkata
Not many tourists go to Kolkata. I only met one other foreigner who had been there and there was only one hostel in the whole city but I knew I wanted to go. When you do a Google search there are even articles that come up titled ‘reasons why you should never go to Kolkata’ but it turned out to have my favourite chaotic streets of any of India’s mega cities that I’d been to.
Seeing the Taj: take one and two
That big, beautiful, white building that sits next to the pyramids on most travel posters. The one thing you can’t leave India without seeing. The Taj Mahal. I was very excited to see it but I did wonder if perhaps it might not be as grand as I’d imagined after seeing so many pictures of …
