A mid-day sun was shyly beaming through the clouds as I left the city of Pretoria behind. I arrived at Pretoria’s Main Railway Station by taxi for about 40 Rand from my hostel in Sunnyside. From Pretoria I had booked myself a cross-border bus the night before all the way to Gaborone, Botswana. It was Read more about Backpacking in South Africa🇿🇦: Pretoria to Tlokweng Via Groot Marico[…]
After leaving the dusty city of Uyuni behind, we were off on our adventure. There was no set itinerary so this really added to the surprises ahead. The first of which saw us arrive at one of the world’s most remote train lines…and an un-used one at that…standing on the track there was no chance Read more about Backpacking In Bolivia🇧🇴: Salar De Uyuni – Part 2 – Cementario Des Trens – Train Graveyard[…]
The Salar de Uyuni tour was something I hotly anticipated to be special as it had been bigged up and recommended by almost everyone I knew who had been on it. There are a few different tour options for it, including day tours and week tours. But when I was in La Paz I calculated Read more about Backpacking In Bolivia🇧🇴: Salar De Uyuni – Part 1 – …Uyuni Begins![…]
In 2004 I flirted with the idea of visiting the Caribbean, with my childhood friend Michael McClelland. The reason being, we were mad Northern Ireland fans and Northern Ireland organised a 2 week tour of the tropical islands as a warm up for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. However, the tour was confirmed in 2003, Read more about Caracas🇻🇪 To The Caribbean – 7 Years Too Late…[…]
Apparently Woodford Island in New South Wales is the largest lake island in the world. No idea how to prove or verify this, and I reckon there will be plenty more in northern Canada and Antarctica, but let’s roll with it. Since one of the residents in nearby Maclean claimed it to be… So what Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Touring Woodford Island[…]
This is the second part of my trip from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere. I had spent almost 15 months living in the Southern Hemisphere from October 2009 until December 2010, and when I made it to Ecuador, it was time to cross the Equator by foot for the first time in my Read more about Equator Trip Part 2: Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador – Museo Etnografico[…]
After Dorasan Station, it was time to visit an area known as Imjingak, a settlement right by “Freedom Bridge”, a bridge which links North Korea to South Korea (basically), but is not in use. We crossed the Imjin river on our tour bus and ended up at Imjingak, which to me seemed like a touristy Read more about DMZ Tour Part 5: Imjingak[…]
With the sun beating down to hide a false temperature in the South Korean snow, we were heading on the road to Pyongyang, North Korea, just near Dorasan Station. An unfamiliar eerie-ness accompanied the trip to Dorasan, from Paju. The significance of Dorasan Station is that it’s in South Korea, but the track connects to Read more about DMZ Tour Part 4: Dorasan Station – “Next Train To Pyongyang, Please!”[…]
At Paju, Panny and I were able to go into the third tunnel. This “work of art” was allegedly built by the North Koreans to gain a secret access and gateway into South Korea, one of many that have been found. You can wear what you like, as long as you have a blue hard Read more about DMZ Tour Part 3: The Third Tunnel[…]
Apart from the fact that “Paju” is a city of apparently 375,000, I sensed it’s real purpose could be as a northern protection point for Seoul in case of any attempted invasion or attack from North Korea. However, the city itself appears to be rather “fake”, and a lot of this is owed to the Read more about DMZ Tour Part 2: Paju[…]