Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Visited on 19-21 February 2025. So I started in Oman in the Middle East and then made an abrupt turn to Iraq. From there, I flew to Tunisia in North Africa. Since Sicily is just across the…
Valletta and St. Julian’s, Malta. Visited on 1- 5 March 2025. Stop 1. Medina and Rabat, Malta. Visited on 6 March 2025. Stop 2. After spending 9 days in Sicily, I flew to Malta. Yes, Malta, a small country only…
Gozo, Malta. Visited on 7 March 2025. Stop 3. Marsaxlokk, Malta. Visited on 9 March 2025. Stop 4. I had an exciting plan to explore Gozo the night before. But in the morning, I was not woken by the usual…
Madrid, Spain. Visited on 12 – 17 March 2025. I flew into Madrid, Spain, on the 12th of March, after spending 11 days in Malta. I sailed through the gates and doors without passport control because this is another EU…
24-29 June 2023 After Jordan and Lebanon, I am ready for the 3rd country on this trip. Larnaca At midnight, after a 40-minute flight, I landed in Larnaca, Cyprus. I did not realize I was coming to Europe, having just…
26/6/2014 – 2 I have not seen a sky so blue, deep and intense as the one I saw in Portugal. Indeed, much of Portugal is intimately courted by the sea. The sun at this time was glorious and equally…
9-13 This trip I want to talk turkey. What I see is what you get. I want to go to Egypt, but I also want to see Turkey. These are two very big countries to take in during one trip.…
11-13 From Istanbul, I headed to Ephesus, a place in the Bible and the name of one of its books, to see what was left of it. Sadly, much of it has been reduced to rubble, in many cases, only…
16-18 I wanted to cover as much ground as possible on this trip. Two weeks ago, I flew into Almaty, Kazakhstan, from Kuala Lumpur, then moved onto Uzbekistan, before flying over to Kyiv, Ukraine, to see the Baltic part of…
20-21 The plan was to continue north to see some of the Baltic and ex-Soviet states. I was curious to see the transformation of these former communistic realms. So, after Kyiv, I am taking the train eastward, toward Lviv, seven…
22-23 From Ukraine, I actually wanted to next go to Belarus, but I read online that the Belarusian border control insists I come in through the airport. That cramps my style. So I headed next to Warsaw instead. There was…
24-25/5/2018, The plan was to cross Poland and go north to see how the Baltic states were faring after leaving the former Soviet Union. After Warsaw, I took the 8 a.m. bus heading for Poznan. It was almost farmland all…
26-27 After two days pampered and cuddled by Poznan, I headed next to Torun, three hours away. I was informed that Torun is famous for three things: Gothic churches, Copernicus (never heard of him), and gingerbread. My interest was in…
27-30 From Torun, I now headed toward Gdansk on the coast. This was a city filled with history. I stayed in the old town, with my airbnb apartment opening onto the busy square, swarming with tourists. Groups of little kiddies…
29 While in Gdansk, I made a day trip to Malbork, a medieval fortress 40 minutes away, now a United Nations World Cultural Heritage. It was indeed one of the most impressive of its kind, a castle that was self-sufficient,…
31 I have been on the road for a month, through four countries, from Central Asia to Eastern Europe. There is so much history, such diverse cultures, so much to see, such touching friendliness. From Gdansk, I took the night…
2 I wanted to see more than the capital Vilnius, to get the true flavor of Lithuania. I read Trakai has a fairy-tale island castle and is only 40 minutes from Vilnius. When I arrived in the morning, I was…
3-4 After Lithuania, I continued north to Riga, the capital of Latvia, another country along the Baltic Sea. Latvia is a small country like Lithuania, with a population of barely 2 million. Throughout the past several hundred years of its…
5 From Riga, I took a bus to Sigulda, only 53 kilometers away, for a day trip. Though sunny, the temperature plummeted, and the wind blew. Painted in lush greens, Sigulda felt like a small town in an enormous park,…
7-9 I started this trip on the 1st of May and was now into my fifth week on the road. The bright idea was to kill two birds with one stone—to see Central Asia and, ultimately, the Baltic States. I…
10-12 I was coming to the end of my trip, after savoring Central Asia and relishing the Baltics. It had been a fusion of contrasting and complementary flavors; it had been sumptuous, not a morsel wasted. I felt like having…
30 The Balkans have always intrigued me. The good, the bad, and the ugly—it has it all. Its history is both beautiful and painful. I look forward to feeling the vibes in the region. So from Kuala Lumpur, I flew…
2 What a blast to start off my visit to the Balkans in Prague. I then eased into my explorations with a move south to Pilsen, a small town with a big name, made big by its beer. I am…
3 I was planning to go next to Ceske Krumlov, but the hotels had no respect for my money. This being the weekend, they could not accommodate my wishes for accommodation. They had no wriggle room for one more room…
4 From Ceske Budejovice, I took an early bus, and after 40 minutes, I arrived in Ceske Krumlov. This was a little beauty with a big reputation, tucked away, coy, and perhaps scared, withdrawn into her own little world, seeking…
5-7 My plan was to go southward to go around the Balkans. That was my masterful master travel plan. After the Czech Republic, I discovered Salzburg was just next door. Oh, why don’t I just hop by? On the spur…
8-9 I left Salzburg this morning for Vienna, the capital of Austria. The train was packed full. I did not buy an allotted seat, so I sat on the floor, beneath everyone, though not beneath myself. Two and a half…
10-11 After two days in Vienna, I sped down the Danube in a flying catamaran to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It took only 75 minutes; the damage inflicted was 35 euros. It was a sheer simple pleasure. A breeze,…
12-13 After leaving Bratislava, I took a six-hour bus to Ljubljana. I could have dropped by Budapest, which was really the next natural destination on the route, but since I had been there, though many years ago, I gave it…
14-16 I was already salivating for my next destination: Croatia, part of the old Yugoslavia. It’s not a big country, but it comes with quite a reputation. The bus ride from Ljubljana was enjoyable, farmlands dominating the landscape along the…
17 After Zagreb, my next destination was Plitvice Lakes National Park, a two-hour bus ride to the south. There, I took another two hours to secure the entrance ticket and part with USD 40. Traffic bottlenecks after the entrance soon…
18-20 I continued my bus ride southward along the coast, four hours later arriving in Split, a must-see beach town in Croatia. The bus stopped at the city center facing the sea. While I came by bus, others arrived in…
21-22/8/2018 From Split, I took a large ferry to go to the popular island of Brac. Passengers fully loaded the ferry. I was eager, my spirit soaring. I felt like I was in my big yacht and my fans invited…
22-23 I continued island-hopping. From Brac, I sailed for an hour to Hvar, another enchanting island. It was fun to be traveling to Croatia at this time. The days were long, the sun was warm, the foliage was green, the…
24-25 You can’t come to Croatia and not visit Dubrovnik. So from Hvar, I took a ferry, arriving at Dubrovnik about three hours later. The first impression was: How crowded this place was! China and Korea also sent many representatives…
26 Time to tear myself away from Croatia. After a three-hour bus ride, I arrived in Mostar of Bosnia, one of only a few countries in Europe with a significant Muslim population. I expected the color tone, the style, even…
27-28 After a night at Mostar, I was on my way to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Green mountains and beautiful turquoise waters accompanied me almost the whole way. My wishful thinking was that life’s journey would be as beautiful.…
29/8/2018 -1 After Bosnia, I set my sights on Montenegro. The first stop was Kotor. Google said it would take about five hours, but my bus took more than nine hours. We left at 9 a.m., arriving past 6 p.m.…
2-3 By now I had visited about seven countries, and countless towns and cities on this journey through the Balkans and surroundings. I had been almost at full throttle, always on the go, therefore sometimes feeling I swallowed more than…
4 Hiking in the Albanian mountains was too much hard work, so I went the easy way, to visit Komani Lake with other tourists instead. We started off by bus at 6 a.m, and one and a half hours later…
5-7 I can understand why there were many kebab eateries here. However, I scratched my head about why the pizzerias were so ubiquitous. I finally put two and two together. I did not know that Italy once occupied Albania. I…
8-9 After Tirana, I next went to Berat on my way to other Balkan destinations. Berat was only three hours away by bus. I arrived at about 4 p.m., but the day was long, so I headed straight to the…
10 I was still heading south, en route to discover and uncover more of the Balkan countries. Some were not there when I was growing up, but have since emerged, each trying to take their own fate into their own…
12-14 After Kosovo, I headed to Macedonia (now North Macedonia). This was part of the old Yugoslavia. The bus weaved through mountains and valleys, finally entering the capital of Skopje. I dragged my luggage from the bus station to the…
13 After hanging around Skopje for a day, I ventured out on a day trip to Ohrid, a lakeside town about three hours away. This was not just another pretty postcard face. It had crystal clear water, friendly hills at…
15-16 After a five-plus hours bus ride from Skopje, I arrived at Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Bulgaria seems to be a country of few words. It is seldom heard of and from in the international arena. I don’t know…
17 From Sofia, I took a day trip to the town of Rila. Along the way, fields of bright yellow dominated the color scheme. Bowing to the command of the sun, sunflowers opened up unreservedly and bloomed in unison. Finally,…
21-22/9/2018 and 25-27/9/2018 From Varna in Bulgaria, I would take the train, for a change, to get to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, about 6 hours away. It was a Friday when I arrived. The old town was abuzz with…
23/9/2018 I took the train early in the morning, departing Bucharest for Brasov, a city about a couple of hours away. This was not a big city, but it was the ideal place to take in more of Romania. The…
24/9/2018 After a night at Brasov, I proceeded to another old town, Sibiu, about 140 km away. It sure lived up to its tag as an old town. The signs of age were all over the buildings. Some of them…
21-22 After two days in Yazd, I took a six-hour train back to Tehran. The train and the station were pretty decent, though the train was a bit slower than what I was used to. It was desert all the…
23 I regretted not having stayed longer in Georgia. But I had to keep going. After two days in Georgia, I took a small public bus from Tbilisi. After five hours, I arrived at Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. There…
30 I flew into St. Petersburg from Singapore to start the first leg of my Russian visit. Not my first visit, though. That was back in the 1980s, when I flew on the Soviet airline Aeroflot on my way to…
31/7 to 2 Russia is big, powerful, and has a long history, the Hermitage Museum is the embodiment of that. It is a museum, it was also the palace of the Romanov, the last emperor of Russia. From the outside,…
1 St. Petersburg has many palaces, so I had to at least visit one. I took the morning train to Peterhof Palace, supposedly an easy, one-hour ride, but I overshot it. When I asked the ticket inspectors if I was…
4 From St. Petersburg to Moscow, I wanted to take the night trains to save time, but buying night train tickets at the last minute on a summer weekend was excessively expensive. I ended up taking the day train to…
5 Next to the St. Basil’s Cathedral looms the Kremlin, the Russian seat of power. I walked around the compound within the walls. Beautiful churches with those exaggerated golden and colorful domes stood on the same ground local and world…
6 Moscow is obviously more than the St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin, so I took a day trip to Sergiyev Posad, one of the towns on the so-called Golden Ring around the city’s fringes. The Tourist Information Office advised…
4-7 Fellow travelers have expressed that St. Petersburg is more enjoyable than Moscow. I, however, find many things that intrigue me here. I could spend days wandering around Red Square, admiring its stately buildings and cathedrals, soaking up the aura…
8 I have now seen the two most famous cities in Russia: St. Petersburg and Moscow. Time to move farther east on the Trans-Siberian Express. I wanted to stop at some cities in Siberia, proceeding only when I was ready…
10 After a little over a day, I boarded the 15-hour night train to go farther east, to Yekaterinburg. I had almost two full days here, a Saturday and Sunday. The sun was out; the locals were out. The living…
13 I arrived in Krasnoyarsk about 10:30 a.m., after two nights—35 hours total—on the train from Yekaterinburg. I’ve never been cooped up in a train or on transport for 35 hours. Traveling by train horizontally across the country, losing a…
15 About eighteen hours after departing Krasnoyarsk, I arrived in Irkutsk early the next morning. This part of Russia was well and truly in Asia. Although the majority of the people were still Caucasian-looking, I was seeing more Asian faces…
16/8/2019 – After a night at Irkutsk, I joined a minibus to Khuzhir on Okhlon Island, paying 1000 roubles for the privilege. The island is reputed to be the best place to see Lake Baikal. We started off at about…
17 The few hours around Khuzhir yesterday were just the appetizer. The next morning, eight of us tourists were driven toward the northern part of the Olkhon Island, in a funny-looking Russian van. Many of these workhorses are seen plying…
19 I enjoyed walking to the end of the world, living on the edge without spilling over, testing the limit without crossing the line, then withdrawing to my comfort zone to relish it, and do it once more over and…
21 After two days of rest, I departed Ulan-Ude at 11 p.m. to arrive in Chita at about 10 a.m. the next day. By now, a train ride of fewer than 14 hours was a breeze. Sleeping among strangers, queuing…
22-26 After a few hours wandering around Chita, I was ready for my next train ride. I started this journey in St. Petersburg in Europe, and would end in Vladivostok, in the farthest east of the country, from ear to…
22-26 After 52 hours cooped up in the train, I finally alighted in Vladivostok, my last stop in Russia, having traveled from one extremity to the other. Not easy sometimes. For example, one of the two toilets for the entire…