Mandalay is the second-largest city of Myanmar with its one and half million habitants. It has been the last capital of the kingdom from 1860 and 1885 before the British colonized the country changing the capital to Yangon. We took 14 hour to get there from Mindat with a minivan: on the road we had … Continue reading
Author Archives: wanderland
Bagan & Chin State
One of the most impressive locations of Myanmar is in Bagan with its more than 2.000 Buddhist temples dating mainly from the 11th to 13th centuries. Some of them are in bad conditions and the interior frescos are ruined by time and careless but that’s contribute to the charm of the all site; you have … Continue reading
The colonial charm of Yangon
Three weeks travelling in one of the most touristic areas of Southeast Asia was enough: time to change completely, destination: Myanmar! After years of isolation due to the military government, Burma opened its borders to tourism in 1995. But it was only from 2009 that the inflow of visitors started to grow progressively. There are … Continue reading
Chilling out in Bangkok
In the last decade Bangkok became one of the most visited cities in the world mainly for two reasons: it is an important hub for visiting Asia and the rest of Thailand and also it is a dynamic and vibrant Metropolis. We had to go to BKK to apply for the Myanmar visa and take … Continue reading
South of Thailand: vacation time!
Two hours by plane from Macau and we arrive in Bangkok airport for a stop were we finally feel HOT: 34°C outside! It’s raining but … who cares?We had our first Thai meal; an empty buffet restaurant with good stuff just for us. KFC, McDonalds, etc were all full and we were by ourselves, paying … Continue reading
Koh Tao: not just for divers
After one week traveling in the Andaman Sea islands we decided to go east to the Gulf of Thailand; the cheapest way was to take a boat to the mainland, then a bus to Suratthani and then another a boat. At the beginning our plans was to go to Koh Samui first and then Koh … Continue reading
Macau: City of Dreams
We spent only three months in Hong Kong, but we had the time to meet nice and friendly people so we were kind of sad to leave. But that’s the good season to visit South-East Asia and the road was calling us again, so… First step: Macau! It’s only one hour by boat from Hong … Continue reading
Hong Kong
Hong Kong!!! After a week in Yangshou, waiting for the Cadu’s working Visa to be sent by mail, we finally left China! We took a night bus to Shenzhen. And for our surprise we slept on the floor. We explain: in the night buses in China the passengers actually lay down as if they were … Continue reading
National holidays in Pingyao
The Mongolian Yurt
If we had to choose a word to describe Mongolia, it would be easy: yurt because it represents all the aspects of the life of this nomadic country. Some numbers before explaining what a yurt is, in order to understand the context: 3 million is the population of Mongolia, 14 millions of horses and a … Continue reading
Mongolia
We are back in Ulaan Bataar after a 15 days tour in center and south Mongolia. Sometimes when we travel time does not matter, sunrise and sunset rhythm our days and we feel the nature as a real presence. We have to thanks Mathilde and Gael who gave us the idea to take the tent … Continue reading
Moscow 2/2!
With its 11 million inhabitants, Moscow is the 5th largest city proper and one of the 15 biggest metropolitan area in the world. Among all the big cities we have been, here is where the adjective huge fits the best. Everything is over-dimensioned to affirm the power first of the Russian Empire and then the … Continue reading
Moscow 1/2
Our train from Veliky Novgorod arrived at 5am in the Leningradsky Vokzal (Vokzal is station in Russian). We decided to take our time before waking up our hosts and discover a very nice flat in a pleasant neighborhood located south of Kremlin. Cadu had already been in Moscow in 2008 but he accepted with the … Continue reading
The Trans-Siberian Railway
When we told to our friends and family that we would take the Trans-Siberian train, we realized that it represented a dream for a lot of people. Probably because until the 90’s it was very complicated (almost impossible) to make tourism in the USSR or probably because it’s hard to believe that you need 6 … Continue reading
Veliky Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod is located 200km south from St. Petersburg, two hours by train; for us it was the ideal place to have a rest after visiting mainly big cities so far. We decided to spend one night there and we did well! A real Russian grandmother (babushka) was waiting for us on a rainy Sunday; … Continue reading
Saint Petersburg
Finally in Russia! Fede could not wait anymore to “meet” this huge continent (Cadu has already been to Moscow in 2008). To arrive in Russia was one of the goals of our trip and get out of the train and see Saint Petersburg Railway Station was a strong emotion! Latin alphabet let the place to … Continue reading
Bike & Design in Helsinki
On board, on board! We arrived in Helsinki by boat crossing the bay on the Baltic sea! Lots of people buying alcohol in Tallinn’s harbor duty free shops; we only understood the reason after, when we paid 7€ for our first bear in Helsinki! We stood in a very quiet apartment 25 minutes walking far … Continue reading
Tallinn!
We prefer travelling by train but the railway connection between Riga and Tallinn is long and we have to change trains in the border; a faster (and cheaper) way of transportation between these two cities is the bus so… let’s go to the bus station. After the 22 hours from Krakow to Riga, 4 hours … Continue reading