The Longest Way Home Journal (aka point2point)

Great Modern Traveler update: Karl Bushby is in Trouble

The Longest Way Home — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:30:46 -0800

karls blogNot so long ago I wrote an article for my Great Modern Travelers section about Karl Bushby. A man who in the late 90's set out to literally walk around the world. No canoes, human powered vehicles, nothing but two feet and two arms. It took him 6 years to walk from South America to Canada, an unbroken path. Including the Darien Gap (Columbia to Panama). He then became the first man along with Dimitri Kieffer to cross the Bering Straits.

For me, about 10 years ago when I began researching my own journey I came across Karl's story. At first I thought his travel plans were great, because of what they were. But after following his journey for nearly 10 years and karl's bookreading his book I found what I really admired was the man himself, or rather the story behind the man. You can find my review of Karl's book Giant Steps here.

In a video on You Tube

Karl says something I can relate to. Nobody gave a damn about him, nor thought he stood a chance in life. "We're not going to fail anymore at this, there's no going home."

These days I don't get a chance to catch up a lot on other blogs or travelers as much as a would like to. So it was with a sadness that I read Karl's most recent post. After crossing the Bering Straits the Russians held things up for the Expedition. Real life spy games between the UK and Russia meant no visa extensions and no hope of being let in to walk across Russia. And so they were told to wait, and wait. It's been years now. And Karl still waits. Nothing is changing but from Politics that are worsening. Quote from Karl "This, however, is a grand odyssey in the 21st Century, and these are the challenges one faces"

To cross Russia he needed sponsors, ice, snow, sub zero temps, it's not going to happen otherwise. The Russian wait can be done, but the global financial downturn meant Karl's sponsors retreated away. And now he's on his own again. It's means he's in trouble.

I'm writing this entry not to round up donations or anything like that. I write it because Karl's journey means something to me too. It's inspiring and adventurous. Look at the You Tube videos or better yet buy his book and read about the man before you pass judgment. There are some out there who use travel as a means, not a glory shot. Karl used travel as a last ditch effort to survive.

If you are interested in his blog it's right here. Any words of encouragement or ideas would be most welcome I am sure. Like wise on his forum where you can lay out your ideas in more depth and discuss things with Karl in person.

For me, I have suggested contacting a Russian business. Maybe NIKE Russia, or the like and getting a Russian 'job', thereby allowing a work visa. A Russian business maybe able to go one step further and offer sponsorship too.

The key is if you have contacts with any Russian business types out there, maybe you can help back a man making history and go along for the ride.

I've recently opened up some comments on this site, so if you have any feedback about Karl, and his story feel free to post them.

In the meantime. From one Traveler on a quest to another:

Karl mate, I wish you the best.

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Important site updates

The Longest Way Home — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:16:37 -0800

Comments: I thought with the forthcoming Karl Bushby post above it would be a good time to activate the comments section on the page. I’ve not had them on before as with travel and the search, plus keeping the site updated I really struggle with time. And know I would feel bad if I could not reply to everyone on this blog/journal page.

I do however reply to all the emails people have taken the time to send me. Some of which have been very inspirational, thank you.

You can reply to these comments via email, which should help in posting time etc.

For now comments are on, and it would be great to get some feedback on the site as a whole, what you like what you don’t like etc? So over to you now!?

RSS/Email Subscriptions:You might have noticed that there was not a direct RSS feed for The Longest Way Home Blog page before. The main site had an RSS feed, and so did/does the Journal/blog. Well, I’ve combined the two now, and added in a lot more for the future of the site.

What does that mean? Well, no matter what feed you are currently subscribed to, things continue on as normal, so you don’t have to do anything. But if you want the best of the best, sign up to the permanent one here. Actually everything on the site now points to the new RSS and Email feeds, so you can sign up from anywhere.

New/updated pages: The new Travel book / DVD Review page has already attracted a lot of attention, which is great. I’ll be making new additions whenever I can.

The free music page is doing well too, which is strange as I only really put there for my own mp3 updates - If anyone knows of a music artist from any country I have traveled through that would like to be featured on the page please let me know. The only conditions are that they must have a selection of traditional indigenous tracks from there country. And at least one must be available online for downloading that I can link to.

Thanks again for the great emails. Again, I am not so sure how the comments here will span out but lets see.

The Journey to Sagada, Prostitutes & Berries excluded ...

The Longest Way Home — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:28:40 -0800

We left Manila quite early on fairly nice bus. The open window was my air-con in the rising heat, as Lu sat on the other side of the window shivering. It was only open a crack, and still I sweated as I watched the hawkers outside.

I'd heard from other tourists about Filipino buses being terrible. But I didn't see it myself. Okay, it didn't have a TV, nor great suspension. But I also wasn't being kicked out in a desert like in Pakistan, freezing sub zero temps in Morocco or crashing in Nigeria. So, for the Filipino bus I give thumbs in the middle. To the tourists that complain - get out more often.

Lu had stayed in a town called Baguio before, and had said it would be a nice place to break up the trip. Also, she'd heard of some famous strawberry fields there. What better to do than eat strawberries in the Philippines?

Unfortunately Lu never factored in that there were two hotels by the same name in Baguio. We arrived that evening and our wonderful taxi driver took as straight to Herman's Hotel in the city center. I kinda guessed something was up by the dark dingy lane it was situated down. That and the oodles of tattered looking ladies hanging around outside. some ladies ...

"They look like prostitutes," I whispered as we got out of the taxi. "Lets find another hotel ..."

"Shhhh, they'll hear you."

"So? Let's go."

"No, it's the place now."

Strangely, Lu still insisted this was the place she'd been before. We entered. Were offered a room either at an hourly rate, or nightly. And then quickly left. The lady in charge of the ... erm... other ladies, caught up with us on the stairs. She was all smiles explaining where the 'other' hotel was.

Again, strangely enough, this 'other' hotel was actually someone's house. And no where near an eatery nor flushing toilet. It was also during this period we discovered no one had heard of any strawberry fields. Trekking bars for dinner. Lu was not a happy Filipino.

The next morning we agreed to head into town in search of either a strawberry field, or a bus straight to Sagada. It seemed Baguio also had a lack of early morning eateries. I settled on Chow King,shh, its better than jollibee! a Chinese export fast food place. With a mountain of food! Lu was not in such a good mood, as still no one had heard of the infamous strawberry fields. With 4 packs of giant potato chips and chocolate biscuits I soon perked up on the bus. Lu stayed silent.

We lurched, skidded and swerved around the gravel strewn roads with good speed. Two hours later and our bus came to a grinding halt. Landslide!

"Mudslide," corrected Lu.

"Same thing." I retorted.

"It's not,"

Damn she was moody today.

landslideA queue of buses, cars and jeeps all lined the road. I walked down a bit and left Lu to sulk over her lost strawberries as I checked out the land/mudslide. The road had indeed given away. To the right half of it had slid away, while to the left it was strewn with rocks from the high ravine above. A man shouted. Drivers looked at each other. And then they were running. They'd cleared the road and they were all desperate to make it into the one lane first. Our side won.

I made it back to the bus just in time to see a sign post with directions and tourist attactions. Including "Mount Clitoris." Hmmm. well ...

Outside I caught my first glimpse of the infamous rice terraces. Green hills, stone walls and rice padi's rushed by. They were quite spectacular, and if this was only a taste of the famous Batad Terraces we were in for a treat in the coming days.

We arrived into Sagada just after lunch. It was a sagada townpicturesque town. Mountains and hills were all around; the air a shade cooler. A single main road, and well kept houses. Lu had managed to acquire a Rough Guide to the Philippines book from a friend. I'd marked out a few hostels, and merged them with some internet results. The first step was to avoid the "visitors fee" the book mentioned. A 20 peso charge, just for being there.

"We have to go pay the tax now."

Grrr. "Why?"

"Because we're meant to!"

"How about we check in first?"

Lu had a grown a bee in her bonnet. We headed to the first hotel.

"1500 peso."

??? No way. Next.

"1200"

And so we continued on until we found a little blue house and a little old lady offering us a double for 500. Where upon Lu promptly locked herself away in the bathroom for 45 minutes.500 pesos a night!

I began to wonder if it had been such a good idea to go along with perfect stranger. Lu was a nice girl, but if the mood swing of the day continued tomorrow. Then I might just have contemplate leaving her in one of the hanging coffins!

Coming Soon:
The Hanging Coffins

ALSO:
On: www.thelongestwayhome.com

* Some important updates from The Great Modern Travelers section

Karl Busby's in trouble, and needs some help ( I will be posting an entry on this next week)

Christoph Rehage's had to return home unexpectedly

Manon Ossevoort Has reached the Cape in South Africa!

* I finally got around to archiving all journal entries here

* The Poll on whether I should include photos in my Travelogues section (stories) is now closed. The results were a resounding 100% in favor of photos being included within the text. I will update what I can, and any new travelogues will have photos included!

* Next week I should be rolling out some important site updates so stay tuned for that!

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Mudslides & Sunshine: via sms

The Longest Way Home — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:40:24 -0800

Just sending this in via sms. The rain has been really heavy. Heard about a few mudslides in the north. Everything is fine though. Just rains for a few hours, then stops for the rest of the day. Not sure if the photo will appear but at least when its not raining some people can still sleep in the sun! Its also seriously difficult to send an sms from a bouncing bus!!!

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A date at the Mall of Asia, with not much juice

The Longest Way Home — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:21:48 -0800

My newly introduced travel partner, Lu Lu, was beautiful. Names aside, the Philippines certainly do have beautiful girls. Lu worked in advertising, and was just about to start off in a new firm. She was all for traveling to the North. And I was glad I passed the first Filipino test of saying I like the Malls ...

jeepney to the mallVince was all for another Mall, so this time I was introduced to one of the largest. The Mall of Asia. We'd taken the Philippines answer to the metro to get there. The LRT, a topside metro in other words. Blessed with good air-con, and a giant impractical ticketing system. It actually took longer to get to it, than use it to get to the mall.

The Mall of Asia, to it's credit, is pretty damn big. It was also just as bad with security. However, having learned my lesson from the day before. I unpacked my camera, hard drive and valuables and stuffed them into all my pockets. Not an eyelid was battered as the little security mans metal detector went off behind me and I kept going. The guy behind me had his bum back prodded with a stick. Priorities.

More shops than you could imagine yet again. I pretended it was all so interesting, while thinking up of my plans to head north to the illusive hanging coffins. During all this I came across a hidden gem in the Philippines; CD-R King. An everyone jump like mad people to get the cheapest MP4 players, DVD players, memory cards, mp3 player and just about everything else that a cheap Chinese manufactuer can produce that fits in a pocket, type place. Like any good tourist I went straight for the cheapest of the cheap section! It was better than anything I had seen in China, and certainly prompted a second visit. cheap techno!

Lunch was again at the now traditional Jollibee. The burgers were by now loosing their appeal and I stared out over at the KFC. Then realized how everyone was so junk food oriented. I needed for sure to escape the Mall scene.
jollibee
Lu was equally happy to get out. "So what are you going to see in the North?"

I fumbled with my wikitravel printouts. "Erm, the hanging coffins!"

"Ah!, that's so cool I've always wanted to see them. When are you going?"

"I was thinking of the day after tomorrow."

"And you don't mind if I tag along?"

Was she mad? Or was she a prostitute? Shame on me for thinking this. But after China, Tibet and Nepal I wasn't used to women being so forward. I could just imagine the trouble a Nepalese girl would get in for saying she was going on a trek with a foreigner. But Vince assured me everything was cool.

We wandered around the giant mall some more and then I noticed something quite odd. For a tropical country, they had very little fresh fruit juice for sale. There were juice sellers. But the closer you got, the more you would see stacks of glow in the dark powders and liquids. Artificial flavors ruled. I finally found an expensive stand selling pineapple, watermelon and apple. After that every thing came in liquid pre-blended form or a mixture of powders?! At least pineapple was popular. show me the heaps of exotic fruit?!

We headed back out into the heat of the late afternoon. I was so dehydrated from the Mall's AC that I really didn't mind the humidity now. We left Lu with the promise of meeting up again to finalize our trip. I then managed to sneak in a comment about no malls. She looked at me with a frown. Maybe the Mall was a national treasure? She then started arguing with a jeepney driver who tried to over charge her by 50 Centavos. She didn't back down. Vince gave me a double eyebrow raise. I didn't know if it was a Filipino code for something not so good. Or maybe too good.
I spent some time investigating what else there was to do in Manila. Vince was happy just to sit out in the shade and drink beer. Or, maybe the Mall again. Taal Lake was an hour out from Manila, but the photos at the hotel were not so inspiring. What to do? Corregidor was a place that sounded interesting. An Island that was the scene of a fierce WW2 battle. I asked how we could get there.

"By ferry," chirped the receptionist.

How I wished they had internet.

With no guide book I asked for directions on how to get there. I got a phone number instead and called.

"1999 Peso?!! For a half day!" I scratched my head and called Vince over. He called and got the same reply. Apparently the island was under the monopoly of a single tour operator. They charged what they wanted it seemed.

I sat back in the hotels garden and looked out into the quite street. I liked Manila. It was lively, colorful, and a had all the makings of a big city with several layers. And, relatively cheap, accommodation aside. But there was a lack of anything to do outside the mall. And to visit a lake, island or anything else cost a lot.

I then wondered if the rest of the Philippines would be the same? Expensive hotels. Tours only. And many many malls. I shook it out of my head as the smell of an evening bbq wafted in from the street. I headed out and was greeted by smiles of appreciation from a group of locals as I ordered 5 sticks of BBQ. A bit sweet, but tasty. super cheap and tasty BBQ Tourist prices were high in the capital, but at least the people seemed nice. And, the food good. I vowed that on my next visit to the capital I would seek out and visit its non mall oriented side.

However my next destination would be to the north. And, I would be in the company of a beautiful girl who had an ability to bargain hard. Seemed to good to be true. Hanging Coffins and Rice terraces await!

Coming Soon:
Some prostitutes and a mudslide; all in the name of travel ...

ALSO:
On the website: www.thelongestwayhome.com
Some big updates:

* I am very pleased to announce the release of my Amazon.com Travel Store! Both USA and UK versions are now live. A great place to buy my recommended travel books, travel gear, and DVD's. Not to mention; support the site as well!

For anyone wondering the difference between the two stores: Well, there's very little. Other than if you live in the USA ordering from the Amazon.com store is easier and cheaper. Likewise if you live in the UK ordering from my amazon.co.uk site will be easier and cheaper. Likewise beware of the regional differences between the two continents re DVD's!

* Taking advice from the recent positive BloggyAward review I have given the blog page on the site a going over. The photos, text and headings all integrate a lot better now.

* Travelogues: I just added edited photos in my Surviving the Riots in Tibet Travelogue

*In Resources: I have just finished a How to Travel from Turkey to Iran overland article.

* I am testing out live time zone clocks in the country links

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