TRANSIBERIAN TICKETS

That's how we did the cheapest way for travelling from Beijing to Saint Petersburg in 2010.

Beijing - Erlian, 200RMB (24 Euro) by bus "sleeper"
Zamiin Uud - Ulaanbaatar, 28.000 MNT (17 Euro) by train "sleeper"
Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk, 79.340 MNT (48 Euro) by train "kupè"
Irkutsk - Krasnoyarsk, 1.415 RUB (38 Euro) by train "platskart"
Krasnoyarsk - Novosibirsk, 1.130 RUB (30 Euro) by train "platskart"
Novosibirsk - Tyumen, 1.789 RUB (47 Euro) by train "platskart"
Tyumen - Tobolsk, 530 RUB (14 EURO) by train "platskart"
Tobolsk - Yekaterinburg, 768 RUB (20 Euro) by train "platskart"
Yekaterinburg - Kazan, 1026 RUB (27 Euro) by train "platskart"
Kazan - Moscow, 1.021 RUB (27 Euro) by train "platskart"

In total we spent 292 Euro Beijing to Moscow

Moscow - St. Petersburg, 958 RUB (25 Euro) by train "platskart"
St. Petersburg - Moscow, 606 RUB (16 Euro) by train "soft seat"

Total cost is 333 Euro, so don't trust the travel agency asking over thousand euro, do it yourself!

TRIP DIARY: Asia and Oceania 2007/08

YEAR 2007, PHILIPPINES AND AUSTRALIA

15.9 Bangkok, the first stop over after I've left Italy with my friends Lorenzo and Francesco Moro
15.9 - 26.9 Philippines, where we met Paolo coming from the white sandy beach of Guam and we stayed at Anthony's house in the countryside nearby Manila and we spent a few days on the island of Boracay
27.9 Bangkok, back here for another stopover with Lorenzo and Francesco

28.9 - 11.10 Sydney, where we spent few days holiday and stayed at Tokyo Village backpackers
12.10 - 21.10 Mildura, working and saving money with all my friends at Morello's farm
22.12 - 6.1.2008 Sydney, I moved here for Christmas and new years eve holidays with Paolo, Lorenzo, Francesco Moro, Taka, Ronnie, Megumi, Jan and others Morello's workers back again at Tokyo Village backpackers

YEAR 2008, AUSTRALIA

7.1 - 18.2 Mildura, back to work again there at Morello's farm
19.2 - 25.2 Sydney, I went to pick up my parents and start travelling with them for a month

NEW ZEALAND

26.2 - 27.2 Christchurch, capital of southern island, visiting the Banks peninsula and Akaroa, then we started travelling around by campervan
28.2 Greymouth, via the Arthur's pass
29.2 Franz Josef Glacier, via Punakaiki and visiting the Paparoa National Park
1.3 Queenstown, via Fox Glacier and Wanaka
2.3 Te Anau, via Manapouri Lake
3.3 Kingston, visiting the Milford Sound
4.3 Twizel, via Cromwell, Lindis Pass, Mount Cook (Aoraki) and the Tasman Glacier
5.3 Hanmer Springs, via Lake Tekapo, Geraldine and Ashburton
6.3 Kaikoura, via Mt Lyford
7.3 Motueka, driving road 63 and via Blenheim
8.3 Pohara, visiting Marahau, Takaka Hill, Waikoropupu Springs and the Farewell Spit
9.3 Wellington, stopping at Nelson and taking the ferry at Picton to the northern island
10.3 Wanganui
11.3 Taupo, visiting the Tongario National Park and Whakapapa
12.3 Rotura, visiting Huka Falls, Crater of the moon, Orakei Korako, Waiotapu, Tamaki Maori village and Pohutu Geyser
13.3 Orewa, via Tauranga, Waihi beach and visiting the Karangahake gold mine
14.3 Kerikeri, stopping at Whangarei Falls, Paihia and Rewa's village
15.3 - 16.3 Auckland, via Opononi, the Waipoua Forest hostint the famous Kauri trees, and Ruawai

AUSTRALIA

17.3 - 18.3 Melbourne, back here by flight with my parents, then we rented a car on the way to Sydney
19.3 Port Campbell, via the Great Ocean road
20.3 Warragul, via Melbourne again and stopping at Camperdown
21.3 Narooma, stopping at Lakes Entrance and Genoa
22.3 - 26.3 Sydney
27.3 - 9.4 Mildura, back to work again here after my parents went back in Italy from Sydney
10.4 - 13.4 Darwin, by flight from Melbourne with my friends Taka, Nils, Christof and Ben, ready for backpacking around south east Asia, here I also met Emiliano and I've worked again in his restaurant "Pizza Pasta"

SOUTH EAST ASIA

14.4 SINGAPORE: Arrived here by flight from Darwin, we lost Ben because for visas problem he couldn't leave Australia, we visited the city and Sentosa island, and decided to throw out our cheap ticket to Bangkok and travelling by train through Malaysia

MALAYSIA

15.4 - 17.4 Kuala Lumpur, by train, visiting around the city and we went to the Batu caves
18.4 - 19.4 Penang island, by bus, we stayed at Georgetown and we went on Ferringhi beach

THAILAND

20.4 - 23.4 Phi Phi island, by bus to Krabi and then boat, where we enjoyed Long and Monkey beach, and Phi Phi Ley
24.4 - 25.4 Phuket, by boat, we stayed at Patong beach, into a strange Swiss cottage in thailand! we spent only 1 full day as we didn't like, too many tourists around
26.4 - 28.4 Koh Samui, by minibus and boat, nice relaxing place, we did some gun shooting, hiking to the Hin Lad waterfall and driving around by a rented 4WD visiting the big Buddha, Chaweng beach and the fishermen village
29.4 - 1.5 Koh Phangan, by boat, where we just enjoyed parties at Haad Rin beach, from here we had lost Christof because he had to get back in Australia
2.5 - 3.5 Koh Tao, by boat, only me, Nils and Taka, this place is famous for divers, but we couldn't do anything because of a typhoon bad weather
4.5 - 9.5 Bangkok, by boat and bus, stopping here for applying Laos and Cambodian visas, we visited around the city and went to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital
10.5 Chang Khong, by train and bus, on the Thai side of Mekong river, arrived here after a long trip via Chiang Mai

LAOS

11.5 Mekong river, we spent 2 full days and one night riding a "slow boat" on the river on the way to Luang Prabang, an extenuate trip but with some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen
12.5 - 13.5 Luang Prabang, the nice old capital city with many temples to visit
14.5 - 15.5 Vang Vieng, by minivan, nice relaxing city, we went at the Blue Lagoon cave
16.5 - 17.5 Vientiane, by minivan, the capital, a mix of Asian and French culture and hosting the awesome Pha That Luang

CAMBODIA

18.5 - 19.5 Phnom Phen, by flight, a really chaotic city, we visited here the Wat Phnom, central market, national museum and the royal palace
20.5 - 23.5 Siem Reap, by bus, where we could get lost for 3 full days into the magnificent Angkor Wat complex

24.5 - 25.5 Bangkok, back here for my fourth time by car, an hard trip packed in 6 persons plus the backpacks in one car driving on the unsealed muddy road leading to Thailand border and then by bus

AUSTRALIA

26.5 - 28.5 Darwin, back here again by flight this time alone, but meeting here with Zeta, we arranged a relocation trip by a 4WD campervan on the way to Cairns and we picked up for sharing petrol a strange Italian guy called Marcello but renamed "Generale Badoglio" as he was a real fascist general
29.5 Daly Waters, our firs stop after leaving Darwin with the 4WD
30.5 Camooweal, at the border between Queensland and Northern Territory
31.5 Hughenden, stopping at Mount Isa along the way
1.6 Cairns, where we returned the car and arranged a bus to get to Port Douglas for finding a job
2.6 - 17.7 Port Douglas, where after long time I've met again Morosan, Paolo and lot of other friends, here I've been working as a pizza chef at the famous restaurant "Rattle & Hum"
18.7 Cairn, back here for leaving definitely Australia on the way to Korea and Japan

KOREA AND JAPAN

19.7 Osaka, by flight, I've been locked inside the airport for sleeping there and waiting my flight connection to Korea
20.7 - 26.7 Seoul, by flight, first 2 days visiting around the city and then I couldn't do anything because of a tropical storm, just waiting in the hostel for some better weather, but I had the chance to get into Panmujeon, the North and South Korean border village
27.7 - 28.7 Gyeongju, by bus, the ancient capital, visiting the Tumuli Park, Imhaejeonji site and doing some trekking on the mounts around the city
29.7 Seoul, back there by bus

30.7 - 7.8 Osaka, by flight, where I met Taka again and we stayed at his sister's house, he also did for me a guide for 2 weeks, we met also a lot of other Japanese friends and visited the Osaka castle, Dotonbori, Namba, and we went the 2.8 visiting Nara and the Todaiji temple, and the 6.8 and 7.8 to Kyoto visiting Fushimi, Inari Taisha, Rukuonji and Kiyomizu temple, always moving by train and getting back in Osaka for the night
8.8 - 13.8 Tokyo, by slow cheap train, staying at another Taka sister's house and going around the city, Tokyo tower, Shibuya, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Yasukuni, Akihabara
14.8 - 18.8 Nagoya, by fast "shinkansen" train, where I've separate with Taka and I went to stay at Yoshi's house, and she become my new guide around the city, visiting Nagoya's castle, Kasugai, Sakae, Agamon and the "Villaggio Italia" at the harbour
19.8 Narita, by a long trip by cheap buses and trains took me the whole day to get the airport where I've slept at night

ENGLAND

20.8 - 22.8 London, by flight, where I had the chance to do my last stop over on my way back home and visiting this city
23.8 Stansted, where I caught my flight to Rome

TRIP DIARY: Australia and Vietnam 2006/07

AUSTRALIA, YEAR 2006

11.4 - 20.4 Sydney, a week holiday.
21.4 - 25.6 Mildura by Greyhound bus, where i went to work in some different farms and grape yards and stayed at "Mildura City Backpackers"

26.6 I've left Mildura on the way to Darwin with a Japanese guy, Tom, and his car, a Ford Falcon, with Pierone, Marco and Yuka, first stop.. Burra
27.6 Port Augusta
28.6 Coober Pedy, famous for the opal mines
29.6 - 30.6 Stopping at Yulara, sleeping in a hostel and visiting the nearby Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the Kings Kanyon
1.7 - 3.7 Alice Springs
4.7 Mataranka, stopping on the way at the Devils Marbles
5.7 Katherine, visiting the Katherine gorge and Litchfield National Park
6.7 - 24.9 Darwin: I've settled here for the dry season working day time at the Gate Gourmet, the airport catering company, and evening time as a pizza chef in the italian restaurant "Pizza Pasta Pasta Pizza" and i bought my own car, a Ford Falcon made in 1988

VIETNAM

At the end of the season I’ve decided to travel a bit around Vietnam by train with my 2 mates Giovanni and Martina
25.9 - 1.10 Saigon where we visited around the city,  the Cu Chi tunnels and the Mekong delta by boat
2.10-3.10 Nha Trang, a beautiful beach north of Saigon, we couldn't move northern than here because of a Typhoon
4.10 - 5.10  Hue, we stopped on the way at Danang and Hoi An
6.10 Hanoi, The actual capital of Vietnam
7.10 Sapa, doing trekking around the beautiful mountains near Chinese border
8.10 Halong Bay
9.10 Hanoi, Back again here where i took my flight back to Darwin in Australia

AUSTRALIA

10.10 - 13.10 Darwin, working again and organizing the trip by car to Perth with Marco, Yuya, Angela, Filippo and a crazy Australian girl with her 4WD campervan
14.10 Ubirr,our first stop in this campsite in the Kakadu National Park
15.10, Kakadu, sleeping in a different campsite and visiting the Jim Jim falls
16.10 Timber Creek, via the Argyle lake
17.10 - 18.10 Kunnunurra visiting the Emma gorge
19.10 - 23.10 Broome, stopping here for a few days, relaxing a visiting the Dinosaurs footprint and cable beach, after separating with my friends i kept going with Marco and Yuya on the way to Perth
24.10 Port Hedland
25.10 Nanutarra via the Karijini National Park
26.10 Exmouth doing snorkelling at the Ningaloo Reef
27.10 Coral Bay
28.10 - 29.10 Monkey Mia seeing the dolphins, Shell beach and the Stromatolites
30.10 Geraldton via Kalbarry National Park
31.10 - 10.11 Perth via the Pinnacles desert. here I've worked for a while in the Italian restaurant Sorrento, I've sold out my car and decided to start travelling as soon as possible on the way back to Mildura
11.11 Manjimup, I'm arrived there by bus to meet Matteo and travelling on the way to Melbourne with his van
12.11 Albany stopping at the Giant Forrest
13.11 - 16.11 Esperance, Visiting and sleeping in a campsite at Cape Le grand National Park
17.11 Norseman where we started crossing the Nullarbor desert
18.11 Cocklebiddy
19.11 Nullarbor Roadhouse
20.11 Ceduna
21.11 Port Augusta
22.11 Adelaide
23.11 Warooka
24.11 - 25.11 Kangaroo Island
26.11 Dartmoor
27.11 - 29.11 Melbourne
30.11 - 21.12 Mildura, back again here and working at Morello's farm to save money for keep going travelling around Australia, then for the Christmas holidays i went with Paolo, Yoshi, Ed, Kevin and Mike in Tasmania, driving around with 2 rental cars
22.12 Melbourne
23.12 - 24.12 Devonport Via the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry
25.12 Launceston having a nice Thai Christmas dinner after we reached the peak of Ben Lomond Mountain
26.12 Bicheno, famous for the penguins around the city at night
27.12 Port Hartur via Wineglass Bay, the Freycinet National Park and visiting the prison colony
28.12 - 31.12 Hobart, visiting Lake Pedder and Lake Gordon

YEAR 2007

1.1 Queenstown
2.1 Devonport, taking the ferry back to Melbourne
3.1 Melbourne
4.1 - 24.2 Mildura, back here after the Christmas holiday to work again at Morello's farm
25.2 - 27.2 Sydney, where I’m arrived with Paolo for starting our trip along the East Coast by Premiere bus company
28.2 Byron Bay, famous for surfers and where we went to Ninbim, a nice hippie village
1.3 - 4.3 Surfers Paradise, where we stopped few days for relaxing and from here Paolo decided to get back in Sydney and me to keep going up north
5.3 - 6.3 Brisbane
7.3 - 11.3 Hervey Bay, and from here by boat to Fraser Island where I've spent few days
12.3 - 14.3 Airlie Beach, where I've been sailing around the Whitsundays archipelago
15.3 - 19.3 Cairns, from here going first to Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef and then by flight back in Sydney


20.3 - 9.4 Sydney, where I've spent the last weeks in Australia just enjoying with my friends before going back in Italy

Oceano mare

Il mare incanta, il mare uccide, commuove, spaventa, fa anche ridere, alle volte, sparisce, ogni tanto, si traveste da lago, oppure costruisce tempeste, divora navi, regala ricchezze, non dà risposte, è saggio, è dolce, è potente, è imprevedibile. Ma soprattutto: il mare chiama. Lo scoprirai, Elisewin. Non fa altro, in fondo, che questo: chiamare. Non smette mai, ti entra dentro, ce l'hai addosso, è te che vuole. Puoi anche far finta di niente, ma non serve. Continuerà a chiamarti. Questo mare che vedi e tutti gli altri che non vedrai, ma che ci saranno, sempre, in agguato, pazienti, un passo oltre la tua vita. Instancabilmente, li sentirai chiamare. Succede in questo purgatorio di sabbia. Succederebbe in qualsiasi paradiso, e in qualsiasi inferno. Senza spiegare nulla, senza dirti dove, ci sarà sempre un mare, che ti chiamerà.

(By fr@na)

AUSTRALIA THIRD EDITION

Travelling back in Aussie again has been an hard experience... India is as good as an hard place to travel, even Bangladesh is a strange crazy country.... but after all this stuff, even back again in Australia is not more the same!
Is not more same as a couple of years ago, get a job and a good salary become more and more harder, in Perth I’ve changed 5 jobs in 1 and half month make me hard to save money, then me and Fra decided to move to Sydney, of course by car travelling coast to coast about 5000 kilometres via Wave Rock, Kalgoorlie, the Nullarbor desert, Port Augusta, and the Simpson desert via Broken Hill!
Then in Sydney I found a job in a clothes factory where I could finally save some money... and now.... on the way to Italy, of course in overland, cause the plane has been banned from my mind!!!!

2:11 PM

12/3/2009

Da Ostia all'Everest

Siamo tornati in India,a Varanasi... dopo un viaggio "lungo un sogno" di oltre un giorno tra taxi, bus, treni, automobilina senza vetri e carrozza a cavallo....
Dopo circa un mese da quando partimmo da New Delhi, dapprima facendo il "Golden Triangle" tra Delhi, Jaipur e Agra e poi 14 ore del ormai celebre "treno della speranza" stipati per 14 ore tra migliaia di indiani, topi ed escrementi umani fino a Gorakhpur, per poi entrare in Nepal ed arrivare a Lumbini con un simpatico bus senza parabrezza e con una gomma scoppiata!!!
Il giorno seguente da Lumbini, luogo dove nacque "lord Buddha" e dove dopo questo viaggio travagliato abbiamo ritrovato un po’ di pace e serenità, si riparte.. ovviamente con un altro minivan sempre stipato di gente si è raggiunta Kathmandu, dove con un volo su un sicurissimo aeroplano della "Agni air" ad elica (velivolo caduto un anno esatto dopo averlo preso) ed una mono fila di sedili che si abbassano come quelli di una punto ci porta in mezz'ora di volo tra continui sbalzi di quota fino a Lukla, nel cuore dell'Himalaya, dove inizieremo 15 giorni stupendi e stancanti di trekking, per un totale di 150 e passa km nel cure dei monti himalayani, fino a raggiungere il Kala Pathar, a quota 5545 metri e con di fronte il gigante bianco, il tetto del mondo, l'Everest!!!
un esperienza magnifica non ostante le mille "scomodità" il non lavarsi per giorni e giorni,la neve, gli pseudo posti per dormire fatti di compensato e pieni di buchi dai quali assaporare tutto il vento ed i 15 gradi sotto zero, i secchi d'acqua calda da usare in luoghi ricoperti di ghiaccio all’aperto che loro osano chiamare "hot showers"
ed oggi di nuovo qui, in india, ed in direzione di Bangladesh, Malesia e, ancora una volta..... Australia
2:53 PM
11/4/2009

India and Nepal, here we go!

Hi guys.... I'm back on my blog!!
And I'm also back on travelling, I’ve finally left Italy last week and right now I’m travelling around India and soon hopefully Nepal.... my plan is travelling through northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh for the next 2 months and arrive just in time in Australia for the Christmas time to catch up my friends in Perth!!
Hopefully I will find a job for a few months and then travelling again back home in Italy from Bangkok in overland.... is just a project but I hope it can be real so..... stay tuned for the next news!!
2:59 PM
9/21/2009

Italy 2009

So since I'm back to Italy after the Belgian experience, I've been finally enjoying the snow after few years spent in the burning Australia... and then, cause of my finance, I had to find a job as soon as I could!
Fortunately I get a job pretty soon in a hotel in February as a receptionist and I could save a lot of money... the life goes slowly at the moment, just dreaming about new project around the world, I met some new important persons in my life during this time, and I also met some old friends (thanks to Facebook), I've been travelling a bit around Italy during my day off, enjoy first the snow and now the beach and always good food (that's why I love Italy) but I've also be again in the same politics, bureaucracy, mentality and shity television in this country and that's a good reason to leave again as soon as I can.
This July so I quit the job, my plan is to enjoy the summer with my friends and then back again into the wild....