TRIP DIARY: LATIN AMERICA 2013 - 2014

Another year working for Alitalia, another trip to do after the working season. Travelling Peru has always been my mom’s dream, so we left togheter Italy on the way to Lima via Madrid. Here we met again with my uncle, and after few days Francesca came over as well to join our trip.

SPAIN

17.11 - 19.11 MADRID, by flight “alitalia” from Rome (2 hr) and sleeping at the “Hostal Zamoran”. We decided to stop here to visit the city and one day we also went to Toledo by bus “Alsa” (1 hr each way)

20.11 Flight “Iberia” to Lima (12 hr)

PERU

20.11 - 23.11 LIMA, again here with Maurizio, Cecilia, Juanita and the new entry gigio aka el gato drogadicto, spending good time together and visiting around Barranco, Miraflores and the Huaca Pucllana and huallamarca

24.11 - 25.11 EL CHACO, arriving here with Maurizio’s 4WD car (4 hr), we drove the whole day around the Paracas national park desert, then Maurizio and Cecilia get back in Lima and we stayed in a local hostal called “Refugio del Pirata”. The day after we went to visit the Ballestas islands by boat and the “Candelabro geoglifo”. In the afternoon we felt an earthquake while relaxing in our accommodation

26.11 NAZCA, by bus “Oltursa” (4 hr) and staying at the hotel “La Encantada”, visiting the small city and at night an interesting planetarium. The day after we took a flight over the famous Nazca lines, and visiting in the afternoon the Cahuachi ruins

27.11 Night bus “Palomino” to Lima (6 ½ hr)

28.11 - 01.12 LIMA, back here again, Francesca has finally arrived in Peru, we have been all together around Lima and other suburbs

02.12 - 04.12 TRUJILLO, by flight “Lan” (1 hr) we slept at “Hostal Colonial”, here we met Monica, a nice friend of Maurizio, she helped us to visit around the city,we have also been at the Huaca del Sol y de la Luna, Chan Chan, Huaca Esmeralda, Huaca Arcoiris, la Dama de Cao and the Huaca El Brujo. For the last day we have been in the morning in Huanchaco on the seaside to have all together the famous local fish breakfast

05.12 - 07.12 CHICLAYO, by bus “Emtrefesa” (3 ½ hr) staying at “Hotel Alejandra”, from here we could visit Sipan, Tucume, Lambayeque and the Mercado Modelo, the city market and one of the most famous in South America

08.12 - 10.12 LIMA, back here again by bus “Emtrefesa” first to Trujillo (3 ½ hr) and then by flight “Lan” (1 hr). This time we stayed at the “Hotel el Faro” near by Maurizio’s house, from here my mum flew back in Italy and me and Francesca took a flight to Mexico

MEXICO

11.12 - 12.12 CANCUN, by flight “Lan” (5 ½ hr) sleeping at the cheap “Hostel Laurel”, visiting the old town and the Zona Hotelera along the beach side

13.12 - 14.12 VALLADOLID, by bus “Ado” (2 hr) and sleeping at the hotel “Maria Guadalupe”, staying around this nice colonial city and visiting from here the ruins of Ek Balam first (1 hr each way by collectivo) and the world’s famous one of Chichen Itza the day after (1 ½ hr by collectivo each way)

15.12 - 16.12 MERIDA, by bus “Ado” (3 hr) and staying at “Hotel Los Arcos”, another nice colonial city and capital of the Yucatan state, from here we went to visit some cenote around the city by collectivos and the day after we did a tour to the ruins of Uxmal and Kabah

17.12 Night bus “Ado” to Palenque (9 hr)

18.12 PALENQUE, sleeping at “Posada Nacha Nkaan”, this is a small and so special city but is famous for the Mayan ruins near by. From here we could visit the Palenque arqueological site, and the waterfalls of Misol Ha and Agua Azul

19.12 Night bus “Occ” to San Cristobal (8 ½ hr)

20.12 - 23.12 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, sleeping at the “Posada Gite Del Sol” and for the last day at the “Posada La Catrina”. This is a beautiful town surrounded by the mountains, and is a good spot to discover the Chiapas region. We have been from here at the Canion Del Sumidero and Chiapa de Corzo village. The indigenous village of San Juan Chamula with it’s famous church, and in the city the Mayan medicine museum and the 2 hills of Cerro de Guadalupe and Cerro De San Cristobal

GUATEMALA

24.12 - 25.12 PANAJACHEL, with 2 different minivan “Tierra Maya” (10 hr) and sleeping at the hotel “Real Santander”, we arrived here just in time to spend the Christmas in this marvellous location over the Atitlan lake, going by boat around the villages of San Marcos, San Pedro and Santiago

26.12 ANTIGUA, by minivan “Tierra Maya” (4 hr) sleeping at “Hostel La Quinta”, visiting this nice colonial town, and we also did the trekking over the active Pacaya Vulcan

27.12 Collectivo to Guatemala city and then a night bus “Linea Dorada” to Flores (11 hr)

28.12 - 29.12 FLORES, staying at the “Posada Tayazal”, this is a small town over an island in the lake “Laguna de Peten” connected to the mainland by a road that cross the lake. From here we could visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal, just an hour away by bus

BELIZE

30.12 - 02.01 CAYE CAULKER, staying 2 days at the “Cindy lane” guest house and 2 days at the hotel “Barefoot caribe”, we arrived here by bus from Flores to Belize city (6 hr) and then with a taxi boat “San Pedro” to the caye (1 hr). On this relaxing island we did a lot of snorkelling around the coral reef, we had the new  year eve at the Split, the northern end of the island, and we have been at the Great Blue Hole, visiting another island called “Halfmoon Caye” and snorkelling in a place called “The Aquarium”

03.01 SAN PEDRO, arriving by the taxi boat “San Pedro” (1 hr) and sleeping at the “Ruby’s hotel”, this is the main city over the Caye Ambergis, just walking around the island we couldn’t do anything special because of the rain never stopped

04.01 As the rain never stopped, we decided to leave this place, taking first the taxi boat “San Pedro” back to Belize city (1 ½ hr) and from there a local bus “BBOC” to Corozal at the border with Mexico, crossing here by walk the border to reach the city of Chetumal

MEXICO

04.01 - 06.01 TULUM, from the Mexican border we took first a collectivo to  Chetumal (½ hr) and then a bus “Mayabus” to Tulum (4 ½ hr), here we found a room at “Maya Hotel”. This town is famous for the Mayan ruins just over the beach, and for it’s seaside which is one of the most beautiful on the Mexican Caribbean coast, but even here the weather wasn’t good at all

07.01 - 09.01 PLAYA DEL CARMEN, by collectivo (1 hr) and sleeping at “Papagayo Hotel”. This is one of the most touristic and expensive city, and even from here we couldn’t do anything because of the every day strong rain

10.01 We arrived at the airport by bus “Ado” (1 hr) and from here we flew back to Madrid with “Air Europa” (9 hr)

11.01 Last day of our trip, waiting in Madrid for the “Alitalia” connection flight to Rome (2 ½ hr)

TRIP DIARY: SOUTH AMERICA 2012 – 2013

One more season has finished working with Alitalia, and since this year, with American Airlines too, in Rome’s airport. This gave me the opportunity to save enough money to travel on the way to South America, first time for me in this continent, excited to explore new places and cultures.

With my girlfriend Francesca always at my side, we flew “coincidentally” with Alitalia to Buenos Aires where we started our South American round trip.

ARGENTINA

18.11 - 20.11 BUNENOS AIRES, we arrived here after 14 hours, early in the morning, just the time to collect our money, change some cash and we where on the way to the city centre, of course in the cheapest way, with a local bumpy public bus getting into town after 2 hours riding.

The cheapest solution we found was an hostel in San Telmo called “Rayuela”, then we have been around the market in this district and the next days we have been walking around La Boca, Recoleta, Puerto Madero, the Costanera reserve, Palermo and of course the city centre of BA

21.11 Night bus “Andesmar” to Puerto Madryn (18 ½ hr)

22.11 - 24.11 PUERTO MADRYN, sleeping at “El Gaucho” hostel, visiting from this relaxing town the Isla Escondita, Punta Tombo and the Peninsula Valdes where we did a whale watching boat tour

25.11 - 26.11 SARMIENTO, arriving first in Comodoro Rivadavia with “Don Otto” bus (8 hr) spending few hours in this awful city before taking the connection bus with “Etap” (2 ½ hr) to Sarmiento. We slept in this quiet town at the “Muster” hotel, and the day after we have been at the “Bosque Pietrificado”, a petrified old forest that now rest into a desert valley

27.11 Bus “etap” back to Comodoro Rivadavia (2 ½ hr) then a night bus to El Calafate (16 hr)

28.11 - 29.11 EL CALAFATE, staying at “Hostel Glaciar”, from here we could reach by bus (3 hr both ways) the awesome glacier “Perito Moreno”

30.11 - 01.12 EL CHALTEN, arriving here by bus (3 hr), staying at “Lo De Guille” guest house, this town is a trekker paradise, from here we did the trekking to Laguna Torre (6 hr), the trekking to the Laguna de los Tres and the Fitz Roy (8 hr) and another short trek to the Condor mirador (1 hr)

02.12 Travelling to Ushuaia for a total of 19 hours changing bus first at El Calafate and then in Rio Gallegos plus taking a ferry to cross the Magallanes strait with “Tecnoaustral” bus

03.12 - 06.12 USHUAIA, sleeping at “Mysten Kepen B&B”, A really nice, cold and windy city surrounded by snow topped mountains. Here we have been visiting the Museo Marittimo, trekking up to the Martial glacier and having a boat trip around the Beagle channel

CHILE

07.12 - 09.12 PUERTO NATALES, arriving by bus “Tecnoaustral” via Punta Arenas (16 hr) and sleeping at “Hostel Nataly”. From here we could visit the Torres Del Paine National Park and the “Cueva del Mylodon”

10.12 - 13.12 Travelling on the  “Navimag” ship for 3 days on the way to Puerto Natales, we navigate the spectacular Patagonian fiords, the “Brujo glacier” and the “De Penas” and ”Corcovado” gulfs

14.12 - 15.12 VALDIVIA, we actually docked in the Puerto Montt harbour and we reached by bus (1 hr) the city of Puerto Varas where we were supposed to stay, but because of the high accommodation prices and the strong never stopping rain we finally decided to take another bus (3 hr) to Valdivia, here we did a “family homestay” with a nice and helpful old couple who repaired my badly ripped backpack and gave us some good tips for visiting the area. We have been around the town, visiting the famous local market and we went at the coastal town of Niebla

16.12 - 19.12 VILLARRICA, by “Jac” bus (2hr) doing another “homestay” with a guy called Alex, into an old wooden house, and moving for the last day at “Don Juan hostel”. This is a lay down lake city surrounded by active volcanoes, from here we went at the thermal area called “Los Pozzones” (2hr changing 4 buses), we visited the more tourist town of Pucon and we tried to do a trekking in the Huerquehue National Park, giving up after 3 hours walking because of strong rain and hail

ARGENTINA

20.12 SAN MARTIN DE LOS ANDES, arriving here by bus “San Martin” (6 hr) via the Mamuil pass and sleeping at the “Sequoia hostel”, visiting this nice mountain town, sister city with the Italian Rocca di Cambio, here we could also do some trekking around the lake

21.12 Local bus to Neuquen (7 hr) where we changed to a night bus “Andesmar” to Mendoza (10 hr)

22.12 - 23.12 MENDOZA, sleeping at “Hostel Itaka” visiting the South American most famous wine city and also reaching by “Uspallata” bus (3 ½ hr each way)  the town of Puente del Inca, famous for a natural stone bridge over a thermal water site, from here starts also a trek which in 1 hour leads you on a top of a hill where you can have the best view of the Aconcagua Mountain

CHILE

24.12 - 28.12 SANTIAGO, by “Tur” bus (7 hr) via the Los Libertadores pass and sleeping at the “Providencia” hostel, exploring the city, here I had also to repair my camera. We spent the Christmas in Valparaiso (2 hr “Tur” bus each way) the amazing coloured harbour town not far from the capital

29.12 - 02.01 EASTERN ISLAND, also called Rapa Nui, arriving by flight Lan (5 ½ hr) and staying in the “Moana Tipanie” camping in Hanga Roa.

Here we had some problem because the Francesca’s backpack has been lost and delivered couple of days after. Except of this we had great time here doing a trekking up the Rano Kau volcano visiting the Orongo village, watching the spectacular sunsets in Ahu Tahai and enjoying the new year eve in the centre of Hanga Roa. One day we did an island round trip by bike (about 50km in 9 hr) visiting the Rano Raraku volcano, Tongariki and Anakena beach

03.01 SANTIAGO, arriving by “Lan” night flight (5 ½ hr) we went to sleep in the “Footstep” hostel, one more day around the city and we finally tried the most famous “Terremoto” cocktail

04.01 Night “Tur” bus to Calama (26 hr) where we changed to another bus to San Pedro

05.01 - 07.01 SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, staying in a cheap hostel, we have been around this particular town into one of the most famous and dry desert in the world, we also have been at the Geyser del Tatio, visiting the “Pueblo de Machuca”, doing sandboard at the Valle de la Muerte and having a sunset in the Valle de la Luna

08.01 Bus “Intertrans” back to Calama (2 hr) and then a night bus “Atacama Vip” to Arica (9 hr)

09.01 ARICA, we didn’t sleep here but we spent the day around the town, climbing the “Morro d’Arica” and visiting the local museum which has a famous big collection of Chincherro’s mummies. In the afternoon we took a local bus to Tacna in Peru, during the 2 hours trip we could see the Dakar rally passing by

PERU

09.01 TACNA, our first city in Peru, here we had a walk around and the dinner before boarding a night bus to Arequipa (8 ½ hr)

10.01 AREQUIPA, sleeping at the guest house “El Caminante” visiting around the city, Plaza de Armas and the Monastero Santa Catalina

11.01 CHIVAY, by minibus (5 ½ hr) via the Patahuasi reserve and the “mirador de los volcanes” pass, here we slept in a guesthouse, and we enjoyed the local “La Caldera” thermal baths

12.01 VALLE DEL COLCA, we had a full day (10 hr) on a bus around this famous valley, visiting Yanque, Achoma, Maca and the Cruz del Condor before going back to Arequipa where we had a night bus “Cruz del Sur” to Lima (16 hr)

13.01 - 21.01 LIMA, finally meeting with my uncle Maurizio and Cecilia, staying at their house in Miraflores. We had a great family time here, and also visiting around the city, one day we went with the 4WD car around the beautiful Paracas national park

ECUADOR

22.01 QUITO, by “Lan” flight from Lima (2 ½ hr) and staying at the “Hostal Belmont” hanging around the town

23.01 Night bus “Occidentales” to Lago Agrio (8 ½ hr), here we took another bus (2 hr) to reach a small dock called El Puente on a river in the Amazzonia, and here a small boat (3 hr) to finally reach the Cuyabeno reserve

24.01 - 26.01 CUYABENO RESERVE, lost in the middle of the Amazzonian forest, sleeping at the “Guacamayo” ecolodge, visiting from here by boat the rivers, the magnificent Laguna Grande, fishing piranhas, watching the crocodiles or, when not on the boat, walking day and night around the forest or visiting some small village of the local Siona community

27.01 Another long travelling day, first on the boat back to El Puente (2 ½ hr) then the bus back to Lago Agrio (2 hr) and finally the bus “Banos” back to Quito (6 ½ hr)

27.01 - 29.01 QUITO, back to sleep at the cheap “Hostal Belmont”, from the splendid Quito we have been around the city at the Mitad del Mundo and the Museo Solar Inti-Nan where you are over the equatorial line and you can do some experiments. One day we have been also at the Laguna Quilotoa, passing by the village of Pujili (6 hr by car)

30.01 Flight “Lan” back to Lima (2 ½ hr)

PERU

30.01 Night bus “Cruz del Sur” to Cuzco (21 hr)

31.01 - 02.02 CUZCO, sleeping at the “Hapu Wasi hostal”, visiting the magnificent city centre, the local markets and the ruins of Saqsaywaman

03.02 - 04.02 AGUAS CALIENTES, sleeping in a local hostal, we arrived here passing first with a tour bus the Valle Sagrato through the cities and the ruins of Pisac, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo where the “Inca Rail” train departs to Aguas Calientes (1 ½ hr). The day after early in the morning we could visit one of the world wonders, the majestic Machu Picchu, before going back in town to relax into the local thermal baths

05.02 On the way to Puno, taking first the “Inca Rail” train back to Ollantaytambo (1 ½ hr), then a collectivo back to Cusco (2 hr) and finally the night bus “Transzela” (7 hr)

06.02 - 07.02 PUNO, staying at “Urama Inn” hotel. The city itself isn’t as special as the lake is, but is the best place to visit the area and the Titikaka, here we boarded a boat to the Uros, the floating islands, and to the wonderful island of Isla Taquile

BOLIVIA

08.02 - 09.02 COPACABANA, by the “Huayruro tours” bus (3 ½ hr) and we found a cheap room in the “Hostal Ola del Titikaka”. This city is definitely nicer than Puno, we walked around the town, the market and the cathedral, then from here we could board on a boat to the Isla del Sol where we spent a day doing trekking all around the island, passing by the interesting villages and ruins of Challapampa, Roca Sagrada and the Chincana, Yumani and Pilkokaina

10.02 - 12.02 LA PAZ, by “Tur” bus (4 hr) and sleeping at “Hospedaje Millenio”. We have been around the city during the carnival celebration and we went one day at the Tiwanaku ruins

13.02 ORURO, arriving here by “Aroma” bus (4 hr), we stayed around the city before catching at night the “Wara Wara” train to Uyuni (7 hr)

13.02 - 14.02 UYUNI, we arrived at 2AM under an heavy cold rain so we decided to find an accommodation for the night instead of sleeping at the station for the first night. We found a cheap hostel for a few hours and then we moved to the “Mosoj” hotel, from this city we could organize a 3 days tou, here the only way to discover the area, unless you own a car, is by this agencies that provides you a 4WD with driver, at the end we picked the one called “Andrea tours”

15.02 VILLA ALOTA, Our trip with a Lexus 4WD starts in the morning in Uyuni, passing by the stunning Salar the Uyuni, having a lunch at the “Hotel de Sal”, a salt made hotel and then driving through the village of Colchani before arriving in a hostel in Villa Alota

16.02 LAGUNA COLORADA, driving all the day via the Valle de Rocas, mirador del volcan Ollague, the Lagunas Canapa, Chiarkota and Edionda, the Arbol de Piedra and arriving at the hostel. After leaving the baggage and having lunch we have been at the Sol del Manana Geyser, we had a bath in a thermal lake and we drove the Salvador Dali desert till the Volcan Licancabur which is at the border with Chile

17.02 UYUNI, driving all the day before arriving here, passing by the Lagunas Capina and Khara, the Valle de Rocas stopping at some ancient graffiti spot and the villages of Villa Alota and San Cristobal

18.02 POTOSI, by bus “quijarro” (4 hr) and staying at “Hostal Compania de Jesus”, visiting this old colonial city

19.02 SUCRE, by bus “Alonso Ibanez” (4 hr) and sleeping at the “Alojamento Guadalupe”,then visiting another nice colonial town

20.02 Night “Sin Fronteras” bus to Villamontes (19 hr)

21.02 VILLAMONTES, in this town lost in the Chaco region we were supposed to change bus to get into Paraguay, but arriving here we realized that this bus never existed, so after hanging around the town we caught another night bus “Copacabana” to get into Santa Cruz (7 hr)

22.02 SANTA CRUZ, we found a room at the hotel “ 6 de Agosto” just infront of the bus station, here finally we found a bus to Paraguay and after we went in the city centre for a walk. The same day at night the bus departed on the way to Asuncion (25 hr) crossing the semidesert region of the Chaco

PARAGUAY

23.02 - 24.02 ASUNCION, sleeping at “Hotel Del Sol”, visiting around the capital city centre and the Rio Paraguay banks

25.02 ENCARNACION, by minibus “Pycasu” (6 hr) and sleeping at the hotel “Itaipu”. This town is famous among the locals as a summer escape because of it’s big beach on the Rio Parana banks. From here we could also visit the Jesuit ruins of Trinidad and Jesus easily accessible by a local bus (1 hr each way)

26.02 Night bus “El Tigre” to Ciudad del Este (5 ½ hr)

27.02 CIUDAD DEL ESTE, staying at the hotel “Santo Domingo”, this is a busy market town at the border with Brazil, here we have been at “Itaipu Electric Dam” which is the world’s biggest dam, and then at the Salto del Monday waterfalls

ARGENTINA

28.02 PUERTO IGUAZU, arriving here from Paraguay by boat (1 hr) and sleeping at the “Hostel Sweet Hostel” from here we have been at the dramatic world famous Iguazu waterfalls

01.03 Night bus “Singer” to Concordia (14 hr)

02.03 CONCORDIA, we spent a few hours in this city before taking the bus “Chadre” to Salto in Uruguay (1 hr)

URUGUAY

02.03 - 04.03 MONTEVIDEO, from the city of Salto with the bus “Agencia Central” (6 hr) and staying at the “Hospedaje Montevideo”. Visiting around this fascinating city, and also going for a day in Punta del Este by bus “Copsa” (2 hr each way)

05.03 COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO, by bus “Turil” (2 hr) and sleeping at the “Espanol Hostel”, this is a charming old colonial city on the Rio de la Plata

06.03 Our last day in South America, here we took the boat “Seacat” on the way back to Buenos Aires (1 hr). As we had to catch a flight the only fast option from the harbour was a taxi (1 hr) to reach the airport where we flew back in Rome with Alitalia (14 hr)

TRIP DIARY: 2011 Christmas in eastern Europe

After working 5 months at the airport with Alitalia my contract ended up, which is a good reason for starting travelling again, so one day me and Luca decided to get the cheapest ticket to go somewhere,and the cheapest solution was going to Poland, in Gdansk with Wizzair, only 40 bucks were enough to start our trip.

5.12 - 8.12 GDANSK, we arrived here from Rome with wizz air, spent the first night in the airport and the others in a hostel, then from here we visited the famous teutonic castle of Malbork and the beach town of Sopot.
9.12 - 10.12 WARSAW, by night train, here we found to sleep in a weird anarchist hostel, here we could meet with Marco, arrived to join us a few days from Rome, and we spent couple of days around the town.
11.12 - 13.12 KRAKOW, by night train, here we stayed in another weird hostel, this time a communist one. staying around the town and visiting the Auschwitz concetration camp and the city of Wieliczka with the famous salt mine, then marco went back to Italy after that.
14.12 WROCLAW, by train, we arrived in the middle of the night and we slept at the bus station, we spent a full day around this nice city before taking a bus to Prague from here
14.12 - 17.12 PRAGUE, arrived night time at the bus station, we went to "hostel one" to sleep and we spent the next few days walking around the city
18.12 BRNO, just couple of hours away from Prague, we spent a full day here visiting the city and the castle before taking late afternoon a bus to Wien
18.12 - 21.12 WIEN, arriving here very late at night by bus we found a small hostel little bit far from the city centre, spending a few days around the city, we also have been so lucky to meet here the real Santa Claus and hanging around with him.
22.12 ROME, back home after 16 hours on a battered bus full of weird passengers from Wien to "Autostazione Tiburtina"

TRIP DIARY: Bangkok to Ostia Lido overland trip 2010

THAILAND

9.3 - 12.3 BANGKOK, our trip starts here, me and Francesca left Sydney by flight (15hr) and here we could meet the second day with Lorenzo, and we started to organize our trip back to Italy, first rule, NO flights!
We stayed at New Joe guest house near "Khaosan Road", we visited around the city and we left the passports for the visa applications
13.3 - 15.3 KOH CHANG, by bus, ferry and ute (7hr) we could reach this beautiful island, we stayed at the Independent guest house and we shared our room with Marco, an Italian guy we met on the bus. This was our relaxing holiday between the white sandy beach of Sai Khao and the Khlong Phlu waterfall
16.3 - 17.3 BANGKOK, by ute, ferry and bus (12hr) back here for picking up our passports with Chinese and Vietnamese visa, and we stayed around the "red shirt" protests, where thousands of people were protesting against the government dictatorship asking freedom and democracy and tragically ended up by Thai's army few months later
18.3 Travelling overnight, by train "fan sleeper" from Bangkok to UBON RATCHATHANI (14hr)

LAOS

19.3 - 20.3 PAKSE', getting the Laos border by ute and minivan, we could get the visa at the border and paying a one dollar bribe to get the stamp and taking another minibus from the border to the city (6hr). We stayed at Nalin Thachaleun guest house and we met Jasmin, an Indian owning a restaurant there, he made the best chicken sandwich ever
21.3 - 22.3 DON DET, one of the hardest trip (8hr) taking a minivan and a boat crossing the Mekong to Champassak, where we visited the Khmer temple of Wat Phu, and then by tuk tuk and boat crossing for second time the Mekong, and taking a lift by a sugar truck first and private car after, and finally another boat to Don Det, one of the Laos four thousand islands (Si Phan Don). We stayed at Tho's bungalows and we went the day after at the waterfalls, Don Khong and we arrived at Cambodian border for seeing the Pink dolphins
23.3 PAKSE' , by boat, minivan and tuk tuk (3hr) and we caught a bus to Huè in Vietnam
24.3 - 25.3 DANSAVANH, after an overnight bus trip (7hr) where we broke a tyre and we were packed with lots of people, we have been stopped at the Vietnamese border for some visas problem, 2 days in this small village with no food and money, we found a room at Nha Tro guest house and we have been helped by local people giving us food, beers and teaching Lao language.

VIETNAM

26.3 - 27.3 HUE, by walk, minivan and taxi (5hr) finally in Vietnam, travelling with the most famous "mama contrabando" from Lao border, we stayed at Phon Lan guest house and visited the Dai Noi fort
28.3 DONG HOI, by train "hard seat" and walk (3hr) we met a strange Japanese guy at the station, we shared a room with him at Phong Trang guest house and we went at Nhat Le beach
29.3 - 30.3 DONG HA, by train "hard seat" first which had broke down at night, we met other 2 Swiss guys and together we walked in the dark rice fields for over an hour, and finally we could reach a road and find a bus with a strange driver smoking a bong all time and we could finally reach the city before sunrise (7hr) the day after we went visiting the DMZ during the war was the border line between north and south Vietnam
31.3 - 1.4 NINH BINH, by night bus (10hr) sleeping at Queen Mini hotel, visiting the city temple and the amazing Tam Coc
2.4 - 3.4 HANOI, by "hard seat" train (2hr) staying at Wing hotel
4.4 LAO CAI, by "soft seat" night train (9hr) we arrived here early morning, and we walked half n'hour to reach the Chinese border and waiting there few hours the opening time, after that we finally could reach Hekou, the Chinese border town and we went at the bus station

CHINA

5.4 KUNMING, by local bus (9hr), we stayed at Camelia hostel and we spend 2 full days around our first big and modern city in china
6.4 Travelling overnight by "sleeper" train to Chengdu (19hr)
7.4 - 12.4 CHENGDU, we went at the Sim's Cozy hostel, the starting point for arrange our trip and a group of 10 persons on the way to Tibet, it take us a while to arrange all the paperwork documents
13.4 - 14.4 Travelling by "sleeper" train to Lhasa (44hr) the longest trip i've evere made by train crossing the Tibetan plateau

TIBET

15.4 - 17.4 LHASA, staying at Lhasa International hostel, always strictly controlled by the Chinese army we could visit around the city centre, Potala palace, Jokhang temple, Sera monastery and the Tibet museum whit lot of propaganda
18.4 SHIGATSE, by bus (10hr) stopping on the way at the Yamdrok lake, Nancatse, Yantse, Baiju temple and the Kharola glacier (5560mt) and finally arriving at Tenzin hotel
19.4 EVEREST BASE CAMP, by bus (9hr) via New Tingri and the Dingri Quomolagma National Park, and once arrived there we slept overnight into a Tibetan tent
20.4 OLD TINGRI, by bus (6hr) early morning we did 1 hr trekking to reach the second base camp and enjoy a better Everest view, and then back to the bus and crossing the Plateau desert, we stayed at the Tingri Snowland hostel and here we had the chance to stay without any guide watching us and walk around the Tibetan desert for 2 days, maybe the best Tibetan experience
21.4 SHIGATSE, by bus (5hr) back here again at the Tenzin hostel
22.4 LHASA, by bus (6hr), back to the Lhasa International hostel, spending our last day in Tibet

CHINA

23.4 - 24.4 Travelling by train back to Chengdu (45hr)
25.4 CHONGQUING, by "fast" train (2hr) from Chengdu, sleeping at Tina's hostel and visiting around the city and the Yangtze river
26.4 Travelling by "sleeper" train (20hr) to Guilin
27.4 - 28.4 GUILIN, staying at the Flowers hostel and visiting the Shan lake, Solitary Beauty peak, Li river and Fubo hill
29.4 Travelling by night "sleeper" bus (15hr) to Zhuhai, the Chinese border to Macau

MACAU

30.4 - 1.5 CENTRAL MACAO, by bus (1hr) we slept into a brothel in "Rue Della Felicitad" as it was the cheapest place we found, visiting around Largo do Senado, Forteza, Church of St. Paul, fisherman's wharf, casino Lisboa and on the southern island Coloane village, Che Do Van and Hac Sa beach

HONG KONG

2.5 - 5.5 KOWLOON, by ferry from Macau (1hr) we stayed at Grand guest house inside the Chongqing mansion, the first independent building I’ve ever seen. We applied for the Russian and the second Chinese visas and we visited the Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong Island, Victoria peak, HK park and Lamma Island
6.5 Travelling by night "sleeper" train (21hr) to Shanghai, where we met 2 guys from Ostia and Fiumicino

CHINA

7.5 SHANGHAI, staying at Innjoy hostel one night and two full days, visiting People's square, The bund, Oriental Pearl tower, Yu garden and we went by train to Suzhou and we did a boat ride over Pingjiang canal
8.5 Travelling by night "standing" train (13hr) all night long without seats on the way to Beijing
9.5 - 13.5 BEIJING, arriving at Dreams Travel hostel after 2hr walk, here we arranged the Mongolian visa, and Lorenzo his trip in North Korea and we visited Tiananmen square, Forbidden city, Jingshan park, Hutong, Qianhai lake, Silk market, Mao's Mausoleum and the Great Chinese Wall at Badaling. Then we separate few days with Lorenzo and Me and Francesca we went to Datong
14.5 Travelling overnight by "hard seat" train to Datong (6hr)
15.5 DATONG, staying at CITS hotel, a smelly and polluted city but where we could visit the beautiful Hengshan Mountain monastery, Yungang Caves, a Great Wall section, Nine Dragon screen, Red square and the Datong park
16.5 Travelling by "hard seat" train (6hr) back to Beijing
17.5 - 19.5 BEIJING, back at the Dreams Travel hostel, and still visiting around the Egg opera, Temple of Heaven, Pearl market, Yashow market and The Village. We also met an Italo-Australian girl who lives there and invited us for dinner, the last day Lorenzo was back from North Korea and Francesca left china by flight back to Italy as she has to return back to her job
20.5 ERLIAN, after travelling by a "sleeping" bus (10hr), we arrived early morning and we went sleeping on the sly into an hotel over a coach first and then into the small Chinese army office at the border waiting the opening time

MONGOLIA

21.5 ZAMIIN UUD, we spend 6hr to cross the border, taking 2 different cars for doing less than 4 km, we get lost into the Gobi Desert then and we went to sleep into a small local hotel near the station, we have also been arrested by a cop somewhere in the desert, because he thought we passed by walk the border without visa
22.5 Travelling by "soft sleeper" train (16hr) to the capital city, at the station we also met 2 Spanish guys, Xavi and Andreu and we started travelling together around Mongolia
23.5 - 24.5 ULAAN BAATAR, staying at the Golden Gobi hostel, we visited Sukhbaatar square, Parliament building and the Gandan Monastery, here we also met Bolod, a funny Mongolian man owning an hostel and speaking about 10 languages Italian included, by him we could arrange the best wild trip around the Mongolian countryside with an UAZ-452, a Russian 4WD minivan, also an American guy, Nicholas, joined us
25.5 - 27.5 MONGOLIAN STEPPES, driving around for about 20hr in 3 days and sleeping in a yurt or doing a campsite, we met some nomads where we could do few hours of horse riding, hiking some hills and enjoying that beautiful landscape, we also went to the Genghis Khan springs and we saw the last day his  enormous statue
28.5 - 30.5 ULAAN BAATAR, back here this time at the Golden Gobi II hostel, me and Lorenzo left the other guys and we arranged our trip through Siberia
31.5 - 1.6 Travelling by "kupè" train (34hr) to Irkutsk in Russia

RUSSIA

2.6 IRKUTSK, via Ulan Ude, we stayed at the Admiral Hostel, visiting the city and by minibus (2hr) we went at Listvyanka on the Lake Baikal banks
3.6 - 4.6 OLKHON ISLAND, by bus and ferry (6½hr) staying at Nikita, and walking around Khuzir village and this island on the Baikal lake, one of the best spot on earth
5.6 IRKUTSK, back here by ferry and bus (6hr)
6.6 KRASNOYARSK, by night "platskart" train (18hr) walking to the Yenisey river and the Stolby nature reserve
7.6 NOVOSIBIRSK, by night "platskart" train (12hr) visiting the Ob Sea and Akademgorodok
8.6 TYUMEN, by night "platskart" train (18hr) staying around the city centre and Tura river
9.6 TOBOLSK, by night "platskart" train (4hr) where we could see the beautiful Kremlin
10.6 YEKATERINBURG, by night "platskart" train (11hr), visiting around the city centre, Iset river and the Church of Blood
11.6 KAZAN, by night "platskart" train (15½hr) visiting the centre, Kremlin, Kul Shariff Mosque and the Volga river
12.6 MOSCOW, by night "platskart" train (13hr) where finally we could relax after the transiberian trip, we stayed at the Red Star hostel-museum, and the day after we visited the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, GUM and the KGB headquarter
13.6 - 14.6 SAINT PETERSBURG, by night "platskart" train (7hr), staying at the Crazy Duck hostel we went to the Kazan Cathedral, Church of the Resurrection, Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Hermitage also know as The Winter Palace
15.6 Travelling by night "soft seat" train (7hr) back to Moscow, and we went to have lunch in at the Red Star hostel before leaving again
16.6 Travelling by night "platskart" train (13hr) to Kiev in Ukraine

UKRAINE

17.6 KIEV, where we stayed at Kiev Lodging, here we met 2 Dutch guys, Martijn and Joost, and we spent couple of days with them around the city centre, St. Michael's Cathedral and the Dnipro river
18.6 Travelling by night "platskart" train (10hr) to Odessa
19.6 - 20.6 ODESSA, staying at Tiu Frontpage hostel we had few relaxing days over the beach and around the Opera Theatre and the Potemkin Steps
21.6 Travelling overnight by bus (5hr) to Moldova

MOLDOVA

22.6 CHISINAU, the capital city, the only way to reach faster Romania from Ukraine, we spent the day around the city and the public gardens before taking our bus to Bucharest

ROMANIA

23.6 BUCHAREST, by night bus (14hr)we went to sleep to some Lorenzo's father friend's house, Dani, who showed us around the city, People's Palace and the Arcul de Triumf
24.6 Travelling by "seat" train to Belgrade (14hr)

SERBIA

25.6 BELGRADE, staying at Sun hostel and visiting the Kalemegdan Fort, Hram sv Save Cathedral and the Danube river
26.6 Travelling by night bus (8hr) to Kosovo

KOSOVO

26.6 - 30.6 PRIZREN, staying at Setki and Dani's house, one of the best and relaxing spot during the whole trip, they give us a really nice hospitality and Setki could show us with his red Ford Transit van around Prizren, Pristina, and the Sar Mountains and we could help him with his job
1.7 Travelling by night bus (13hr) to Sarajevo, passing again the border with Serbia first

BOSNIA

2.7 - 3.7 SARAJEVO, sleeping at Ljubicica hostel in a cheap 21 bed room, we visited around the old town, Military fortress and the famous Latin bridge
4.7 MOSTAR, by bus (5hr) in the Herzegovina region, visiting this beautiful city and then going back to Sarajevo to catch the next bus

CROATIA

5.7 SPLIT, by night bus (7hr) we saw the Diocleziano's Palace and the city centre and then we took a ferry to BRAC (2hr) where we spent a day here and around his village "Supetar"
6.7 ZAGREB, by night bus (5½hr) from Split, few hour stop over here before taking the bus to Slovenia

SLOVENIA

6.7 LJUBLJANA, by bus (2½hr), sleeping at DIC hostel we spent the afternoon around the centre

ITALY

7.7 TRIESTE, by bus (2½hr) arriving here early morning we could walk around the city, piazza Unità d'Italia. molo Audace and the fortress and feel the famous northern wind "la Bora" 
 8.7 OSTIA LIDO, arriving in Rome by "seat" train (9hr) at Tiburtina station, than taking the subway and the Lido-line train to "Lido Centro" station and taking the last bus "06 Line" finally back home!

We took 90 means of transport: 32 trains, 22 buses, 12 minibus, 9 ferries, 4 boats, 3 utes, 3 cars, 2 tuk tuk, 2 taxi and 1 truck. Travelling for a total of about 653 hours.

TRIP DIARY: India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Australia 2009/2010

28.10 10:55AM.. Me, Francesca and Marco had a flight from Rome to India, stopping few hours at Doha in Qatar, finally our trip can start!

INDIA 

29.10 - 1.11 NEW DELHI, (11hr flight) It's always a shock landing the first time in India, we stayed at Paharganj, the cheap backpackers suburb, visiting: (30.10) Connaught place, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Gandhi memorial, Lotus temple, Humayun's tomb. (21.10) Indian gate. (1.10) Birla Mandir, Central Ridge reserve forest
2.11 - 4.11 JAIPUR, by an overnight sleeping bus (8hr) visiting the Pink city, Albert museum, Hawa Mahal, Jal mahal, Amber fort and city palace
5.11 - 8.11 AGRA, by morning train "hard sleeper" (8hr), visiting the Agra fort, Taj Mahal and we went by car at Fatehpur Sikri
9.11 GORAKHPUR, by night "sleeper" train (14hr) one of the worst trip packed with other 3 Indians seating on my bed, we arrived at this dirty and sandy town not far from Nepal's border

NEPAL 

10.11 - 11.11 BHAIRAHAWA, by bus (5hr) we stayed at this border town, and the day after we went to Lumbini by bus, taking 3hr for doing 30km as we broke down several times, engine, tyre and windshield, to reach the Buddha's birthplace
12.11 - 14.11 KATHMANDU, by minivan (12hr) staying at Thamel district and where we could organize and buying some stuff for the trekking on the way to the "Everest Base Camp"

EBC TREK

15.11 PHAKDING (2500mt) arriving first at LUKLA (2840mt) in the morning by a scaring half n'hour flight with Agni Air and then 5hr trekking to reach Phakding
16.11 - 17.11 NAMCHE BAZAR (3400mt) after 9hr trekking, here we spent 2 days for the altitude acclimatization, the second day was fortunately the only one during the whole trek where was raining and snowing at night, we could walk around some market and Buddhist temple 
18.11 DEBOCHE (3800mt) after 7hr trekking, stopping few hours on the way at the Tengboche monastery
19.11 - 20.11 DINGBOCHE (4400mt) after 5hr trekking, other 2 days for the second altitude acclimatization stop, reading some books and doing the laundry using ice instead of soap 
21.11 LOBUCHE (4900mt) after 4 ½ hr trekking, we started feeling effects of altitude and cold with temperature dropping at -10 C° at night
22.11 GORAK SHEP (5200mt) after 2hr trekking, one of the highest settlement in the world, all day long with temperature below zero and rare air, sleeping at night with about -15C°, we took the last 2 ½ hr uphill trekking to the top of KALA PATTHAR (5545mt) and it's stunning view of Mt. Everest
23.11 - 24.11 DINGBOCHE (4400mt) after 5hr trekking, we stopped again here and the second day we went up to Ama Dablam's lake after 2 hr trek
25.11 - 27.11 NAMCHE BAZAR (3400mt) after 7 ½ hr trekking, where the 24.11 from there we went up to KHUMJUNG after 1 ½ easy trekking, where we could see the Yeti's scalp into a Buddhist monastery
28.11 LUKLA (2840mt) after 8hr trekking, our last day around the Himalaya's range, we where totally exhausted after a total of 59 hr trekking in 2 weeks but was a great experience 

29.11 - 1.12 KATHMANDU, flying back with the mini "unsafe" plane from Lukla, we had finally enough time to visit the Boudhanath Stupa, Pashupatinath, Patan square, Swayambhunath Monastery and around the city centre
2.12 Travelling from Kathmandu to Varanasi (28hr trip) by bus first to Birganj, then we get an horse coach from there to the Indian border first and then to the city of Raxaul, where we found a local train to Sagauli and there we changed to another train taking the "hard sleeper" class to Varanasi

INDIA

3.12 - 6.12 VARANASI, also know as Benares, the holiest Indian city, on the Gange's banks whit it's numerous Ghats, a real sacred experience
7.12 - 8.12 Travelling from Varanasi to Kolkata, 35 hr "hard sleeper" train, it was supposed to be an 8 hr trip, but we took the wrong train first, getting lost in some Indian country side, and changing to another slow train that brought us after two nights and one day to destination
9.12 - 15.12 KOLKATA, one of the most catholic city in India, we stayed at the YMCA hostel, visiting around Sudder and Park street, Victoria Memorial and the Millennium Park, and we arranged the Bangladesh visa

BANGLADESH

16.12 - 19.12 DHAKA, by bus (14hr) the capital city and also one of the busiest city in the world, spending few days here we could see the Supreme Court, Curzon Hall, Ramna Park, Old Dhaka, Nawabpur and Baitul Mukarram Mosque

MALAYSIA

20.12 - 21.12 KUALA LUMPUR, by flight (3½hr) our stop over on the way to Perth, 2 nice and relaxing days, staying at Matahari Lodge near Chinatown, visiting the Tasik Perdana lake, Butterfly park, Dataran Merdeka and back at the Batu Caves

AUSTRALIA

22.12.2009 - 10.2.2010 PERH, by flight (5hr) staying at Beatty Lodge first and then at the same house with Francesca and my friends Paolo and Francesco Moro, and other few people from Marzocca and Senigallia.. we spend all together Christmas and new years eve there, we went on Rotnest Island as well and after the festivity Marco moved to Mildura for working and get the extension visa, me I did many jobs but as I was only with tourist visa was impossible to keep any job for more than a week so me and Francesca decided after 2 months to move to Sydney, so we found a campervan to relocate in 6 days to Syd for just a dollar per day and we started our coast to coast trip.
11.2 SOUTHERN CROSS, 11hr driving, our first stop, we picked up Kart, an Estonian girl who needed a lift to Port Augusta and we did the trip together,  we arrived here via Wave Rock
12.2 CAIGUNA, 13hr driving, stopping on the way at Coolgardie, Karlgoorlie, Mt. charlotte, the Superpit and Norseman
13.2 WIRRULLA, 12hr driving, via the Nullarbor Plain and stopping at the Great Australian Bight
14.2 YUNTA, 15hr driving, via Kimba, Iron Knob, Whyalla, Port Augusta where we dropped off Kart, Orroroo and Peterborough
15.2 NARROMINE, 15hr driving, stopping at Broken Hill where we visited the Miners Memorial, Desert Sculpture and the White Rocks site
16.2 - 8.3 SYDNEY, 8hr driving, via the Blue Mountain. Here we stayed at Tokyo Village hostel, and finally I could find a cash in hand job into a clothes factory and we visited around the city, we did the beautiful coastal walking and we went to Parramatta and back from there by the river boat. 

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