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

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