OverlandSphere » Overland To Australia

Laos

Overland To Australia — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:24:22 +0000

I arrived in Laos and Laos didn’t even know it. In fact, I was in Laos for about an hour, had lunch and a beer before I decided I should get a visa. I hopped in the car and started asking around: Where do I get my passport stamped? I had entered Laos by barge. Mekong and me. Most people…

Malaysia and Thailand

Overland To Australia — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:09:04 +0000

- Updates - The humblest of my apologies for the wait. I’ve been quite busy lately. No wait – that’s not the word. Lazy. Yeah, that’s it. Also, the computer goblins absconded with a nearly complete version of this at one point, so consider my responsibility shirked. So whither art thou, Adam? I’m in Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya…

India

Overland To Australia — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:34:50 +0000

Some Numbers Days in India: 61 Distance driven: ~3,000 kilometers Number of times I had to veer to avoid an elephant: 1 Shocks Replaced: 4 Sensors broken by Nissan mechanics while replacing the shocks: 2 Amount they wanted to charge me to fix their mistake: $400 Prison sentence if I had acted on my fantasy of strangling the service manager: …

Pakistan

Overland To Australia — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:21:00 +0000

When outlining the itinerary for this trip, Pakistan was supposed to be a means to an end. I’d spend 10 days, more or less, transiting a country that had me wetting my pants with fear in the lead-up to the border crossing. It’s a testament to the charm of Pakistan, and also to my half-baked preparation that I spent well…

The Islamic Republic Of Iran

Overland To Australia — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:33:39 +0000

Iran is long in the rear-view now, and the post-game roundup has been rattling around in the back of my head like the unknown object that fell through the parking brake casing into the chassis. It’s late enough after the party that memories are starting to blur together: Did we eat goat brain in Tehran or Shiraz? Is that photo…

The World Is A Dangerous Place, If You Worry About It

Overland To Australia — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:39:39 +0000

We’ve experienced the interesting phenomenon as we’ve moved eastward of being fervently warned against the terrors and the dangers of the bogeymen we are bound to encounter further east. It began as far back as Bosnia, where we were cautioned about driving through Serbia, but has been more pronounced ever since Turkey. In Istanbul, we we were warned about traveling…

Do You Have The Persianality To Drive In Iran?

Overland To Australia — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:48:39 +0000

It’s 6 in the evening and we’re driving into Tabriz, Iran. The sun went down 30 minutes ago, but we’ve been driving through a storm-induced twilight for the last few hours. The air is thick with diesel fumes and giant sticky-wet snowflakes and the visibility is from here to the taillights of the next car. Of course, when only about…

Turkey: Anatolia

Overland To Australia — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:52:51 +0000

Here are some firsts from the drive from central to eastern Turkey the past couple of days: First time Jae has outright rejected one of my travel suggestions. I wanted to squat in a creepy abandoned campsite/hostel on a lonely road outside of Erzican, a city that doesn’t even warrant a mention in the Lonely Planet; he refused. Sure, the…

Turkey: Istanbul and the South

Overland To Australia — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:14:19 +0000

The End Of The World Just over 400 years ago, in the year 1000 in the Islamic calendar, the world didn’t end. This was contrary to the message that the foremost prognosticators, seers and doomsayers in the Ottoman Empire were spreading in the streets and in the ears of the religious ruling class. The end of the world has been…

Islands Fit For A (Exiled) Prince

Overland To Australia — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:37:56 +0000

The Princes’ Islands were so named for the exiled princes that were sent there in the Byzantine era. The abandoned house we explore in this album is one of many on the islands, which have fallen precipitously from grace since their heyday. Apparently Ataturk once stayed in this house, but to listen to Turkish people tell it, Ataturk posted up…

Istanbul

Overland To Australia — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:04:28 +0000

Istanbul, a set on Flickr. One month waiting in Istanbul = Lots of time to take pictures, smoke hookah and play backgammon.…

Bulgaria, Plain And Tall

Overland To Australia — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:09:22 +0000

Bulgaria, a set on Flickr. Here’s the thing: Bulgaria is too agreeable by half. It provides for a pleasant enough place to visit, and no real negatives. But when the best emotion you get out of a country is indifference, that’s almost worse than a bad experience. Bulgaria is bland in the same sad way as plain yogurt. Plain yogurt…

Bosnia: Nothing To Balk At

Overland To Australia — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:24:47 +0000

Mostar Old Bridge If your conception of Bosnia and Herzegovina, like mine, was last informed by Dan Rather in 1995, then your prejudices are desperately out of date. The grayscale world of rubble, graffitied slogans and shawled babushkas pushing onion carts is an image completely detached from modern-day Bosnia, which has shaken off the dust of mortared concrete and is…