I am currently back in Ulaan Baatar after sleeping some nights in a traditional ger tent at the Mongolian plains. After five days on the Trans-Siberian train, that freezing tent felt like pure luxury but right now I’m glad to be back in civilization (sort of) with an internet connection.
I got off the Trans-Siberian express at 7 am after four nights of irregular sleep, placing my dusty shoes on the pavement of the Ulaan Bataar railway station. When tired and hungry, you are an easy target for the shadowy existences walking around here. Luckily it was sunday morning and the Mongols tend to sleep a lot.
I shared cabin with a Russian couple on a night train from Helsinki to Moscow earlier this week. They told me that a plane had crashed near Perm with 80 dead and some damage done to the Trans-Siberian railway. Since I was about to embark on the Trans-Siberian a few days later and pass the city of Perm, I was curious on how this would effect my journey.
I just got back from a trip to Riga, the capital of Latvia. Apart from delicious Laima chocolate and lots of cobblestones, the city is home to a lethal brew with the somewhat mysterious name Black Balsam (or Melnais Balzams in Latvian).
The revered Bagpipe Bastards have just finished the Scotland branch of our worldwide tour. We came, we saw and we had a a fistful of haggis. The road was long and we covered like 1500 miles in a week with visits to uncountable cities, towns and villages.
The Isle of Skye is one of the most remote areas of Scotland, with the Hebrides archipelago around the corner. Despite narrow roads on hillsides with sharp turns and sheeps on the road, it’s very nice to explore the island by car. The countryside is charming and some places even have coffee.
I know that I should stay away from pancakes after my sturdy Moroccan breakfasts a few weeks ago, but I happen to be in Amsterdam and it would be close to illegal to miss the infamous Pancake Bakery at Prinsengracht, just a few blocks from the Anne Frank house along the canal.
What would you do if hundreds of people around you simply froze in their steps? This inspiring idea was explored by Improve Elsewhere in one of the busiest places in New York.
I’m in the busy town of Marrakech, Morocco. Around here they drink ridiculous amounts of green tea with tons of sugar, but the country is also renowned for their strong, black coffee. A decade has passed since my last coffee in a north African country, so I figured it was about time.
I just got back to civilization (sort of) after a dry bus ride through the Atlas mountain range. As the bus winded up the narrow roads along the mountain side, I caught myself thinking of the scene in Babel where the woman got shot through the window. She was a tourist passing through these areas by bus and the scene was shot in this area of Morocco.
