Rolling again!!

I've been back for a while now and while I'm enjoying living in London, I've already got my eye on the next challenge. Funnily enough, I first heard of this race from another volunteer when I was at the CRP in Dhaka last year. Honestly, I put this to the back of my mind as I wasn't expecting to be here in the UK for so long, but as fate closes a door, it opens a window. Here is mine.... http://bit.ly/uZPsAP

More info will be released in due course!!!

End of the road

After 150 days and 14'246 , miles (roughly) I've arrived at the Albert Docks to finish Rolling Back Home. Impossible is nothing.

Stairs in Sofia

My friend Monica lived on the second floor in her apartment block, I took the lift up to the fifth for more of a challenge.

What's this strange place?

After over 8 months out of the country I made it back from France today on the Eurostar (on a free upgrade while drinking wine) to London. I'm thinking of staying in London for a couple of days then heading back up north where the journey will officially end when I reach the Albert Docks. So, so close to the end now...

Catching up with old friends (part deux)

After Istanbul I made another very brief stop this time in Sofia where I caught up with Monica who I've not seen since working in Wildwood, NJ back in '08. Catching up with people after all this time is great but unfortunately my stop was brief with Monica sitting her MA exams and energy levels draining faster all the time, guess this 8 month stint is finally catching up with me, not to worry though should be back in London by the end of the week. Given that nothing exceptional happens...

Catching up with old friends

Leaving T'bilisi and trying to get to the small town I was aiming for in Turkey near the Iranian border took longer than I thought it would and it meant that I had to spend a night in Kars which wasn't so bad as one of the guys working there resembled Manuel from Fawlty Towers, that made me chuckle.

I made it to Diyadin the next day to meet Gokce who I've not seen since we worked together in South Carolina back in '05! It was great to catch up but slightly strange to find a city girl working as a teacher out in the sticks.

After 36 hours sat up on a bus then waiting to check in at the hostel my feet swelled up to a mammoth size which meant I spent the first day in Istanbul in bed. The second day included seeing some sights but after losing my iPod there was some time down at the police station making a report for the insurance. It's a cool city though and I definitely think that I'll go back there in the future.

I'm writing this blog from on board a bus heading to Sofia from Istanbul which means I'm entering country number 13. Almost home!

T'Bilisi Riots

Today is independence day here in Georgia and all week there have been protesters outside parliament which is at the top of the road where I'm staying, even last night when I passed there at about 9pm on my way back to the hostel there was a big crowd there but it was quiet. I woke up this morning to see hundreds of riot police on standby for the parade and saw this report on events last night: Police clash with protesters in Georgia

Burnout in Baku

The day after writing the last blog entry my body completely gave up on me, I've never had that before, it was just a huge wave of exhaustion and I didn't feel up to doing anything. I have to put it down to a week of travelling  and the lack of sleep that comes with it, out around the inaccessible Baku must have been the final straw before my body had enough and went on strike.

I've been taking it easy for a couple of days now and feeling much better for it. I've made my way to T'bilisi, Georgia where I'll be staying until the weekend when I have a bus ticket to a town called Agri in Turkey which is close to the Iranian border.

Across Kazakhstan

I got to Kazakhstan on an overnight bus ride from Urumqi on the 10th May, stayed in Almaty for a couple of days as I tried to get hold of a train ticket then took the 3 day train to Aktau. The train ride passed relatively quickly with the people on board friendly enough and getting food for me from the vendors when the train stopped.

It wasn't very accessible but I had a lower bunk and the toilet was about 10m away so it didn't take very long even though I was on the floor. The thing I was relieved about was that it was a western toilet on the train and not the typical eastern hole in the floor as I knew that would get messy.

We passed through the mountainous landscapes of Almaty before the desert-like stretches where camels were getting herded by a man on a donkey. It got hot on the second day of train travel and all I did was sleep, after leaving the step (desert place) on the third day I was feeling like the majority of the travel was over with 2 of 3 nights having passed.

My stay in Aktau was a lot shorter than I anticipated and in down to my friend Artur. This guy is something else. I couldn't find the Azeri consulate and deciding to take a break I went into a cafe to ask directions, Artur heard and offered to drive me. When we got to the consulate it was closed for lunch, he had free time so he said we could hang out and we'd go to the consulate when it opened.

To cut a long story short in the space of 5 hours I went from not being able to find the consulate to being sat in the waiting room for the ferry and it was all thanks to help from Artur.

It was a long wait (24 hours) before I left Aktau but after a night of drinking vodka with the crew I've made it to Baku and into country number 10. Not long left now.

RBH: The Movie

I reposted the RBH video on Vimeo so that the music will work after it was removed by youtube. See it in all its glory here >>>> RBH Video

Unexpected delays

After getting the visa yesterday I was ready to make a move over the border in Kazakhstan today but when I tried to book the bus ticket I found out that the border is closed on weekends! That's something I wasn't expecting and means that I'll be in Urumqi until Monday when the next bus leaves for Almaty. I guess it's lucky that I found this out before buying the ticket as opposed to finding out at the border.

Kazakh visa - check

For some reason I thought there was going to be some problem getting this visa for Kazakhstan, probably because when I dropped off the application the guy there was asking for a detailed itinerary and wanted to see the hotel reservations when I came back, I brought them and he didn't bother to look which is okay because I got the visa all the same. So, that means just one more visa for Azerbaijan then it's going to be a visa-free trip from there or plain sailing as I like to think of it (fingers crossed).

Last stop in China

I arrived in Urumqi a couple of hours ago and found myself an accessible hostel, one that is up 2 flights of stairs. Nevermind. Check out my route so far as I'm close to passing the 9000 mile mark RBH Route

Terracotta Army

On my way to Kazakhstan I've made a quick stop in Xi'an as it was on the way and as it gave me the chance to see the Tearracotta Army, the army made by the first Qin emperor to protect him after he died. I think that part is a bit mental.

The size of the army is impressive with over 7000 items being discovered and each of the soldiers with its own unique face.

I'm feeling better as I get closer to Europe as I see that as the place where things will just become much simpler for me, my only concern now is getting the last few visas that I need to get back.

Great day at the Great Wall

Today was my first full day in Beijing and I took advantage of what it had to offer by booking myself on a tour of the Great Wall. I heard that it was possible to access the wall as there was a lift there, the wall wasn't accessible just the cable car station. I needed help to get up the hill that lead up to the station which was really steep and full of cobble stones making an ascent on my own impossible. Getting out of the cable car at the top I was gutted to see more steps leading up to the viewing platform, I wasn't about to give up on this though so I lifted myself up about a fifty steps to get some access to some incredible views!

Im in Chin

The crossing by ferry wasn't ideal, it was a bumpy ride on a boat that wasn't accessible. Stairs and elevators, bathrooms that took some tricky navigating but on the plus side they did bring me breakfast in bed as the restaurant wasn't accessible and they had a karaoke party that was funny to watch even without understanding what it was they were singing.

After a rough crossing of the East China Sea I got back into Shanghai yesterday morning 2 months since I was last here. I'll be here for a day or so before moving up to Beijing and last night I got to go and watch the play that I auditioned for last time I was here which was a great, I even got the job as camera man for the evening which was a first.

Kyoto and Nara

My timing to come and check out the more scenic areas of Japan could not have been better, it's currently time for the cherry blossoms to come through and so I get to see this annual event in all its glory in one of the best places to see it, quite lucky really.

Spent some time in Kyoto and then took a day trip to Nara which was excellent, it was great weather and was fun just to wander round the parks and lakes there. They have a lot of wild deer that just freely roam around Nara but every time I tried to get close to one it would just run off. Either they're scared of the wheelchair or I smell bad. I hope they're scared of the chair!

I collected my Chinese visa on Monday, I was a bit concerned about getting this visa as I couldn't give them all the information that they normally require i.e. my return ticket out of there, but the letter that I have from the British embassy explaining what it is that I'm doing worked like a charm and I can stay for 30 days (probably won't need that long).

Dropped by the British consulate to pick up my new passport that I ordered way back when I was in Kathmandu, now there's no chance of me running out of pages no matter how much I extend this trip. Also booked my ferry to China which will leave this Friday on a 48 hour cruise to Shanghai where I plan to get a train up to Beijing. This is an exciting part of the trip because now, for the first time since I left Bangladesh, I'm actually going in the right direction!

Arrival in Japan

I've been in Osaka, Japan for 4 days now and nothing around here suggests that they had a major (and ongoing) disaster just one month ago. From what I've been told there are massive shortages and rolling blackouts in Tokyo but I haven't seen anything down here.

I met up with Kiji a couple of days ago and his parents were good enough to let me stay at their place for the weekend. Kiji has been in a wheelchair for 21 years and in that time he's visited 108 countries which has really raised the bar for me.

As with the rest of eastern Asia the transport is really good and fully accessible allowing me to explore no problem. I looked around the 1970 expo today and in the Japanese gardens there manage to back wheel down 64 steps which is a personal best, unfortunately no one was there to record it for me.

Nearing North Korea

I headed us to the capital Seoul a couple of days ago with sole intention of going for the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) tour which is the area that borders North Korea, there's a 4km gap at the border where no one is allowed to build on or live in with the exception of one village on either side.

Since I first tried to book the tour I was getting told by people that they the UN Command (at the border) wouldn't let me go on the tour for security reasons (N.Korea attacking) but I thought that surely they couldn't stop me because I'm in a chair especially after they did write a convention about my rights. Why would I be in a worse situation than anyone else? If they fired a missile then we're all screwed. If they started shooting I know I can move faster than the fat guy who was on the tour, he's a bigger target as well!

The tour was really cool and I got to explore the 3rd tunnel (100m underground) which the North Koreans dug to try and sneakily attack Seoul but it was discovered before they could use it, they say that they could have brought 30'000 soldiers through that tunnel every hour.

My favourite picture (right) of the day is at one of the bridges that actually crosses the border to North Korea because it has been given the name 'The Bridge of No Return', how fantastically evil. Unfortunately because it is such a highly guarded area (which we had to sign a declaration stating that we understood the risks of us getting injured or worse) we were unable to get off the bus for the majority of the tour but it was really good all the same just to see these places.

Ulsan and the next move

I've been in Ulsan, South Korea for about a week now visiting my friend Nathan who I've not seen since just after my accident 5 years ago. We were working together in the same bar that summer and shortly after he went back home to the states so catching up with him has been quite a nostalgic experience.

Ulsan doesn't have a lot to offer in the way of tourism but I'm enjoying the Korean food that they have, plus I get a decent exchange rate which makes everything really cheap. The food here is served raw  then you cook it yourself on a grill that is in the centre of the table, the spicy foods that they have are really tasty as well. My favourite drink is a 20% sweet alternative to vodka that is drunk from a shot glass, usually playing games.

After what happened in Japan last week I'm still undecided as to what my next move out of here will be. It should be safe to go to Osaka and Kyoto but I have a passport that I need to pick up from the embassy in Tokyo as well, I think that I'll give it a couple more days here in Ulsan to see if the advice for travelling around that area changes before I decide what to do next.