The Travel Map

A message to people who hijack WordPress blogs

markotusar — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:26:24 +0000

Please get a life and pursue another hobby. What about world peace, space exploration, feeding ducks or discovery of some clean ubiquitous source of energy? This would be far more beneficial to mankind than wasting peoples’ time in clearing out malicious php scripts. Or better still, do some traveling and spend less time at your computer creating these annoyances.

Tech Alert: Blog playing up in Internet Explorer

markotusar — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:27:31 +0000

My sidebar disappeared completely in Internet Explorer but was fine in other browsers. This was all down to hidden characters pasted from Word into the text post which have now been removed.

By the way, anyone want to buy a piano? (£100, London)

Want a piano?

Breaking News: The Travel Map 2 Published!

markotusar — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:03:05 +0000

Front Cover of The Travel Map 2 Book

Following on from “The Travel Map” I have just published the second travel guide book, fully documenting my more recent trips. Together the two books describe in detail 10 round-the-world trips and a separate trip to Africa, from naive beginnings many years ago to experienced backpacker status. Hundreds of photos and 1156 pages in total! Hopefully you’ll find them inspiring. Please enjoy the trip.

Back Cover of The Travel Map 2

Best Round-the-world trip?

markotusar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:42:02 +0000

Not sure where to travel...

Here’s an experiment. If I had the opportunity to do one round-the-world five month trip and wanted to squeeze in as much interest, novelty, cultural, climatic and geographical variation on a modest budget, what would my route be and which countries would I visit? I’m going to post a first draft here and edit it over time (swapping countries and routes for example, adding points of interest, Vietnam or Cambodia?) hopefully as a result of constructive comments. The end “ideal” backpacker trip should give an amazing and challenging experience for someone who is interested but can’t quite decide where to go.

An Ideal trip

Sept

from London:

Egypt (Cairo, Luxor)
Israel (Eilat scuba diving qualification, Jerusalem)

Oct

India (Delhi, Agra, Varanasi)
Nepal (Kathmandu, Everest Base Camp Trek, Tibet)

Nov

Thailand (Bangkok)
Indonesia (Bali)
Vietnam (Southern)

Dec

China (Hong Kong, Yangshuo)
Australia (Sydney)
New Zealand (South Island, Queenstown)

Jan

New year in Sydney (or Auckland)
Cook Islands (Raratonga, Aitutaki) Timed to allow two News Years Days
Chile (Atacama, you need basic Spanish language skills)
Bolivia (Uyuni salt flats, Yungas Trek, La Paz)

Feb

Brazil (Iguassu Falls, Rio Carnival)
Optional return via the USA (New York)

back to London.

Unless you know different!

UPDATE: removed “Jordan (Wadi Rum, Petra)”, too many deserts!

(a cheap round the world ticket would still be roughly US $5000)

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Although the author has tried to make the information as accurate as possible, he accepts no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person using this site.

Friendly San Franciso, USA

markotusar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:47:09 +0000

It’s not everyday that you see a rat on a cat on a dog:

A Rat on a Cat on a Dog

Tonga: Local News in the South Pacific

markotusar — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:48:34 +0000

Not much happening on the veranda,

The Blow Holes are still blowing along the coast

and an underwater volcano erupted on Monday, six miles off the coast throwing smoke, steam and ash 15km into the air!

Update: and there was an earthquake early this morning! (Friday)

The Best Beach in the World?

markotusar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:15:09 +0000

Byron Bay, NSW, Australia

I guess it depends on what you want from a beach but Byron Bay in Australia must be near the top of the list of best beaches in Australia, if not the world…unless you know different?

Whale Sharks in Donsol, Philippines

markotusar — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:51:00 +0000

Perhaps diving and Whale Sharks (or “Butanding”) are the compelling reasons for visiting the Philippines. I’ll know if I have managed to capture the excitement of snorkeling along with these graceful fish (some eight metres in length) when I develop the film from my disposable underwater camera. Manila is a noisy busy city in complete contrast to the quiet calm of the coastal dive resorts.

Jeepney transport in the city of Manila

Cock-fighting in the Philippines

In Donsol there are Whale Sharks!

100% genuine pictures of parts of Whale Shark as I try to keep up with them:

Whale Shark Head

with fish entourage

and mid-section

General Purpose Donsol Boat

and the pace of life slows down…

Local Delivery in Donsol

relaxing with a large shoal of Jack fish.

Twin Rocks Dive Site, Anilao, Philippines

Diving VIDEO

Lombok Diving, Indonesia

markotusar — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:21:27 +0000

I have decided that blogs with photos are the modern form of sending postcards. If you feel its cold in the northern hemisphere why not come down south, to sunny Bali? My visit to Indonesia was essentially a diving trip, from Bali to Lombok to a tiny island about a mile across called Trawangan. I’m writing from Kuta, where the shops cater to all backpacker and holiday makers’ needs, staying between “Poppy 1″ and “Poppy 2″ alleys near the site of the Bali bomb memorial.

Dive Boat off Trawangan, Gili Islands, Lombok, Indonesia

This form of volleyball using feet may be popular across Indonesia…

Keep-it-up volleyball

I had time to circumnavigate this small island,

A short walk around Trawangan, Indonesia

and walk along Kuta Beach, Bali.

Art along Kuta Beach

Now just to use up my remaining Indonesian currency on delicious food.

Gorillas in Uganda

markotusar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:10:25 +0000

I entered the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (because there are paths!) in the South Western part of Uganda. It does make a difference seeing them in their natural habitat. Various named groups of gorillas are visited daily by a small number of tourists and after sheltering in the rain for six hours it was great to see them. (I’ll add some of my images and movies but at the moment my camera memory card seems to have corrupted with a formatting error which a few hours of googling and downloading tools should hopefully allow me to recover my valuable images).

The golden rule of transport in Uganda seems to be that it can only function when completely packed – and it takes longer than expected. The Bodo-bodo or motorcycle taxi is cheap and great for point-to-point jumps through the dusty and busy streets of Kampala.

I’m writing from Padangbai on the eastern coast of Bali, Indonesia in 31 degree C heat ready to take the ferry to the little islands off the coast of Lombok for some scuba diving. A hotel room here with bathroom and breakfast included for four British pounds is amazing value.

Update: here are my promised shots…

gorilla with baby

Playful Siblings

Streets of Kampala

Butterfly on my Boot

Playful Gorillas VIDEO