Take the Road Less Travelled

Well the 7 month odyssey is almost at an end.. so i decided to come back via one of my 3 fav countries, the Philippines… so i’m snorkelling coral reefs and relaxing on golden beaches for a fraction of what u pay anywhere else.. soooo relaxing and sooooo necessary.

It amazes me that a country of 7107 islands has 90% of its population unable to swim. This includes the fisherman I got drunk with while here.. over half cant swim so if their boat overturns they’re dead.. and they accept that???

Love the Philippines but it is a mixture of hard working kind people and lazy people with their hands out for money.. the most common catch cry here.. “Give me money” “Wheres my xmas present etc”..

So check the photos to see how the other half live.. meanwhile I will enjoy my last days before winging back to Oz for a while.. see you soon peeps…

 

 

 

The new game show “Deal with it..”

So you notice not much posting in the last month since i got to Rio? Now r u really suprised? I thought not. But I have since moved on to Buenos Aires awaiting my next destination.

Awaiting is a good word. See in Brazil and such countries everything is laid back and exceedingly lax. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Great for beaches and parties, not so good when you arrive at Buenos Aires airport at midnight to find out you dont have a ticket, because the Travel agency in Rio made a reservation but never sent a confirmation so the airline cancelled the ticket.

Welcome to 2nd world efficiency and laissez faire.. but I digress..

So its midnight, you have no money, no credit cards, you dont speak spanish and you now dont have a flight. ITS TIME FOR THE NEW REALITY SHOW… “Deal with It!“, where u the contestant get put in a situation, have someone screw you over change everything and say.. “Deal with it”. So im seeing the whole africa and sth america experience as a reality show. Big Brother, sorry in portugese Biggy Brother.. haha

Meanwhile Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, in my Top 4 beautiful cities of the world (which yes will be featured in my debut travel book out next year).. oh the list.. Paris, Prague, Barcelone and Buenos Aires. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, and having dated a portena (girl from BsAs) for 2 years I will say no more in case the walls have ears.

Love Brazil, beaches, beauty, nature and crazy lifestyle, Love Buenos Aires, the culture, functionality, sophistication and art-music scene, very bohemian..

Til next time dudes, u know where to find me.. jbr055@hotmail.com

Welcome Home to Rio

Well its a fresh air to finally be in my second home, Rio.. where I will living for the next two months. I am living in a favela, but what a view!! and I look out my window to see Ipanema Beach only 2 mins away.. ahh rich and poor, love it.. The lounge overlooking the ocean is like a big deep big breath out.. ahhhhhhhhhh

Ok, back to reality.. spent a week in Sao Paolo which is a really cool city, great nightlife and I was amazed how safe after everything I had always heard about Sao Paolo.

Rio is amazing, the beaches Ipanema and Copacabana, the wild nightlife of Lapa, football games, and of course, the bikini clad women on the beach (Insert Homer drool here)..

Time to chill out and relax for a while. Its my 5th time here and it feels like an old shoe, so I’d better enjoy it before I look like one..

 

 

Johannesburg – Soweto

Well last stop in Africa is Sth Africa, Johannesburg and Soweto. Soweto is the slums and stands for South-West-Townships. Well following apartheid the black population run this country. You will not see one white person in downtown Joburg – they have all relocated to the north shore and are rebuilding ‘new johannesburg’ there instead. So no even fundamental of integration is happening here.

Opinions vary, the white population are too scared to leave their houses at night. 35,000 murders last year and the hostel I am at has been robbed 38 times in the last year – this with electric fencing and constant vigilance.

The black population tell u this is all bullshit, and that crime has drastically decreased in the last few years, whites are paranoid and HIV is only 5% not 25% as reported. I went on a trip to Soweto – the slums and saw abject poverty firsthand. There are many groups, christian, muslim and chinese all pouring into this continent vying for their stake of potential riches, but the corruption and bureaucracy they face makes it hard..

Whomever you believe, this country is either booming and new so give it time, or on the brink of civil war in 10 years – time, as always, will be the judge..

 

Africa – Home of Death and Life..

Well Africa sure surprised me, a continent of great beauty and life – the Maasai Mara and Serengetti, wildlife, Victoria Falls etc. were all breathtaking. Seeing Lions hunting wildebeest in the wild is certainly an incredible thing to witness.

However the human side of the equation is sad to say the least. Death, disease, famine, poverty, inefficiency (it takes longer here to get anything done than anywhere i have been in the world) – car crashes, people dying all around you, scary stuff.

While I have been here a ferry sank in Dar Es Salaam killing 250, a gas pipe exploded in Nairobi while I was there killing 80, a couple were abducted – the man killed and wife taken hostage in Kenya on a $900 a day beach resort, and thats for starters.

When I went to climb Mt Kilimanjaro (well for 2 days anyway) the village of Marungu had funerals everyday. The local next to me said – “dont worry about it, everyone here has AIDS, we have funerals like that all the time..”

Sad to say, this is a continent run by poorly educated, sometimes mischievous population, with no work, no money, no food and no healthcare, it is shocking and I cant say I’m sad to be leaving..

After Joburg I am off to Sao Paolo Brazil and longing for Rio and the golden sands if Ipanema.. one step at a time though.. light footsteps thru the jungle is best advised

 

Hooray for Africa…

So I am here in Africa, arriving in Nairobi Kenya from Bahrain and before that Dubai..

Nai-robbery is not the nicest place.. quite a few people i know were robbed and there is very very limited places to go out after dark when the boogeymen come out. That said lets talk safari..

Meeting a Maasai Mara warrior (Sitotti) in his tribal setting and meeting the village community was mind blowing. Their life is a whole world apart from ours, sleeping out in the wilds with lions, elephants, zebras, cheetahs etc. They are still very traditional and not westernised at all.. I invited him for lunch and to come back to Nairobi – the photo of him eating in a restaurant is priceless – it was a real Greystoke moment..

The safari was aweomse, being in the wild seeing these animals is completely different to a safe zoo experience. Here the animals are hunting and killing each other in the wild, watching a cheetah or a lion stalking its kill and then chase it down and eat it – right in front of you is unforgettable.. herds of wild elephants walking straight past you, schools of giraffes it was truly incredible..

Off to Tanzania next to camp out under Mt Kilimnajaro

Iran, Ramadhan and Isfahan

Well how to describe my time in Iran.. exhilirating, harrowing and everything in between. Its people are the friendliest I have encountered, desperate to show the image we have in the West is so wrong. I had people pay for my taxis, give me rides everywhere and explain all the mosque histories etc.  truly wonderful people.

Of course the immigration/customs are the opposite making your life a misery, I was police interviewed on leaving, good cop bad cop, looked through all my photos, wanted names of Iranian students I teach in Australia.. and the south of Iran from Bandar Abbas to Bandar e Lengeh is the most dire place I have visited in over 70 countries.

Ramadhan from 6am to 8:05pm – no water (in 40 degree temperatures everyday) no food, no cigarettes, NOTHING, no shops anything during 6am-8pm was tough..

I met pro and anti iranian government views, both with good arguments either way..

But the sites were truly incredible, the mosques of isfahan, the markets/bazaars, and walking around you feel pretty safe (a common trait i find in most islamic countries)..

My farsi was pretty good – ‘esmayman Jason’; ‘Khosh Vagtam’ (pleased to meet you).. Sob Bakay (good morning), Shoma zebaa (you are beautiful) .. all handy expressions

So its onto Dubai, then Africa and safari time…