-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl [groovyd@onebox.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 3:01 AM
Subject: I NEED YOUR HELP!
Importance: High
A dilemma...
Given:
1. Currently I am in Riga, Latvia waiting for a Russian Visa. It willbe a
1
month single entry visa and I should have it by monday. It cost me $75.
2. I don't yet have a Iranian visa which is difficult for Americans toget.
I would hope to get a transit visa if possible, but might have to wait
atleast
10 days somewhere to get it.
3. One of my goals is to make it to Nepal by early November for trekking
season.
Options:
A. Tour Russia for a week or so (St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc...) andthen
from
Moscow take the Trans-Siberian railway (6 days) to Beijing from whichI tour
china heading southwest toward and hopefully trekking through Tibet (could
be
very costly) and Nepal (my goal), eventually making it to India by late
November
and continuing south east from there
-or-
B. Tour Russia for a week (St. Petersburg & Moscow only), return to Eastern
Europe
for a couple weeks of (Hungary, Romania, Poland ?) and then head backacross
northern Turkey (my 3rd time through turkey and another $65 entry) andhope
to
get a Iranian transit visa along the way, through Pakistan, and India
quickly
to Nepal by early November and continuing south east from there
Problem:
I am torn and I can't decide! I need your help and your votes may decideit
for
me! Please vote now by emailing me with your thoughts!
For detailed country information try http://www.lonelyplanet.com andgo to
their
'world guide'.
-Daryl
Spunqi - I pick option 'A'. Can't wait to see the pics! Man, you sure are livingthe
life!!! Keep having fun!
Olaf Neumann - Hi Daryl, I'm just back from a week of sailing in Croatia, so I don'tknow whether my
vote is still going to make any impact. But, hey, I'd go for option A:Trans-Siberian
railway is probably a once in a lifetime experience, Beijing and Tibetare so much
different from what you'd get to see in Hungary, Romania, Poland, Turkeyetc. You'll
get to these last places easily some other time and they are not as muchon the move
as Russia and China. OK, Iran sounds quite thrilling (maybe even moreso for an
American), but since you are not even sure whether you'll get the visaI'd say don't
waste your time.
P.S. Oktoberfest is getting closer.
P.P.S. I will be in India from Nov. 1 till Nov. 26th to travel throughRajastan and
nearby - maybe we can meet up somewhere?
Frank Zadroga - Go with choice A.
Or choice C .... hijack a plan from the Russian military and parachutein over Nepal ... just in time for trekking season.
have a blast man!!
Donald Meyette - The first one!
Tariq (Fun King) - I don’t wanna confuse u man but both choices u have shows me that I havea
good reason for me to sympathize on you…poor boy when u said that itwould
ne not easy for u being an american to get an iranian visa …poor lost
American kid how got stuck on the grounds of reality because of his
government policies derived from dreams of spreading democracy ..sometimes
even my force like in the Haitian islands !! they just forgot –I meanur
government- that weapons or force is not needed for democracy ….breadcan
help….any way go for choice (B) it doesn’t mean it’s the best…its only
being the better off ! do what ever it takes u to go to iran..that willmeke
ur tour worth it...take the off the beaten track dude...go to iran ..at
least it will be a place where i can make sure to u will not see manyfellow
americans at !
Steve Goodwin - Hey there Daryl good to hear from you dude
By the way you have written your message I think you have kinda madeyour
mind up, cause you don't sound like you really want to go through Turkey
again and spend on the entry Visas. The trans siberian could be a greatway
to bypass these requirements with the aid of a transit visa of course.
But the trekking sound sgreat I'm sure you will have a blast.
A is my opinion but I kinda think your into that as well.
Eduardo - Hei man, I wish i have this problem!!!
My vote is for the first option, because it's a much more diferent exerience
you are gonna have.
William Martinic - Go with option A. I really want to see some pictures
of China. I am sure you will have a good time no
matter which way you travel. Good luck.
Joe Kleeburg - I would go with option A - How confident are you about the trekking?
How strenuous is it? Do you need to hook up with a group? .. food and
supplies?
Annette Sodergren - Put my bet on option "A"...no point in going through Turkey a 3rd time,even
though this option could be costly. I know you'll be seeing & experiencing
a lot regardless of which option you choose, however, I'm betting onthe
Trans-Siberian railway, China, Tibet, etc.!
Travel safely & keep us posted on your final choice!
Takadis Panagiotis - Daryl this one is truly a dillema,I Guess the decission is your's but if your asking for my opinion i would suggest you to choose the first route.I thing it will be of more interest for you because there are lots of new places to visit.[supposing you have the needed money].three times in tourkey would be boring don't you thing.hope to be of some help .GOOD LUCK.
Heidi Howell - Groovy _ I definitely vote for B. We met you on a boat in Greece andmiss
you like crazy but glad you're still out there.
Chris Derham - Definately Trip A,
I would love to see Beijing and trek through Tibet, Maybe that will be soon to come after a trip across Canada to New Brunswick with my girlfriend.
But I still whant to do that bike ride accross the States so I'll try and make sure your there for it (probably 2yrs form now for me).
At the moment I'm in Whitehorse the Yukon!
Speak to you soon but probably see you later Buddy.
Josh West - I would definitely go through china and the far east, it will be quitethe change of
scenery from eastern europe. (which you have already seen quite a bitof). The guys
I work with have been over there and enjoyed visiting china. Make sureto see the
wall, I want to see some good pictures!!!
TravelMan Dan - WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!
and remember i have been to these places you are
talking about
A. Tour Russia for a week or so (St. Petersburg,
Moscow, etc...) and
then from
Moscow take the Trans-Siberian railway (6 days) to
Beijing from which I
tour
china heading southwest toward and hopefully trekking
through Tibet
(could be
very costly) and Nepal (my goal), eventually making it
to India by late
November
and continuing south east from there.
Maija Velickovska - Where are you?
I am waiting at home now. Could you come home? And then we will talk.I'm
little worry about you. I guess "B" is better, but that is very difficult.
You will be very tired from this travel.
Tina Handerhan - Make choice A. China is beautiful in alot of areas. Tibet is changingso
much you should go now.
Erbil - come to istanbul/TURKEY because of why not?
Galia Laleva - All friends thinking in Daryl stead...very clever
The Cors, they are Irish band...European music is the best you know...
What am i saying...B sound good ...may be i'll see you again...but if
i'll travell i'll choose A...so you choose...
Mom - Either way would be interesting. I guess if I was determined to get to
Nepal, I might try the Asian route versus the European route. It sortof
seemed faster and very interesting. Nepal actually had the WARNING onit.
I would probably skip Nepal and go on to India. One other thing I would
want to consider would be the modes of transportation available onceI was
in the country. Let me know your decision.
Tim Meagher -
Go option A if you have the money. I have a good
mate who trekked through Tibet. You are supposed to be
on a tour group but he just joined one then ditched
them as soon as he reached Tibet. He said it was a
once in a life time experience. And for a photo crazy
person like you there are some great opportunities. He
has this incredible photo of him doing handstand on
the big square in front of the Potala. Awesome. Though
he did say it was expensive. And also not many people
can say they have crossed the divide between Tibet and
Nepal cause the weather closes it off for most of the
year and it is very hard to get visas to cross the
other way from nepal to china.
Anyway that is my humble opinion. Keep up the
good work.
I am over in Alaska now which is an amazing place
but the accent over here is driving me nuts. hahaaha!
keep living life to the full.
Mark Borodkin - I am absolutely partial here. Like I wrote you the other day...thereis so
much more in Poland you have to see. Krakow, Gdansk, Torun, Wroclaw,The
Carpathian Mountains in the south (Transylvannia), Baltic Sea in thenorth,
the Mazury region of a thousand lakes in the north-east. But I guessoption
A, might be nice...not. Choose wisely.
Jim Wiggins - don't go back through turkey. sixty five bucks? hell with that!
i vote for plan one. once you get to china you have at least two
options. one is to head down kunming way and get into tibet
through there (and i know of a couple bicyclists who SNUCK IN
that way and didn't get caught for a long time and just bribed
their way out of it). the other option is to head for western
china, xinjiang province, see the awesome weekly market at
kashgar, and take a jeep or bus across the high tibetan plateau
to tibet (some people were doing this when we were there in '95).
or you can think about plan THREE, which is similar to what my
buddy dave (vegandavesnothere@yahoo.com) did in '95: cross
belarus (visit minsk and pinsk) and head down the dnieper river
past kiev and chernyobl (just read in Trips magazine that you can
get a *crazy* tour of that place) to the crimea (visit sevastopol
and site of "charge of the light brigade").
you then have to choose a way past chechnya: dave went into
azerbaijan and took the ferry from baki across the caspian sea
to turkmenistan. another way might be to cut north to kazakhstan,
pass the old nuclear testing grounds and get to almaty (alma ata).
dave's way was following the old silk route (he didn't dip into
iran, for some reason) from turkmenistan through uzbekistan
(said samarkand is awesome) and into kyrgyzstan. we met him in
the capitol, bishkek.
i have a friend in kyrgyzstan, if you want a place to stay.
from kyrgyzstan you can cross to kashgar, china, although we
had to contact a "travel agency" beforehand and have them meet
us at the pass.
once in kashgar, you can drop down the karakoram highway into
pakistan, or go hard overland to tibet.
so there's some ideas for you.
Rob Hillman - Get yer butt back here and do some design work. There are a lot of cool
things to design.
Hahahah!
Or come to my wedding, we're getting married in June of 2002.
Ed McGettigan - I would go with option A, since you have a better chance
of making it to your goal and trekking in Nepal.
Moji Ghodoussi - My vote of course is solution B! But given the fact that you might notget
Iranian visa and that you have been through Turkey a few times you might
want to consider the other option. I tell you though I think you willget a
kick out of Tehran/Iran and I can ask some friends to take care of you!!
Dan Sanchez - A.
Pam Faust - I never had any desire to travel in Iran and would believe that it ismore
dangerous than option A.
Russia would be nice and the 6 day train trip sounds like the OrientExpress or
you can pretend.
My VOTE Option A
Amity de Fontaine - This e-mail is equal to two votes, one from me, and one from Stephan. We
vote unanimously on Option "A". We would love to do this!!!!!!!!!!!
Binesh Patel - A.
Andrew Loggia - I say #1. Even though it may be more costly, there would be more of achance
you can get to Nepal. Going through Iran might prove to be a little tough.
While in China, you can hook up with Eric Gregory. His email addressis
above.
Rock on!
Andy Stone - Go East young man (China)...
Dude I'm so jealous!
Erin Faust - If I were you, I would tour Russia for at least a week. This time of year is supposed to be the best. Then move to Eastern Europe and tour Poland, Hungary & Romania. Have you been to Germany, Spain and France yet? Can't you just go from here to China, then Tibet and Nepal? Instead of going through Turkey again?
Luigi Bojan - Dude, go to China.
Bill Kite - The main theme of your trip is to travel the world.
Option "A" seems to be more along that line.
Unless the cost is too high, Then option "B" would
make sense. However traveling to Turkey for the
third time does not seem to make a lot of sense if
your objective is to see the world.
Good luck in your vote totals and may you have a safe
and eye opening journey, whichever path you choose.
Kevin Donovan - Option A sounds cool, that has my vote! Tho with the caveat that the
TransSiberian is nasty! I know lots of people who have taken it, whospeal
Russian or Chinese, and they all say it was nuts.. dangerous as well...but an
amazing adventure! I spent a few months in China, can get old quickly..but
was fun. I would love to go to Tibet before it is completely destroyed...
Life in Montreal hs been good.. busy, but good.. am very jealous of your
situation! am off to paris and Oslo in a couple of weeks, should befun!
Viktor Makowski - No question. I'd choose Option A. I'd always prefer the Trans-Sib-Experience
to anything else.
Jesse Keller - Personally, I vote for the trip through China. Of course, that' sjust
because (a) I had a great time in China, and (b) I've always wanted totake
the Trans-Siberian line.
Me, I've just arrived in Thailand, where I'll pass the next few weeks
(unless I go to Bali) before heading back to the US at the end of September.
Peter Tuca - hi Daryl choose 1 and enjoy P.
Scott Cochrane - Trans-Siberian Railway sounds adventurous to me. How brave are you?