The videos document my pilgrimage from Indonesia to the African continent by land (no airplane!). The route: 1.) Indonesia: Traveling through Sumatran Mountains and Prehistoric Sites 2.) Malaysia: Meeting with the Aborigines of the Malay Peninsula 3.) Thailand: Tracing the Southeast Asian Ancient Empires 4.) Laos: Experiencing the Lao-China Railway 5.) China: Backpacking the Tibetan Plateau to the Edge of the Silk Road 6.) Kazakhstan: First Contact with the Central Asians 7.) Uzbekistan: Pilgrimage in the Land of the Timurids 8.) Tajikistan: Lost in the Fenn Mountains 9.) Afghanistan: Visiting Afghanistan after the Taliban Takeover 10.) Iran: Surrounded by the Ancient Civilization of Persia 11.) UAE: Short Transit in Futuristic Cities 12.) Saudi Arabia: Pilgrimage in the Holy Land of the Muslims 13.) Jordan: Catching a Glimpse of Jerusalem 14.) Egypt: Ending in the Land of Pharaohs
Curated by: Bang Jago (174 videos)
On the 135th day, Duke and I crossed the Panj River again to Afghan immigration and this time after two hours the officer finally gave us the visa application form. Not long after that, Mark appeared and told us how relaxed he was camping in Tajikistan compared to us sleeping on tables and chairs last night. An hour later Andrew appeared and was surprised to see me still at immigration because yesterday he received my message that I would be crossing that day. Apart from filling out the English form, a guide also helped us fill out the Farsi (or maybe Pashto) form. All names were transliterated. Then we were allowed to enter Shir Khan Bandar village to pay the visa fee (6700 Afghani/$90) and used the opportunity to also exchange Somoni for Afghani. Two hours later (after lunch break), our visas were issued. With that we were able to get through the immigration and got a reversed Afghan stamp. Finally I officially entered Afghanistan. At the Shir Khan Bandar market there was a shared taxi (200 Afghani) to Kunduz, a one-hour journey across the desert. On the way, I saw many bajaj which were similar to those in Indonesia. We were dropped off in downtown Kunduz and caused a crowd. It seemed like it had been a long time since a foreigner had stopped by this town. Moreover, this time there were four foreign backpackers at once from different countries of origin. Everyone questioned the purpose of our arrival. To escape the crowd, we quickly entered the Five Star Hotel, where I could see the view of Kunduz from above. The hotel owner provided us with a VIP room at a discounted price, a gesture to welcome foreign guests back to his hotel. In the evening we went out looking for local snacks. When we were having our dinner, the Taliban intel found us and conducted interviews and even sent us to the MFA office to validate our visas even though it was late at night. Sure enough, the office was closed. Tomorrow morning we had to go back there to validate our visas and continue our journey in Afghanistan. ___ Stage 1 Route - Sumatra (DONE!): Jakarta - Bandar Lampung - Baturaja - Lahat - Pagar Alam - Bengkulu - Lebong Tandai - Kerinci - Jambi - Kuala Tungkal - Batam - Johor Bahru Stage 2 Route - ASEAN Mainland (DONE!): Johor Bahru - Kuala Tahan - Kota Bharu - Su-Ngai Kolok - Nakhon Si Thammarat - Chaiya - Nakhon Pathom - Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima - Phimai - Nong Khai - Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang - Chiang Rai - Chiang Mai - Pai - Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Boten - Kunming, China Stage 3 Route - China (DONE!): Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La - Shambala - Litang - Chengdu - Leshan - Chengdu - Xi'an - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi - Almaty, Kazakhstan Stage 4 Route - Central Asia (DONE!): Almaty - Shymkent - Tashkent - Nukus - Muynak - Turtkul - Khiva - Bukhara - Samarkand - Tashkent - Khujand - Fann Mountains - Dushanbe - Kunduz, Afghanistan Stage 5 Route - Afghanistan: Kunduz - Samangan - Mazar-i-Sharif - Balkh - Kabul - Bamiyan - Band-e Amir - Yakawlang - Lal - Chagcharan - Herat - Mashhad, Iran *Follow my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/obeysianipar/) for direct messages **Message me for sponsorship --- Music Credits: And Awaken - Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.