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 151st day, after 5 months of leaving Jakarta, I finally arrived in the Middle East, specifically in Iran. This was my last day in Afghanistan after half a month of adventuring there. From Herat, Afghanistan, it turned out there is a cross-border taxi that could take us directly to Mashhad, the 2nd largest city in Iran. The distance between the two cities is 380 kilometers and the taxi costs only 1500 Afghani ($20) per person. Passengers were picked up at the hotel and taken to the Kabul Karavan Hotak office to register and purchase tickets. In front of it there was a money changer to exchange Afghanis for Rials at a fairly competitive rate. After the taxi was full (up to 4 passengers), we finally left Herat in a fairly comfortable taxi. The journey was relatively smooth across asphalt roads with views of the desert and traditional Afghan housing. On the Afghan side we stopped once to buy snacks. I bought fries wrapped in a tortilla, my favorite Afghan snack. The journey to Islam Qala, a border town, took less than 2 hours. At immigration, the taxi driver facilitated passengers to pass quickly. As a result, I passed through the immigration in just an hour and managed to enter Iran smoothly. I heard of cases where people needed to spend up to 5 hours at the border. On the Iranian side, the road was very smooth and wide. We passed several small towns such as Taybad, Torbat-e-Jam and Fariman. The car stopped once at Torbat-e-Jam for a Persian lunch. The total travel time to Mashhad Terminal was around 7 hours. Tomorrow I planned to continue touring Mashhad, the spiritual capital of Iran. ___ 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/.