Visa-free travel is easy travel. Procuring visas takes time, energy, and money, and is beyond debate a pain for frequent travelers. The erection of visa barriers responds to a number of factors, though it can be said without too many qualifications that the citizens of rich countries tend to have a much easier time accessing the world visa-free than do the citizens of poor countries.
The Henley Visa Restrictions Index Global Ranking 2011, excerpted in the Economist last week, was just published by Henley & Partners, an international law firm specializing in “international residence and citizenship planning.” Henley & Partners divide the world into 223 countries and territories.
Some of the least lucky countries, according to the Henley Visa Restrictions Index survey: India (53), China (40), Iran (36), Lebanon (33), and Afghanistan (24).
It was probably while floating down a river full of human excrement and semi-cremated bodies that the Dudes on Media team knew their adventures had just reached a new level.
Accomplished film makers and veterans of human-powered adventure travel, the Dudes on Media organization is the brainchild of J.J. Kelley and Josh Thomas, two American adventurers who create documentaries based on their exceedingly difficult long-distance excursions.
Having met while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail (which they ended up finishing together), Kelley and Thomas later set out to bike 1,300 miles across Alaska from the Kenai Peninsula to the northernmost shores of the Arctic Ocean. Born out of this epic wilderness sojourn was the duo’s first documentary, Peddle to the Midnight Sun.
Having conquered the nation’s largest state on two wheels and inspired by the success of their first film, the team next decided it was time to switch things by heading south and taking to the sea. In wooden sea kayaks that the two adventurers constructed themselves, Kelley and Thomas set out from the gold-mining turned cruise ship town of Skagway, Alaska on what would be a 1,200 mile paddle through the fabled Inside Passage. Paddling and camping their way through incessant rain and miles of temperate rainforest dominated by brown bears, the team finally pulled into Seattle and got to editing their second film, Paddle to Seattle.Their most successful film to date, Paddle to Seattle has garnered 15 film festival awards and has been called “the best feature film about paddling produced in the last decade” by Paddler magazine.
You would figure that after two projects requiring such a herculean effort it would be time to consider a rest for a while, but that’s the last thing that Kelley and Thomas had planned.
According to Kelley, choosing the next adventure “was a particularly challenging question for us. We had created our own small legacy of traveling through wild places for months on end. We felt we’d reached a high point for ourselves under those conditions, and we weren’t content to rest on our laurels. For us the next big thing had to rip us from our shells and slam us against the wall. The support and encouragement we received made us realize that we had to pursue another adventure…enter the Ganges”.
That’s right. The Ganges, which last time I checked is nowhere near Alaska.
Lusting for another adventure, Dudes on Media traveled all the way to India to trace the polluted and sacred shores of the world’s most populated river basin all the way from its glacial source in the Himalayas to its eventual terminus in the Bay of Bengal.
Along the trip down the Ganges the two would encounter unmentionable poverty, a terrorist attack in Varanasi, and the aforementioned half-cremated bodies that had been dumped into the sacred river.
Combining their two previous modes of transport, Kelley and Thomas proceeded to navigate the entire journey in a locally purchased rickshaw, a simple rowboat, and a a decrepit old Vespa scooter that finally died on them with only 10km left in the journey.
Having recently completed their journey down the “Mother Ganga”, look for the ensuing film to hit the independent film festival series starting in January, 2012.
We’re halfway through the month of Ramadan (called Ramazan in Turkish), an important time for religious Muslims but also a time of many celebrations. Turkey is a largely secular country, thanks to founder Ataturk, who brought the country out of the Ottoman Empire into the modern world 90 years ago, and many Turks do not observe the fasting but do enjoy many of the traditions associated with Ramazan. Each day’s sunrise-to-sunset fast is broken with the iftar meal, a feast anyone can enjoy and typically started with consuming a few dates.
In Turkey, a large flat loaf of Ramazan pide bread is a specialty only made during this month and a must for any iftar. Last year, during my first Ramazan in Istanbul, I tried a few supermarket Ramazan pides and was mostly underwhelmed, it tastes similar to a pizza crust. This year I got wise and joined the many locals standing in line for a fresh hot pide and now I’m hooked. Bakeries all over the city make pides in the afternoon and evening to be fresh for sunset call-to-prayer and it’s one time you want to show up at a bakery at the end of the day. Look for a bakery with the longest line, get your lira ready (they generally cost around 1.50 TL or $1 USD), and grab a piping hot loaf wrapped in a paper sleeve. Pides are usually covered in sesame seeds and make a great sandwich base with cheese or spread with tahini and Nutella, that is if you can wait that long. Many Turks tear into their pide on the way home from the bakery, while it’s still hot and crusty from the oven. Enjoy them while you can, Ramazan will be over August 29, when the national bayram holidays begin and pides disappear until next year.
In an effort to boost adventure tourism, and show off its spectacular natural wonders, Afghanistan has reopened its tallest mountain to climbers after years of conflict prevented travel in the region. The country now hopes to become a popular destination for mountaineers and adventure travelers seeking new challenges and unique experiences in remote places.
The 24,580-foot Mt. Noshaq is located in the extreme northeastern corner of Afghanistan, falling along its shared border with Pakistan. According to National Geographic, a team of climbers traveled to the mountain in late July to commemorate the reopening by making the first ascent of the mountain by foreigners in more than three decades. Noshaq was climbed by an all Afghani team for the first time in 2009 as well.
Noshaq is located inside the Hindu Kush, a spectacular chain of snow capped peaks that run across much of central Afghanistan and into northern Pakistan. Due to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, however, many of those peaks have been off limits since the Soviet Union invaded back in 1979. Now that a level of stability and security has returned to much of the region, the country is hoping to lure climbers and mountaineers looking for new mountains to explore.
Mountain climbers aren’t the only ones to find new adventures in Afghanistan however. Trekking the Wakhan Corridor has also become an attractive option for adventure travelers looking for an escape to a very remote destination. This narrow strip of land runs between two towering mountain ranges and was once part of the famed Silk Road, an historical trading route that Marco Polo may (or may not) have used when traveling to China. The entire route takes a couple of weeks to complete, during which time hikers cross through high mountain passes, visit tiny villages inhabited by sheep herders, and witness some of the most breathtaking scenery on the planet.
Obviously Afghanistan still has a long way to go to convince travelers that it is a safe place to visit. But by reopening Mt. Noshaq and promoting treks like the Wakhan Valley, they have taken steps to demonstrate to the world that they are a first class adventure travel destination with untapped natural resources for those bold enough to experience it.
The nice lady in the photo above is selling brooms in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The photographer, Flickr user LadyExpat, explains that most broom sellers ride bikes, but this lady seemed to prefer to walk. Here in Istanbul, all manner of products are sold on the street, from carts and off the backs of men hawking fruit, corn, and brooms as well. I’ve yet to buy a broom on the street and wonder who would, but I love having the option. While international megastores are becoming more ubiquitous, it’s nice to see an old-fashioned sales method on the street.
What have you seen sold on the street? Upload your favorite travel pictures to the Gadling Flickr pool and we may use one for a Photo of the Day.