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6 essential rules you must know before doing Nepal off-road

AND WHY IT IS SUCH AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE

This is me. And behind me are the High Himalaya’s. More specifically the Northern Nilgiri range of Nepal’s Mustang district. This is a place of enormous vistas, tiny Tibetan hamlets, and temples completely lost in time. Most of the few people who venture out to experience Mustang, do that through their feet. Personally, I believe there’s no better way than to do it riding a motorcycle. Putting it another way, this is – by far and large – the best road trip you can ever take.
Period…

Having stated the above, there few things you probably should know before venturing out yourselves.

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The closely kept secrets of Rio’s largest slum

DOWN TO ROCINHA AND BACK – ALIVE

Nobody really knows much about La Favela Rocinha (pronounced Rossinya). Only that it is vast, unmappable and dangerous. No one can calculate the volume of drug trafficking that takes place along its dark, narrow alleys. None can tell the exact daily toll of bodies consumed by gang wars, vendettas, and innocent collaterals. This is partly because nobody has a clue as to how big Rocinha is. The official count stands at 70,000 souls, but unofficial guesses hover between 150,000 to 300,000.

One thing is clear. Rocinha is the largest, most disreputable favela in Rio de Janeiro. Its notoriety reaching far beyond the borders of Rio and Brazil. Would you like a visit?
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This guy is high on Rajasthani Opium, and so is the government

STONED-DEAD IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

I’m riding my beaten-up Enfield through this small village in the middle of the vast Thar Desert, somewhere in northwest India. The main street is unpaved and littered with trash and tired-looking cows. There’s a grocery shop with rusty rails covering the front window, few improvised motorbike repair shops, a barber, a tiny branch of a local cell phone company, and an Opium joint. Yes, that’s right. A dark, dingy, open-for-all Opium den.

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He’s not heavy, He’s my Saint!

HOW MUCH CAN A HUMAN BEAR?

Quite a lot, apparently. And while all of us carry great burden – life, children, career, spouse, bills to pay – you name it, none takes a load like this. To put it bluntly, if you’d like to witness a real-life example of the difference between “figuratively” and “literally”, come to Antigua, Guatemala, around Easter. I promise an exceptional example of what REAL burden looks like.

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4 Mykonos lessons. Learned the hard way.

STORMY SEPTEMBER, A PUBLIC ORGY & OTHER GREEK ISLAND SURPRISES

Mykonos is the perfect Greek Island gateway, or so says the brochure. My wife and I went there with another couple to celebrate our joint 10th marriage anniversary. Spending four days on the small Aegean Island, we found a bit of what we looked for and a lot of what we didn’t. Some of it, I must admit, was quite memorable. Was it something worth remembering? You’ll be the judge of that. All I can say is that the following year we decided to re-celebrate our 10th anniversary, only this time in Tuscany.

So, Without further due, here are four Mykonos lessons,
learned the hard way…

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More Dali than Dali

GATEWAY TO PSYCHEDELIC YUNNAN

Like the famous Catalan artist, there’s nothing ordinary about the city of Dali. Perched on a 2,000 meter-high plateau, and surrounded by the 4,000 meter-high Cangshan mountains, the place is nothing remotely similar to any other Chinese city.

Perhaps because it is not entirely Chinese.

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The secret gardens of the world’s most packed city

 

TWO PLACES TO BE ALONE IN TOKYO

It’s objectively hard to be alone in the world’s most populous city. Hard, but not impossible. Tokyo is one crazy gigantic place. And by crazy, I don’t mean out-of-control (Phnom Penh takes that title with ease), but rather a place working according to rules only a local would understand.
I was once told that the cheapest ticket to Mars is a flight voucher to Tokyo. Don’t get me wrong, I love that city. I really do. I also love the Japanese, in the same sort of way one loves 3D Anime/Manga. They’re a bit real, but not really.

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Who is the star of Geneva?

IS IT A GIGANTIC RED FERRARI OR A SMALL BLUE RENAULT?

I’ve always been a petrol-head, fascinated by cars since the very day I remember myself. Perhaps it’s the combination of power and design. Or maybe it’s just the Vrooooom sound they make (some of them, at least).
Who knows.

Nowhere is this passion more evident than in Geneva – a town not known for passion at all. This small Swiss city has banks, few branches of the United Nations, the world largest fountain and a whole lot of boredom.

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4 tricks to create a photo that fools everyone

A QUICK GUIDE TO CRAFT REALITY-BUSTING PICTURES 

A beautiful ancient grand temple shrouded in mystery and lost in time. Lost to all but a single young Buddhist monk and yours truly who just “happened” to discover it all by mistake.

Bullshit!
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