Dear Food Diary, This special entry will be about food that we cooked, food that we shared together with friends and hosts, and stories that came with each meal. Cooking has been an important part of our lives – particularly baking – that we missed a lot. We can only carry so much spices and ingredient to make basic meals, so when a kitchen presents … Continue reading Dear Food Diary #12: Our Cooking Stories
Ever since we entered Iran, we started noticing the discrimination towards foreigners – not tourists but migrants from neighbouring countries. It has been a consistent pattern in each country that has accepted refugees or migrants. For example, the Iranians spoke very poorly about Afghans living in their country, and the Turkish generally blamed Syrian refugees for taking their jobs. We have several stories to share … Continue reading The Difficult Life of Refugees
Pheng first heard about George Orwell’s 1984 book in social studies class at Edgewater College. At that time, his interests were mainly naming countries and their capital city. In this journey through Asia, we engaged with many people discussing the political situation, internal affairs and the daily struggles. We’ll compare experiences of our journey to that in Mr Orwell’s book. It may help if you … Continue reading 1984 in 2018
Post title in Khmer ដំណើរជិះកង់ឆ្លងទ្វីប ស្ថានភាពដំណើរ ទី១៣៖ (Erbil) Trip Summary សង្ខេបការធ្វើដំណើរ We’ve arrived in Iraq Kurdistan capital city Erbil (ھەولێر) after cycling through some wet and snowy weather. We arrived on March 7th after cycling a further 1850 km, bringing our total to 14355 km. On this route we saw the lush green landscape again, climbing some tough hills and entering the safest part of … Continue reading Trip Status #13: Erbil
We spent the longest time in Iran than any other country on this trip. Partly due to winter and the amazing hospitality of the people. We’ve learned so much about the country, so it has been a valuable learning experience over these four months. Iran A quick glimpse into the country: Capital: Tehran Population: 81 millions Language: Farsi/Persian Currency: Rial (80,000 = $1 NZ) Region: … Continue reading Iran’s Report Card
Dear Food Diary, It helps when the language borrowed the same word from English. “Fast food” restaurants are very popular throughout Iran, although the standard and options are quite different. In this entry we share some delicious snacks we’ve tried in Iran. Crunchy Potatoes Similar to South East Asia, the crispy rice at the bottom of the bowl are beloved here. In addition to this, … Continue reading Dear Food Diary #7: Iran
Leading up to the new years, our time in Iran was presented with a difficult situation. With what money we had left after the theft, our daily budget was restricted to 30,000 tomans¹ (300,000 ﷼/Rial, $4 NZ). Why couldn’t you take more money out? The international sanctions limited our ability to withdrawal cash from any Iran ATMs. Various financial services like Western Union or PayPal … Continue reading Ultralow Budget No More!
Thursday 24th, January 2018 Our host in Gerash, Mohsen, organised a group of friends for hiking. They planned everything for us and we were going to be the first foreigners to go hiking with them. In total we were 8 plus a donkey. Most of us had a backpack, and a lot of food as well. The helpful donkey carried all the food for us … Continue reading Let’s Go Hiking the Persian Way
New Zealand has a unique ecosystem quite separate to the rest of the world. This means during our cycling trip through the asian continent, there were many animals we’ve never seen before. The animals listed here during our 9 months are a mixed bag of natural encounters, a first timer, or one we found to be absolutely fascinating. Snake | Shaanxi, China We were both … Continue reading 9 Animal Encounters over 9 Months
Post title in Khmer ដំណើរជិះកង់ឆ្លងទ្វីប ស្ថានភាពដំណើរ ទី១២៖ បេនដា អាបាស Trip Summary សង្ខេបការធ្វើដំណើរ We’ve arrived in Iran’s port city Bandar Abbas (بندرعباس) after cycling through a lot of desert. We arrived on January 8th after cycling a further 1220 km, bringing our total to 12505 km. On this route we saw many historic ruins, castles and caravanserai. ពួកយើងបានដល់ទីក្រុងកំពង់ផែរបស់អ៊ីរ៉ង់ឈ្មោះ «បានដា អាបាស» ក្រោយពេលធាក់កង់ឆ្លងកាត់វាលខ្សាច់ដ៏ច្រើន។ ពួកយើងបានមកដល់ នៅថ្ងៃទី ០៨ មករា ក្រោយការធាក់កង់ … Continue reading Trip Status #12: Bandar Abbas
Pedalling Continents 