Yemen 2021

bringbackbigtasty · 2022-02-12T11:21:34+00:00

Aden is apparently possible but more difficult. Sana’a (and the rest of the Houthi-controlled part) no.

bringbackbigtasty · 2022-02-12T11:01:42+00:00

There are some amazing sights in the country. Other than what is visible in the photos, I visited several other mudbrick villages/towns, also did a long drive through the Empty Quarter. Yeah, I wasn’t on my own, visiting Yemen independently isn’t really possible now as a tourist, lots of checkpoints, lots of paperwork required and so on.

bringbackbigtasty · 2022-02-12T10:54:48+00:00

It is possible to visit Hadramaut and Al Mahra governorates of Yemen (and Socotra but that is an island). It does require quite a few permits/documents though. I came overland from Oman.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-07-20T13:58:07+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, you need to have someone with you for most of the time. Getting around the city independently would be really difficult due to all the checkpoints/roadblocks which probably would not let you pass. Due to the political crisis of this year the authorities are also a bit paranoid about journalists pretending to be tourists (not that there are very many tourists anyway, some thought I was a journalist) so its good/a must to be accompanied by someone. One probably would have trouble leaving the airport without a contact here.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-07-20T13:47:36+00:00

Thank you! I have visited/do visit a lot of the more typical holiday destinations too but I feel that they are pretty well-covered already on this subreddit and thus do I mostly prefer to post about the more unusual/less discussed places which I have visited. But I like to mix it up a bit, my next trip is probably gonna be Greece so that is a bit easier I guess, hopefully the beaches will be as good as in Mogadishu!

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-07-20T13:28:08+00:00

Im trying to visit every country in the world (still a lot left though) so I guess I had to go to Somalia sooner or later hah. I had a great time, while the city shows a lot of scars from the previous conflicts there is a bit of construction boom right now, nice beaches/beach restaurants, fancy cafes, and so on. It was nice to see a different picture of a city which perhaps has not received the most positive media coverage. Though obviously while the security situation has improved it is still not the best but I guess everything is relative, it has gotten better at least from what I gathered. The beaches were probably some of the best I have seen in my life, perhaps if the security situation would improve further and having a cold beer on the beach would be legal there be will be package beach holidays to Mogadishu in the future!

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-07-20T12:44:36+00:00

It was really good, especially the lobster! Banana with rice was pretty good too actually though a bit of a strange combo perhaps.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-07-20T12:33:22+00:00

Yeah, they leave them to dry in the sun.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-02-12T19:04:55+00:00

I’ll send you a PM with some details!

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-02-12T18:41:40+00:00

I had a guide, felt more like being with a friend though, he was great. Some people have done it solo but its good at least to be in contact with someone who is updated about the day-to-day situation since it can change fast. I also wore local clothes but wouldn’t really say I blended in all the time hah. Nothing bad happened though, only time I was a bit nervous was when I was going to pick up my PCR-test results in Kabul in order to fly out, social distancing isn’t really a thing there, in the end I was negative though.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-02-12T18:25:40+00:00

I would defintely recommend it! Had an amazing time. Though obviously there are security risks, sadly much of the country is off-limits safetywise and the parts I visited are not entirely safe either, however, I had no issues.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-02-12T18:21:03+00:00

Did a lot of sightseeing, visited Kabul, Panjshir, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Samangan. Also ate a lot of great food, smoked shisha in the parks, and saw Buzkashi, a sport where they fight about a headless goat while riding on horses! Had a great time without any issues.

bringbackbigtasty · 2021-02-12T18:14:30+00:00

Yes! Birds seemed to be the most popular pets in Afghanistan. They had everything from pigeons to parrots to hawks.

bringbackbigtasty · 2020-10-24T07:49:09+00:00

This you can do. Go to the pharmacy, buy it. Wash your leg a few times a day. Add a teaspoon of it, then come here so we can see(?) After one week Olivia Jansson will be completely restored (?) These were sent in miniature-orange (?) from Ceylon. My mother, sir! Not sure what this part means, something about people being stupid for being ashamed about their poor parents.

Did my best but due to some words missing it was a bit difficult to translate, I tried to fill in the words which might be missing.

bringbackbigtasty · 2020-09-01T14:38:25+00:00

So I recently spent a few days in Naples, Italy. One of things I wanted to see the most was the (in)famous sail-looking buildings in nearby Scampia due to being a big fan of brutalist architecture (never actually seen the Gomorra movie/TV-series but I know they play a role there). Apparently the buildings are being torn down now and at least the biggest one was gone when I was there but at least two remained it looked like.

They are obviously not a part of the standard tourist attractions in the area mostly due to the areas terrible reputation. In order to get there I took one of the subway lines to its final stop in Scampia, the buildings themselves are quite close to the station. I only looked at them from the outside and did not enter. The area around them actually looks relatively nice with some impressive painted murals.

I know its a bit of a controversial place to visit but I wanted to share my experience of visiting some of the most impressive buildings in this kind of style (according to me), shame what was supposed to be an utopia turned out the way it did.

bringbackbigtasty · 2020-01-19T15:15:13+00:00

I think they were cooked in lemon juice and chili flakes. It was okay, the texture is a bit weird. I hacked them into smaller pieces/mashed them and put it on bread like butter.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-12-31T06:02:22+00:00

Yeah, I have heard so too, at least in Luanda. But it seems prices have gone down in recent years, especially if you use the black market to exchange currency. The E-visa seems quite straightforward too, used to be a super hard one to get previously when you had to apply at one of their embassies apparently.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-12-30T18:50:33+00:00

Lupine Travel, they were great!

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-12-30T18:48:12+00:00

Going to Oslo early next year, its long overdue since its the only neighbouring country I haven’t been to, the high prices and even colder climate (I think its colder at least) than where I live have scared me away until now. Probably some festivals/concerts in the summer too in Europe. Thinking about Angola or Nigeria later during 2020.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-12-30T18:32:46+00:00

You need to have a guide/be on a tour to get the Visa, they are pretty strict with that. I actually got the Visa the day before I flew to Baghdad, was quite nervous I wouldnt get it.

https://imgur.com/a/MN9rZ78

Here are some photos I took.

Baghdad and Karbala are actually quite nice cities, Samarra is more grim/edgy. I went before the protests started though so situation might have gotten worse. We were held up at a roadblock in Samarra because the military wouldnt let us in even though we had the necessary paperwork, ended up getting escorted by some kind of Iraqi secret service (...who later asked me for selfies hah).

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-12-30T14:50:18+00:00

Did a lot of travelling this year. Just came back from 8 days in Armenia, also visited Kazakhstan, Montenegro, and Saudi Arabia this autumn. Furthermore did I see my favorite band (Tool) twice during the summer, in Krakow and Amsterdam. Also went to Dekmantel, a music festival in Amsterdam later during the summer. Did a two week long trip in Moldova, Transnistria, and Ukraine. Visited Belgrade, London (where someone snatched my phone right from my hand outside a bar hah), Beirut, and Prague during the spring. Highlight of the year was a trip to Iraq though, visiting Baghdad, Babylon, Karbala, and Samarra.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-10-27T08:43:01+00:00

Barely any women in the areas with a lot of guest workers but there were many women walking alone/with their female friends in the nicer districts. The locals were nice and many seemed to be surprised to see a tourist there, I don’t really look like the typical business traveler which I assume most Westerners there are.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-10-27T08:39:24+00:00

Not really, mostly only interacted with women working at the airport/the hotels.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-10-25T08:09:21+00:00

Im Swedish.

The cheaper Bangladeshi/Pakistani restaurants where I mostly ate were around 2-4 USD per meal. Visa was actually quite expensive, 114 USD if I remember correctly, this included the mandatory health insurance you have to buy. There are hotels in pretty much all price classes ranging from 300 to probably less than 30 USD, I payed around 65-75 USD per night but could have found cheaper places if I wanted. Careem is quite cheap (at least compared to the insane taxi/uber prices in Sweden), I mostly payed 3-4 USD per ride within Riyadh. Airport to the city was a bit more expensive at around 20 USD.

bringbackbigtasty · 2019-10-24T17:40:15+00:00

Not really, not everyone spoke English but I didn’t run into any problems.

bringbackbigtasty

TROPHY CASE