Taking a break, sitting back, relaxing, being lazy... time out

Sorry, guys, for not posting. As it turns out, my plans were turned upside-down several times.

I spent 2 weeks traveling in Mongolia and it was the most productive part of my trip so far (mainly thanks to my guide, who organized everything for me). I will have to post much more about Mongolia, once I organize the photos.

After Mongolia I got fed up with the freezing temperatures and added 40 degrees Celsius to ambient temperature by flying to Bangkok, Thailand. I spent 2 weeks in Thailand, but these were more touristy/lazy, less business-focused (I squeezed in two investment conferences though).

Then I decided to focus even more on relaxing and flew to the Philippines. I've been here for the last 3 weeks, having a blast! Life is cheap, the temperature is a constant 30 degrees Celsius (24 in the night), girls are beautiful...

I just extended my visa to stay more in the Philippines and I'm just taking it easy, not really making any plans... However, I have a visa to Vietnam which expires at the end of November, I don't know yet if I will use it... I also bought a Japan Rail Pass that will expire within about a month... So maybe I should start moving North again... Good that I have my winter jacket with me (although I've only been wearing shorts for the last month).

At the moment I am just trying to relax, not to think about my divorce that is still in progress (I wonder what the Hungarian courts were doing for the last almost 3 months - they only need to set a date for the one and only hearing) and not to think too much about the meaning of life...

Cheers!

The adventure begins!

Finally! After being delayed about 2 months because of bureaucracy, I am starting on my journey today. Since winter is coming, I will have to hurry to visit the northern part of Asia first. So I will start my journey with visiting China, Mongolia and Japan.

This morning I will fly out from Budapest at 8:40 AM, change in Kiev and arrive to Beijing on Tue, Sep. 4 at 4:40 AM. For geeks like me: the first flight takes 1h 45m, the time between the flights is 4h 05m and the second flight takes 8h 10m, which makes the total travel time just 14h, but another 6 hours are lost due to time zones.

I plan to visit the northern part of China by train, hopefully traveling along the whole of the Beijing-Ürümqi line in about 4 or 5 days and also visiting the Great Wall with a Beijing-Badaling train.

On Sep. 15 I will fly to Mongolia (airplane ticket already purchased). I decided on flying because there are not many places on the Beijing-Ulaanbataar line where I would like to stop, so it is more convenient to fly 2 hours vs. taking the train for 1.5 days. I am planning on staying two weeks in Mongolia.

Greetings

Dear Reader!

I am planning on doing a big trip this year and I created this blog to track my progress in planning the trip, as well as my experiences during the trip.

I am hoping to visit several countries in Asia (Mongolia, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Myanmar, South Korea, North Korea, maybe Indonesia and The Philippines), as well as New Zealand and Chile. Other possible destinations are Australia and Peru, depending on time and money. In total I think the trip will take about 6 months.

I am interested in studying more closely the economic development in these countries, with an eye to investment and business opportunities. However, since I'm there, I will visit some of the tourist attractions as well.

Nothing is fixed yet, but at the moment I am planning on flying to my first destination in Asia (maybe Mongolia in June?) and then travelling mostly by train, because it is much cheaper than driving or flying and also because I don't need to fix the dates of my travels well ahead (like in the case of flying). I can do more stops as well. However, speaking about money, I will not be a backpacker, sleeping in a tent or hostels, but rather in motels or hotels (though probably not in 5 star hotels).

You can keep track of updates to this blog by clicking on any of the "Follow by Email", "Follow" or "Subscribe To" links on this page. I expect to add around one new post per week.

Stay tuned!