My two Turkish friends, Murat and Salman came to visit Pakistan. I had the honor of hosting them for a couple of days and the time we spent was… according to Murat “WOW!”
To see the pictures of their visit to Pakistan, please click here
Dream accomplished – Time to party!
They were on the road since 2006 realizing their dreams. For 2 years and 6 months they traveled from Australia to Switzerland by land and sea – on a bike, by hitchhiking, by tuk tuk, camel, tractor and a 1978 VW bus a.k.a. pimp.
Their journey will end on the 18th of October 2008 when they will finally reach their destination Switzerland after travelling almost 27 countries non-stop. Now its time they had a party!
Put two best mates together who are nature lovers, adventurers and a bit crazy too and what happens is a bicycle trip from Australia to Switzerland.
It started with an idea – it became a dream – then reality … which unfortunately had to change due to circumstances beyond their control
Some of their goals were:
· To travel from Australia to Switzerland by bicycle and alternative transportation (i.e. not tourist buses etc.) and occasional water crossings by boat. To begin this journey in Darwin, Australia in 2006 and complete it in Switzerland in 2008.
· Document the trip as a whole with still photography and video, focusing on social and environmental issues.
· To gear the images in this documentary for different possible outcomes. For example, a film about our journey, still photos and slide shows for exhibition.
· To live our dream!
For more information on them and their WILD trip, visit their official site www.alexkaeslin.com
East to West
At McDonalds in Lahore
Lately, the world has drifted so far apart. East from West. People look at each other as if they were from another world. This is mainly because of the media hype created on both sides about the other. While the West looks at the East as backward and extremists, the West is perceived to be materialistic and socially corrupt. This perception on both the sides exists even though we believe the world is getting smaller.
It is just understanding the other by people to people interaction that we can overcome this problem. All the people living in the East and West are not as they are thought to be. To understand them, we must interact.
I had the opportunity to interact with the people from the West who seems to have taken a bold step to come and visit the East and see for themselves the people. One example I can give is of Alex Kaeslin and Nataly Goldin. Both husband and wife, Alex is from Switzerland and Nataly from Australia. They helped me understanding their culture and people more than any book, documentary or any form of media that could inform me.
My perception of Australia was that they are racists people and still had that “white” domination factor in them. But when you meet an Australian, it may turn out to be the opposite. That’s what it was for me. Australia is a vast land with only few cities. It’s economy may be growing but Australia is facing drought and even water is rationed. Switzerland, well thats were all our looted money is. And the swiss are known for their mouth watering chocolates. It is a law to build nuclear bunkers for every house even though the possibilities of war with Switzerland are 10000 to 1.
Meeting Alex and Nataly was a pleasure. This down to earth couple were so informative and friendly, I hardly knew they were not from Pakistan. The only time I realized this was when they ate their food. Obviously they were not used to eating “wheat chapati” the way we do. We made good friends of the time he spent at my place and it seemed we knew each other since ages. His humor and interests were so much comparable to mine. We did have “one” interest in common although I realized he was much more interested in it than I could ever be.
Alex is a photographer who studied photography in Australia and then pursued his dream to travel the world and capture it through his camera. You can visit his official website at www.alexkaselin.com
Some interesting facts about Australia:
The name Australia is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning Southern.
There are two flags for Australia, one is The Australian Flag and the other is The Aboriginal Flag.
The Australian Flag Is based on the blue ensign. It is a plain blue flag with the British Union Jack in the upper corner of the hoist. Underneath is the seven-pointed Commonwealth star. Each point represents either a state or territory. On the right hand side there are five white stars in the shape of the souther cross, the constellation most characteristic of the Australian sky at night.
The Aboriginal Flag has 3 colors, Black, red and yellow.
Black is for the color of the people, Red is for the land and for the blood that has been shed since the European invasion and Yellow is for the sun the life-giving source uniting both the land and the people.
Jedi is a registered religion
You can have your own law and country if you have an estate
Water is rationed
The Australians eat their own national animals, EMU and KANGAROO
Its a law that if a man and woman are walking on the sideway, the woman should not be on the road side.
About Switzerland
4th highest nominal GDP per capita in the world and the country also has the highest car theft in the world.
Every man has to go to the army and MUST have his machine gun at home, you never know who may “attack” them.
The Pope’s personal army are the Swiss guards and it is the army that exists the longest!
This Swiss are famous for their watches and chocolate.
The wristwatch was invented by a Swiss, Patek Philippe in 1868 and chocolate was invented by the Maya and the Aztec some 2,000 years and the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs made it possible to import chocolate back to Europe.
Meeting a hitchhiker
I was introduced to a hitchhiker from France, Ludovic Hubler who had traveled 70 countries and over 160,000 km without having to spend a single penny on travel. The thing that excited me the most was his commitment to do this journey and actually achieve his goal. I spent many days with him and it seemed like I am in an interactive library. We had an opportunity to share our views on many issues that confront us and reached a unanimous decision that Peace was the call of the day.
Our discussions ranged from religion to politics to economy, regional issues to culture traditions and social issues. Although we did not agree on many things but we did agree to disagree with each other and discuss the issues.
During his stay in Lahore we took him to many school, colleges and other educational institutes as it was his desire to interact with the children so as to share his ideas and experiences. This interaction was very well received by the children as we got calls from their administrations that they would want another such presentation. He must have given over 10 interviews to the electronic media and equal number to the print.
He started his journey on 1st January 2003 and would complete his mission on the1st of January 2008 at the same place where he first hitched a ride.
I wish him the best of luck on his future journey.
