Route Info

As you can see on the map, we are going to travel all the way overland from the Middle-East (Egypt) to South-East Asia (Sulawesi). We try to avoid flying as much as possible as we love to see everything change around us; the people, architecture, culture, atmosphere,... everything! Travelling makes you flexible and we have changed our route a few times along the way. Our most important decision we took in April 2001 when we decided to cheat and take a plane to Bangkok. At the sime time we decided to extend our trip until December 2001 (instead of returning to Holland in August) to travel back overland from Bangkok to Kathmandu. So, basically you can divide our trip into 4 parts:

The Middle-East: Egypt to India (October - December 2000)
The reason we started in Egypt is partly because we needed a holiday first, and therefore wanted to go to the Red Sea. Partly it is also because Egypt is the sort of obvious starting point if you talk about traveling through the Middle-East. After Egypt we travelled to Jordan and Syria, making a short stopover in Libanon. When we left Syria in the North, we headed into wintertime. The East of Turkey was cold, especially when crossing the border with Iran over the mountains. When leaving Iran in the East at Taftan, the roads led us to Quetta and Lahore in Pakistan. This part of the trip ended in Goa (India) where we met Saskia's family for New Year.

The Indian subcontinent (January - March 2001)
From Goa we travelled South to Kerala and Tamil Nadhu. From there we gradually moved back north via Hampi, Mysore and a short stopover in Goa. In Rajasthan we visited the cities of Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Bikaner before we travelled on to the East towards Agra and Varanasi. The majestic mountains in Sikkim were our last stop in India before leaving for Nepal.

South-East Asia (April- July 2001)
As Arnout got really ill in Nepal, we decided to fly out of Kathmandhu to Bangkok and spent some serious relaxation time on the beaches of Koh Tao. Totally refreshed we travelled on to Malaysia, Singapore and flew to Borneo. Via the jungle, rivers and mountains in Sarawak and Sabah we crossed the border to Indonesian Kalimantan. From there a Pelni ship brought us to Sulawesi. Travelling from South to North we passed Tana Toraja, the Togian Islands and the region around Manado.

Bangkok to Kathmandu (August- November 2001)
The final part of our journey starts in Bangkok. Via Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh we travel north to the Lao border. Crossing Laos all the way from South to North we will finally end up in China. After exploring the South-west of this country we will fly from Chengdu to Lhasa (unless we'll find a way to travel this part over land as well...). From Tibet we go overland to Nepal where we'll have endless time to evaluate our trip walking the Annapurna circuit!