CRAZY JOURNEY

CRAZYJOURNEY FINAL EUROPEAN LEG and HOMECOMING!

2008-07-05T00:23:00.001+10:00

AFTER 44,000KM of Driving,

The Lads Finally Make it Home to Dublin!

Met by friends and family, we finally touch down on Irish soil!

After the final 5,700km loop through Eastern Europe, the Baltics, Scandinavia and Western Europe, we arrived home in Dublin in tatters on July 4^th. The blog went to crap during these last few weeks due to our excessive looseness. We had a few crazy nights in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia before catching the world’s greatest boat, aptly named the ‘Romantika’ from Tallinn to Stockholm, with its incredible 'Space' Niteclub onboard.

Dave and Fintan in Riga

Sunset in Lithuania

Getting Ready to Board the 'Romantika' from Tallinn to Stockholm

In Stockholm, we met Doyler and Smythy who was back for a second run with us and after a few great nights in Stockholm, we collected Dan O’Keefe, Dave’s mate from Sydney who had flown in specially to join us the whole way back to Dublin. We all agreed that the sheer caliber of Swedish women was up there with the best in the world and we struggled to leave to Oslo, the world’s most expensive city.

Franner the Bison!

We headed south and back into Sweden again to stop in Gothenburg to watch Sweden’s Euro 2008 match where they unfortunately went down to the Russians. Then it was off to Malmo, where Paul Sokhi had arranged to meet a huge mob of Swedish mates he had met in Thailand. The Malmo boys were unbelievably good to us and showed us a few amazing nights in both Malmo and Copenhagen which was only a 20 minute train away.

The Malmo Gang!

Our first stop in Western Europe was the German Port city of Hamburg before arriving in the madness of Amsterdam. We spent three days getting up to the usual mischief before heading to Paris to meet Dave’s friend Bertrand and were lucky to get free accommodation at a model agency apartment through Paul Sokhi’s wonderful social network. We visited all the usual tourist sites and got the classic Hummer meets Eiffel tower photo!

Dave and Fintan at the Eiffel Tower

Us at the Model's Apartment, Paris

After a 30minute Eurotunnel trip from Calais, we finally arrived in London where Franner’s cousin Patrick put us up for a few days. Our final roadtrip was to Liverpool for a final night of madness before catching the afternoon HSS from Holyhead to Dublin!!!

Waiting to board the HSS to Dublin!

A Knackered Dave finally arrives in his Driveway

Touching Irish soil was a huge moment for us and we were greeted in Dun Laoighre by family and friends before heading into SPY nightclub in Dublin for our homecoming bash! That night we handed over a cheque to Aware for €14,000 Euro, which we raised along the drive.

Dave's friend Kingy wins the charity auction with his 750 Euro bid to cut off Dave's infamous Ratty!

The lads present the cheque to Geraldine from AWARE

AFTER 7 MONTHS ON THE ROAD,

THE DREAM IS OVER FOR THE TIME BEING!

Rhys and Chuck are now back in Sydney finishing University

Dave will be working as a trader in London

Fintan has just accepted a job in Google

(After only a few weeks home, Dave's mind is already wandering....New York to Buenos Aires!

Anyone Interested????)

Our Final European Routemap, 5115km!

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DAY 179-180: PRAGUE DAY 1 AND ON TO WARSAW

2008-06-05T21:16:00.003+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY SAYS GOODBYE TO CHUCK AND MARTY

The lads at Charles Bridge wth new recruit Franner before saying goodbye to Marty and Chuck

After another chilled out day and night in this lovely city, we had to collect Dave and Finto’s mate Franner, who will be with us from now the whole way home to Dublin. Dave and Fintan went to collect him and ended up lost for about an hour in Czech countryside with no one speaking a word of English and had some classic sign language moments.

At the airport, it was funny waiting at arrivals for the Irish flight. You could tell as soon as it landed from all the Irish heads walking out the gate. Dave made a prediction that we would see at least one GAA jersey, one Celtic jersey and a Man U jersey. Sure enough a group of 4 Dub lads on a mad one in Prague for the weekend walked out wearing exactly that. We’re really starting to feel close to home now!!!

It was great to see Franner after so long who had just come from the tail end of his thesis at college back home and was rearing to go. Today was also a bit emotional as we would have to say goodbye to Marty and Chuck. Unfortunately, Chuck is heading on to London by plane to meet his brother, so there was a bit of a substitution with Francis. When we arrive in London we’ll be picking him up for the final leg to Dublin. It was also time to say goodbye to Marty who has added nothing but intensity and value, always lifting the group’s spirits through his stint with us from Istanbul to here.

The beast reaches the Polish border

Hitting the road again, the drive to Poland was a bit slower on single lane secondary roads. Once in Poland it was a massive drive to Warsaw, Poland’s capital. Arriving really late, it was nearly impossible to find accommodation. With everybody tired and tempers flaring, we eventually managed to find something at 3 in the morning and got straight to sleep.

DAY 180 ROUTEMAP - LONG 611km drive from Prague to Warsaw

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DAY 178 - VIENNA TO PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

2008-06-03T21:05:00.006+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES PRAGUE!

Finto at the Astrological clock in Prague

In terrible stormy weather, we got moving out of Vienna towards the Czech capital Prague. Coming close to the Czech border, there was flooding all over the country roads. No problem to the beast of course, but Paul’s little Scarlett was having some trouble.

Marty meets Lucy again for the first time in 2 years!

Entering the compact medieval old town of Prague, the Hummer struggled through the city’s maze of narrow cobbled streets. We parked as close as we could to Charles Bridge and the Astrological clock to get a feed and sort accommodation. Armies of tourists descend on Prague every summer to visit it’s main attractions such as St.Charle’s Bridge and The Astrological clock. Every hour, tourist hoards gather around the clock to watch mechanical figures and a bell ringing skeleton. We found the whole procession laughingly disappointing and most people are left asking ‘Is that it?’.

The photo that separated Marty and Fintan from the lads. Not sure if it was worth it

Dave and Marty arranged to meet their old Sydney housemate Lucy who is from Prague and hadn’t seen the lads in over 2 years. Lucy brought the lads out for a traditional Czech dinner and we all got together again that evening to go out to a few bars. Marty and Fintan ended up on their own mad night after they lost everyone in the square trying to take a photo. Since it was a Monday night, Prague was quite enough but Lucy found us a bar to get involved in so we made the most of it.

DAY 177 ROUTEMAP - 406KM from Vienna to Prague

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DAY 177 - BRATISLAVA TO VIENNA, AUSTRIA

2008-06-02T20:59:00.001+10:00

The lads in one of Bratislava's many picturesque squares

This morning we explored the narrow streets of this compact medieval city, visited it’s main castle and had lunch in the main square next to the picturesque Roland fountain. We were intending on driving to Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, but at the last minute, we took the short 30 minute hop to Vienna for the night instead.

Entering along the Danube, the grandeur of the city’s architecture was striking. Surrounded by world-class museums, luxurious palaces and towering monuments, the city has a certain high-brow feel. We arrived days before the start of The Euro 2008 Tournament so the whole place was decked out with banners and buzzing in anticipation. Wandering around Vienna’s Innere Stadt, we had drinks in an amazing rooftop bar with perfect views of the Gothic masterpiece of St.Stephen’s Cathedral, the city’s most recognizable structure. Dave, Paul and Marty had an interesting night with 3 very odd but interesting Austrian fashion designers who spotted Dave’s ultra fashionable but disgusting rats tail, thought he was gay and bought all the lads drinks all night.

Paul, Rhys and Chuck under St.Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

We could obviously get home from Austria in a few days but are in no rush and have planned a bit of scenic route home via the Baltics and Scandinavia before coming home through Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Liverpool then Dublin by July 4th for our homecoming bash!

DAY 177 ROUTEMAP: 87km

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DAY 176 - BUDAPEST TO BRATISLAVA

2008-06-01T20:51:00.006+10:00

The lads get Turkish with a statue at the citadel

This morning, a few of us took a trip to the hilltop Citadel overlooking the city to watch the Red Bull Street Luge where madmen make their own ridiculously themed homemade carts and hurtle down the hillside track. We had a great laugh watching guys destroy themselves on the 90 degree final turn but the whole event turned sour when a massive lightning storm descended on us. Luckily we were on the way to the car and later found out that 3 people were actually struck by lightning near the citadel during the same storm.

Red Bull Street Luge!

That afternoon, it was time to say goodbye to Gary and Stuie, the last of the Irish mob for the meantime and another great addition to CRAZYJOURNEY.

Marty, Gary, Stuie and Dave overlooking Budapest

We hit the road again for a relatively small 4 hour drive in cavalcade for the first time with the Hummer’s new little red girlfriend Scarlett, Paul’s Mercedes, on a perfect motorways to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. Passing through hundreds of miles of harvested fields in Spring, so Rhys, Dave and Paul who all suffer badly from hayfever were dying when we arrived late into the city. It was a Monday night in Bratislava so there wasn’t much going on. We booked into a cheap hostel for a quiet night in which has been a rarity of late.

DAY 176 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 175 - BUDAPEST DAY 1

2008-05-31T20:36:00.001+10:00

Paul, Dave and the Big Serj at the Chain Bridge, Budapest

Today the whole gang got together to go for lunch on Paul’s dad the Big Serj in Raday Ucta. After lunch we wandered around this absolute gem of a city taking in some of the grand architecture along the banks of the Danube such as the magnificent Chain Bridge. Unfortunately Tony had to leave to go home to the lovely Ailish. Needless to say, he added heaps of value during his stay with us.

Gary about to order duck for the 4th time in as many days!

Not everybody noticed, but remarkably at dinner that night, Gary ordered duck for the 4^th time in as many days. Rio nightclub was so good the night before that we decided to head off there again for another mad night.

DAY 174 - TARGU MURES TO BUDAPEST

2008-05-30T05:57:00.012+10:00

YETI ATTACK IN BUDAPEST!

Scarlett, The Yeti's cute little buggy is dominated by the beast in Budapest

After a quiet enough night, we were up early and had a look around the lovely little Transylvanian town of Targu Mures before hitting the road towards Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

The lads in Targu Mures

Stuck on a single lane road packed with trucks, it took us six hours just to get to the Hungarian border. Close to the border and stuck in traffic, we stopped at a currency exchange to get Hungarian money. Marty and Gary were last to leave and just as they were attacked by a giant pig who was being chased up the road and aggrevated further by an angry old Romanian Gypsy. Marty screamed like a girl and tried to keep the pig at bay with a broom while Gary looked on laughing. Random but absolutely classic!

Marty glad to escape with his life after the giant pig attack and Gary thinking about his duck dinner in the doorway

The roads instantly became better once we crossed into Hungary and Tony who flew ahead from Bucharest had been on the phone several times and seemed very anxious to meet us in the city. We thought nothing of it and that he was probably on his own waiting for us.

All the lads with Big Serj and a Turkish Man. What the hell is Tony trying to do to Dave?

We finally found Tony’s hotel in the centre of Budapest and just as we parked, we saw some weird guy in a kilt shouting and running past the Hummer. We thought nothing of it until we saw a cute girlie little scarlet coloured Mercedes reversing up the road towards us with the British license plate ‘P 5OKY’. He’s absolutely had us!!! Paul Sokhi aka 'The Yeti', who was with us all through South East Asia and India had repeatedly let on to Dave that he wouldn’t be able to meet us until Scandinavia had turned up to surprise us all in Budapest. Paul had driven the whole way from Glasgow with his dad, the Big Serj and kept it on the down-low, only telling Tony. Tony’s odd choice of a flight to previous day and anxious phonecalls all made sense now.

All the lads at Cafe Del Rio, Budapest

Needless to say, it put everyone in the mood for a mad one and the 9 of us all headed out to the top spot in Budapest, Café Del Rio on the banks of the Danube. Another epic night was had!

DAY 174 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 173 - BUCHAREST TO TARGU MURES

2008-05-29T05:41:00.000+10:00

TRANSYLVANIA!

This bloke lives near where we're going. Marty was shitting himself!

Cillian and Rob were unfortunately leaving us today after mad few days but the other lads would be with us until Saturday. Alan was feeling really sick and sadly needed to go home with the two boys today as well. The three lads added nothing but value to CRAZYJOURNEY and we look forward to seeing them when we get home.

Our next destination is Budapest in Hungary which was at least 2 days driving so we planned an overnight stop in Targu Mures in Transylvania (the home of Dracula!) where Dave would meet his lady friend Judy who’s from there. Tony being Tony decided to fly ahead to Budapest. We all thought this was a bit ridiculous but the man had an ace up his sleave that we wouldn’t find out about until the next day in Budapest!

So 7 of us piled into the Hummer and had an enjoyable drive through Transylvania and arrived late to the surprisingly beautiful small town of Targu Mures. Dave stayed in with Judy while the rest of the lads piled into a taxi to suss out the nightlife.

DAY 173 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 172 - CONSTANTA TO BUCHAREST

2008-05-28T05:16:00.007+10:00

Cillan and Gary hang out of the train back to Bucharest. Don't try this at home kids!

There were way too many of us today to pile into the Hummer today for the drive back to Bucharest so most of the Irish lads hopped on a train. By all accounts they had a good laugh drinking and hanging out the moving train’s door like idiots!

Alan hanging out of a train like a madman!

Back in Bucharest, Andy had arranged a 2^nd big apartment for all the lads to stay in. The 13 of us all went out with Andy as our guide to another Romanian nightclub and were all completely blown away yet again by the beauty of Romanian girls.

In the wee hours of the morning, Cillian fell fast asleep in the first apartment, he somehow locked the door behind him and didn’t budge as we banged the door to try wake him up. This forced us all to cram into one apartment for the night!

An even bigger mob of lads out on another crazy night in Bucharest

DAY 171+172 - BUCHAREST TO CONSTANTA FOR 2 DAYS

2008-05-27T01:59:00.000+10:00

AND THEN THERE WERE 13!

WE MEET THE IRISH MOB IN CONSTANTA

All the boyos at dinner in Constanta

This morning was a bit emotional for everybody as would have to say goodbye to Tomo who has been with us since that rendezvous of destiny at McDonalds in Luxor, Egypt. Tom is flying out of Bucharest to the Greek islands to meet mates. The lad was nothing but a value addition to the drive and will be sorely missed!

A teary goodbye to the one and only Tomo

After saying goodbye to Tomo, 7 of us including the big units Rob and Cillian, piled into the Hummer for a 2 hour drive to Constanta, a resort town on the Romanian Black Sea coast, where we would meet 4 more Irish lads, Tony, Stuie, Gary and Alan who had come from a wedding in Italy to meet us. Constanta was the only place in Romania they could get to from Italy.

A beautiful sunset in Constanta with the large silhouette of what can only be Cillian O'Byrne's head!

By the time we got to Constanta, the lads had already arrived and were waiting for us at the hotel. Unfortunately, the town was completely dead as we had arrived two weeks before the holiday season began. Nonetheless, we all got together for a few beers and a meal at the hotel. We all went out to find some action but there was nothing going on, so we got out the Shisha pipes brought Damascus and a bit of a seisún at the hotel.

Alan nestling in for a Shisha seisun!

The next day, we had a chilled out day by the lake in a lame attempt to get some sun. Meanwhile Marty who was struggling with only backpack of filthy clothes decided to do a DIY wash but bought bleach instead and almost made a balls of the whole thing. He ended up using hotel shampoo clothes and dried them at the beach like a true bum.

Classic Aussie! Marty improvises at the beach to get his washing done

That evening, all the lads got together again for dinner in local Irish bar and restaurant. After dinner a few of the lads stayed out at a 24hour café bar for a few late drinks with the rest hitting the sack early with a trip back to Bucharest the next day.

DAY 171 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 170 - BUCHAREST DAY 1

2008-05-25T01:52:00.003+10:00

Down in a hole! The Hummers gets stuck in a huge trough in Bucharest

Feeling rough after a big night in Bamboo and stuck in a crammed apartment, Dave and Marty went in the Hummer to find a hotel to make life a bit easier for us all. Marty found a cheap hotel in the city so a few of us took a drive there. We were parked beside roadworks outside the hotel and a hungover Cillian informed a hungover Dave of a giant unmarked hole just in front of him. Dave acknowledged this but after sitting for another 5 minutes in the car waiting for Marty’s return, the hole had completely vanished from his mind. Leaving the hotel, we made it about 1 metre before the entire front right wheel fell into a massive 4ft deep trough with a horrifying bang.

Fintan gets into the huge hole after the Hummer was reversed out

Shock and horror instantly struck our zombie heads. We were all a bit worried when we got out of the car to see the damage. It looked like we would definitely need a tow but we decided to have a punt at a reverse job anyway. Luckily enough, the beast reversed out with ease and miraculously there was no damage at all.

That evening, Dave went off to get the car a much needed valet, the first wash the Hummer has had since Dubai months ago. We all took it pretty handy that night knowing what lay ahead when we meet 4 more Irish lads tomorrow.

DAY 169 - SOFIA TO BUCHAREST

2008-05-24T09:52:00.008+10:00

AND THEN THERE WERE 9!

CRAZYJOURNEY HITS BUCHAREST

All the boys together in Bamboo nightclub, Bucharest

All a bit groggy after last nights activities, we hit the road at midday bound for Bucharest to be on time to collect Cillian and Rob, two mates of ours from Dublin at the airport. Rob’s brother Andy is working in Bucharest so he had everything organized for our arrival.

Crossing into Romania was no hassle at all and we met Andy in Bucharest city centre. Much like Sofia, Burcharest maintains a Soviet feel. Dominating the city is the immense Parliament Palace, built in 1984 by the communist ruler Nicolae Ceauşescu. 1/6th of Bucharest was bulldozed to accommodate its creation and after the Pentagon, this is 2^nd largest building in the world.

The massive Parliament Palace in Bucharest

Dave and Andy drove to the airport to collect the lads while the rest of us went to The Harp Irish Bar for a feed and some warm-ups for what Andy promised would be a big night. It was great to see the 2 lads again after so long and after a few drinks, we got ready at our apartment and met Andy again before going in taxis to the one and only Bamboo Nightclub.

Dave, astonished by the calibre of girls in Bamboo!

Rob, Andy, Fintan and Marty getting loose!

We didn’t know what to expect from Romania, but were absolutely blown away going into this glitzy nightclub with Ferraris pulling up and by far the most beautiful girls we’ve seen on the whole drive inside. Bamboo is regarded as Romania’s top nightclub filled with Bucharest glitterati. The 9 of us had an amazing night and were completely shell shocked by the girls in the place, especially the podium dancers who some us struggled to keep our eyes off! Cillian disappeared for most of the night to show Romanians what ‘going mad’ really means!

No words are really needed here!

Bucharest taxi drivers are a bunch of rip-off merchants and while asleep on the way home in a taxi, Fintan’s precious iphone was robbed leading to what Tomo later described as hilarious outburst of rage!

A distraught Fintan desperately trying to call his precious and stolen iphone!

All in all it was a great night and a taster of what’s to come, especially since 4 more Irish lads are joining the mob on Monday!

DAY 169 ROUTEMAP

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CRAZYJOURNEY HOMECOMING PARTY!!

2008-05-24T03:36:00.001+10:00

PARTY TIME!!

The lads have nearly made it!

We have driven all the way from Sydney to Dublin over 40 countries, 50,000kms, 4 continents.

On Fiday 4th July and upside-down on the other side of the world from Sydney, a big party to celebrate the homecoming and to raise some more funds for AWARE is being held at the fabulous SPY Bar on South William Street in Dublin's City Centre from 10.15pm - late.

We'd love you guys to come along and celebrate the end of this amazing journey with us!

10 Euro donation upon entry goes directly to AWARE

DAY 168 - SOFIA DAY 1

2008-05-23T11:07:00.007+10:00

The Hummer in hot water on a Bulgarian Tram-only line

Waking up to a grey and dull Sofia, we set out to explore the city. En route however, Dave managed to take a wrong turn and ended up driving on a tram-only zone with Bulgarian passengers staring at us in disbelief! Imagine the sight of a Hummer passing you by on the Luas line back home!

Escaping in one piece, we were all pleasantly surprised by the Bulgarian capital which is a lot more modern and happening than we first expected. Marty and Dave headed off to a local Poker Room to endulge in one of their favourite pastimes for a few hours before going home and getting the lads ready for a big student night out in Sofia.

Marty and Dave, up to their usual antics in Alcohol Nightclub, Sofia

We got some insider knowledge from local boyos to visit the appropriately named 'Alcohol' nightclub and had a great night with the mad student punters! good luck to anyone who can wake up Rhys tomorrow morning for our mammoth drive to Bucharest where we will be meeting the visiting Irish mob over the coming days.

Rhys with a fine example of an overly macho Bulgarian bouncer

DAY 167 - THESSALONIKI TO SOFIA, BULGARIA

2008-05-22T05:38:00.009+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES BULGARIA

A dodgy Bulgarian border policeman pulls us over

This morning, we had to peel ourselves out of what felt like our death bed and somehow get ourselves organized for a big drive to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Fintan’s mum brought him for an incredible lunch at Sotiris Adelakis, one of the best fish restaurants in Greece, owned and run by a crazy former truck driver.

It was 4 and half hour drive to Sofia and just after crossing the Bulgarian border we were stopped for speeding by Bulgarian Police who fictitiously claimed we were driving much faster than we actually were and threatened a trip to the local police station where our license would be taken. After spending a lot of time in Moscow and learning from his mate the dodgiest of all Russians, the infamous Vladimir Bosyakov, Dave realised that this was the usual prompt to offer a bribe and asked if there was any possible way of paying ‘a fine’ on the spot with a 10 euro note. The answer was an immediate ‘NO’, but when a 20 euro note was presented, it swiftly became possible and all documents were handed back over for us to head on our way again.

Arriving in Sofia, the country’s Soviet history is apparent in the city’s run down tram networks and communist-styled architecture. As with most Soviet countries, the disparity in wealth is obvious with top of the range sports cars roaring past old Ladas and super chic nightclubs situated only a stone’s throw from dull and run down Soviet housing projects.

Downtown Sofia

We managed to find a good feed at Flannagan’s Irish Pub situated right in the city centre. After finding cheap accommodation, the lads didn’t hang around long and hit the town for the night and found it hard to mingle with the grumpy and ultra-macho Eastern European men and incredibly stuck up but beautiful women dancing to trashy Eurotrash techno music.

DAY 167 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 166 - KAVALA TO THESSALONIKI

2008-05-21T05:23:00.004+10:00

All the lads with Fintan's mum at a bar in Aristotelous Square

We had to get up early this morning to reach Thessaloniki Airport for the lunchtime arrival of Fintan’s mother, Deirdre. Arriving in coastal capital of Northern Greece in plenty of time, we dropped off the lads in the city centre to find accommodation and headed to the airport.

Being idiots in Aristoleous Square

Returning from the airport an hour later, we rendezvoused in one of the packed cafes in the city’s Aristotelous Square which was the perfect spot to soak up the city’s young and vibrant atmosphere over a few beers.

All Hail Pharaoh Spargo IV the Great!

That evening, we all watched the nail-biting Champions League Final and stayed around the square and waterfront for the night. Dave and Marty lost the run of it with their Cleopatra/Rick James hats and up upon entering one nightclub, insisted on the bouncer bowing to the Great Pharoah Spargo IV.

DAY 165 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 165 - ISTANBUL TO KAVALA

2008-05-20T05:03:00.007+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY FINALLY REACHES EUROPE!

The lads at the Blue Mosque, Istanbul

We were up early this morning to have a wander around Istanbul and see some of it’s sights. Our first stop was the Blue Mosque, whose name comes from the blue impression created from it’s tiled walls and painted dome. Afterwards, we wandered down to the waterfront and watched some funny fishermen dancing to techno music.

We wandered back to the hostel through the Grand Bazaar, a labyrinthine medieval shopping mall with over 4,500 shops selling everything from rugs to apple flavoured tea. Marty ended up nearly spewing after trying some local cheese at one of the stalls.

The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul...note Dave's hideous Ratty!

After a quick donar dinner, all 6 of us crammed into the Hummer and hit the road bound for Thessaloniki in Greece in time to meet Fintan’s mother tomorrow. It was well into the night when we reached another massive milestone on the drive by entering Greece and EU for the first time. This was the easiest border crossing yet and it was an absolute pleasure not even requiring a stamp on our passports for once.

The Hummer finally enters Greece and the EU!

We began to run out of petrol 100kms outside Thessaloniki and pulled into a small coastal town near Kavala to fill up only to find out that all petrol stations were closed for the night. We were all knackered anyway so decided to find somewhere to stay. With all nearby options for accommodation closed, Marty thought it would be a good idea to sleep in an unlocked van on the side of the road, which could have been a last resort option only for the dodgy Bulgarian license plates! Eventually we found a B&B and got some rest before Thessaloniki tomorrow.

DAY 165 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 164 - ANKARA TO ISTANBUL

2008-05-19T03:48:00.005+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY IN THE BUL!

And then there were 6....Marty joins CRAZYJOURNEY

With a 3.30pm rendezvous with the man himself, Marty Spargo in Istanbul Airport, we hopped back on Turkey's brilliant highways and headed towards the airport. Marty had been on a world tour and come straight from the Palestinian West Bank to meet us.

Arriving into Budapest, we had monumental crossing over Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge which connects the Middle East with Europe. It was a huge milestone for us to see a sign stating ‘Welcome to Europe’ as we drove into Istanbul, the only city in the world built on two continents.

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge connecting the Middle Eastern and European Continents

With just about enough petrol and stuck in traffic, we miraculously made it in time to collect Marty 5 minutes before he landed. As ever, Marty was full of mad exploits from around the world and South East Asia in particular. He’ll no doubt be a valued addition to the team until his departure in Prague.

Marty up to his usual antics at the Hostel Bar

We stayed in Sultanahmet, the beautifully cobblestoned tourist heart of Istanbul, only a stone’s throw away from Istanbul’s most prominent landmark, the Blue Mosque. That evening, we went for drinks and the usual Shisha in bar before trying to make a night of it in the city centre. Unfortunately the place was absolutely dead so we returned to the bar near the hostel for a few quiet scoops.

DAY 164 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 163 - DAMASCUS TO ANKARA, TURKEY

2008-05-18T20:15:00.005+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES BACK IN TURKEY

Scary looking turn-off for Iraq

Today was a massive day of driving from Damascus into Turkey. En route through Syria, we saw plenty of opportunities to turn off for Baghdad. A classic was the compulsory turn off for tanks and trucks entering Iraq!

We had a relatively trouble free border crossing back into Turkey. On our first entry into Turkey from Iran, all of our bags were checked thoroughly but this time around, the head of customs lazily took one look at all the bags piled in the back and sent us on our way!

We reached Ankara by midnight on good Turkish motorways and got a much needed rest before our rive to Istanbul tomorrow.

DAY 163 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 162 - AQABA TO DAMASCUS

2008-05-17T19:52:00.007+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY GOES FOR A FLOAT IN THE DEAD SEA

The Lads go for a float in the Dead Sea

Having already been through Jordan and Syria and with a deadline to meet the one and only Marty Spargo (Dave’s mate from Sydney) in Istanbul in 3 day, we have a marathon drives ahead of us to reach the European continent in time. Not wasting any time in Aqaba we hammered it North and planned a quick stop in the Dead Sea close to Amman.

This body of water is the lowest point on the surface of the earth at 420 metres below sea level. It’s name comes from the fact that it is 8 times saltier than the Ocean so no fish can exist here. So with the sunset view of the Palestinian West Bank in the distance, we hopped in for the obligatory float and read of the newspaper. It was an incredible feeling have so much buoyancy and Rhys made the mistake of dipping his head underwater only for the salt to sting the hell out of his eyes!

The sun sets over the Dead Sea and Palestinian West Bank

We tore on towards the Syrian border and eventually reached Damascus in the wee hours where we checked into the same hotel as last time!

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DAY 161 - SHARM EL SHEIKH TO AQABA, JORDAN

2008-05-16T19:38:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY CATCHES THE FERRY BACK TO JORDAN

The Hummer gets ready to board the Nuweiba Ferry

Waking up bruised and in tatters, we put the pieces of our life back together and hit the road for Nuweiba to catch the return ferry back to Aqaba in Jordan. Arriving only half an hour before the ship set sail, we were told by probably the most uncooperative, unfriendly and useless ticket officer on the whole planet that there was no way of getting onboard. Not giving in, we went into the port to meet the official who had helped us out a week previously. Luckily, he told us that the ferry had some problems and was delayed and radioed the ticket office to allow us to have a ticket.

After a massive blow-up with the obese ticket officer, he reluctantly let in and gave us our tickets at an inflated price! At that stage we were in no position to bargain and took the tickets. The ferry’s problems were finally fixed and by the time we arrived back in Aqaba it was already 3am so we settled back into the hotel we had stayed in previously.

DAY 161 ROUTEMAP: Click on Icons for Details

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DAY 160 - SHARM EL SHEIKH DAY 1

2008-05-15T05:34:00.007+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY FOAM PARTY!

Tomo, Fintan and Rhys at the foam party in Pacha

With black mud coming out of the shower this morning, Dave and Fintan decided enough was enough with this hellhole and left Rhys, Tom and Chuck to go and find better accommodation. We had done a bit of research and found out that Pacha, one of the best nightclubs in the world, had a venue in Sharm El Sheikh so we planned to find accommodation as close to there as possible. Luckily enough, there was a perfect spot in the form of the Camel Hotel only 2 doors down. TOO EASY!

We spent the evening wandering around the strip at Nama Bay, one of the many bays on Sharm’s coast. Although Sharm still has the package holiday feel, it is certainly more well kept and actually offers some of the best scuba diving in the world. Rhys took advantage of this by going on a night dive. Meanwhile we went to dinner at Bhudda Bar for an amazing sushi feed with Dave getting along famously with the young Russian waitress.

Pacha Naama Bay

We all reconvened at our hotel for some warm ups before heading into Pacha for an absolutely mad night. It turned out that tonight was foam party night so half the nightclub bailed into what can only be described as a foam cauldron of lust and swimming pool for crazy night of antics. Thinking the foam would somehow cushion our falls, we were up on each others shoulders and diving around the place only to wreck ourselves on the concrete floor!

Rhys and Tom get involved!

During the night there were also reported sightings of an abominable foam-man lurking around the club, with Tomo even managing to catch a photo of the beast himself! The craic was absolutely mighty and ended in the wee hours of the morning!

The abominable Foam Man lurks in the distance baring some resemblance to Dave!

DAY 159 - HURGHADA TO SHARM EL SHEIKH

2008-05-14T00:28:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES SHARM EL SHEIKH

Sharm El Sheikh by Night

We decided to get out of Hurghada as quickly as possible and head to Sharm El Sheikh, a more popular Red Sea Resort situated at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. We’ve seen a lot of seedy men on Crazyjourney so far, especially through India and the Middle East, but one bloke we saw when leaving Hurghada could definitely be in the running for the world’s seediest man! We spotted him loitering outside a shop and couldn’t help screeching to a halt to get a photo. How good is his kit!!!

3 simple words...."World's Seediest Man!!!"

Taking another tunnel trip under the Suez Canal, it was another mamooth drive all the way to the Sinai Peninsula. Arriving at 3am, Nama Bay in Sharm El Sheikh instantly looked much cleaner and properly developed. We began the ordeal of finding hotel in this predominantly high-end package holiday resort, eventually finding and with little choice, settling for an absolute dive which was completely run down with cockroaches in the room.

DAY 159 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 158 - LUXOR TO HURGHADA

2008-05-13T00:06:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY GOES BALLOONING!

The view from our Balloon

This morning the lads were up before the birds to go on a Hot Air Baloon tour of the Valley of the Kings, home to some of Egypts most famous Pharaohs. We were escorted by bus to the landing site, stuffed into a massive basket and before Rhys even woke up, were in the air.

A half asleep Rhys gets a rare view of what a sunrise looks like!

Other than the burning heat from the balloons flame, the whole experience was incredible, cruising around some of the ancient ruins and soaring to 2,500 feet with stunning views of the Nile and a golden sunrise.

Tomo lights up

After another few hours sleep, we hit the road for Hurghada. However after only 15 minutes outside Luxor, we were stopped at yet another checkpoint and told by the official that for safety reasons there was no way we could continue to Hurghada unless we were in an official convoy. With this not really being an option, we decided to find our own way through the back streets of small villages. After half an hour of driving through farmland roads and getting directions from men on donkeys, we eventually found our way back on to the motorway and past the checkpoint via and old train track.

One of the lads that offered us help!

After a few hours and several more bewildered looks from checkpoint officials, we arrived on the outskirts of Hurghada on the Red Sea Coast. We had read in travel guides that Hurghada wasn’t the nicest place but when we arrived, we realised that this was a massive understatement. Strewn with tacky and half-finished resorts, the predominantly Russian package holiday makers that come here seem to be oblivious to this locations nightmarish existence. The place is literally tourism gone wrong!

The first thing we did after driving through hell hole was to try and find a way out of in the form of a car ferry to Sharm El Sheikh, another Egyptian Red Sea Resort. However we were devasted when told that there was no car ferry.

Surprisingly enough, there is actually a Ministry of Sound club in Hurghada so we decided to stay for a night. After checking into a nearby run-down hotel we made the most of it at a half empty Ministry of Sound for the night.

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DAY 157 - LUXOR DAY 1

2008-05-12T23:59:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS LUXOR!

The Luxor Temple

We had a well deserved lie-in this morning after a tough few days driving. Rhys and Chuck, disheartened by the closure of Maccas the previous night, decided to go get their fix that afternoon. Amazingly, when they were sitting down, Rhys looked over and couldn’t believe that a mate of his, Tom from Sydney was sitting right across from him. What a random place on Earth to meet someone from home! After chatting away, and realizing that Tomo had time to spare before meeting other friends in Greece, he decided to join us and travel back up towards Istanbul over the next week.

Tomo is the latest addition to the CRAZYJOURNEY team

We spent the afternoon wandering around Luxor which has a far more relaxed feel than Cairo and sprawls around the Luxor Temple, a striking collection of ancient Egyptian columns and statues. The west bank of the city is home to the Valley of the Kings which houses the burial chambers of ancient Egypt’s most famous Pharaohs. Rhys, Chuck, Tom and Fintan organized to do a hot air balloon tour of the valley tomorrow morning. Dave has opted out of this one due to his acute vertigo.

Luxor Temple

That evening there was another battle of the blogs with Dave and Fintan doing a marathon session in an internet café for 5 hours. We were in bed early because of the impending 5am wake-up call for tomorrow morning’s sunrise balloon ride.

DAY 156 - CAIRO TO LUXOR

2008-05-11T23:58:00.008+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS THE GIZA PYRAMIDS!

Milestone! The boys reach the pyramids

This morning, Dave and Fintan headed straight to the packed Egyptian Museum, which houses over 100,000 relics of Egyptian history. This was the first time we’ve seen mass package tourism since the Taj Mahal and we’ve been completely unused to it travelling through the Middle East where it’s rare to spot even the odd intrepid traveler. The museum was pretty run down but the highlight for us was the gleaming solid gold death mask and coffin of the Pharoah Tutankhamun. King Tut also sported the Ratty (more details later!) much to Dave’s delight.

Dave and Fintan at the Pyramids

That afternoon, we braved Cairo’s manic traffic to reach Egypt’s most famous site, the Giza Pyramids which are the sole survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Although it is spectacular to witness these extraordinary 4,000 year old structures rising from the desert, our entire experience was tainted by the huge quantities of rubbish strewn throughout the site as well as the constant nagging by irritating vendors and scam artists. It’s a pity the powers that be don’t preserve and maintain this unique and historically significant site appropriately. The fact that you can sit in KFC with a perfect elevated view of the Sphinx and Pyramids really says it all. We got some classic photos sporting our Rick James/Cleopatra hats forced upon us by the incessant hawkers.

Tourism Overload!

With the sun setting over the Pyramids, we hit the road again further south to reach Luxor by that night. Following the Nile South, we were running out of Petrol, and with no stations to be seen, we forced to top up at dodgy road houses which would only sell us 10 litres of crap petrol at a time, which was a constant worry as it didn’t get us far in this remote part of the world.

The views of the Pyramids from the 1st floor of Pizza Hut are amongst the best we found!

Rhys poses for the tackiest shot of the Pyramids!

Luckily enough, we scraped by and didn’t run out of petrol which we’ve been lucky enough to avoid since Sydney. Since we’ve been really travelling hard over the last few weeks, we’ve been absolutely hammering it and arrived very late into Luxor, absolutely destroyed. Much to the disappointment of the Aussies, McDonalds Luxor had just shut, but we were lucky enough to find a decent kebab joint nearby our hotel. Dave was absolutely shattered from the incessant driving and practically fell asleep in his food.

DAY 156 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 155 - AQABA TO CAIRO, EGYPT

2008-05-10T23:23:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES IN EGYPT!

Dave with his Egyptian License plates and compulsory fire extinguisher

This morning’s ferry crossing from Jordan to Egypt was surprisingly painless. The ferry company seemed well used to foreign vehicles travelling this route and before we knew it, we were crossing the Red Sea over to Nuweiba.

The Hummer enters the ferry to Egypt

The Egyptian side of the crossing was a painful affair. Egyptian Customs insisted that we buy a fire extinguisher for the car. We’re not sure what use this would be as in the case of a fire, we’d probably just run away from the car as fast as we could! Customs also insisted on Egyptian license plates and another driver’s license for Dave.

After several hours of procedures, we escaped the port and began a long drive through the arid desert towards Cairo. On the way we passed through Suez and took a tunnel under the Suez Canal, the world’s busiest shipping lane.

We reached Egypt’s chaotic capital just as the call for prayer we’ve become so used to was echoing around the city at 3.30am. We began the usual ordeal of finding a cheap Lonely Planet recommended Hotel in this giant metropolis. We ended up in a bit of a dive just to put our heads down that is definitely the cheapest accommodation on CRAZYJOURNEY so far at only 5 Euro each a night.

DAY 155 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 154 - PETRA TO AQABA

2008-05-09T23:17:00.007+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS PETRA!

Dave and Fintan at the Treasury Building in Petra

No trip to Jordan is complete without visiting the spectacular hidden city of Petra so we were up early to explore this amazing site. The Nabataean Arabs carved magnificent palaces, temples and tombs into red sandstone cliffs during the 3^rd Century BC to create an amazing complex hidden in a canyon.

The Treasury building viewed through the Siq

This wonder of the world can only be accessed through a narrow 1.2km canyon path which opens dramatically to a view of the city’s undisputed gem, the Treasury Building. In fact, this structure was the famous location for one of the Indiana Jones movies.

The boys at the Monastery in Petra

We walked around the vast site for a good few hours. The place was full of tourists and the always present hawkers trying to sell you anything from water to donkey rides. Dave challenged Fintan to a donkey drag race but was smashed in both races with Dave claiming shenanigans due to underhanded help from the donkey’s trainer.

We ended up doing two draining climbs, the biggest of which was to a scary cliff vantage point surrounding the treasury buildings.

Dave and Fintan too close to the edge overlooking Petra

Knackered after a long days trekking, we had a horrible dinner at a local restaurant followed by the perfect dessert for Fintan in the form of the first tire lick of the trip. We hit the road again towards Aqaba on the Jordanian Coast of the Red Sea. For obvious political reasons, passports containing Israeli Visa stamps are not permitted to enter most of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries. Therefore we must catch a car ferry across the Red Sea to Nuweiba in Egypt.

DAY 154 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 153 - DAMASCUS TO PETRA, JORDAN

2008-05-08T22:54:00.006+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES AMMAN

Rhys overlooks Amman

Leaving Damascus early, we had a painless border crossing before entering Jordan. It was a quick two hour drive from the border before we reached Amman, Jordan’s striking capital which sprawls over undulating hillsides. After a quick lunch and a visit to the city’s Ancient Roman Pantheon, we decided to visit the Citadel. Unfortunately these hills make for a city that’s a complete headache to negotiate and after an hour of getting lost we eventually got there.

Rhys and Dave at the Roman Pantheon in Amman

We visited the immense Temple of Hercules, constructed under the reign of Marcus Aurelius (Russell Crowe from Gladiator) and situated atop of one of Amman’s 19 hills with panoramic views of the surrounding city.

Marcus Aurelius Temple in Amman

After a quick kebab feed which has been our stable diet for the last few weeks, we bolted south again for Wadi Musa, the town situated next to Petra. We got lost and were doing circles in the desert for ages so we didn’t arrive until very late.

DAY 153 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 152 - LATTAKIA TO DAMASCUS

2008-05-07T18:42:00.003+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS DAMASCUS

Dave and Fintan at the Umayyad Mosque

Walking around for a few hours in the lovely port town of Lattakia, we stocked up on a fresh supply of pirate DVDs for the car and got moving towards Damascus. Syria’s capital is the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth and it’s extraordinary Old City district is testament to this. We explored both it’s vibrant Souq as well as the intricately decorated Umayyad Mosque.

Fintan, Rhys and Dave in the Old City, Damascus

Rhys samples some Damascan Shisha

The Souq had a massive collection of Shisha shops and we decided to get a few for ourselves and as presents for mates. As we’ve come to learn over the past few months, you need to use your bargaining skills to get the best deals in Middle Eastern Souqs. After half an hours mad bargaining, we left with 6 shisha boxes and no idea where to fit them in the already jammed packed Hummer.

The lads at the Shisha shop!

We ended up staying the night in this charming old city and plan to leave first thing to travel into Jordan.

DAY 152 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 151 - SANLIURFA TO LATTAKIA, SYRIA

2008-05-06T06:47:00.006+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!

Milestone! We finally reach the Mediterranean

After a quick Turkish kebab breakfast, we didn’t stay around this small city for long and got moving towards the Syrian border on a good quality motorway.

Towards the boder, we hit smaller roads and spotted a turtle plodding across the road. We didn’t want him to get squashed so we stopped to have a look and move him to the side of the road. Fintan picked him up and was playing with it when suddenly without Fintan realizing, the turtle took a massive gooey crap all over Fintan’s leg and bare foot. This was the funniest thing we’ve seen in a long time and the look on Fintan’s face when he realized what had happened was priceless!

The turtle shat on Fintan's leg moments after this shot was taken

Continuing towards the border, we were flagged down by Turkish Police who informed Dave through broken English that he had been speeding. We haven’t had a speeding yet on the whole drive and Dave was determined not to pay this one, insisting to the corrupt cops who were demanding an instant cash payment, that we would go to the nearest Police station to pay. The police were not too happy with this as they were obviously looking to pocket the €100 fine and called ahead to the main Syrian border to inform their mates that we were coming and to make sure we paid. We thought we’d get one over them by making a detour to a different border crossing about 100 kms away.

Dave with the two Turkish speeding fines!

During this detour, we decided that since this new border was close to Lebanon, we should try to make it to Beirut tonight rather than Damascus. Luck would have it that on the way to this border, we were done yet again for speeding and after a similar ordeal, we were given another €100 ticket! Refusing to pay the cash payment again, we continued to the border in the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Spotting this coastline for the first time was a huge milestone for us, highlighting our proximity to Europe and the vast distance we’ve covered on Crazyjourney so far.

Luckily enough, there were no police to be seen at this remote border and after a easy passage through the Turkish side, we escaped into Syria without paying any fines! The Syrian side of the border turned out to be a massive wait because the lazy Syrian border officials had no idea how much to charge us for our Visas. These guys were an absolutely classic bunch who ended up challenging Dave to arm wrestles, demanding we listen to Mariah Carey on their phones and even playing computer games on Fintan’s iPhone!

After paying the exorbitant $50 Visa fees, we eventually we got through and realized it was too late to go towards Lebanon or Damascus, so we travelled to the busy port town of Lattakia. We decided that visiting Lebanon would now be too much of a time constraint and we would also have to pay for 3 Syrian Visas. After a quick kebab, we found a cheap hotel and hit the sack.

DAY 151 ROUTEMAP

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CRAZYJOURNEY OMAN AND DUBAI VIDEO

2008-05-05T23:29:00.000+10:00

Here's a quick video wrap-up of driving through Oman and Dune Buggying in Dubai

If you can't see this video please click here

DAY 150 - MAKU TO SANLIURFA, TURKEY

2008-05-05T22:28:00.001+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY GETS TURKISH!

The Hummer finally arrives on Turkish soil

We checked out of our prison like accommodation in Maku early and headed to the Turkish border which was only about 50ks away. The place was chaotic and it became obvious very quickly that this would be another classic ordeal. The Iranian side was relatively painless since an official took us aside and sped things along because we were tourists. The Turkish side was a different monster though and it was every man for himself. Dave had to spend ages tussling with all the Turkish and Iranian truckers to get the vehicle documents sorted. These guys are skipping experts and any position in a line must be guarded with your life!

Dave with the incredibly skillful queue skipping truckers

Problems arose when the Turkish official refused to stamp the Carnet because we had a Car and not a Truck or Bus. This was just ridiculous and nothing more than an obvious attempt to force money from us but after a heated shouting match with Dave and refusing to leave he finally let in when enough of a scene was made!

Escaping all this madness we were on the road after a few hours and began heading South West with the aim of getting as close to the Syrian border as possible that night. Just after entering Turkey we passed the magnificent snow capped Mt.Ararat, which actually reminded us all of Tokyo’s Mt. Fuji.

Mt. Ararat in the distance

Filling up on petrol for the first time we were blown away by its price in Turkey. It cost €1.80 per litre which is by far the most expensive we have come across on Crazyjourney so far. We thought we had been totally shafted in the petrol station but we eventually realised that they were all set at the same price.

We were driving really close to the unstable Kurdistan Province where violence has been erupting between the Turkish military and PKK rebels so there were a ridiculous amount of road blocks for passport and baggage checks. This became really annoying after a while as we were trying to get as close to the Syrian border as possible that night.

Incredible Eastern Turkish Scenery

Today’s drive through South East Turkey was one of the more scenically enjoyable on the trip so far. The road skirted Lake Van and took us through picturesque farmland under snow capped hills. We stopped for our first genuine Turkish kebab at Ercis before pushing on all the way to Sanliurfa in Southern Turkey that night. With the roads surprisingly worse than in Iran, we had a very close call near Sanliurfa when a stupid oncoming driver was overtaking when he shouldn’t have been, forcing us to swerve right off the road! This was right up there with the worst of it from India, China and the Road Train in Australia!

DAY 150 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 149 - ESFAHAN TO MAKU

2008-05-04T21:35:00.008+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES TEHRAN!

Dave at Bobby Sands Street, right by the British Embassy in Tehran. GERRUP!

Leaving early from Esfahan we had quick stop at Aladdin carpets in the Imam square where Fintan was buying his parents a Persian Carpet made by a nomadic Iranian tribe. The owner Sa’id was a lovely fella and gave a good deal on the carpet which we somehow squeezed into the already jammed Hummer.

Sa'id outside his carpet shop in Esfahan

The Hummer in Imam Square before we left Esfahan

We had a relatively short 400km drive to Tehran along Iran’s great roads. Iran’s chaotic and polluted capital was a bit of a nightmare to navigate with it’s teaming traffic.

Top of our days agenda was a visit to Bobby Sands Street. In keeping with Iran’s revolutionary past, the government has renamed many of Tehran’s streets after reputed revolutionaries and freedom fighters. One that we had to visit was Bobby Sands Street, which audaciously runs alongside the British Embassy to commemorate the life of the H-Block prisoner of war and hunger striker.

One of the Anti-US and anti-Zionist Murals outside the US Den of Espionage, Tehran

We also visited the former location of the US Embassy, used before the Islamic revolution when the two countries still had diplomatic ties. However, today, this building is known as the ‘US Den of Espionage’ and is interestingly occupied by the hardline Islamic group, the Sepah militia. The building’s perimeter walls are even plastered with anti-American and anti-Zionist propaganda commissioned by the Iranian Government itself.

The Statue of Liberty?? More Like the Statue of Death. These are all commissioned by the Iranian Government

After a quick bite to eat in on Tehran’s northside, we got moving again for the Turkish border. Pushing hard for another 600km that night, we managed to reach Maku, only 50kms from the Turkish border. This wasn’t much of town and the only place we could find to stay was a dingy old hotel that is definitely up there with our worst places we’ve stayed so far!

DAY 149 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 148 - ESFAHAN DAY 1

2008-05-03T20:53:00.001+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY TOURS ESFAHAN

Dave and Fintan at Imam Mosque, Esfahan

We were up early this morning to take a walking tour of Esfahan. This city is widely regarded as the most beautiful in Iran and has many of the country’s most amazing architectural sites. Walking around the city, we were struck by the lack of modernization and the whole place seems to be stuck in a time warp. Things don’t seem to have come on much here since the Islamic revolution in 1979. You still see shops selling tape players and VCRs and almost all the cars are run down old bangers. Even our hotel had an authentic retro feel to it.

We wandered around the city’s bazaar and were struck by how nice and genuinely welcoming everybody was. Even with all the media slant and it’s classification as a member of the ‘Axis of Evil’, the Iranian people are up there with the nicest we have met so far on CrazyJourney. At first they give you a bit of an odd look as they’re not used to many foreigners but with just a quick ‘Salam’ (hello), the instantly shoot back a big smile and interested reaction. They’re always hugely interested in where you are from and most seemed to have a lot of respect for the fact that we were Irish.

Esfahan's Camel Butchers...

After 2 hours walking, we were ravenous and seemed to be stuck in a part of the city with nowhere to eat. Chuck got fed up looking around and headed off to do his own thing for the day while Fintan, Dave and Rhys eventually spotted a restaurant selling some sort of meat kebabs. We had no idea what we were in for but if it didn’t kill the Iranian people eating there, we thought we should be fine. Despite not knowing what we were eating and with no English menu, our random selection ended up not being too bad. But after leaving the restaurant, we found a camel butcher only two doors down and couldn’t help wondering if we’d actually sampled the meat of these ugly beasts!

The incredible Imam Mosque

Visiting the city’s sights, the highlights were definitely Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and Imam Mosque which were both situated on the magnificent Imam Square. Imam Mosque was the most beautiful Mosque we’ve seen so far in the Middle East and we marveled at this huge and geometrically flawless structure, over 50 metres tall built using 18 million tiles to create richly designed mosaics.

Baker under the dome of the Lotfallah Mosque. We're not sure what's more spectacular, his moustache or the intricately detailed dome?

There was a giddy bunch of Tehran schoolgirls on a tour of the Mosque while we were there. Naturally, they all went a bit mad at the sight of us, since they don’t see too many young white guys other than in banned Hollywood movies! We had a good laugh with them and we all took photos with each other.

Fintan, Dave and Rhys with some Giddy Iranian Schoolgirls

We had actually met a good few guys in Imam Square where most of the tourists are located who just want to come up and practice their English with you. We even had a Mullah lookalike come up and practice French with Dave.

Dave with the French Speaking Mullah

With the sun setting and knackered after a day of marathon walking around Esfahan, we got a quick Iranian dinner and packed it in for the night with an early start to hit the road towards Turkey via a quick stop in Tehran.

DAY 147 - FASA TO ESFAHAN

2008-05-02T20:27:00.001+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS PERSEPOLIS

Dave and Fintan at the Gate of Nations, Persepolis

After an uncomfortable sleep we got up early and hit the road for Shiraz and Persepolis on a short 150k drive alongside a massive salt lake. We stopped in Shiraz, famous for it’s old vineyards for a quick kebab before reaching Persepolis.

Darius the Great began it’s creation in 1518BC and this vast complex served as the ceremonial epicenter of the Great Persian Empire. When completed, Persepolis was one of the ancient world’s great architectural masterpieces, with influences from all corners of the Empire in the hundreds of immense columns, intricate carvings and the imposing ‘Gate of Nations’. However, today, the site is only a shadow of it’s former self as most of it was destroyed by Alexander the Great’s army when they came to conquer the Persians. In fact, rumour has it that it’s demolition was as a result of an accidental fire caused by drunken revelers at one of Alexander’s parties.

Overlooking Persepolis

We hit the road again that afternoon on another long drive to Esfahan. We arrived late and found a hotel right beside the Imam Square, the second largest public square on Earth.

DAY 147 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 146 - BANDAR ABBAS TO FASA

2008-05-01T19:08:00.000+10:00

The Hummer is finally back on Iranian soil

With the Hummer arriving into Bandar Abbas port today at roughly 5pm, it would be a massive struggle and ordeal to organize all the customs and port paperwork before all the offices closed down at 1.30pm for the weekend (Friday and Saturday is the weekend in Iran).

So Dave was up at 8.30am and arrived to the shipping agent’s office for opening at 9am and was told by the staff that there was no way of getting all the port documents and clearance done today and even less of a chance without a representative from the agency there to speak Farsi and speed things along. Getting the necessary documents from the agency anyway he rushed off to the port determined to give it a shot since we would be stuck in this featureless town for the weekend if the car wasn’t released. Pushing through the packed Iranian port offices to get forms stamped and then signed by some other dodgy official to then go somewhere else to collect yet another document was the general order for the day and always with subtle but constant pleas for bribes along the way! Dave reckoned that being the only white guy in the place definitely attracted attention and sped things along and that it’s also amazing how far a smile and a quick mention of Ireland and Roy Keane can get you in these kinds of situations! Having not eaten or drank anything all day he somehow pulled it all off and it was 9.30pm before Dave finally returned to the hotel with the Hummer from the stifling hot port. He jokingly described what had unfolded over the previous 12 hours as probably the worst day of his life!

We hit the road very late bound for Shiraz but with the day taking its toll on Dave we had to pull in for a kip at the small town of Fasa. We found a completely empty government designated tourist inn that looked straight out of the 1970s and had a very strange feel, but it was a pillow to put our heads on and we crashed for a few hours.

DAY 146 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 145 - SHARJAH TO BANDAR ABBAS

2008-04-30T20:40:00.003+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY IS BACK IN IRAN!

Hummer on the ship back to Iran

With the Hummer on a separate boat which left from Sharjah Port the night before, we had arranged to get ourselves on a different ferry from Port Rashid in Dubai back to Bandar early this morning. As we’ve become used to, we were the only westerners on the boat and we slept for almost the entire 6 hour trip.

Arriving in Bandar Abbas again that afternoon, we checked back into the same hotel as last time, chilled out and got to watch the Champion’s League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea. We did our best to ignore the dead-pan Farsi voiceover commentary.

After the match, we continued our endless struggle with the blogs and got to bed early with Dave expecting another painful day at the port tomorrow to try and release the Hummer.

DAY 145 ROUTEMAP - FERRY BACK TO BANDAR ABBAS

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SHOTGUN LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

2008-04-29T23:57:00.005+10:00

As the front passenger seat in the Hummer is the most comfortable, there is always heated competition for it’s use, especially on days with long stretches of driving. Through many heated arguments, stringent shotgun rules have gradually been established. The following are the CRAZYJOURNEY shotgun rules:

Visibility: In order to call shotgun, the car must be visible by the caller.
Outside: You must be outside and the driver must be in the process of leaving on a particular journey. A call cannot be made if there is a roof over the callers head, unless in a multi-storey carpark.
Expiry: The reign of shotgun automatically expires if there are any substantial stops. This does not include petrol stops unless a meal was included in the petrol stop.
Offside: In order for the shotgun call to be legitimate the caller must not be offside, ie in front of the driver as he walks to the car.
Clarity: The shotgun call must be loud, clear and heard by the majority of passengers.
Tie: A tie in a shotgun call between two or more people leads to a rock off showdown for shotgun position. Only one single rock off competition is acceptable.
Tyre Lick: There is only one feasible method for a challenger to override a legitimate shotgun call. This is known as a ‘tyre lick’. The challenger can call ‘Tyre Lick’ and the driver who is a neutral party will be called upon to select with reasonable judgment and integrity a ten centimeter length on the front right tyre. A reasonable amount of pressure and tongue surface area must be applied during the lick. A majority of the tribunal must agree on the lick’s quality. Any evidence found of previous tampering of the tire by a tire licker results in a shotgun tribunal where a maximum fine of two weeks in the bitch position (back middle) can be given to the guilty party. If tyre lick is not performed, the shotgun tribunal can automatically serve a two trip bitch positioning. The tire lick can only be called up to the time the driver puts the keys in the ignition. (Footnote: The licker may not consume any liquid for 5 minutes after the tyre lick.)
Not Bitch: A subsidiary battle after the shotgun call is the ‘Not Bitch’ call. This is only used when 5 passengers are in the Hummer. 2 successful callers get either window seat leaving one loser to ride bitch.
Back-Left Call: Due to recent developments, a ‘Shotgun Back-Left’ call has become another heated battle. This successful call entitles the passenger to ride in the back-left passenger seat. The rules for this call are the same as the main shotgun call. (see aforementioned legislative articles 1-7). Two factors have led to the desirability of this call; 1-After the close call with the overloaded truck in India, shotgun riders now have to deal with a broken window, held up temporarily with paper splints and constantly sliding down which leads to noise and constant irritation. 2 –The TV screen in the back-right passenger position displays some DVDs only in black and white.

Ends.

For footage of CRAZYJOURNEY’s first ‘Tyre Lick’, please view the video below with caution…

(if you can't see this video, click here)

DAY 142 - 144: LAST DAYS IN DUBAI

2008-04-29T08:45:00.005+10:00

Dave and Fintan in the Dubai Desert

We made the most of our last few days in Dubai by getting ourselves back into some sort of health by eating 3 meals a day again, having decent sleeps and going to the gym again.

Rhys and his Dune Buggy

After constantly putting it off, on our last day we took a day trip out on a desert adventure tour which kicked off with a dune buggy drive. Bouncing through gigantic sand dunes at over 60km/h in nothing more than a cage attached to a motor is definitely one of the most thrilling ways to experience the desert. Getting a bit cocky, we began to lose the run of it, tearing through the sand until Dave wrote his buggy off in a spectacular hurdle attempt.

The boys on some camels

After this high paced madness, we took a quick camel ride to a desert camp and gathered with other travelers for a barbeque, belly dancing and some sheesha, a favourite of ours since entering the Middle East. This flavoured tobacco smoked through a tall pipe and filtered through gurgling water, is an indispensible part of Arabian social life and a relaxing way to end the day.

DAY 140 - 141: ANZAC DAY - GUEST BLOG APPEARENCE BY CHUCK

2008-04-27T08:25:00.006+10:00

Chuck and Rhys celebrate Anzac Day with the Aussie Expat Contingent

April 25^th is a national day in Australia held in remembrance of the “diggers,” Australian and New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in the Dardanelles in Turkey during the Second World War.

After what could only be described as a hefty pre-anzac day session the night before, during which we made several promises (with the best of intentions) to rise and shine only hours after arriving home to attend the ex-pat dawn service, Rhys and Chuck overslept by 45 minutes and went back to sleep until midday. We then dusted ourselves off, held a private moment’s silence and headed down to Jumeriah beach to meet up with fellow Aussies Russ, Tess, Mark, Jess, “Gillian” and Knighty to carry on the day. The beach was packed with people reveling in not only the weekend but the 38 degree heat, and no time was lost getting together with our fellow patriots and having a drink in the sun and on the sand. The beach had great atmosphere due to several decorated camels wandering around and the about 50 cars backed up onto it, pumping out all kinds of music from Arabic hits to top forty.

Chuck on the Beach

We took up spots in the water and as the sun began to slowly go down, we took the advice of our Aussie friends and moved on to the beach Bar “Coco Cabana’s.” We sat down for a very long lunch to the sounds of Phil Collins and the Eagles in this brilliant little spot that was straight out of Miami in the 80s, and wound the afternoon with some cocktails.

Rhys with the camels

As we were moving back to the beach to collect our belongings with a somewhat depleted crew after suffering a few casualties, Rhys, Gill and Knighty got involved in a brief spot of beach volleyball before we headed back to Knighty and Gill’s house for a few more glasses of Champagne. Upon arrival, Gill realized that one of them had dropped their house keys, and had no other option but to go back and comb the volleyball court for the keys for a few hours in the dark while Rhys and Chuck moved on to Barasti Bar to keep the party going and rendezvous later. Although Knighty and Gill were understandably spent by the time the key surfaced at 10pm, we kicked on well into the night and made a few new friends in Barasti, including a nice lady who told us her name was Mrs. Robinson. After she had bought us several rounds on her husband’s credit card to tune of our ironic vote of thanks, “here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson,” we said our goodbyes and collapsed into bed, but not before a quick trip to the local petrol station for a well earned visit to the Golden Arches. All in all it was an incredible ANZAC day that I’m sure we’ll both remember for a long time.

Aussie Beach Volleyball Session

The following day we were invited around to Tim and Gill’s place again to make up for being locked out of afternoon drinks the day before and watch the Waratahs brilliant in the super 14. After a few very slow beers and a world class, hangover-busting surf n’ turf lunch cooked by Gill on the Barbie, things really gathered pace when Tim opened a few extra cases of beer and a bottle of Tequila, then Mark and Jess arrived, we put on Phil Collins and once again we had a party on our hands. Although it didn’t go on as late as the ANZAC day, we had a great time and thanks again to Tim and Gill for having us around to their place for a memorable afternoon.

DAY 139 - RETURN TO DUBAI DAY 1

2008-04-26T08:16:00.001+10:00

Burj Dubai, World's Tallest Building!

Back in Dubai today, we contacted the joke of a shipping agency who informed us that the next ship might be in two days but they weren’t sure. This was typical of the shoddy outfit and it left us not knowing our exact plan of action. We got ourselves back into the cheapest accommodation we could find again and needed to call the next day to find out further information.

If the boat was going to be delayed, we much rather be waiting here in Dubai then in Bandar Abbas in Iran and was at least some consolation, especially for the Aussies who wanted to celebrate Anzac Day.

That evening, as our luck would have it, one debacle led to another when the shipping company informed us that our car ferry was now stuck in Kuwait. This left us in the uncertain position of not knowing what date we could return to Iran. We finally came to an arrangement whereby the Hummer would travel on a separate ship, thus giving us another few days in Dubai. Hopefully the ferry does leave this time or we may as well start looking for jobs in Dubai because we can’t seem to leave this place!

DAY 136-138 - MUSCAT AGAIN and BACK TO DUBAI

2008-04-25T06:48:00.001+10:00

The next few days involved towing and froing between embassies in Muscat in a last ditch effort to try obtain a Saudi Visa, as well contact with the shipping agents to organise our Plan B option, which was a return ferry to Iran.

Full of hope, we headed early to the Saudi embassy for the appeal. However, our spirits were quickly dampened when the first Saudi official we met wouldn’t let us enter the building, never mind meet anyone else. The grumpy sod bluntly explained that unless we were Omani citizens, there was no way we were getting a Visa.

Over the next two days, in a last ditch effort, we managed to secure an amazing letter in both Arabic and English from the Irish Embassy in Riyadh, which kindly asked for support on behalf of the Irish Government in helping us pass through the country. However nothing materialized and realizing our attempts were futile, we now need to head back to Dubai with our tails between our legs in order to catch the next car ferry back to Iran.

OUR 2 OPTIONS....NOW WE HAVE TO TAKE THE IRANIAN ROUTE

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DAY 135 - RAS AL HAAD TO MUSCAT

2008-04-21T14:14:00.004+10:00

Waving Goodbye to The Turtle Resort in Ras Al Haad

We found out this morning that our Saudi Visas had been rejected and that we had to return to Muscat to appear at the embassy and appeal the decision. We were hugely disappointed as we had intended on visiting the Omani Desert and the vast empty quarter to do some dune driving. So after a quick snorkle and lunch at the Turtle Resort, we hit the road.

Lovely views on the road from Sur back to Muscat

This drive back has some beautiful ocean scenery which was some consolation after the bad news. Arriving back late in Muscat, we met the visa agent again to get our passports and documents back and arrange our plan of attack at the Saudis.

DAY 135 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 134 - SUR TO RAS AL HAAD

2008-04-20T07:09:00.011+10:00

Rhys looks over the Dhow Boat-Building Yards of Sur

After a decent lie in, quick feed and braving the searing heat, we had a look around Sur and it’s Dhow boat building yard which since it was the weekend, wasn’t very active. With every boat carved by hand, the town has been regional centre of this traditional activity for over 300 years.

Dave and Fintan near Sur

Heading further south towards Ras Al Haad, we had a lovely coastal and desert drive. Oman is a big off-roading destination so we decided to get involved and went joy-riding around the desert to take the Hummer through it’s paces. At one point, looking over a vast expansive desert, we had an ingenious idea to get some good footage of the Hummer disappearing out into the desert.

The Hummer nearly gets stuck!

Funnily enough this is nearly what happened, after Dave sped into the desert with a cloud of sand behind him, only to almost get stuck in muddy and sinking sand! He managed to just about keep momentum and returned to the lads in a shattered mess, fully believing he was going to die in quick-sand!

Rhys outside our Barasti Huts in Ras Al Haad

Sticking firmly to the tarmac for a while, we reached the Turtle Resort in Ras Al Haad. This lovely beach hut accommodation, run by Indians, has its own lovely beach and a relaxed atmosphere. Rhys and Fintan, sweaty after a long drive, legged it in for a quick snorkel and were lucky enough to just avoid a poisonous Morey Eel who passed close-by!

The Spotted Morey Eel that nearly caught us snorkling!

Back on dry land, the lads found a fishing rod and had a crack at catching the dinner for that evening. Rhys being the bloke that he is, formulated a bread and honey concoction that he was adamant was irresistible to fish. Out on the pier, there wasn’t much action. He will argue strongly against this, but Rhys was the only person to get a solid bite on the line, and completely bottled it, letting our dinner escape!

Dave tries to knock Fintan off the floating pier while he's fishing!

We had a lovely fish dinner at the resort and met a nice English couple who were off-roading around Oman, as well as a travelling Australian couple. After dinner, Dave, Rhys and Fintan along with the other two couples headed to the main attraction in the area, Raz Al-Jinz beach, the Easternmost Point in the Arabian Gulf and a major nesting site for the endangered green turtle. 20,000 turtles return annually to this exact location to lay their eggs during night. The whole area is under government protection and we took a guided tour of the beach to witness these gentle giants nesting. As everyone knows, these guys don’t move too fast and the extraordinary process takes about two hours before they crawl back into the ocean.

A Green Turtle lays her eggs at Ras Al Jinz Beach

DAY 134 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 133 - MUSCAT TO SUR

2008-04-19T06:53:00.000+10:00

Oman Dive Centre By Night, where we had our Buffet Dinner

Dave and Fintan had an early start, heading to the Irish consulate’s office in Muscat to collect our letters of recommendation before meeting the lads at the Saudi Visa agent’s office to hand in all our documents. The application process will take a few days, so its now the perfect time to hit the road south to visit other parts of Oman.

Before hitting the road for the 5 hour drive to Sur, our first stop, we decided to spend another lovely day back at the beach of the Oman Diver Centre. This place is very relaxing and we rented kayaks for a few hours to visit some of the surrounding beaches.

After another buffet dinner, we hit the road late on a long coastal drive to Sur. Unfortunately the new coastal highway wasn’t quite complete and we were lucky we had the Hummer for sections of the drive that were still under construction.

Arriving at 3am in Sur, we checked into a cheap hotel and hit the hay straight away.

DAY 133 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 132 - MUSCAT DAY 3

2008-04-18T06:30:00.008+10:00

The Oman Dive Centre in the Distance

This morning, we up early to get our Jordanian Visas and letters of recommendation organized. The Jordan Visa process was straight forward as all of us could get a Visa upon entry anyway. However, getting hold of letters of recommendation at such short notice, was a much harder task, especially since there was no Irish or Australian Embassy in Muscat. Rhys and Chuck managed to get a faxed letter from the Australian Embassy in Riyadh but Dave and Fintan needed to wait until the following day to collect their letters from the Irish Consulate in Muscat.

After dropping Chuck home, Dave, Rhys and Fintan took a trip down the coast to visit Bandar Al Jissah, the picturesque location of the Shangri-La Hotel Resort. We couldn’t find our mate Talal in this massive and extravagant complex so instead we headed down the road to the Oman Dive Center, located in a picturesque cove with an amazing beach to swim in. We would’ve loved to have stayed in the resort’s Barasti Hut accommodation but this place is so popular that it’s actually booked out for the next 3 months! We soaked up the sun and had a relaxing time on the beach smoking some Shisha and having a few drinks before meeting Talal after his shift for a great buffet dinner there.

The Boys Getting Stuck into Omani Shisha! Note the Hilarious Poses....

DAY 131 - MUSCAT DAY 2

2008-04-17T06:00:00.008+10:00

Dave working the phones outside the Saudi Embassy in Muscat!

Because of the Chinese debacle and a few other delays along the way during CrazyJourney, we’ve been a bit pushed for time, especially since we’ve set deadlines in Europe to meet the Paul Sokhi, Marty Spargo and a mob of Irish Hooligans. So needing to stick to a schedule, we thought it would be ideal to obtain a Transit Visa for Saudi Arabia and drive directly from UAE to Jordan, rather than taking a boat back to Iran and chinning a much bigger loop around Iraq to reach reach the same destination. We had heard stories that Saudi Transit Visas were notoriously difficult to obtain and as a westerner, dealing with the Saudis is almost impossible.

With the worst possible outcome being rejection, we decided to suss out the Saudi Embassy in Muscat. When we arrived, we found out that all applications needed to be done through an agent and luckily enough he was still around outside the Embassy. We organized to bring him all the necessary documents the following day which included letters of recommendation from our respective embassies as well as Visas to Jordan as proof of passage.

The Hummer outside The Sultan's Palace, Muscat

Once this was done, we took a drive to Muttrah, a lovely harbour port and also to Muscat’s old town. Muscat is a spotlessly clean low rise city. The highly respected Sultan Bin Qaboos, has opened up the country to tourism over the past 20 years and ensured that this sector’s development has not come at the detriment of the country’s natural beauty, peaceful atmosphere or national identity. While in the Old Town, we stopped to visit the Sultan’s magnificent Palace. Returning home, we stopped at one of the old coastal forts, overlooking the picturesque Muttrah.

Dave and Rhys look over a Foggy Muttrah

That evening, Rhys, Dave and Fintan went for dinner with Detta, Yayha a friend of Detta who worked in the Omani Government and his son Talal at a lovely restaurant by the sea. Interestingly enough, Talal had worked in Dublin for 5 years and we had a great laugh at his accent which had a slight Dublin twang when he spoke English.

As the tongues loosened up, plenty of stories started flowing. Yayha told us a cracker about his wealthy Arab friend who is 100 years old and had had 100 children, and constantly renews his supply of wives. Its reputed that the legend at his age, still has no need for Viagra to do the business! We finished up the night with a few drinks with the legend Talal, who is now a manager at the 6-star Shangri-La hotel in Muscat, so we promised to pay him a visit tomorrow.

DAY 130 - MUSCAT DAY 1

2008-04-16T04:48:00.007+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY MEETS THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY!

The Olympic Torch Relay Guards don't like photos being taken!

Dave and Fintan were up early to meet Detta in her hotel where we had an interview with the Times Of Oman about CRAZYJOURNEY. The Indian journalist didn’t seem to give a toss about the interview and spent most of time answering phonecalls as we in the middle of answering his questions. We were sure the article was going to be a shocker, but it actually turned out quite well! See copy below and click on it to read...

After the interview, we met up with Rhys and Chuck and headed to the Crowne Plaza where we had heard there was a lovely beach. We chilled out here for a few hours and kicked a rugby ball around. It turned out that the Chinese Olympic Torch Relay entourage were staying in the hotel. These are the supposed torch guardians whose job it is to protect the torch from the Pro-Tibetan activists and constant attempts to put out it’s flame. We’ve been watching the whole relay with interest and find the thing a complete farce, yet hugely entertaining. Muscat will probably be the most quiet and tame leg of the relay and the thought came into our minds of stirring things up a bit, possibly involving water-ballons from a safe distance. But sense took the better of us when Fintan and Chuck saw the 20 guard procession bundle the flame into a minivan outside the hotel!

The Crowne Plaza's Beach in Muscat

Later that evening, we caught up the torch relay itself at its final leg in Muscat’s main park. To be honest, we were a bit disappointed by the overhyped procession and the ridiculous amount of security surrounding one old guy who was struggling to hold the torch and make it to the finish! Davo even threw in a few ‘Free Tibet’ shouts to stir things up a bit, but disappointingly enough, there wasn’t one incident to have a laugh at in Muscat. We’ll have to just make do with the BBC World reports from other citys for a laugh.

The Olympic Flame passes us by

DAY 129 - DUBAI TO MUSCAT, OMAN

2008-04-15T04:33:00.004+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES IN OMAN

Night Falls Over beautiful Muscat

We left Dubai late enough for the 5 hour drive down to Oman. Fintan had already been here but the rest of the boys didn’t know much about this country. The border formalities were relatively easy since they’re used to UAE cars coming down for weekend trips.

About two hours after crossing the border we arrived in Muscat where we Detta O’Reilly, a friend of Fintan’s family and the Omani Consulate in Ireland, who happened to be in Muscat at the same time. Like Dubai, Oman caters for a more upmarket traveler so we were lucky enough that Detta had picked out a relatively cheap and central place for us to stay.

After checking in, Detta showed us to a an outdoor kebab restaurant down the road which was filled Omani locals who had their eyes glued to the Italian Football on a projected outdoor screen. They all seemed to be huge supporters!

As it turns out, a stage of the Olympic Torch Relay is being held in Muscat so we definitely wanted to get to Oman in time for it, especially after all the Pro-Tibeten disruptions and controversy surrounding it lately.

DAY 129 ROUTEMAP

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DAYS 118 - 128: DUBAI DAYS 1-10

2008-04-14T02:49:00.000+10:00

CRAZYJOURNEY HITS DUBAI !

Dave and Fintan at Dubai's famous Burj Al Arab Hotel

Arriving in Sharjah around lunchtime, it was Friday which was actually the weekend here so all customs offices were closed, meaning that the Hummer would have to remain on the boat until the following day. Sharjah is one of the most conservative of the seven Emirates so we didn’t hang around for long, instead heading straight to Dubai, it’s glitzy neighbour, only 50kms away. The next day, Dave had to return to Sharjah port and go through an 8 hour ordeal with customs, police and immigration to get the Hummer out of the port and back on the road again.

Arriving into the city, we were instantly struck by the hyper-development being undertaken. The sheer scale and imagination behind some of the construction projects is incredible. Dubai’s vision, driven by it’s ruler Sheikh Mohammad, is to establish itself as a city like no other on Earth. Marveling at structures such as the ostentatious Burj Al-Arab, the World’s only 7-star hotel as well as the Burj Dubai, recently announced as the tallest building on Earth despite only being 75% complete, highlights Dubai’s over-the-top nature and craving for attention.

One project that nearly defies belief are the Palm Resorts which are being developed off the coast of Dubai. The first of the three Palms Resorts is almost complete and they intend for a million people to live there. As if this isn’t crazy enough, this is by far the smallest of the three Palm Resorts. On top of this, they’re also developing the World Resort, which is basically an island resort in the shape of the world, where prospective buyers can buy plots on their own countries.

Satellite Image of Dubai in 2000

The same Satellite Image, in 2008, complete with Palm and World Resorts!

There was plenty to keep us going during our week in Dubai. With an enormous selection of ultra-modern shopping malls, flamboyant hotels, chic nightclubs and every kind of restaurant under the sun, it all seemed a bit too easy for us here, especially considering the countries we’ve been travelling through for the past few months. The novelty of having a wide selection of decent places to eat was something we had almost forgotten about! We even felt spoilt with the option of going to the cinema!

When it comes to alcohol and nightlife, Dubai is extremely liberal for an Arab city. Since alcohol has been non-existent for us over the last few weeks, we indulged in a pint or ten of ‘The Black Stuff’ at Dubai’s Irish Village and visited some of Dubai’s best nightspots. Our favourite was Boudoir, where we had an amazing Tuesday night which happened to be ladies night so the place was packed out with Emirates and Eithad air hostesses. There’s about 10,000 Air Hostesses living in Dubai, arriving in Dubai, we all felt a bit like convicts being released from prison after travelling through strictly Muslim countries!

Dave and Rhys Going a bit mad at Boudoir Nightclub, Dubai...

The amount of money in this city can be seen everywhere and the best indication is the huge amount of top end cars tearing around the city. It gets to the stage where you don’t even look twice at Ferraris and Lamborghinis. In fact, Dubai was the first place where the Hummer wasn’t ogled at for once. And Liberty Automobiles who are the biggest Hummer dealer outside the US, were good enough to give the car a free service. However, we still couldn’t organize a new wing mirror, which is still hanging off after our incident with the overloaded truck in India!

Chuck with Russ and Tess

There’s a good expat contingent over here and we were lucky enough to know a few people who showed us around. A big thanks here to Russ and Tess for looking after us.

Fintan's second time wakeboarding...

Also a big thanks to Biffo, who brought Rhys and Fintan out for an amazing days wakeboarding near the Palm Resort!

Rhys gets involved on the Waterski

We took a day trip and headed Southwest for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Much more conservative and laid back than Dubai, this city seems to retain a much stronger connection to the desert and it’s Arab culture. Luckily, the Red Bull Air Race was being held in the harbor during our visit and we spent a great day watching these agile racing planes race around a track at 400 kms per hour only 10metres above the water.

One of the Red Bull Planes zips near Fintan's Head!

Dave and Rhys watch one of the planes on the Big Screen at the Red Bull Air Race

We really spoilt ourselves with a 10 stay in Dubai and felt a million miles away from the countries we had just travelled through. It was a good chance to get our lives back in shape and look remotely healthy again! But Dubai isn’t a cheap city and although our serviced apartment acommodation was the cheapest we could find in the city, it was still by far the most expensive place to stay on CrazyJourney so far. Dubai is more of a high-end destination and doesn’t really cater to the backpacker on a budget! It was now time to get the show on the road again and head on to Oman, a country we had all been looking forward to for a long time.

DAY 117 - BANDAR ABBAS TO SHARJAH, UAE

2008-04-04T02:15:00.002+11:00

CRAZYJOURNEY SETS SAIL FOR THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES!

Chuck waits for our Ferry to be unloaded at the Port in Bandar Abbas

This morning, Dave was up early again to go to the shipping agent's office where he was given the good news that the ship was leaving today. After buying the tickets, we all got packed up and headed to the port.

At the customs offices, we met two other overlander groups, one Dutch couple and another German couple, who had just disembarked from the same ferry we were about to get on to. With not much time to spare until customs closed, we all rushed to the office to try and get the Carnets and passports stamped and obtain the exit permits for the car. Unfortunately we didn’t make it on time for the exit permits and were potentially in a bit of trouble to get the car on the ship.

Entering the port, with every checkpoint an ordeal, we eventually ofund our ship, and had to wait for the tide to rise to an appropriate height for its cars to be unloaded and for us to then board. This ship was packed with brand new cars en route to Iran and Russia from UAE, so it was a 6 hour wait until we could even board the ferry. During this entire time we were still unsure if we could board since we didn’t have the correct exit permits. Dave left with some customs officials to visit numerous offices of port head honchos and after several hours or arguing and a $50 bribe, everything seemed to work itself out.

Finally at 2am, the ship finally set sail for Sharjah with us being the only passengers onboard along with some cargo. Next stop Dubai and Oman!

DAY 117 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 116 - BANDAR ABBAS DAY 2

2008-04-03T02:03:00.005+11:00

The beach at Bandar Abbas

Dave was up early to hit the shipping office to try and figure out where we stood with the ferry to UAE. It turned out that this terribly unorganized shipping agency didn’t even have a proper schedule for it’s sailings and they said that the next sailing wouldn’t be for another two days.

So, stuck in this port town with little or nothing to see or do, we got stuck into a few books and even managed to find probably the world’s worst internet connection. Dave, Rhys and Fintan wandered down one evening through the street markets filled with smuggled goods of all descriptions ranging from fake cigarettes to Persian rugs. Usually hassled in these situations, the complete lack of western tourists in this region led to a more confused look from vendors rather than the usual attempt to rip us off. We were also struck by the number of women covered head to toe in black burqas and their astonishing ability to survive dressed like this in temperatures over 30 degrees.

Woman dons a Burqa in Bandar Abbas

We also walked out to the pier and got chatting to an interesting Iraqi man who was fishing off the rocks. This trip to town was probably the highlight of a fairly uneventful 2 days in Bandar Abbas.

DAY 115 - BANDAR ABBAS DAY 1

2008-04-02T02:01:00.001+11:00

After a terrible night trying to sleep on Bandar’s streets, we arrived at a lifeless port at 7.30am. We were informed that due to Iranian holidays, nothing was open and no ships were sialing. Gutted , smelly and absolutely knackered, we found a decent hotel where we could finally get to bed and try to get hold of the shipping agency that day.

That evening we came to realize very quickly that there was next to nothing to do in Bandar Abbas, so we all buried ourselves into books, with Dave and Fintan continuing our infinite mission to keep the blog machine going!

DAY 114 - ZAHEDAN TO BANDAR E ABBAS

2008-04-01T17:14:00.003+11:00

Hotel View in Zahedan

We left around lunchtime from Zahedan under army escort. We didn’t really get to see much of the town as we weren’t even allowed to leave the hotel. From what we did see, there wasn’t much going for it so we were happy enough to hit the road again. After about 50km, we had left the lawless Sistan Province, ending our two day army escort. It was funny enough at times but we were glad to finally see the back of them.

We decided to make the very long trip the whole way to the port town of Bandar Abbas, situated on the Persian Gulf and where our car ferry to the United Arab Emirates departs from. We had gotten word from the shipping company through some very broken English, that there was a ferry departing the next day at 9 in the morning so it was essential we made it to Bandar in one go.

Luckily enough, Iran has very good roads so we were able to average about 100km/h. We had one quick stop in Bam to go through the petrol ordeal again. Somehow a young soldier with a machine gun always seems to get involved. Bam once quite a popular tourist destination but was almost entirely wiped out by a massive earthquake in 2003. As it was getting dark, we didn’t hang around long and pushed on towards Bandar Abbas, finally arriving at 3am and absolutely ravenous. After a quick kebab we began the ordeal of trying to find a hotel when everything other than the odd burger joint was shut. After an hour of searching and with no luck, we decided to just have a kip in the car until we headed to the port in the morning.

Fast Food Joint, Bandar Abbas

4 lads in a Hummer with about 20 mosquitos became unbearable to the point where Fintan and Chuck decied it would be better to sleep on the street. At this point we didn’t realize but it was a massive holiday period in Iran and there were hundreds of people camping on the beach so Fintan and Chuck just got involved! The only problem was that they had no idea how to assemble the tent, so Fintan just went ahead and used it as a duvet to protect himself from the mosquitoes. Chuck covered himself up in a sleeping bag and was constantly awoken by an old snoring Iranian woman and a pack of wild feral cats! This was up there with some of our worst sleeping arrangements on CrazyJourney so far!

DAY 114 ROUTEMAP:

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DAY 113 - QUETTA TO ZAHEDAN, IRAN

2008-03-31T08:08:00.010+11:00

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES IN IRAN

The boys take a quick stop in the arid Baluchestan Desert

We were up very early to hit the road and head through the Baluchestan desert en route to the Iranian border at Taftan. This was definitely one of the most desolate drives on the trip so far, skirting the Afghanistan border for most of the day. At times there was nothing to see in any direction except desert and mountains. Our only stops on this drive were at army checkpoints where we needed to sign in and register our passports. It was interesting to see the nationalities of the book of signatures, but we were definitely the first Irish people through here this year.

Dave and Rhys registering at the Pakistani Army checkpoints

By about lunchtime, we reached Taftan, the grim and isolated border town between Pakistan and Iran. This place is an absolute hell hole and we all agreed that it was probably the worst place we’ve been to in the world so far!

Rhys on the long desolate road through the desert!

Luckily the Pakistani customs formalities were relatively painless and we weren’t stuck in this dusty mess for too long.

Finally arriving into Iran

Upon entering Iranian territory, we immediately encountered the beast that is Iranian bureaucracy. Army officials demanded through broken English that we have an escort of two armed guards with us in the Hummer while in Iran’s Sistan Province. This is actually standard procedure for western travelers given the recent history of kidnappings in this near lawless South Eastern region of Iran.

From the border, we had no choice but to let two young soldiers into the Hummer with us. They were also trying to take our passports but we wouldn’t let them. To say the least, none of us were too happy about this forced invasion into our ‘home’! We had no idea how long they’d be in the car with us as they didn’t have any English. At first we found this situation quite novel but it began to wear on us as every 20 kms, we were forced to stop for long periods at army checkpoints where our passports were taken by seemingly overcautious soldiers. Who were we to argue though? They were the guys with the Kalashnikovs!

The young army soldiers we had to squeeze into the car!

At most of these checkpoints, loads of young soldiers came out for a look at us and chance their arm at getting any free stuff from us such as western music or movies. Two guys in particular were keen on Chuck's sunnies!

The Iranian army men try on Chuck's sunnies at a checkpoint

Low on fuel, we had to make our first fill-up in Iran where we were told the petrol prices were ludicrously cheap in comparison to most of the places we’ve been. We were directed to a petrol station and had no idea of the ordeal that was about to unfold. First of all, there was a huge queue of cars in the petrol station. We found out that this was because Iranians are given a ration card for fuel where they can obtain a monthly allowance of petrol, where each litre of petrol costs only 1000 rials (€0.07!). Compare this to € 1.20 cents a litre back in Ireland! But since we were foreigners and didn’t have a ration card we would have to pay a standard rate of 4000 Rials / €0.28 which still wasn’t too bad a deal!

Soldiers still onboard, we arrived in Zahedan, our first stop in Iran. With 75% of Europe’s opiates passing through this region from Pakistan and Afghanistan, Zahedan is a major focal point of this drug trade and obviously very dangerous. We were told by the local army officials for our own safety, to remain in our hotel until the morning where they would come to escort us again!

DAY 113 Routemap

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DAY 112 - QUETTA DAY 2

2008-03-30T01:58:00.002+11:00

Dave and Fintan with Zohair and his mates

With the ferry across the Persian Gulf from Iran not leaving for a few days, we realized that there was no point pushing it trying to wake up early, so we decided to wait another day in Quetta to get ourselves together and have a look around. After taking it easy and reading books for most of the morning, we headed off to a nearby hotel with internet access to catch up on blogs.

Dave’s mate Ali had arranged for us to meet his friend Zohair who lives in Quetta that afternoon. He brought Fintan, Rhys and Dave out to dinner in a local Pakistani restaurant and we had an interesting chat about general life in the area. Zohair was even applying to study in Trinity College Dublin, where Fintan had been.

We were introduced to one guy who was quite knowledgeable about the opium and hashish situation in this region. It’s not far from here in the tribal regions of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan that the majority of Europe’s opiates and hashish is produced. He was telling us that here, for only €1.50 you could buy a block of hashish, the equivalent of which would cost about €400 in Ireland!

DAY 111 - BAHAWALPUR TO QUETTA

2008-03-29T05:17:00.008+11:00

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES THE MIDDLE EAST!

Rhys, Dave and Fintan in an amazing valley in the Balouchestan Province on the way to Quetta

We were up at 6am to hit road Northwest towards Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balouchistan Province. For security reasons, we were told not to travel through this tribal region at night. About 3 hours into the drive, we spotted a herd of camels on the side of the road. We stopped to get a few photos with the incredibly smelly animals and pushed on again.

Camels grazing on the side of the road towards Quetta

Approaching the arid but starkly beautiful mountainous region towards Quetta, the transformation from Indian Sub-Continent to Middle East became evident. The mountainous ascent is littered with small tribal villages with all buildings made from clay. There’s plenty of security checkpoints along this stretch which runs very close to the Afghani border. We had a laugh with one security guard who let Rhys hold his gun!

A Pakstani Security Guard lets us borrow his shotgun!

Coming down from the mountains and not far outside Quetta, we entered an amazing green valley which was quite strange since we’ve travelling through desert for most of the day. As we stopped for photos, we were approached by two suspect looking guys on a motorbike, with their faces covered in Taleban-esque scarves! We were a bit worried they had guns and were after us, but in fact they were very friendly, spoke fluent English and just wanted to get in a photo with us.

Getting a photo with the Dodgy looking guys in Headscarves

Heading closer to Quetta through the Balouchestan desert, the presence of gun turrets and armed men became more apparent. We even came across one checkpoint, manned with a massive machine gun, that looked like something from a Rambo movie. The army men here were nothing but nice and kindly offered us tea with them.

A rambo-esque gun turret near Quetta

We arrived into Quetta, just as it was getting dark. Located only 60kms from Afghanistan, Quetta has the air of a frontier town and is a melting pot of tribal groups, a large proportion of which are Afghani refugees. Driving through the town, we were a bit taken back when a tank patrolling the streets, passed us by. Yet again, our accommodation was arranged by Toheed and we organized to stay in a train-driver’s guesthouse.

DAY 111 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 110 - ISLAMABAD TO BHAWALPUR

2008-03-28T05:13:00.004+11:00

The Hummer with one of the Detailed Pakistani Trucks

We left early from Islamabad heading back towards Lahore on the magnificent highway. Saying goodbye to Ali and his driver, we headed Southwest from Islamabad and began our drive to Bhawalupur, our first overnight stop on the way to the Iranian border.

With absolutely no ATMs in Iran, we were worried that the small towns on the way there wouldn’t have any either, so we needed to stock up on cash and change some of our money to US dollars, a currency widely accepted in Iran. This turned out to be a bit of an ordeal, as only one bank, CitiBank, would accept our bank cards.

The roads weren’t too bad on this stretch, especially when we consider some of the roads encountered in India and China. While on the long drive to Bahawalpur, we noticed the beautifully decorated Pakistani trucks. Their owners take great pride and care in decorating them in great detail. At night these trucks, covered reflective decorations, glow like a Christmas tree on the road, which was a great help to Dave who pushed on till 2am when we arrived at our stop.

One of the reflective trucks along the way

Toheed, our contact in the Punjab Government had arranged our stay at a government rest-house in Bahawalpur. After a quick feed, we were out like a light, intending on only a quick 4 hour sleep before hitting the road again.

DAY 110 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 109 - ISLAMABAD DAY 3

2008-03-27T05:09:00.002+11:00

Continuing with our infinite struggle to keep up-to-date with blogs, we spent most of the day at the Marriott Hotel, one of the few places with good a good internet connection and food. Ali was off on business for the day and Chuck and Rhys remained at home both feeling a bit under the weather.

Later on, Dave, Fintan,Rhys and Ali had a Japanese dinner at the hotel. Ali insisted on bringing a bottle of vodka with us to have a few drinks. Surprisingly enough, it is quite easy for locals to get alcohol from dealers and Ali informed us that the main source of the alcohol is diplomatic offices importing excessive amounts and somebody then selling it on. The waiter camouflaged the vodka in a jug which was left on table for us to look after!

DAY 108 - ISLAMABAD DAY 2

2008-03-26T05:06:00.005+11:00

Chuck at Murree, high in the mountains surrounding Islamabad

With Rhys and Fintan still bedridden, Chuck and Dave departed the guesthouse with Ali to Murree, a town high up in the mountains surrounding Islamabad with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. It was an interesting drive through mountain villages on the way and the boys had lunch up there in a restaurant overlooking the dramatic scenery.

That evening, with Rhys and Fintan feeling slightly better, we took a drive to see the government buildings. These are all relatively new as Islamabad was only created as a city in the 1950s after Pakistan gained it independence. We had arrived to Pakistan in the aftermath of national elections and while visiting government buildings, we were struck by the intense level of security. Although we never encountered any problems, the overwhelming presence of weapons and checkpoints is a constant reminder of the current security threat.

Pakistan House of Parliament, Islamabad

After sightseeing, we decided to go back to the same hillside restaurant as the food and views were so great that it would be a shame if Fintan and Rhys completely missed it. We had another great evening chatting away, enjoying the views and smoking sheisha afterwards.

Dave and Rhys at the restaurant with Islamabad below in the distance.

DAY 107 - LAHORE TO ISLAMABAD

2008-03-25T04:42:00.008+11:00

The view of Islamabad's Faisal Mosque from the hillside restaurant above

This morning, Fintan and Rhys were struck by another severe bout of acute dysentery, vomiting and fever. We were debating the cause of it and narrowed it down to a salad in the hotel the previous day. Whatever it was, it completely hammered them, with both needing trips to the toilet every 15 minutes.

With a pending 4 hour drive to Islamabad, the lads were struggling to keep their composure and last the entire drive without creating a situation uncomfortable for everybody. Luckily the 8 lane motorway from Lahore to Islamabad was probably the best road we’ve encountered on CrazyJourney so far and averaging a speed of 145kms was no problem (India and China eat your heart out!). Rumour has it that when the construction of the motorway was complete, the Pakistani Government landed F16 fighter jets to test it’s durability! We’re sure this was completely unnecessary but interesting none the less.

Arriving that evening in Islamabad, the administrative capital of Pakistan, Ali had arranged accommodation in a Guesthouse and arranged to go for dinner in a restaurant the mountains with a brilliant view of the whole city. Rhys and Fintan, still destroyed from their terrible infliction had no choice but to stay in bed. Dave, Chuck, Ali and his driver headed up for a lovely evening of local Pakistani food and great shisha.

DAY 107 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 106 - LAHORE DAY 3

2008-03-24T04:34:00.003+11:00

The sun sets over Lahore Fort

Today we spent most of our time in a nearby hotel trying to organize the car ferry from Iran to the United Arab Emirates. The ferry company we were dealing with didn’t speak much English so we even had to find someone who spoke Persian to talk and translate for us. We established loose dates for the sailing and realized that we had bit more time than we thought so we could stay a bit longer in Pakistan where Ali wanted to bring us to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, a city we hadn’t intended on visiting. There had been a few bombings there in recent weeks and earlier on we jokingly decided that any city whose name contains the words ‘Islam’ and ‘Bad’ couldn’t be too safe!

Our Pakistani Legend Ali

That evening, Ali brought us to a surprisingly chic steakhouse in Lahore where we had a great feed for next to nothing. We’ve been really surprised by what’s available in Lahore and it’s standard of living and relative organisation here in comparison to India. We didn’t really know what to expect in Lahore but we’ve really been pleasantly surprised.

DAY 105 - LAHORE DAY 2

2008-03-23T03:56:00.007+11:00

We meet the captain of a local cricket team in Lahore

We were awoken this morning by our escort from the Punjab Government who was in charge of today’s itinerary. We had an invitation to visit Fountain House in Lahore, a charity organisation looking after people with Mental Illness. They’re doing great work here dealing with the Mental Health issues of people from all over Pakistan. Knowing most of the Islamic rules relating to conduct and women we had probably one of the funniest moments of the trip so far. When being introduced to the female manager of Fountain House in front of a crowd of Pakistani Officials, Fintan stuck our his arm to shake her hand, only to be left hanging with her awkwardly replying ‘I can’t do that’! Dave, Rhys and Chuck did their best not ot heighten the awkwardness by bursting out in laughter in front of everybody. Without a doubt, Finto will be copping a lot of abuse over this incident for the rest of the trip.

The TV Cameraman was nuts, going to extremes to get a good shot!

After Fountain House we had a brief stop for lunch in Subway in Lahore. In fact, every Fast Food Chain under the sun seems to have opened shop in Pakistan, all with armed security men outside. The man wielding a pump-action shotgun outside McDonalds was a classic example.

We found it really interesting t see the sign in the pic below, stating that goods made in Denmark are essentially made in Hell! This derives from the cartoons slandering Mohammed published by a Danish Newspaper. This led to huge anti-Danish sentiment in many Muslim countries and this is eveidence of it.

The anti-Danish sign in Lahore!

After lunch we went to Dawn News, the first English speaking TV station in Pakistan, who were keen to do a story on the drive. Their British presenter organized for us to play cricket and have a mess about against a local team. We were all crap at cricket and all the cricket obsessed Pakistani’s couldn’t understand how Ireland could have beaten them in last year’s Cricket World Cup!

Rhys, looking in great form on the crease, Ricky Ponting has nothing!

Next they brought us to a busy market, where we were filmed trying on some traditional Pakistani clothing. Rhys liked his blue number so much, he went ahead and bought one. With his huge amount of facial hair, he looks fairly Middle Eastern anyway so he could pull this off no problem!

Dave and Rhys in the traditional Pakistani kit

Finally, we went to Pakistan’s most famous monument, Minar-I-Pakistan, which commemorates the founding of Pakistan as a separate sovereign entity from India in 1956. We were watched by a huge crowd which was pretty awkward. The reporter explained to us that they thought we were royalty from overseas.

That evening, we met Ali, Dave’s Pakistani mate from Sydney Uni, who took us out to a nice restaurant where to our surprise; you were allowed to drink in if you brought your own booze. After this, we went for some Shisha, which is flavoured tobacco, filtered through water and smoked through a tall pipe. We all found this very enjoyable and relaxing and it will no doubt play a large part during our Middle Eastern leg.

DAY 104 - AMRITSAR TO LAHORE, PAKISTAN

2008-03-22T03:57:00.002+11:00

CRAZYJOURNEY HITS PAKISTAN

Rhys reflecting by the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore

We were up early in Amritsar to head west and hit the Pakistan border. This was a relatively painless process. The Indian and Pakistani customs officials were wondering if we had any magazines or DVDs with western women in them, not for confiscation but for their own viewing pleasure, so we gave them a copy of Playboy that was lying in the back of the car. Needless to say they were delighted and let us through without any problems!

The Hummer enters Pakistan

On the Pakistani side we were met by an official from the Punjab Government. Our whole Pakistani itinerary and accommodation had been kindly arranged by Toheed Ahmad, the former Pakistani ambassador to Ireland who is friends with Fintan’s parents. It was a nice to have an escort into Lahore as we were a bit apprehensive coming into Lahore due to recent suicide bombings in the city.

We weren’t really sure what to expect, but were genuinely surprised by the relative organisation and cleanliness of Lahore in comparison to most Indian cities. We were escorted to our accommodation at the Gymkhana club near the citys Canal Road, where we would spend a few days.

Us with Toheed, his wife and some other members of the Punjab Government at Cuccos

That evening, we were brought for dinner by Toheed and his wife Nausheen to Cucco’s Den, a famous rooftop restaurant in the city centre with magnificent views of the Badshahi Mosque. Built by the son of the Taj Mahal’s creator, this remarkable red sandstone and marble structure is one of the world’s largest mosques. After dinner, we took a stroll around the Mosque and went to bed to get some sleep before a busy day in Lahore tomorrow.

The view out of the Badshahi Mosque

DAY 104 ROUTEMAP - Amritsar to Lahore, Pakistan

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CRAZYJOURNEY INDIA HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO

2008-03-21T23:31:00.001+11:00

It's been a long time since our last video! Dave has been working like a man possessed to bring you this Indian Highlights Video. Enjoy below...

If you can't see this video please visit
http://crazyjourneyhummer.blogspot.com/

DAY 103: KARNAL TO ATTARI

2008-03-21T21:43:00.008+11:00

The high-kicking border ceremony at the Pakistan/India border in Attari.

After a few hours sleep in the abandoned waterpark hotel, we were back on the road at 5am in order to push on to meet Paul and his Dad, ‘The Big Serge’ in Jalandhar where the Sokhis are orinally from. After a much needed breakfast and shower in their hotel, Serge brought us with his cousin to do a fit-job on our broken wing mirror. Using a bathroom mirror, duck-tape, a few pieces of metal and a cordless drill, Sokhi’s uncle did a remarkable MacGyver-style DIY job that should last us until we get to a Hummer garage in Dubai.

Serge and his cousin check out the Hummer's Mirror

With the Pakistan border closing at 4pm, we were in a bit of a dilemma. If we took a trip to the Golden Temple, the glorious home of Sheikh religion and probably one of the most beautiful structures in the world, we would probably miss the border crossing. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to see the Temple as Dave had promised his mate Ish (who’s also Sheikh) that he’d make a trip there.

Paul and Serge at the Golden Temple

After removing our shoes, washing our feet and covering our heads, we caught our first glimpse of the incredible structure. Glistening at the centre of a sacred pool, the marble temple is coated with 750kg of pure gold. Devout Sikhs travel from all over the world to visit this site and we were genuinely moved by its spiritual atmosphere.

The boys at the Golden Temple

From the Golden Temple we hopped back into the Hummer and legged it to Attari in a last-ditch effort to get across the border in time. Attari, only 30 kms from Amritsar is the only border crossing between India and Pakistan. However, we had arrived way too late for the crossing but luckily just in time for the border closing ceremony.

The border closing ceremony at Attari

The extraordinary ceremony is a bizarre battle of bravado as soldiers from both sides engage in a theatrical routine involving marching, stamping, high kicking and even a yelling contest. This daily ritual has become so popular with both locals and tourists that grandstands have been built to watch the ceremony. We headed back to Amritsar after the ceremony and found a hotel for a good rest before heading into Pakistan tomorrow.

DAY 103 Routemap: Click on pointers for details

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DAY 102: LEAVING DELHI TO AMRITSAR

2008-03-20T20:59:00.000+11:00

Chuck with the presenter from New Delhi TV

We were up early to get to the Iranian embassy in good time to get our Visas. We’ve come to learn that these things always take longer than expected but this place really took the biscuit. We ended up waiting in the embassy all day for a fax to come from Tehran confirming our 30 day tourist Visas. The fax never came so we ended up just applying for a 7 day transit visa instead. This should be sufficient to get us down to Bandar Abbas in Iran to get the car ferry to U.A.E and on towards Oman.

At one point we had a mad scramble when we were given 15 minutes to locate a certain Indian Bank in order to get a bank draft made for the embassy. If we didn’t get this, the embassy would be closed for a whole week due to Iranian holidays. Chuck managed to find the Branch just time to get it sorted and during all the commotion in Delhi’s busy Connaught place, Dave’s white shoes became a victim of the ‘shit-dropping’ scam! This scam involves a stealthy manouvre by a passer-by who drops a lump of crap on your shoe only to disappear instantly, much like a pick-pocketer. This crap-dropper is in fact an accomplice to a show shiner about 20 metres up the road and this is obviously an attempt to generate business. Refusing to be had like this, Dave went to a different shoe-shiner across the road so that the scammer wouldn’t get the business. It’s amazing the lengths these people go to rip you off!

After finally getting our visas and being the last people to leave the embassy, we got ourselves organized and checked out of our hotel. We had received a phonecall earlier in the day from New Delhi TV who wanted to do a piece on the drive so we headed to meet them at the Shangri-La hotel where they shot all the footage and interviewed us on the drive. After this and a quick dinner, it was 11pm by the time we hit the road en route to Amritsar.

As we’ve learned from our time here, driving in India at night is a nightmare. 3 hours into drive, heading north towards Amritsar, Dave started falling asleep so we decided to get stop and get some kip at some strange abandoned waterpark resort near Karnal with no other guests but ourselves.

DAY 102 Routemap: Click for Details

DAY 101: DAY AFTER PADDY'S IN DELHI!

2008-03-19T20:20:00.000+11:00

The two Daves

In bits and as sick as a small hospital, Dave and Fintan woke up in a complete strangers house in the British High Commission complex. We had to get ourselves together to collect our passports from the Pakistani embassy. We both fell asleep in the back of a tuk tuk but managed to get ourselves there eventually.

After collecting our Visas, we tried to make it in time to the Iranian embassy to organize our Visas but unfortunately the place was closed by the time we got there.

That evening, our Irish mate Dave Freeman invited us back to the bar at the British embassy for pints and a few games of pool with Paul, the half Indian version of Steven Hendry showing us how it’s done! Incredibly, there’s an uncanny similarity between the goals and ambitions of the two Daves. Both are obsessed with motorbikes and owning a racing team as well as a huge desire to summit Everest. We all had the craic with Dave Freeman and were sad to see him go but he at least gave us a promise that there might be a possibility of meeting us somewhere along the way home!

Fintan, Rhys and Dave on Boot's beloved and pimped up old Enfield