Photo MH

MEMORABLOG: 18.11.1998

Its was a cold November morning. My alarm started ringing at 4:30 am with the song »L’ombelico del mondo« – the belly of the world – loudly. Anyway, it was a short night, as packing was done into long night hours. So, i picked up Adi some 30 minutes later, just as he was just getting his hair cut (at 5am in the morning hehe)… actually, he didn’t even go to sleep, funny (straight from work, but hey, he was seriously tired afterwards in the day)… My dad then drove us to the airport, and i got seriously annoyed by his slow driving… But OK, better safe than sorry, as our trip was just starting

So, our first stop was London, an overnight stop and British Airways arranged us a nice, but overpriced hotel (arguably, it was payed by BA, so i didn’t care – but the breakfast was really miserable – so, i really would recommend Russel Square hotel). Actually, we were quite surprised, how London is expensive… i had some 30 pounds, and Adi had some pounds less… so we had to survive 3 full days (2 going there, and 1 back) in London with that… impossible… We were actually typical tourists, just without any aid. No maps, no money, nothing. But we managed to get a right in a double decker, we saw Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace, Big Ben and eventually we got lost in Soho… Food was miserable… all that we could afford was fast-food… When traveling from the airport Adi had a misfortune and his backpack got torn THE FIRST DAY of our trip, so… But I liked London. I liked the buzz around London, and surely i will come back some other day…

Some adrenaline rush was made by our visit to Victoria Coach Station, as we almost missed the bus… Well, not almost missed, but we were some 15 minutes early… and the bus was just leaving… damn, isn’t that a bit early? Not really, that bus is 1,5 hours late, so the next bus, due to go in 15 minutes, will be canceled… that would also mean missing the plane… but OK… it was the cheapest and apparently also the slowest transport to Gatwick…

So, memorablog. Last time I found some notes from my first trip on African contintent – Tanzania. I decided to write a memorablog of my maiden trip and of course add some photos… So, for next few posts i will transfer back to November 1998…

How everything started… nothing too dramatic…

At the end of September 1998 i was finishing my graduation thesis. And in Ljubljana I met with my best friend Adi for a drink . While drinking beer and watching people going by, he explained his idea to go traveling to Zanzibar… Zanzibar I asked??? Thats somewhere faaaaar away? Yep, Africa he replied…

Well, i was interested to go with. But, I didn’t want to go only to the beaches, i wanted to see the world. I wanted to see wild animals… yes, lets go then backpacking to Tanzania.

A few days later we reserved ourselves flight tickets towards Dar Es Salaam. We got some medications and antimalarial drugs, and that was it… No particular planing. No experience. We just knew, that we will end our trip on Zanzibar, enjoying white sand beaches drinking cocktails and beautiful women… And in meantime we’ll see Kilimanjaro and some elephants…

Lets go

I received today another “friendly” mail with photos of the most dangerous road on the world (i actually received same “powerpoint” presentation last year) – called Stremnaya, located in Bolivia… There is just one “mistake”… its not located in Bolivia, but in China…

The road really looks stunning… carved into the rock, with plenty of tunnels… and of course, i started to look where actually this road is… and it is located in China in Taihang mountains and it is called Guoliang Tunnel road…

Guoliang Village was almost cut off from its surrounding towns and villages before the construction of the tunnel. A ladder on a precipitous cliff, also known as the Heavenly Ladder, was the only route in and out of the village.

History behind the road is incredible, as the villagers cut alone the tunnels… “Before 1972, the path chiseled into the rock used to be the only access linking the village with the outside world. Then the villagers decided to dig a tunnel through the rocky cliff. Led by Shen Mingxin, head of the village, they sold goats and herbs to buy hammers and steel tools. Thirteen strong villagers began the project. It took them five years to finish the 1200-metre-long tunnel which is about 5 meters high and 4 meters wide. Some of the villagers even gave their lives to it. On May 1, 1977, the tunnel was opened to traffic.” source

Guoliang Village was almost cut off from its surrounding towns and villages before the construction of the tunnel. A ladder on a precipitous cliff, also known as the Heavenly Ladder, was the only route in and out of the village.

If you are interested where it is located, just click here.

So, what about the most dangerous road in Bolivia? Is there one? Yes, sure there is… its called “El camino de la muerte” or by more pleasant name “Yungas road”. It runs from La Paz to Coroico to Bolivia. In some 70km it plunges down 3600 meters… Its twisty and dangerous, as there is a cliff on one side, and a huge drop of 800m on the other side… In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank named the La Paz-to-Coroico route “the world’s most dangerous road.” as there are more than 100 deaths per year… Marko has taken excellent photos on this road…

So, until next time… both roads are high on my itinerary… so, maybe my next trip will be to Bolivia or China…