Quest for More :: Radek Okienczuk – Page 2 – :: travel adventures ::

Where the garlic grows (Kalaw to Inle Lake)

We are going to take a double-decker pickup towards Kalaw. In fact, it is an ordinary pickup, with the difference being that people sit on a roof. Interestingly, local women are not allowed to sit on vehicle’s roof, because it is “not appropriate”. The car keeps overheating, but the situation is under control as long…

Limestone caves around Hpa-an (Myanmar)

It’s another extremely hot morning. You are sweating terribly just from the process of eating breakfast at 7.30. We plan to spend the day on exploring the area around Hpa-an using wrecked but still running relatively strong scooters. These are remote areas characterized by limestone mountains and caves. It’s easy to get lost in the…

Mawlamyine and the Ogre Island

We arrive to Mawlamyine at six in the morning and to our surprise it is not too early for a very early check-in. Courtesy of Breeze Guest House. Without wasting time, we set off on scooters to explore the area around. The everyday life of the town’s inhabitants concentrates around the market, bustling with retailers…

Land crossing into Myanmar

The overland travel to Myanmar, former Burma, had crossed my mind long time ago when visited Southeast Asia for the first time. Even though some of the Burmese land borders began to open already few years ago, the south of the country remained largely isolated from the world until August 2013. Today one can “easily”…

Serbia, Danube and bicycles

Let’s move south. Eurovelo 6 is a bike trail going from the Atlantic coast of France, following for some time Danube river, all the way to the Black Sea. Our goal is to cycle along the Serbian section of the this route, commonly known as EV6. We start from Baja, a Hungarian town nearby the…

Kenyan coast of the Indian Ocean

Finally Indian Ocean We made two thousand kilometers linking Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean on our bicycles a few days before planned arrival. Now we can use some time to cycle around Diani Beach area, bathe, snorkel and watch sunrises over the ocean. Diani Beach coastline One day we visit Raptile Center, a private…

Kenyan bush, bicycles and elephants

Life ain’t easy in Taita Hills. It’s getting hotter. We have lost another 1000 meters of altitude. At the end of the day we are at about 750 meters above sea level. We make a stop ahead of Tsavo West National Park, colloquially known as The Man-eater National Park. As suggested by Richard Trillo, an…

Goat in the Masai village

Kenyan side of Mt. Kilimanjaro We are heading towards Kilimanjaro along the road C102. Police officers at the roadside station ensure us that we are unlikely to come across dangerous animals at this time of a year. On the way we pass scattered tiny villages with inhabitants taking care of their cattle. It’s nearly the…

The Great Rift Valley

Headmaster and his desktop The newly built paved road stretches up and down and up and down and all over again for another 40 kilometers from town of Narok. At some point we turn into a narrow unpaved track. We stock up with roasted corn, mangoes and bananas at one of local markets. Up and…

Cycling through land of the Masai

Short break in a village Every day we learn more about African animals, their behavior and nature. We cycle through land of the Masai, yet most of the time it is a no man’s land. Observing the landscape I see only fleeing antelopes, warthogs lurking from the distance, zebras resting in the shade of a…

Masai Mara, animals without borders

The Africa I always wanted to see A pink glow appears on the horizon at 6:30 in the morning. Some people living in recently visited villages assured us that if we keep cycling south at some point we would meet a lot of wild animals. We listen in disbelief, but they keep saying, yes, yes,…

Kenyan Plantations

Lone tree between tea Among Sugar Cane Our dirty and dusty road crosses through giant sugar cane plantations. Car traffic is minimal until late in the afternoon when tractors loaded with sugar cane pop up. Workers are bringing the hard day’s work harvest to one of a few sugar cane factories in the area. We…

Western Kenya and Teso tribe

House in Chamasiri village The border crossing between Lwakhakha, even though it doesn’t exist on many maps, as for African conditions is very easy one to cross. Leaving the border turmoil it quickly turns out that Western Province is a land of friendly and smiling people of Teso tribe. We cycle several extra kilometers and…

Biking at the source of the Nile in Uganda

Biking at the source of the Nile in Uganda Cycling in Mabira Forest Reserve The outbound road from Kampala seems to be fairly enjoyable. The initial 65 km stretch takes to Mabira Forest Reserve. Sometime on the way I remember to buy antimalarial pills. In no particular village a pharmacist offers me 20 small green…

Rolex to start a day in Uganda

We pack ourselves at 6:30. It is yet before dawn, which in Uganda takes place at 7.00. I hear voices coming from street snacks vendors through dense twilight mist. The air is filled with smell of baked chapati, corn flour pancakes. One of the stands has a chalk inscription drew on a wooden plate “ROLEX…

Breakfast in the City on the Seven Hills

I see millions of anonymous lights glittering far beyond the horizon. The urban landscape extends endlessly and floods both sides of the Bosporus Strait, a narrow passage of water connecting the Balkans and Asia Minor. This is how Istanbul has gained the status of the only city in the world located on two continents. Maşallah!…

Cubanacan, the island you don’t know

I exchange two hundred euros for peso cubano and I get two hefty handful of money, probably weighing about one kilo. In my mind there is a thought: Am I able to spend it during the next month? The two different currencies in circulation in Cuba is just one of countless, sometimes absurd, surprises waiting for…

Somewhere in Corsica

Colors of Porto Kitesurfing and cycling. An unplanned trip to the GR20 wearing SPD shoes and sneakers. Wild pigs, while imposing havoc on the roads, their meat has gained notable recognition throughout the island and far beyond it. Nearly twenty kilometers uphill bicycle ride takes us from the sea level up to a thousand meters…

The quest for snow and reindeer

A walk along the coast Having spent the winter in South America I began to dream again about winter, a real one. By early March the snow in the Alps has already been gone. There was an alternative idea. Together with my friend Mati we loaded the yellow bus will all sorts of winter sports…

Red wine, the best beef and yerba mate

Colorful Buenos Aires Every time I recall Argentina in my mind, I remember all warm and genuine people I met here. It brings back a lot of colorful and intense memories. It is a country where every single day begins with a few servings of yerba mate and in the morning it is impossible to…