Update: After my first blog entry below about Thailand, I continued traveling and returned back home (in New York City) at the end of an amazing 13 months. Even though I was back in the US in summer, the most fun time to be in the city, I wasn’t able to live in-between four walls…
My ayahuasca journey in the Amazon and where to find the medicine in South America
The main reason of my trip to the Amazon jungle was to experience the Peruvian ayahuasca plant as well as the ceremonies led by Peruvian shamans. Until this trip, I had attended a couple of dozen ceremonies, all of which led by Colombian shamans. My ayahuasca journey In the last few years of my life,…
Thailand: Koh Samui and Koh Tao
Koh Samui is the biggest of the three islands located on the east coast of Golf of Thailand (Koh Tao and Koh Phangan are the other two), which I visited in several different occasions. It was my first stop in Thailand in 2015 for the 7-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat and I went there a…
Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai and Pai
CHIANG MAI Beautiful, modern yet authentic little bohemian city in the northern part of Thailand, which is the country’s second most-visited city! If you do a quick internet research, you will find and read countless blogs and articles from fellow travel bloggers around the world stating how they escaped their 9 to 5 jobs to…
Cambodia ❤
In between my trips to India and Thailand, I bought a ticket to Cambodia on a whim, which appeared to be a good option while applying and waiting for my 2-month Thai visa application. Cambodia is the first place I visited without making any prior preparations and I am glad I did it this way…
Motorcycle Diaries India Part 3: The Himalayas
This is the 3rd and last part of my 8 month journey in India which started in Delhi and extended to Rajhastan in the northwest, Goa in the southwest, Rishikesh in the northeast and finally to the Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh) in the north. From Goa up to the Himalayas In order to skip a ~40 hour…
Motorcycle Diaries India Part 2: Goa
To continue from my previous blog entry on Rajhastan (Pushkar, Jaipur, Udaipur), Delhi, and Rishikesh, here is part 2 of my India story discovering the beautiful southern paradise Goa and a bit of Karnataka. Himalayas deserve their own chapter hence I will continue with another blog entry just for the majestic northern region. We arrived in…
Motorcycle Diaries India Part 1: Delhi, Rishikesh, Rajhastan (Jaipur, Udaipur, Pushkar)
Traveling in India for a month is one thing, living in India for eight months is another. The difference is you HAVE to learn to accept if you want to keep your sanity and happiness intact during your time in this magical land. And needless to say India is the craziest place I have been to, where…
Sri Lanka
I paid an impromptu visit to Sri Lanka to apply for a new tourist visa for India (details below) since the previous one expired after 3 months. Frankly I went to this beautiful island unwillingly by interrupting my stay in Goa however, I was glad I did it since I was super impressed by Sri…
Nepal: Kathmandu and Pokhara
The days in Nepal start with namaste and end with namaste. How can someone not be comfortable surrounded by people who see the divine in each other! I thought the Nepalis were very kind people whose faces lit up when they saw us and tried to have a chit chat in any chance they got. And…
Indonesia: Sumatra and Jakarta
Sumatra Trip cost: Flight: $30 One Way from Jakarta to Sumatra with Lion Air Accommodation: 400,000 RP ($30) per night I got to Padang Airport in Sumatra from Jakarta with an easy flight that took 1 hour and 15 minutes. I was picked up by lovely Yuli who made a living by making airport transports for…
Indonesia: Bali, Borobudur, Jogjakarta
The main reasons for my trip to South East Asia was to leave behind the noise and connect with nature, learn new skills to make a living from a more meaningful job then going back to the a 9-5 corporate office schedule, and give good things back to the society. I’ve participated in various volunteering…
Turkey: Istanbul, Izmir, Bodrum
While being originally from Turkey, in the last few years I’ve extended the duration between my visits to my homeland to explore different parts of the world from my home base in New York. This year, I decided to pay a long visit to Turkey during the Xmas-NYE break and ended up spending close to…
