Whats the weirdest place you've been and what weird places

>>1224546
I've been to Transnistria. Actually really easy to get into. Not much to see there but it's still a curiosity, an island of the old Soviet Union in the middle of everything else.

I guess Northern Cyprus

Was interesting to see the DMZ there

File: pepe suicide againn.jpg (49KB, 640x637px) Image search: [Google]

49KB, 640x637px

>>1224560
>mfw Cypriot

You visited the north?
Why not the South?

>mfw foreigners give cash to the invaders

I've been to Nagorno-Karabakh. Very interesting.

>>1224584
Not him, but I've also been there. It's easy to cross over the border and back. I flew to, and stayed on, the south side, but walked around a few hours on the north side too.

>>1224546
did they fug?

getting strong /ss/ vibes here

>>1224584
I was one day in Nicosia and visited both sides.

Jerusalem was the closest thing.

At least neither side was a commie shithole.

File: Harar-gate.jpg (199KB, 1000x669px) Image search: [Google]

199KB, 1000x669px

Harar, Ethiopia. An old city-state in the desert of eastern ethiopia. Has its own very unique culture and is quite different from the rest of the country, visually as well. Muslim in a christian country.

I was there during Ramadan, literally the only tourist in the city. Everyone just chewed Khat (stimulant plant) and partied all night because they couldn't drink.

File: DSC055781.jpg (134KB, 1280x850px) Image search: [Google]

134KB, 1280x850px

>>1224921
Also, Hyenas roam around the street after dark, and you can feed them.

File: communist-mural-bishkek-museum.jpg (370KB, 1024x683px) Image search: [Google]

370KB, 1024x683px

>>1224546
Going for a dose of the Soviet era in Bishkek in the beginning of May, then heading off into the wilds of Kyrgyzstan for a bit with an arseload of vodka in order to get drunk and party with any random passing nomads.

>>1224921
noice

>>1224923
>hienas
wait what
I mean - aren't they like super agressive and stuff? How many are there? In groups or solo?

Tibet and Xinjiang, i suppose. odd to see places that are blatantly not ethnically Chinese, but under control of China, with the government simultaneously enforcing a total police state and pretending that everyone is harmonious and happy.

the time zone thing in Xinjiang was especially weird. every official thing is required to run on Beijing time, but every unofficial thing runs on local time which is 2 hours different.

in Lhasa it was just weird to have bulletproof enclosures full of police in riot gear standing at every several blocks or on rooftops with rifles, waiting for anyone anywhere to suggest they might not be harmonious and happy. or the fake prayer flags and forced celebration of the anniversary of the "liberation" of Tibet.

every so many kilometers on the highway your tour guide has to get out and show all your paperwork to explain why there's white people in the car. yet somehow i knew two crusty barefoot hippie girls who snuck into the region and were roaming around hitchhiking. they inspired me to improve my vagabond levels.

on a much smaller scale, Chunking Mansions in HK, supposedly the pussy version of the old legendary Kowloon Palace (which is now a dull city park).

CM is a fairly amazing hodgepodge of shitty hotels, shitty stores, open markets, half under construction, half falling apart condemned building with wooden plank walkways and malfunctioning elevators. during the day it's swarmed by africans and indians trying to sell suits and hash. at night, swarmed by pimps trying to sell women.

i was exploring the city and came back to find my room was gone. not rented to somebody else, totally gone. they tore the room out of the building to get at some leaky plumbing and threw all of our shit into a random closet somewhere for us to hunt down.

>>1225495
How hard is it getting into Tibet? I'm probably going to China next year, and I'm planning to do some travelling around Sichuan and Yunnan. I'm well aware of the various Tibetan Autonomous communities in Sichuan and elsewhere, but I thought it might be interesting to see the real thing.

Do you have anything to add about it? Also, is it worth the hassle if I'm not even planning going all the way to Lhasa? It doesn't really fit in with my further travel plans going that far West

>>1225500

getting into Tibet is super easy during periods of time when Beijing is letting laowai into Tibet, and super hard otherwise.

if it's open, you just go to the official government tourist website and book a tour. they take care of all the details. it's not cheap. it's also not flexible (you can't say "ooh, we'd like to spend more money and add on a trip to the base camp at Everest", or "i came on the train from Qinghai but i'd like to leave on a plane to Sichaun even though my local address is Nanchang". they want it to be super simple, in and out, no changes.

if it's closed to foreigners, which it often is, the only way in is to bribe somebody to sneak you over the border. if you get caught i think the penalty is expulsion from China and no visas in the future to get back in. and, as i said, they have checkpoints every 100km or so on the highways to make sure there aren't foreigners in the cars or other people traveling without permission. i assume you get around this by going off-road or something.

despite the Han-ification, Lhasa (especially the old quarter) is an amazing place and worth seeing. still, if you're just looking for Tibetan culture without all the hassle, a large chunk of the Tibetan plateau is outside the autonomous region (southwest Qinghai) and totally trivial to travel in and out. meet the people, visit temples, eat the food.

i didn't see Eastern Tibet and couldn't tell you what it's like. gorgeous, probably.

>>1225514
Do you have to stay with your minders for the whole trip, like in North Korea, or can you wander around the cities by yourself? Are the tours in groups?

Thanks for taking the time, I'll probably stick to the Eastern part this time.

>>1225556

i don't think tour has to be a group. this was just me and one friend who kind of invited herself along.

you stay with your tour guide 90% of the time during the day, but in the evenings we were free to wander around and do whatever we wanted. (as long as "whatever we wanted" didn't include things like trying to leave the city, hold up a protest sign, hand out photos of the Dalai Lama, take photos of the cops, etc.)

we bargained in the markets by ourselves, i ate dinner alone a few times, etc.

in China as you probably already know there is a weird overlap between "we are trying to keep you safe and comfortable by making all your decisions for you, which a chinese person would appreciate if he were in your place" and "we are trying to keep you from causing trouble because foreigners can't be trusted".

>>1225514
What about getting into Tibet with a Chinese person? My girlfriend is Chinese and this summer we'd like to go to Tibet together.

>>1225564
so there's no chance of getting there without a tour?

>>1225567

there is definitely *some* chance. as i said in my first post, while i was backpacking outside Tibet (either when i was in Xinjiang or Qinghai, i don't remember) i met two western crusty backpacker chicks who had found a way in. they paid some random local farmer dude with a truck to drive them over the border into Tibet so they could get around.

i have no idea *how* you get around Tibet without getting caught and thrown out, or for that matter how you get over the border in the first place. i can speculate, but probably so can you. i'm sure it's possible. i have no idea how easy / difficult it is. i know there's no legal way to get in unless they changed the rules in the last few years.

shit, it's China. if you do get caught i think bribing the cops is always a solid plan B. although if that breaks down i assume you've only escalated the situation.

>>1225566

the rules are very different for Chinese citizens who want to get in and out of Tibet. there is no "closed" time of year for them, as far as i know, and they're allowed to carry artifacts back out again (which we were not). but if she brings you then i think all the rules for foreigners are going to apply.

she might be a better source of information than i am, honestly.

>>1225572
>two western crusty backpacker chicks
So did they seem like seasoned travellers who really know their shit, or more like plain, normal girls?
Do you know how much did they pay the dude?

Also, I'm interested in basically anything else you learned from them.

>bribing the cops
do you know anything about bribery in China though, or are you just guessing? I have this feeling those guys might be scared for their life when dealing with issue so important, so they might not be too interested in the little cash one can offer them

>>1225582

we didn't talk much but my impression was that they were pretty hardcore, seasoned travelers.

i heard a lot of secondhand stories about bribing cops in China and saw a local Chinese dude try (and fail) to bribe his way to the front of a line at a train station one time (official lady seemed really pissed and gave him a lecture, which he listened to with a smile and then left).

i've never bribed anybody myself and it's probably safest to assume i have no idea what i'm talking about.