Saunasamba

Far away from Finland, Day 62

Ok, twelve hours since i wrote the previous post and I can almost agree with Mr B. I have been to many hostels arround the world and here it is: one with sauna!!! And actually a desent one even for a Finnish HC-user like me. The experience was not ruined by the fact that you can enter a roofterace jaguzzi straight from there. That's all folks. Enjoy your wednesday. 

T

Master of puppets

Nomads hostel Auckland NZ, Day 62

Why did my MasterCard not work in Mongolia and China? Arghhh!! ?it's been doing tricks down here too. Thank god I have another card too. On travels, money is quite important, you know. But so are adventures!!  So far everything has worked out in the end.

Btw, in the pic below is a nice VIP-accessible ATM in Melbourne. It has braille writing next to the bruttons and best of all, input for audio guidance (if u have headphones with u). Easy and safe to use for everybody! Somewhere else I also met an ATM with a screenreader that gladly  skipped shoutin' out loud my account balance...

Abragadabra, And here we are in New Zeland now. The first 12 hours tell me that everything is cheaper and smaller than in Australia. Bobby already says he could move here. 

So far so good and let the new chapter in my explorations begin! Peace out.

Taimou

On the road again

Wake Up hostel Sydney, day 60

Sydney bottom2: Everythin' was somehow better in Melb & little teouble with hiring our car

Sydney top2: the beaches and Kangoroo-Döner!

That is pretty much all I wanna say about this slightly overhyped metropol. Had nice time though with Markus, Jenna and of course Bobby, with whom the joytney continues to NZ tomorow. Accessibility of the public transport, public spaceS and Services (from a vissually impaired perspective, of course) are the same than in all Australia i have seen. Very nice!

The point of this blog text has to be the title. The feeling of carrying everything i own and going to new places is something pretty much hard to describe. Today I have lived that life exactly 2 months! Just me, my bag and the road.

Last friday, after having chilled Couple of days here in Syd, me and my driver mr Chitakov hired a car and ended up singin Willy Nelson driving it without any idea about where we could go. Spontanious decisions led us to very nice places arround the weekend. Especially the canyons and hiking at Blue mountains were brilliant. Check out our cool vehicle/home. It must be designed by the man in the photo!

Talk u later from NZ. Thank u all people so much for interest for my blog!

Timo

Ps . T and B

Vamos a la playa

Manly beach Sydney, matkapäivä 55

Long time, no ocean! But now everything is nice, hot and easy. Hanging around with one of the most HC travellers on this planet, mr Rui Costa of Kouvola. Also my new partner-in-crime, Bobby is in the game. One of the best beaches in Australia, Pacific waves and relaxation in sun. What else do you need right now?

-James Hetfield

Pa. Seen these already of course

Autum leaves

Victoria garden of Prahran, Melbourne, day 53

There are a huge amount of parks in Melbourne 'cause one wise ruler said once there has to be one after every 15min of walkinhg. Great! I guess it's really true fall here cause not many people hang out here anymore. Today's temperature 23c is fine! For me.

(Notice the guideline before crossing. They are all over Melb.)

They say u can experience all 4 seasons in one day hin this town, That was pretty much true during the brilliant F1-weekend i got to live trough. What a show it was! Even thunder during qualifying did not matter. These guys here downunder know how to put up a mass event! I was watching the race next to corner 11 with pretty good views! 

In the workshop i mentioned before, we were dreaming about automatic front row access for people with low vision.  That Would be great in rock concerts, theatres etc. But why not in a F1 race too? You know there are bunch of viewing stages for wheelchair users... Where are our places?? In this case a bigger screen Would have been nice, but i was using my pocket telescope as usual that made it really easy to follow the action together with audio commentary(=radio) trough my headphones.

Melbourne is such a great city! Beaches, trams, skyscrapers,, sporting events, good coffee, travellers, parks and so many things are thet other parof my top list. Second half comes from the very large, comfortable and accessible tram network! Wow! I guess i got to respect my tradition and list two negative things... Ok, prices after Nepal and Kimi/Valtteri not winning.

(Local street arts)

Time get back on TRACKS now. Destination Sydney!

Timo

Ps. Piece of Finland in South Yarra!

Nepal

Federation sq Melbourne, Australia. Day 48

I haven't been in USA yet and last time in Enngland was 10 years ago but Australia really feels like a combo of those. All the multicultiness and brilliant weather have made me enjoy since the first moment. Took a bike tour round Melbourne this morning and it really suited my needs. What a wonderful world.

Before it's too late: Last reflections from 17 unforgetable days in Nepal.

Bottom2: surviving as a pedestrian & bus safety on narrow winding road

Top2: my adventures (see previous posts) and relaxing after 14K km of travelling

I will Definately come back, my friend Nepskula!

Taimou

Ps, Melbourne seams to be a paradisr for a VIP tram user. This is just perfect...guidelines all ovet and this button is on Every stop giving audio annpuncements about when is the next tram coming. What a wonderful world 2!

Läähään ja läkähdyn

Kuala Lumpur airrport, Day 46

Just a quick pitstop here in Malaysia. Could observe local metro accessibility really well in short time though. Clear, big signs, good audio and lots of guidelines! This feels almost like Europe after Nepal!

Reise Reise!

TV

Ps. It is big

Honest goodbye

KTM, Day 45

Backbag packed again and time to fly (an airplane) for the first time during my journey. Big thanks for Nepal and the best hosts. And Olli my man, it was a pleasure. Cu in Rajaportin sauna!

Cowabungaaaaaaa!!!

Taimou

Matkamuistoja

Kathmandu, Day 44

First of all, take a look in the link below. Take extra care of the part 3.1.1 ! This will help you to understand why I am postng these photos from Russia, Mongolia, China and Nepal. You can read a report about an International workshop that I took part last year. That experience, all my new friends all over Europe and especially mr. Dario Sorgato have inspired me to expereince all these citys in Asia trough eyes of a Visually impaired person. Well, I do it anyway but I have stopped in strange many places and paid attention to built infra, services and everything that might help or harm the travelling life and are good or bad examples of accessible things for person with low vision.

http://www.noisyvision.com/downloads/The%20Visionary%20Europe/The%20Visionary%20Europe_report.pdf

Not only once or twice have the local people looked at me and thought why the hell does this gringo take a photo of those stairs or that pavement. (When there is i.e. a beautiful church to see right behind...)Haha, I have been happy to give them this mystery, but honestly safe moving around is more important than the sights, right? So take a look of these few examples and think about walking arround with limited eye sight! I let the pictures speak themselves without  much explaining. Some of them are good examples, some NOT!!

Just a halfway conclusion> Travelling as a VIP is possible and it is GREAT!

Enjoy!
/Timo

Moscow has lot of guidlines for white cane users. This thing shows also where is the zebra crossing!

 Subway stop list in Moscow. High above my eyes. Made me mess Berlin... 

Departure infro board in Moscow Kazanskaya station. Nice size and contrast there but a fence kept me from going closer than ten meters.

 Train station staris in Novosibirsk, Russia. It is nice to have the stripe in every step, but whhere is the one from first step???

 Just an example of text size and colors of a tram network map in Irkutsk, Russia.

 Ok, in Irkutsk you are supposed to realise that here the tram stops! First I did not see the sign above the street and had no idea how to hop in. Also you need to cross the car lane to get in that might be tricky, but Russian drivers seam to respect the stopped tram and some rules. Yei!

 Siberia is dark. From Irkutsk train station trying to figure out how to get to Mongolia....
(Btw, if you dont know what I mean> terrible contrast and size! This is taken with zoom....)

 Just another sidewalk in Ulanbatar, Mongolia. Quite average.

Ulanbatar was a small nightmare for any pedestrian. But as long as you dont have to cross roads you are safe. Even guidelines can help you sometimes!

 Welcome to Beijing! Here is a map for you. Find your hostel? (Thank god Olli did!!)

 After having missed Berlin for couple of weeks Beijing metro system saved me. IT IS AWESOME! Every station is like an airport, all signs and announcements are pretty good and the network is huge. Isoo peukkuu!!!

 All sidewalks in Beijing had a guideline for cane users!!! And they even adjust to obstacles in the way. Great People/s repupblic!!!

 Excellent use of material in Olympic village! This scoreboard is easy to read without eyes.

 And here we go again, my favourite topic> STAIRS! This is from the great Wall. The snow gives a nice contrast between the steps, yeah but otherwise it is life dangerous!!

 From Beijing again.. This is not so barriourfree example.

 One of my favourite observations during my trip!!!! In Beijing there is a person on (evvery?) bust stop stopping the bus for you. AWESOME! In the pic bus is coming and the birght jacket lady starts to wave her flag. I want this to every country in the world!

 Lhasa sation, Tibet. New, nice and huge. Easy to move around.

The most typical problem for a short sighted person is how to read the menu! In this Tibetian restaurant the text size was just great. Next step> Audio menus!!

 Just another sidewalk from Thingri village, Tibet.

 Nice big sign from the Monkey temple, Kathmandu Nepal. If you miss this sign dont worry. The steps are so steep anyways that anyways people will take it carefully.

 Nepali public bus. Two lights> One on the ceiling and one is my friend/s cell phone. (Though, the light is not the biggest concern in the busses, driving too fast in the terrible mountain roads...)

 Here in Kathmandu the traffic is terrible. Gladly they have built at least some pedestrian bridges in biggest junctions. I wish they would excist more. Still alive though.

 Just another sidewalk photo in Nepal. Watch out!

 Ok, if there is no bridge...you just stick to a local dude and let him do the seeing and decision when to cross the road.

 When you are trecking in the landscape like this there is A LOT of steps. Especially going down them is difficult for me. On 5th March 2014 I became (brown) cane user!

Light conditions from a restaurant in Pokhara, Nepal. Did not stop me from playing uno with these dudes! Olli has helped me so much during last 6 weeks and been my eyes in many situtations. THANK YOU MAN! And thank you Sudep&Jenna for your hospitality and fun moments!

Juna kulkee

Written in Kathmandu, in a country with 0km railway network

It used to be a distant dream. After having decided to travel around the world starting from the east it became a fascinating opportunity. In September, more than half a dozen of my friends had told me they have no chance to share it with me. In October I was lucky enough to find Olli with mutual interest. It became reality. And now we have done it! We travelled trough Siberia by train.

Let me take you to the world of life on train. A logical way to start this great journey was to book the Tolstoi train from Helsinki to Moscow. 13 hours sounded like a long time, but as you can imagine; There was more to come! These two travellers had met each other only once before their departure so the first night included of course getting to know each other. For example, they hadn’t evenn passed Lahti (1hour away) when Timo told Olli about his visual imparement.

(BTW, for those of you who believe I consider myself a Very Important Person in this blog, I have to tell that VIP refers to Visuaaly impaired Person in this context! This has sth to do with the URL also. More explonations will follow…)

Anyways, Moscow was in front of their eyes sooner than imagined. And as realized afterwards, the border formalities between Finland and Russia are super FAST!

Tolstoi train bottom 2:First feelings of approaching language barriers and missing something very special back home.

Tolstoi train top 2: BON_VOYAGE!

Ok, after a warm up train and some preparation time in Moscow the day finally came. On January 28^th 2014 at 13:10 from Kazan station was the Transsiberian train number 82 to leave to Ulan Ude, Siberia. Two excited travellers with backbags full of noodles, fruits and of course Vodka hopped on train ready to stay there for the next 80 hours. These dudes were glad to realize that one of them had accidently booked  a two-bed cabin that would mean extra pivacy! And whops, the water boiler tank was just opposite of the door. That meant lot of tea and easy noodle cooking.

One of the guys had a busy fall semester with finishing his studies. There was a lot of things he had not read and a lot of unfinished thoughts. Train number 82 was the solution for this. Soon after Moscow time kind of lost it’s meaning (also due to the changing time zones). So it was easy to read, sleep, eat, play cards or meditate whenever without any rush or hurry. For the guys a great train journey meant pleasure and absolute relaxation!

The temperature on the train was +25 so short trousers were the natural dress code. In Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk the dudes hopped off the train to -25 degrees. Dress code was different and after having bought more grossaries and drinks from the kiosks it felt just awesome to return “home”.

In summertime the Transsiberian experience is said to be more social due to more travelers. This time these two lads seamed to be only people on the train with English knowledge. This included also the train staff. But with so much activities like described before, this was no problem!

Couple more daily rituals were the wagon aunty coming to their cabin to hoover the floor, a nap in sunshine after lunch and of course a zip of vodka before hitting the heys. Let us not forget gazing the winter wonderland outside and reading facts about the passing villages from the guidebook.

Train 82 b2: Bathroom conditions and Irkutsk approaching too fast

Train 82 t2: Freedom and relaxation.

Part of travellig is packing and unpacking. Latest at this time the fellows understood there would be lot of his ahead. After seeing Siberian banya, bandy game and Lake Baikal it was time to head to Mongolia! The third train ride was only bit more than one thousand kilometers but the border made it feel like the previous train. Crossing the border took altogether 8 hours! The guidebook’s advice to finish all unread books seamed very realistic. Also time for naps was in use in between the many passport checks. This time the guys were almost only passangers in the whole wagon. UB was reached at 5 am after “a kind” feminder by the train aunty. Another part of great adventure was over.

Irkutsk-UB train bottom2: Border controls and again, bathroom conditions!
Top2: All the space and reaching 30^th country!

Part 4, welcome to China! & Part 5 Brathing extra oxygen on the way to Tibet….

…COMING UP! STAY TUNED''

Timo

 

Walking in the air

Pokhara, Nepal. Day 42

Ok, guys.... I know I am supposed to write a VIP-friendly blog. But this times pictures just tell so much more than I could explain. What a great experience in the sky!  No words, just emotions...

TV

Viva la vida!

Pokhara, Nepal D39

Good morning! Travelled yesterday 7 hours with only Nepali dudes in the most uncomfortable bus ever to Pokhara. But who cares when you are on your way to trecking trip and life is awesome! Beautiful Baby news from back home. Congratulations and God bless, Anna&Heikki!!!!!!

Uncle Timo

Ps View from my breakfast table.