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Private Notes
Peru is currently experiencing a lot of civil unrest due to a political crises. Sixty people have been killed by the police and many hundreds injured. The country has been brought to a standstill by road blocks and protests. And so you’d think I would avoid visiting the country. However no, I wanted to visit and see what was happening on the ground and meet the Peruvian people. And practice my Spanish. Join me…
Thank you to Lucy my teacher and chama for patiently helping me learn Spanish this last year. Without her help this trip would have been completely different and only half and interesting.
Welcome to the Jungle! I sailed down Amazon tributaries from the Peruvian town of Pucallpa in search of adventure on my way to Iquitos, a town hacked out of the rainforest, passing villages where foreigners don't stop. And there in a small village on the banks of the Amazon I met the legendary turtle man. Join me. Thanks to Lucy and her brother for helping me translate the drunken conversations in Pucallpa
I was hitching a ride on a transport ship down the Amazon River in Peru when I started noticing people among the passengers who looked distinctly like the descendants of Chinese people. Many boarded and disembarked the ship at the various little jungle towns the ship stopped at until we reached the town of Alto Monte which was like something from a Hong Kong kung Fu movie. But who were these people and why were they dressed in robes and gowns? I disembarked to find out...
Thanks to my amiga and chama Lucy for helping with subtitles on this journey.
Having checked into my hotel in the centre of Bogota I decided to go and take a walk around and see what the city had to offer. What I found was a place littered with rubbish, toxic smells and well, let's just say the world's oldest profession. However despite all that the people were extremely friendly and we met some Venezuelans who told me what to expect on my journey to their country. Join me on a street tour like no other... This is part four of the Latin America journey from Cusco to Caracas. Gracias a mi chama Lucy para ayudar con translations.
Venezuela, the name conjures images of a country synonymous with economic collapse and violence. But is that reputation deserved or is there another side to the country that the media don't show? Well, despite being nervous for my safety and that of my camera, I flew into Caracas on my own to investigate. Oh, and whilst there of course I had to visit the infamous Petare barrio, known as Venezuela's most dangerous hood. Would I survive? Join me and find out. Vamos a Caracas chamos! Shout out to @BackpackerBen for accompanying me all the way from Cusco to Colombia and thanks to my chama Lucy for her help with the translations on the trip.
There aren't many countries as unknown and as mysterious as the one called Mongolia. All we know is the name Chingis Khan and nothing else pretty much. Well I wanted to fill in the blanks in my mind and travel to the vast remote country slap bang in the middle of Asia to see what it was like. And unlike the few other YouTubers who are had visited Mongolia and just ridden a horse or stayed in a tourist yurt, I was going to go to the mean streets of the cities and to meet the people. And, well, see for yourself what happened... Cheers to backpacker ben for driving us around the country. Check out his channel @BackpackerBen Special thanks to my friend Paul who lives in Mongolia and who took me under his wing when I arrived. Without his help I'd still not have a SIM card or had been able to hire a car. See you in the South of France mate. Also thanks to Olivia 'Dogecoin' who took me to the worst transexual bar in Mongolia.
There are few countries in the world with a bigger image problem than Bangladesh. I mean, just tell me the last time you heard a good news story from the nation? Exactly! Well, I thought I'd go and see if it really was just a place of monsoon floods and outbreaks of disease or, if there were some good reasons to visit the country. And what I found might surprise you so much that you might want to come visit too...Welcome to what is perhaps the world's friendlist nation: Bangladesh!
Bangladesh is a country of mighty rivers and some dodgy river boats. I decided to jump on one and ride down the river in style in my own VIP cabin. Check out what you can get for the princely sum of $12! And on the way I made some friends. Join me on the world's cheapest VIP cruise!
You must have seen the photos online of all the people riding on top of trains in the country of Bangladesh. Well on my last day in the country I decided I'd try and do it myself for the quintessential local experience. Everyone told me not to but because it was extremely dangerous, but sometimes you got to take a chance. Join me on my most dangerous journey yet!
The migrant crises along the USA's southern border has become a hot topic over the last few years with what seems to be an endless stream of people flooding across the border. But where are those migrants coming from, and why? I decided to go to the source of the issue, Venezuela, a country on the verge of collapse, and travel with the migrants north through Central America to understand the issue better. Join me on what will be my most dangerous and longest journey ever undertaken as we cross the infamous Darien Gap and other areas most people avoid unless escaping poverty.
The Darien Gap known as the world's most dangerous jungle. I had heard of the Darien many years ago through National Geographic and it had both fascinated and intimidated me. I knew one day I would have to visit...
PART THREE: Ask any migrant heading north to the USA which part of the journey they fear most and they will all answer with two words: La Bestia. In English it is translated to The Beast and it deserves the name. Terrible things happen to people on The Beast, from kidnap by the cartel, robbery by immigration officers or just losing a limb below its rolling wheels. And yet myself and @TimmyKarter knew that if we wanted to really experience the Caminante lifestyle then we too would have to face the dangers and confront the very thing migrants fear most...Join us!
@TimmyKarter YouTube channel is a place to find our journey from his own perspective. I highly recommend you check it out. Thanks again to him for inviting me on this journey and translating whenever I didn't understand something. Would have been ten times harder without him.
You have probably seen the videos of us walking through the Darien jungle. This is our story about everything that happened to us on that journey. All the planning that went into it, or lack of planning, and how we eventually met the cartel. Please watch our story.
England, one of the world's richest nations. But not everyone gets to enjoy the benefits of being born here. Just 60 miles from the bright lights of London is Jaywick which is statistically the most deprived town in the nation. I visited with my friends @BackpackerBen and @TimmyKarter for a weekend by the beach. Join us!
Thanks to the staff at the Black Rock restaurant in Clacton who looked after us and the great people of Clacton and Jaywick.
I have always wanted to travel to mysterious Kafiristan which is nestled in a couple of small valleys in the north of Pakistan. However to reach the northern mountains I would first need to pass through Balochistan, a region of the country that had been fought over for millennia but never quite conquered. In fact just the day before i arrived Iran bombed it. So let's just say, things didn't quite go as expected when I met the Pakistani military...Join me as we cruise the streets of Quetta.
Follow @SimonWilson12 and @BackpackerBen for their updates from Pakistan.
Edit: it seems Alexander the Great didn’t go through the Bolan Pass as I thought ???? Ffs!
