Montenegrin, who traveled across 114 countries, visited the happiest people on the planet
Edin Krnic from Montenegro is well known for his travels around the region, he said that he likes to explore new countries and areas and to meet different people and their cultures.
He recently returned from a new adventure where he traveled with Trans-Siberian Railway, he visited Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tibet, Bhutan, and climbed to the mountain peaks of the Himalayas.
He documents his travels with numerous photos, which testify about the beauty of diversity, and the cultural and natural riches which exist on our planet.
He spoke about his journey for Telegraf where he visited several countries, and the beautiful memories he carries from the other part of the world.
Edin has visited 114 countries so far and chose to travel with Trans-Siberian railway because he wanted to explore Russia. When it comes to that country, he said that he visited Moscow and Saint Petersburg, so he thought it wasn't enough for someone who travels in a way he does.
- I have told myself, "Edin, you can't say that you have been to Russia if you haven't been to Siberia, and even less if you haven't traveled with Trans-Siberian Railway".
When it comes to Trans-Siberian railway, it stretches over 9.289 kilometers from Moscow to Vladivostok. I have traveled a total of 10.000 km because I started from Saint Petersburg, which is an additional 700 km. I have decided on the Trans-Siberian railway because I knew I can meet their cultural diversity which adorns Russia as a state.
The travel from Moscow to Vladivostok lasts seven days with shorter stops on the stations so the passengers can get fresh food - he said.
His journey lasted for 17 days, from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok, with stops in Moscow, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk. From Irkutsk, he went to the Lake Baikal and the largest lake island in the world, Olkhon, where shamans live, former descendants of Genghis Khan.
- They are speaking Shamanic language in that part of Siberia and they are practicing Shamanic rituals. While you are on Olkhon, forget that you are in Russia, think that you are on some other continent. Then I returned from Olkhon to Irkutsh, where I continued my travel with Trans-Siberian railroad towards Ulan Ude, and then to Vladivostok.
After 17 days of traveling with extraordinary, neat, and right on time trains, my journey ended in Vladivostok.
Hanging out with Russians was priceless. Whenever I was with them in a compartment, they would accept me as their own, and since certain parts lasted for 20 or 30 hours, they would share their food with me, as if I was a member of their family. This made the journey easier and more beautiful, so I didn't think that I will ride for 10.000 km in 17 days - said Edin.
After Russia, he visited Mongolia which fascinated him. He is amazed by the people and nature, and he was in doubt what was more beautiful.
- My impression was that it is divided: nature is unusual and fascinating, and people hospitable and kind. While I flew from Ulaanbaatar to Bayan-Olgii, looking at sights through the window of a plane, I was amazed at unusual hills and windings roads, hundreds of them, rivers and lakes, and bright red color of the land.
I had the impression that I was flying over some other planet. Mongolia is a country with the least population: less than 3 men per square kilometer. That means, if you are not in some populated city, there is a small chance that you will find a man - he said.
He decided to visit Mongolia for two reasons - the first one was, he has never been to Mongolia, and the second one to visit the "Golden Eagle" festival, which is held in the city Ulgii, in the far west of Mongolia, where Kazakhs live.
- Kazakhs are the people who came to Mongolia from North-West part of China, around 150 years ago. They speak in Kazakhs language and they proudly keep their customs and tradition. One of them is the traditional Burkut, which is popularly called "Golden eagle" festival.
Kazakhs have been hunting with eagles from old times. It started because they couldn't reach food in any other way due to harsh winters. Old Kazakhs realized that the connection between a man and an eagle is possible, they started taming the eagles, and they both reached food.
The interesting detail is that females are much better hunters, and many girls and women are exquisite hunters as well. This festival is being held once a year, every first weekend in October and it is a real attraction, that is why the locals can barely wait for the day to see the hunting skills of eagles and their proud owners.
Since Kazakhs are mainly cattle-breeders, and that many of them don't go to school, it is rare to hear Mongolian in that part of Mongolia, because they all speak Kazakhs language.
He spent two weeks in Saksai and Altai and this was an unforgettable experience for him and something completely different from what he has seen on his journeys. He went for Altai, without an idea about the road ahead.
- About 75 kilometers of very bad road, only trucks and off-road vehicles can drive, it was no problem for me because you can enjoy the beautiful and intact nature.
Rivers were clear as a tear, and the surrounding area could leave you breathless. It took me around 5 hours of driving to reach Altaii and to cross those 75 km. Although this is not a tourist attraction where you can find some accommodation, I had great help from Bukenbai, a young man from Ulgii whose father was from Altai.
I spent the entire time with his uncle Babai, aunt Mother, and their hard-working son Talgat. They lived in a hut which was very warm and pleasant during the day, but it was very cold during the night.
He couldn't even imagine that it would be this cold in October. It was between 3 and 10 degrees, while it was -10 during the night and in the morning.
Mother was a very hard-working woman, she prepared very delicious food. The meals were always with two kilos of mean, and her food was so tasty that I enjoyed every mean which was brought to the table.
Kazakhs are good hosts and great meat lovers, and it is unimaginable to have less than various kinds of meat on the table and some good cheese, and you drink salt tea which is mixed with the yak milk - he said.
I stayed in Saksai with Nurka, Calasin, and their mother Chopan, in their humble and warm home. Celasin and Nurka taught Edin the famous skills of hunting with an eagle, so he can boast that he can lure an eagle to his hand and to issue a command to attack and hunt down some animal.
- I planned to learn this skill in 7 days so I could participate in the famous "Golden Eagle" festival, but the snow got in the way after three days and I couldn't practice, and I couldn't participate on Burkut.
This was an unforgettable experience for me and I hope that one day I will again visit this wonderful family and be one of the participants in the festival.
After the festival, I have spent 8 days in the beautiful Gobi desert and it is my recommendation to those who don't have the time to visit the "Golden Eagle" festival in October, to visit the Gobi desert which is the symbol of Mongolia. If you organize well, you can visit both of them, and that is the "last ride" for your visit to Mongolia, because there is nothing to see anymore starting from October 15th to the end of May due to extreme cold, and the temperatures reach up to -40 during the winter.
After beautiful Mongolia, there was Bhutan, whose people are said to be one of the happiest in the world. Our interlocutor said that this is absolutely true and that Bhutan is a land of happiness, peace, and welfare.
- Bhutan is a country which is visited by a very small number of tourists during the year. More reasons for that: first of them is Stayover tax which is 250 dollars US, plus the money for the visa and ticket for an airplane which is very expensive, and the foreigners can enter the country only from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Singapore, which are connected to their national airline.
Three privileged states whose citizens don't have to pay for Stayover tax are India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. All others have to pay the mentioned tax, per day. You get a visa upon entering the country under the condition that you previously paid a certain amount to the agency, according to the number of days you wish to stay. Which means, if you plan on staying 10 days in Bhutan, you have to pay 2.500 dollars in taxes, plus the airplane ticket, plus the visa which is around 40 dollars. The roundabout ticket can be around 500 and 1.000 dollars, depending on where you are flying from - he said.
- About Edin's stay in Bhutan, it was unforgettable. He said that the residents of Bhutan are very hospitable and they accept everybody as a family member. Besides, he noticed that they are very hearty and they are smiling.
- According to constitutional order, Bhutan is a monarchy. It is a very regulated country in which laws and regulations are highly respected. Bhutan residents are extremely proud of the royal family. Interesting is the fact that there are no traffic signs in Bhutan and that the number of accidents during the year is measured with small numbers.
For cars, a speed limit of 60km per hour is prescribed, while for trucks and commercial vehicles the limit is 30km per hour. If someone violates this traffic rule and is caught for speeding, he will pay a fine of around 20 euros. If he does the same offense again, he will pay again the same amount. If it does so for the third time, it is forbidden to operate the vehicle for the rest of his life - he adds.
Besides people and customs, he was amazed by the architecture of this country, which came from Tibet at the beginning of the 17th century, when Bhutan was founded.
- Culture in Bhutan is completely identical with Tibetan because they practice the same direction of Buddhism. I want to deny a piece of information that lately circulates portals, which is that Bhutan has a ministry of happiness. It's a fabrication because the driver Pasa and Tshering the guide told me that tourists often ask this question, and they always have a good laugh. It is true that the people are happy and pleased, although they live quite modestly - he said.
It is interesting that people are allowed to be married to many partners and it functions without any problems.
- Many wealthy girls have two or more husbands who are mostly brothers, which makes Bhutan one of the rare countries where polygamy is allowed. The same rule is applied to polygamous marriages. The reasons for this are socio-economic in nature: for them, it is perfectly normal for a wealthy girl to marry two brothers and to give birth to them. These children, regardless of who their biological father belongs, refer to both of them with "dad," without any thought or question of who their real biological father is.
In such marriages, one of the brothers is with his wife and children, while the other brother keeps the cattle in the mountain. They change every six months, so it is rare that two husbands are with their wife at the same time.
All this works impeccably, and jealousy in marriage is a total stranger in Bhutan. Fathers mostly carry their children on their backs and this is a completely normal phenomenon in this country.
I had the opportunity to meet one such family and I was simply confused when I saw them functioning together. They were very kind and explained how they worked. They had two children with a woman, and they told me that the biological father of the daughter was the older brother, while the father of the younger baby was the younger brother.
Once again, I note that they do not make this difference, but I had such curiosity that I had to ask, and they explained everything with a pleasant smile - said Edin.
He visited Bangladesh, which he says is synonymous with poverty. It is a country with a high density of population, so it is very difficult to maintain hygiene with so many people in such a small area. He cited an example from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
- The river Buriganga flows through Dhaka, which is as black as if it was submerged in oil, and it stinks so much that it is almost impossible to stay near it very long. You can imagine to conditions in Bangladesh if they don't pay attention to its main river.
The traffic on the river and trade in all that mess function flawlessly. Although it is very dirty and it stinks too much, it poses no obstacle for the residents. I got the impression that their noses are used to the smell and they aren't aware of the conditions they live in, especially when they are able to bathe in such a dirty river and they behave as if it is completely normal and natural.
Dhaka itself has over 12 million residents. There is no traffic culture, that is unknown in Bangladesh. If there is a traffic accident, everybody else continues in their own way. City buses are old and worn out, they are visibly damaged, and there are a lot of Rickshaws on the streets, around 120.000 of them and they are very efficient and cheap for relations up to three-four kilometers - he said.
After Bangladesh, there was Nepal, where he had the opportunity to climb popular mountain tops.
- I have been four times to Nepal. I am amazed by that country for its beauties, and for people. It is true that Nepal is almost identical to Bangladesh when it comes to hygiene and cleanness in the cities.
However, you can put that all aside in Nepal when you know that you are in the foothill of Himalayas and when you can't want to climb a top, or to some camp, if you are not prepared to go to the top. I am talking about the "Annapurna base camp", A.B.C. which is at 4.130 meters, or "Everest base camp" E.B.C. which is at 5.364 meters.
About Annapurna, I had no problems there. I got to the camp in 7 days and I got down to Pokhara. The mitigating circumstance is that Pokhara is on 900 meters above sea level, which is advantage from the start - he said.
After Annapurna, I went towards Everest from Katmandu. In eight days of effort, with mandatory stop due to the altitude difference and getting accustomed to it, I have reached 5.364 meters where E.B.C. is located. Considering that he is not an alpinist and he is not doing that, it was really unusual for him that the climb was easier than going down.
- I felt that the opposite effect only during the first day, and in the next two days I was going down without problems, perhaps because we stopped drinking Diamox, pills for altitude difference. That wasn't the case for me and a few other people who were with me in a group, Sharpas explained that it is the opposite effect of the pills we had to take.
You drink Diamox 24 hours before the hike and if you are strong and prepared, it is not a problem to climb those two camps because the tracks are great. Besides the quality and warm clothes, it is mandatory to wear quality shoes, because there is a possibility to injure yourself, especially when climbing down.
For all of those who have the intentions of visiting Nepal, my recommendation is not to buy expensive clothes for hiking because the same clothes is cheap in many shops which are located in Thamel (center of Katmandu) - said Edin.
The unavoidable station on his trip was Tibet, and he said that the situation there is almost identical with Palestine.
- The people are roughly in the same way disenfranchised, and the historical moment coincides with it when it all began: after the Second World War. Entering Tibet is impossible without the prior permission of the Chinese authorities. I refer primarily to special permits issued by the army and the police. I counted police posts from Lhasa from the border with Nepal and there were 47 of them, with a smaller or longer stops.
I admit, there weren't any problems in any of them, but the procedure is that you have to check in at every control post. You do that in person on some of them with passport and the permit and on some of them, your guide will do it for you. In Tibet, people are extremely religious and honest. They practice the same direction of Buddhism as in Bhutan and speak the same language - he says.
Tibet is located at an altitude of over 3,700 meters and claims that life there is quite difficult and scarce.
- The city of Lhasa is located at the lowest point, so life in this city is somewhat more tolerable. I was very sad when I heard that the average lifespan in Tibet was about 50 years in areas at an altitude of over 4,500 meters. There is rarely a case that someone lived for more than 60 years. This fact forced the authorities of China to attract residents from higher altitudes to descend to Lhasa, located at the lowest point (about 3,700 meters) offering affordable housing and living conditions.
I must say that Lhasa slowly evolves into a modern city. Everything else is, I think, without perspective, because you can imagine how it is when you come to a town where no grass grows, and the only animal that can survive is a yak.
Regarding the monasteries, I visited several in Tibet, and I will mention two of them: the monastery Sera and Jokhang, and the palace Potala, which is a trademark of Lhasa and Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso lived in Potala from his early childhood up to his exile in India, he is known in the world as the 14th Dalai Lama. He left Tibet in 1959 and he lives in the city Dharamshala in the north of India.
His return to Tibet is still forbidden, and no books with his pictures or name can't be brought in Tibet. Also, it is impossible to bring in any western tourist guide about Tibet, because it is taken away during border control - he said.
Edin said that people in these countries still remember former Yugoslavia, and some of them don't even know that the country no longer exists. This is mostly the case with older generations.
- My experience from the rest of my travels is that people mostly recognize us for our athletes, who created good careers around the world. When you mention Serbia, the first association is Novak Djokovic, for Croatia Luka Modric, Edin Dzeko for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Stefan Savic for Montenegro.
Of course, the national teams in many sports play a great part in this, but we should understand that some team sports aren't popular in many third world countries, like handball, water polo, basketball or volleyball, so they don't have the information if some county in this sports is a world or Olympic champion.
About the second part of the question, I don't want to sound immodest, but I think that my aura which I carry with me on my travels, contributes to be welcomed in a best possible way and for people to greet me with a smile, which can be seen on my photos and footages. I carry the same experience from my last travel - he said.
After this adventure, Edin is already planning his next travel to Iran and the neighboring countries.
- Iran is a country with a tradition and culture and a cradle of Persian civilization and a country that suffers great political injustice in the world. I think this is more than sufficient reason to direct the next trip to Iran and the countries in its surroundings that I have not visited - he adds.
VIDEO: This Tibetan is really lucky
(Telegraf.co.uk / A.Taskovic / a.taskovic@telegraf.rs)
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