Welcome to the second part of my post about our sabbatical. Just in case you have not see Part 1 read it here.
After another couple of weeks spent in the Czech Republic with friends and family it was time to move on. We flew to Seoul in South Korea to see family of my wife. Korea is great and I always say it is one of the most underrated destination I have been to. Food, cleanliness, safety, transport, polite people, traditions, etc. From Korea we went to Shanghai.
China
That was our first time in China. Our hotels were quite expensive considering the quality but the location was near transport. We have loved traditional markets, noodle soups, charming area of Pudong and incredible modern architecture. Later after 4.5 hours train trip of 1200km to Beijing we could wonder around all the monuments of the capital especially Tian an men square and Forbidden City. Of course we took a trip to see the Great Wall of China.
China is still quite underestimated by westerners, especially the ones who haven’t been there. It still has many poorer areas but is technologically advanced on par with the rest of the world. Anyone can see this in their fast train network, modern architecture, expensive shopping malls and highly advanced electronics. Though Korea was cleaner, China is very clean country especially for Asian standards with not much rubbish lying around. Of course smog was bad as expected.
India
Last of our points of interest was India. We kept 3 weeks for the trip. I must say at the time we were bit disappointed by India. Everything positive about India which I have ever heard before the trip was true but got overwhelmed by dirt, rubbish, smog, traffic, excrements everywhere (and I mean all kind of stuff – humans, monkeys, cows, horses, elephants..), poorly kept buildings, crowds, poor city design for pedestrians so you have to mix with vehicles, lack of public toilets, poverty especially in the Varanasi area.
By now (7 years later) we realised that we have loved the trip and wouldn’t mind to go back to explore more. Highlights? Food was divine. We got lucky that on 5 months trip we have not suffered any food poisoning. What might have helped was that most of the time we kept vegetarian diet and were careful with water. We thought that India might be risky but I believe the food was one of the best in the world and I don’t think there are many places with the choice and quality of vegetarian dishes as there.
Ancient culture. We have seen many pagodas and historical monuments relating to Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist religions and we have loved it. We have been to lower Himalayas (Dharamsalla) which was the only place with not too many people. Nature and the mountain peaks were beautiful. New Delhi has quite a few historical monuments which we have loved but the city would not be my favourite as traffic and pollution are awful. Amritsar on Pakistani border was great with the Golden temple. Then we have headed to Varanasi which was very traditional, very poor, incredible culture incredible historical monuments. Next was Goa with its relaxing beaches and catholic churches. After that we have headed to Jaipur. Another great city much more relaxed compared to New Delhi. We have seen the fort and palaces and our hotel was actually converted palace. It was full of coloured marble and very beautiful.
Next place clearly had to be Taj Mahal in city of Agra. It is as beautiful and impressive as on TV. We have loved it. Also we have liked nearby market next to the mosque full of monkeys. The only downside was amount of rubbish everywhere and polluted river and streams. From Agra we caught a taxi to the New Delhi airport. Ride was on good road but the driver tried to speed and I kept trying to slow him down as I did not feel safe. Highway was full of tractors, pedestrians and animals.
Going home
Flight back to Australia was via China and Seoul where we have stayed couple more days with my wife’s family. At that point we were really looking forward to our home in Sydney. One of our first trip was to the beautiful Curl Curl beach for a walk and surf. We were very happy to be in our awesome country with all these adventures under our belt. We have kept extra week for holidays at home. We live close to surf beaches, parks and many beautiful walks and we wanted to wind down from our exciting trip around half of the globe. After a week we went back to work. I cannot say that we were ready but it had to be done. At that point we were still not ready for FIRE. But we have already started researching this new thing called “financial independence”. So we could get where we are now.
How much?
And cost of the trip? Many might ask. Definitely I would (and not everyone would answer). Neither me or my wife are budget type person and though we are both ok with spreadsheets, we haven’t calculated the exact amount we have spent for this trip. Clearly the most expensive part were tickets, then hotels and then food. I reckon by our best guesstimate that it would be about A$30,000. We kept selecting the cheapest flights available. We have flown with couple of dodgy airlines especially in India and South East Asia. But we had about 6 months to research for the best deals.
Also online booking systems for accommodation were quite competitive. We have usually tried to book cheapest hotel with ensuite close to the desired location. I believe we have stayed only couple of times in a three star hotel. Rest of the hotels were less than 3 stars and many were quite basic. All were reasonably clean. We did score Novotel in Marrakesh on some good deal which was probably the best one, but internet did not work. And of course staying with family and friends saved us about 4 weeks of paying for accommodation.
Back at work!
So there we were full of great experiences, smiling faces, so excited, we have come first day to work after 5 months away on average every 4 days in a different place and different bed, seeing exotic places, eating local meals. So many new things and new experiences so we have asked at work what is new? What changed? Anyone missed us (I mean for specific work tasks)? You can probably guess the answer. Same old, same old. Which actually excited us even more. Nothing changed. We have missed out on anything. I am pretty sure that the workers who just keep going 9 to 5 for decades like zombies without solid sabbatical and goal for early check out will miss out on a lot.
