Category: Asia (Page 1 of 15)

Renowned Sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita who has climbed Mount Everest 30 times vows to return again next year

Kami Rita first summitted Everest in 1994. He has scaled Earth’s highest mountain nearly every year since. Sometimes twice in the same climbing season.

Binaj Gurubacharya, writing for the Associated Press, reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal »

Renowned Sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita was back from Mount Everest on Friday after his record 30th ascent of the world’s highest peak, vowing to return to the mountain again next year,

The 54-year-old guide had scaled the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak earlier this week, his second time this month, breaking his own record for the most successful climb of the peak.

“I will continue climbing and will be back again next year and for at least one or two more years,” Kami Rita told reporters on arrival at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

Taiwan » The small island big on diversity

Deutsche Welle Documentary »

Taiwan is a place of incredible variety. The tiny island’s natural beauty is a concentration of some of Asia’s most spectacular features. To the east, there are sheer cliffs with mountain peaks, plateaus and hot springs. To the south, you’ll find sandy beaches, coral reefs and lagoons.

Although the Taiwanese live in a high-tech world, they are still firmly anchored by ancient traditions. During the course of his life, Lin Liang-tai has created many elaborately adorned wooden boats. But they’re not built to last, as they’re destined for Taiwan’s legendary Wang Ye Festival. As part of the temple ceremony to honor the goddess of the sea, a 10-meter boat is blessed, loaded with offerings and pulled through the village down to the beach. There, it’s set alight, burning any evil spirits that might be lurking about the place.

Shrimps are all the rage in Taiwan. In large halls across the entire island, shrimps can be fished out of huge tanks and put straight on the barbecue. Zhan Jia-ming runs one of these popular shrimp halls, and tips bucketloads of fresh shrimps into the tanks every hour.

Oysters are a mainstay of Taiwanese cuisine, whether boiled, fried or made into oyster sauce. On the west coast, oyster farms sustain entire village communities. In Fangyuan, we see one oyster farmer still using traditional methods to harvest his oysters. He drives ox-drawn carts onto the tidal flats, just as it has been done for generations. In the fishing village of Dongshi, several tons of oysters are harvested, opened and processed every day.

Taiwan’s relations with the mainland have often been strained since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Beijing regards the island as part of its territory. Tensions have been on the rise in recent times. Tsai Jin-lu is a committed birdwatcher. For years, he’s documented his rare bird sightings in the Aogu Wetlands Forest Park on the western coast of Taiwan. But these days, his binoculars are frequently trained on something much bigger, up in the skies above. That’s because this is where the Taiwan carries out fighter jet exercises almost every day.

Sherpa guide Kami Rita scales Mount Everest for a record 28th time

Binaj Gurubacharya, writing in Associated Press »

Veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for the 28th time Tuesday, beating his own record less than a week after setting it, as two guides compete with each other for the title of most climbs of the world’s highest peak.

Kami Rita, considered one of the greatest mountain guides, reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit at 9:20 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to expedition organizer Seven Summits Treks.

His latest climb comes a day after fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa matched his record of 27 trips to the summit.

Where Next Barney’s route guide to Armenia

Ed Gill writes »

In June and July 2022, I spent five weeks riding and exploring Armenia’s backcountry and trails, entering from Georgia in the north-east, heading south down the eastern side of the country to the Iranian border, before making my way back up to Yerevan on the western side.

In this guide, I’ve tidied up and summarised the routes I took into 8 sections for anyone who is considering a trip there. By and large these routes are good for mid-weight and lightweight dual-sport bikes with decent 50/50 tyres and similarly equipped 4x4s, though the latter should proceed with more caution than the former.

From the muddy mountains of the country’s north-eastern Tavush and Lori regions to the searing heat along the border with Iran, Armenia is an explorer’s delight. The country is slightly sleepier but no less beautiful and the people no less welcoming then its slightly more brash, northern neighbour, Georgia.

Follow this link to read the whole guide, complete with GPX files!

Thanks Ed!

~~~

Adventure Trend’s Armenia Country Profile

Building the Pamir Trail

Andrew Marshall, Explorersweb »

So far, the coalition has identified over half the route — roughly 850km. It’s hard to say how long the final trail will be.

Knowing that, in America, a problem with creating long-distance trails often springs from securing rights across privately-held land, I asked Baaker if he’d run into the issue.

“Actually, [the real problem] is the complexity of the terrain,” he said.

It seems a few spots in Tajikistan are so rugged that nobody has made trails there yet. That’s saying something for a country that’s been inhabited more or less constantly since the Bronze Age. Puzzling out how to get through certain passes, or around certain landslide-prone areas, is the primary problem Baaker and his team faces.

River crossings are another.

 

Explore! releases their list of the 35 best hikes in the world that almost anyone can do

Explore Worldwide, an “adventure travel” agency, has put together a list of 35 of the best hikes in the world that almost anyone can do, from short jaunts you can do in less than an hour to longer, multi-day itineraries »

Continue reading

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are looking to launch a unified single visa for tourists

Map indicating GCC members (Source » Wikimedia)

Map indicating GCC members (Source » Wikimedia)

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states include  Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Waheed Abbas, Khaleej Times »

“We see that happening very soon because we see people flying from abroad to Europe usually spending their time in several countries rather than in one country. We really saw the value this can bring not to each country but all of us,” Al Sairafi said during a panel discussion on “The Future of Travel for the GCC”, held at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

AKA Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf at Wikipedia.

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