After stumbling across Heidi’s blogs about Transnistria and Gagauzia on A Southern Space Cadet, I (Iris) wanted to invite her to write a guest post for Mind of a Hitchhiker. I really enjoy her love for unrecognized or partially recognized states. Enjoy her guest post, learn something new, write a comment, and make sure to check out Heidi’s blog and give her a follow on social media! Featured photo: House of Soviets: Tiraspol with an appearance from Dieter the Panda, my travel mascot Transnistria’s time capsule Transnistria is an unrecognized state nestled between Moldova and Ukraine. Its “capital”, Tiraspol (Тирасполь),Continue reading
Hello, Dubai?! Leaving Malaysia for the UAE After 339 Days (Semi-Live Blog)
You know I’ve been ruminating on it. But after 339 days, it’s finally time to leave Malaysia. We’re traveling to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is a semi-live blog that I’ll update throughout the journey. I’ll edit in photos once I’m back on my laptop. The Weeks Before Departure to Dubai On the evening of the start of ‘MCO 2.0’, Jonas and I were smoking shisha at Chimney Hookah Café in Johor Bahru (JB). We’d just made the most of our last day without stay-inside-order and we finished it off with a banger. One thing had beenContinue reading
Immigration Scare 2021: Are We Done, Malaysia?
As you might know, Jonas and I have been in Malaysia for nearly a year. But we aren’t expats, nay, we’re ‘Tourists stranded in Malaysia‘ (TSIMY). The Malaysian government basically granted us amnesty to stay in the country during the COVID-19 crisis. They call the special rules ‘the MCO’, which have an end date that has been extended by weeks or months every time the deadline approaches. This is stuff I’ve detailed in my pandemic diaries. Every time they extend the MCO rules for the pandemic, we might hear the news that we have to leave. Thus far, the government’sContinue reading
Johor Bahru: The Best Vegetarian + Vegan Restaurants
Johor Bahru (JB) is a great place to hang out for vegetarians and – to a lesser extent – vegans. During this pandemic, we tried out many veggie places in person and by delivery. These are our recommendations. Click here to scroll down to the map of Johor Bahru with all the vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Click the + below to learn more about the meaning of the emojis, dietary restrictions and intolerances, and a disclaimer. Note that we stayed in Johor Bahru during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants aren’t ranked in a specific order. Life Ricette 🥬🛵🚶♀️ Click here to order LifeContinue reading
Hitchhiking Bucket List: #5 The Dakar Rally
Yes, this is another stretch. But I’d love to ride along in one of the rally cars of the annual Dakar Rally. It doesn’t have to be in the desert on a heavy sand dune. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be with one of the rally drivers. It could be with the maintenance on the way to Lima or Riyadh. I don’t care. The Dakar Rally used to be organized in Africa, known as the Paris–Dakar Rally. The route used to travel overland from France to Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal’s capital Dakar, though sometimes theContinue reading
2021 Is Coming, Kayak+Work Danube Part 2 (The Sequel) is Canceled
Planning ahead is canceled. That has been the case since March-ish 2020 and doesn’t seem to stop in 2021. Jonas and I already knew back in July that continuing our Kayak+Work trip down the Danube in our trusty Zucchini would probably not happen. Now I’m ready to call it. And oof, last year’s happy 2020 post aged so badly. I’m keeping it just to remind myself how happy and positive I was at the start of it all. This year hasn’t been full of suffering for me – thank goodness – but it has been thoroughly mind-numbing Although I did accomplish the thingsContinue reading
Traveling in Malaysia during the Pandemic (Another Heckin’ Diary)
This little diary is a continuation of the ‘Pandemic in Penang’ diary I’ve kept during Malaysia’s harder lockdown. Long story short: we were traveling in Malaysia and other Asian countries when the coronavirus lockdowns caught us in George Town, Penang. We stayed there during the various phases of lockdown, from MCO to CMCO and RMCO (“Recovery Movement Control Order”). When interstate travel opened up, we planned our departure from Penang to travel within Malaysia’s borders. “SOP” stands for “Standard Operating Procedure”. Days since we entered Malaysia: Days since the start of the Movement Control Order (MCO): Travel days since we finallyContinue reading
Tanjung Piai, Malaysia: the Southernmost Point of Mainland Asia
We visited this extreme point in Asia on the 26th of August, 2020. This was during the pandemic, therefore visiting Tanjung Piai Johor National Park (Taman Negara Johor Tanjung Piai) came with all sorts of rules. The Idea to Visit Tanjung Piai As you might know, visiting the extreme points of the continents is my thing. I mostly enjoy visiting the mainland extreme points because they’re easier to measure than what island still counts as Europe or Asia, etc. So before we traveled to Asia in 2019, I’d looked up a few places like this, and Tanjung Piai in Peninsular MalaysiaContinue reading
Melaka Desert – Sauntering About the Shifting Sand Dunes at Sunset
I was casually scrolling the map around Melaka when something caught my eye: Melaka Desert and Klebang Deserr. A typo, cute! It wasn’t far from our home in Atlantis Residences. I googled where exactly to go. It turned out it was in a different place on some artificial peninsula. Whichever rich coastal city you travel to in Malaysia, you’ll always find a land reclamation project. This one had been canceled, which let the winds shift the sands and shape up into dunes. The pictures looked very nice. But we didn’t know what it was; satellite data from Google Maps brokeContinue reading