Wed, Jul 23, 2014
Beginning of the journey in Galle (south of SriLanka): a railway station with a timetable display board old of 150 years.Philippe takes the train to Kalutara: in the train Philippe speaks with the passengers about the tsunami of 2004 who threw down the train on this railway line.Then Philippe goes to Ratnapura and in the countryside visits a precious stone mine and sees how the miners are looking for emeralds, rubies or sapphires.Then Philippe takes again the train to Colombo: again a crowded train but the passengers are quiet (it's more pleasant to travel by train than by bus).In Colombo Philippe visits a small shop of medicinal herbs and later takes the train to Paradeniya; Philippe travels in the postal wagon and sees how the mail is prepared for the next stations.Near Paradeniya Philippe goes to Anuradhapura; the lost city and former capital of Sri Lanka: a holy town for the Buddhists; villagers have come with large Buddhist flags (about 300 meters) to wrap up the pagoda.At Mayo Junction Philippe speaks with the station master and then takes a bus-train to Pothuhera (Philippe has lived the same experience in Bolivia going from Sucre to Potosi).In a small a Hinduist ceremony called Cavadee or Cavady: men with hooks in their backs are hanged to banana trunks: they are in trance and show their devotion.Philippe takes later the train from Nanu Oya to Haputale where he will meet Veddas men and women who live in the forest: they go with Philippe to the forest and look for wild honey and later they will have a dinner and a ceremony of communication with theirs ancestors.
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Thu, Jul 4, 2013
Beginning of the travel in Rabat.A modern train to Fès where Philippe will visit the neighborhood of the tanners: we see how the tanners clean the fresh skins with chalk, how they paint the leather and how they dry the leathers in a cemetery.Then return to Rabat and further to Marrakech: the night in a famous place.Then go towards the mountains where women are harvesting by flowers of saffron and preparing this spice.Then Philippe goes towards the desert where he meets a train line : from there a train carries minerals to Oujda.The train goes through the desert and must stop : too many sand on the rails,a special team must take off the sand, later this team invites Philippe to drink tea and to eat pastries. Finally Philippe meets in the Sahara a camel owner and spend the day with him: a great encounter.
Wed, Aug 6, 2014
Beginning of the journey in Tokio: the main railway station looks like a mall.Philippe takes the Shinkansen to Kyoto (the first one started his travel on 1964 with a speed of 210 kilometers/hour): talk with a passenger about the punctuality of this train.Then Philippe buys a bento, a box with Japanese food inside.At Kyoto Philippe has an appointment with Mr. Iwata: they see the stone garden of the Ryoang-Ji zen temple: Mr. Iwata explains that you have to contemplate the garden for at least 30 minutes and you may feel serenity.Then Philippe goes to Nagoya: there a lot of train fans will say goodbye to the red train which will do its last travel and the fans will take off the train handles as a souvenir.At Kobe Philippe discovers a huge market of Kobe meat , there is an auction and later a breeder invites Philippe to visit his farm (where the cows listen to Mozart) , the cows eat a mixture of corn, wheat and soybean and then Philippe tastes the Kobe beef meat.Return to Tokio: interesting talk about the natural restraint of the Japonese people (tradition of respect of another person).Short travel on a pneumatic suburban train.By night Philippe walks in the streets of Harajuku and meets a young woman wearing a Lolita fashion suit.On the morning Philippe meets in a garden a journalist of the television who is announcing where the cherry trees are flowering: a great moment in Japan.So Philippe takes the train to Kumamoto: Hanami festival, a moment of joy, young Japanese men and women drink sake or other beverages and feel liberated from the strict traditions.
Wed, Aug 13, 2014
At the beginning Philippe takes the train from Dar-Es-Salam to Tabora and Kigoma.Near Tabora he visits the National Park of Gombe : there he meets a team who observing chimpanzees.For 50 the families of chimpanzees have been observed.Then Philippe arrives at Kigoma: near the train station a man sells him a piece of soap made with natural ingredients.Philippe meets also a fisherman who invites him to go fishing by night on the Tanganyika lake: a traditional fishing technique with oil lamps (the Tanganyika is one of the deepest lakes in the word and the fishermen need to attract the fishes to the surface of the lake).Then Philippe returns to Dar-Es-Salam where he lives the experience of the a suburban train.The train announcer is also DJ and the passengers enjoy Tanzanian music.Finally Philippe takes the TANZARA (Tanzania-Zambia-Railways and stops to visit the National Park of Selous.A young ranger shows him the hippopotamus and other wild animal and speak about his vocation as ranger (the fight against poaching).
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Fri, Aug 8, 2014
Beginning of the journey in Auckland: Philippe takes the train from Auckland to Wellington (there are only two trains each day on this line).In the dining car Philippe speaks with a charming Maori-Italian woman about the haka (Kamate Kamate) and she explains that Maori women have also their own haka and proposes him to visit a Maori village.Philippe stops at Taumarunui and goes to Rotorua: a village in volcanic region; he see how Roni and Narmoni, two Maoro women cook a chicken soup with the the steam coming from the earth.They invite him to the public baths where all the villagers take a bath twice a day..Later Philippe hires a little train to reach the place of Whangamomona.He meets the president of the Republic of Whangamomona, a man full of humor who explains him the story of the Republic.Then Philippe takes the train to Wellington, the ferry to Picton, then a train which goes through the Alps of the South: he has very pleasant talks with the passengers about the kiwi, national bird of New Zealand and the kiwi, a fruit imported from China.Then Philippe meets Pete who manages an inn with his wife and is an opossum hunter: the opossum is an invasive animal which doesn't have natural predators in New Zealand.So Pete invites Philippe to go to the mountain with his helicopter.Later Philippe Philippe meets teachers and students who sing to him a Maori song.Finally Philippe ends his journey in Kaikoura: with marine biologists he is watching at dolphins and also diving among them.
Wed, Aug 27, 2014
Beginning of the journey in Athens: Philippe visits the headquarter of the Presidential Guard, the guards are dressed like the evzones (traditional Greek soldiers); Philippe sees how the guards dress and how they begin their duty as sentinels before the Presidential Mansion and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.Then Philippe takes the train to Thessaloniki.In the railway station a chapel for the passengers who pray before their travels (Saint Filipo is the protector of the travelers).Then Philippe takes the train to Kalambaka: pleasant talks in the train about superstitions (blue talismans) and men-women relationships in Greece.At Kalabaka Philippe sees the Meteora peaks and visits a monastery of Orthodox nuns: a beautiful panorama on the other Meteora peaks and a good place for contemplation.Philippes goes back to Athens and takes a train from Diakofto to Kalavryta in the Peloponese: a short stop in little village where there are restaurants.Philippe visits also a 2.300 years old theater and tells the legend of Prometheus.Then Philippe travels to Katerini: there people celebrate St-Constantine and St-Helene, first dancing with icons and later the "Anastenaria", the barefoot fire walking ritual, a great moment of euphoria for men and women.Last stop: the island of Kalymnos where Philippe meets Dimitri, one of the last sponge fishermen.Many sponge fishermen have lost their job because the outbreak of a disease that decimated sponge crops.Philippe and Dimitri dive to look for sponges.