Bali

What a better place in the world than Ubud on Bali, the green sunny happy paradise, to take some rest and recharge batteries after so intensive and long traveling! A local family welcomed me as their dearest guest and I spent two weeks in their big house, which included also a big family temple and a couple of nice rooms for renting to the passing travelers.

Right during the two weeks I spent there, three major holly celebrations took place, among them the Balinese New year - Nyepi, the day on which all the Balines activities completely freeze. Nobody is aloud to leave the home, there are no public services (even the airport stays closed), no electricity and no contribution to the global warming, at list for a day!

On top of that, I've been lucky enough to run into a once in a 10 years holly Hindu celebration in the biggest and most sacred Balinese temple - the Bersakih temple. There were 15 most important Hindu priests that prayed for the welfare of the whole Earth, there were traditional dancings and ceremonies, there was blessing of people and gifts to the Gods and an amazing mix of colors and positive vibes! And I was one of the very few lucky foreigners to be present. Dressed in the traditional Balinese clothes, I've got access to all the temples and ceremonies, so please regard this photos as a very exclusive ones!

Singapore

A big shopping mall? A virtual city? Maybe both? However, a spotless city with a virtual feeling, where even the ongoing constructions looks like a modern art installation. At list the Little India neighborhood maintained some original earthy spirit...

And Bojan, thanks a lot for your generous hospitality in your very posh place! It felt like switching from "Discovery channel" to the "HBO" one for a couple of days ;)

Australia

Dipping into the atmosphere of Sydney and Melbourne, driving on the left side along the Great Ocean Road and trekking Blue Mountains was more than enough for my only two and a half weeks stay in Australia.

I liked it :))

Fiji

Some postcards from three islands I've visited...

...but the real beauty of Fiji lies under the wather, hidden within its colorful and reach corral riffs!

New Zeland

Since the last thing I've done in Chile was climbing the Llaima volcano, arriving to NZ I climbed straight away the volcano in the Tangariro national park - better known as Mt Dome from the movie The Lord of the ring.

In fact, the three weeks in NZ I've spent almost entirely in national parks: I walked Abel Tasman for two days, did a whole day trek into the Franz Josef glacier, walked for three days the Roteburn great walk, visited Milford Sound fjord and climbed up to the Miller hut in front of Mt Cook, the highest mountain in NZ. Of course, I couldn't leave the country without bungee jumping 134m deep into the Nevis canyon near Queenstown!

NZ is a pretty country.

Chile

The first time I entered Chile, down South in Patagonia, it was to trek Torres del Paine, the most famous trek in all Patagonia. Famous for a reason. It's a national park of immense and wild beauty and with such extreme and unpredictable weather conditions, that whoever manage to trek there for at list a couple of days, at the end feels like a hero. Especially when you do it on your own...

During my five days I got wet to the bones, been blown away by extreme wind (my tent as well!) and frozen during the night I stayed in a camp next to the glacier Grey. But, when I've entered the most beautifully valley - Vale Frances, the sun generously shined over all those incredible mountain picks and glaciers. Not so lucky when it came the time to see Torres del Paine... that day it was snowing hard!

The second time I entered Chile was after I left Usuaia, to travel up North. It took me one week of hard and fast traveling to reach Pucon, a town in Chilean lake district. There are no roads in Southern Chilean Patagonia, therefore the trip consisted of several buses, ferries and a two nights, one day boat trip. Finally, I spent a week in Pucon, climbing two volcanoes, rafting, horse riding, canopying and having good time with friendly locals.

Great times under volcano Villarica :)

Usuaia - the end of the world

By the end of the year, I've reached the end of the world - Usuaia, the southernmost town in the world!

There you can feel all the power of the nature, which plays with the most amazing colors and shapes, and that special adventurous atmosphere provided by people heading to Antarctica.

Here Usuaia, Antarctica next time maybe...