Posts Tagged 'challenge'

Eat the World


A day without a challenge is a day lost, I say. So recently me and Ugo set up a new challenge. The challenge, as recently posted by BBC, is simple: Eat around the World, without ever leaving London.
Our most recent victim was Pasha restaurant, that serves predominantly Kyrgyz / Kazakh dishes, located in ‘glamorous’ Camberwell, you’re unlikely to come from the street, as owners have tried hard to disguise the place, you need to walk through boutique hotel entry, pass the spa, 5 guest rooms, toilets and pool table, behind closed door with small laminated sign ‘restaurant’, following all along corridors of red carpets. The food was tasty, wine was cheap and waitresses spoke Russian, what else can you wish for!
So far we’ve tried 30 different cuisines in London: Belgium, Brazilian, British, Cantonese, Chinese, Caribbean, French, Greek, English, Nigerian, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Malaysian, Mexican, Moroccan, American, Portuguese, Singaporean, Srilankan, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Jewish, Kazakhstan.
But we have already identified more that 20 other cuisines to try in this lovely town. Hungarian goulash or Dutch pancakes anyone? Mi cuchillo is ready. Labu apetiti!

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50/50


Fifty down, fifty to go. I’ve now done half of my 100 country challenge. Last weekend I visited Malta, a lovely mini country south of Sicily. The buses there are manic, the people are lovely, the food is crap, mix of average Italian and English, carbohydrate bonanza. But the weather, ough it was lovely, I even got a mini tan.
A bit of background check on my 100 country challenge. The idea is to visit 100 different countries by the time I’m 31 (in 3 years, hoho). About a year ago (June 09) I read what this chap was up to, so I sat down and counted all the countries I’ve been to. It came to 31 (since then I’ve managed to add another 19 to the list). It’s amazing what you can achieve with a little bit of focus and rigorous planning. Don’t get me wrong, I do intend eventually to visit every country of the world, but I have to leave something for later, so lets start with the 100.
Ground rules (self imposed) of the challenge:
1) airports do not count – it has to be a meaningful visit, spending in the country at least a couple of days,but ideally a week or two;
2) UN member states only (there are 192 of them in total) – although I’ve visited various semi-autonomous territories such as Macau, Gibraltar and Kosovo, I do not count them as separate countries, sorry Scotland;
3) go where the locals go – no private jets or Michelin stared restaurants; public buses and street food instead;
4) take pictures – it’s fun and works as a good back up for my main hard drive (head);
This is my little pet project that keeps me busy. OK, bafana bafana, back to World Cup.

Review of 2009 travels


I have now embarked on my final trip of 2009, the incredible India, sitting somewhere in Old Delhi, derelict Internet cafe, the computer is older than me, but at least it only costs 20Rs an hour (30p). Will keep you posted how I’m doing here, but this post is not about India, it’s review on rest of the 2009 travels.
In total I’ve made 15 trips this year, visiting 17 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Turkey, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, India, Latvia (twice) and Italy six times (for work). 12 of these countries were for the first time, thus contributing to my 100 country challenge that now stands at 41 (including India). 12 is the magic number as that is how many new countries on average I need to visit every year to meet my 100 country challenge by the time I hit 33. Hard, but not impossible, even if you’re working full time office based job like I do.
Here are a few things that keep me on track when travelling:
1. travel light – no checked in luggage, ever. Everything that I need fits comfortably in 30 litre backpack, and never weights more that 10kg.
2. plan the important bits, but leave room for flexibility – things get cancelled, planes are late and you might just find out the main attraction of your trip actually is not that attractive and you would rather do something else.
3. know your budget – I’m no millionaire, so I need to stick to my budget. But that does not mean misery, in 2009 I’ve stayed in 5 star hotels just as I’ve stayed in 14 bed dorms. Eaten from street food stalls as well as full service upmarket restaurants.I don’t mind paying as long as I know what I’m paying for, everyone wants to get a good deal.
4. be nice (but firm) – I try to be friendly and open to new things, you can meet some amazing people along the way, but don’t let people screw you over.

Have a great Christmas holidays, eat lots of turkey and enjoy the snow! It’s 20C here and the city is calling me.

P.S. I’ve also pimped up my domain name, so now I own krutainis.com where this blog sits:)



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