92 Countries & Counting
ZK7 had the privilege of speaking to avid explorer Vivek (26), who graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE) and now works for an investment bank in London. Vivek shares his unique travel experiences, having visited 92 countries including Argentina, Ethiopia, the Fiji Islands, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Transnistria.
Instagram: @aroundtheduniya
Who inspired you to travel?
I got into travel because my Dad and Grandad loved travelling. The whole family took a year out from their jobs and went travelling to some wonderful places, back in the 1980s. At that time travelling wasn’t mainstream or anything like how it is now.
Do you have any tips for novice travellers?
1: If you see a fun experience just go for it.
2: Always keep cash with you, including some US dollars as it is easy to exchange into local currencies.
3: Get a Halifax Clarity (credit card) or a Monzo (debit card) for spending abroad.
4: Download ‘Happy Cow’ – A great app for veggie food which I have used in 60+ countries.
5: Use an offline currency converting app.
6: Always maintain relationships, especially with internationals friends.
7: Don’t pre-book things or go on scheduled tours. You have the luxury of time, so you can discover everything yourself, at your own pace. You are free to do what you want, when you want.
What are the most amazing sights you have seen?
I have come across a lot of breath-taking sights like Queenstown (New Zealand), the sand dunes of Namibia, along with the Patagonian mountains and waterfalls.
In Mozambique, there is a remote former colonial island called Ilha de Mozambique. It took ages to find but was one of the best places I have ever seen. We actually got stuck there for a couple of days because of a cyclone.
But I think what you find beautiful is personal to you. I remember in Conakry (Guinea) there was a waterfall not too magnificent in terms of size but it was in the middle of nowhere and we took ages to find it. It was just us there and it felt like we were in Jurassic Park. It was incredible!
I am a bit of a city boy as well, so I loved Tokyo (Japan) and I loved the architecture in Buenos Aires (Argentina). I also remember Guatemala City (Guatemala) having amazing volcanoes.
There is a lot of the world I haven’t seen yet. I really want to go to Bhutan at some point as I have heard that is meant to be beautiful. I also want to climb to Everest basecamp, not Everest, just the basecamp.
Which country will you visit next?
I am planning to visit Afghanistan. One of my friends is an Afghani and her Dad, who is quite high up in the United Nations, is based there. My parents aren’t too happy but I am trying to get out there.
Another thing is, being Indian actually helps and I never thought I would say that. But I have noticed that Indian soft culture goes along way. For example, when I was in Brazil, yoga is a big thing and they associate that with India.
In Ecuador there are lots of people from Afghanistan surprisingly and they see your brown skin and know you are Indian. The Afghani’s love Indians by the way. I met this guy who drove me to and from this Afghani fine dining restaurant which was amazing.
Indian soft culture goes quite far, even in Africa but for different reasons. Indians are renown for commerce, so people think you are a businessman and respect you for it.
Have you ever had a run in with law enforcement?
When I visited Morocco, I was clean shaven in my passport photo and at the time I had a beard so that caused me a lot of trouble. They told me it wasn’t me and that I was trying to sneak into the country and it wasn’t a fun experience. They were quite angry people and ripped up my ticket.
Sometimes I travel with a friend who works with me and we go on road trips in Africa. We have had quite a few interesting experiences with police. We were once detained by officials, as they saw two Asian guys travelling by land, which is unheard of. They would think we are doing some business or smuggling stuff but we have all the correct paperwork so it was fine.
How did you get to meet the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi?
Whilst I was at uni, I started reading about my heritage, as I am a third generation British Indian and I got really interested in it and arranged a few panel discussions. Then set up more and more research events. One was with the association for trade between Europe and India, which is quite topical now with Brexit.
I got some attention from the High Commission of India and they gave me a recognition award. With that I had the chance to meet the Indian Prime Minster at the Taj Hotel in London. Personally, I am a big fan of his as I think he has done a lot of good for the Indian economy.
Galapagos Islands
I really loved the Galapagos islands. To get there we had to fly to Quito (Ecuador) and then take a short flight to the islands. We rented out a small yacht and it was great as we had a chef on board. We went scuba diving every day and saw giant tortoises which were incredible.
Guinea
In West Africa it is always better to travel with cash, as ATMs are not widely available. When we were crossing the Guinea-Bissau border, we got stopped by the police. They saw our cash and got excited. Some police officers wanted our money but because we said no, they detained us and we spent a night in the police station cells. We have had a couple of experiences like that.
Belize
When I was on a small island off Belize, it only had one ATM. I didn’t have a Monzo travel card or anything, I just had this Post Office card and I got charged 45% commission. It was painful, especially because I was there for a week.
Kyrgyzstan
I went to Kazakhstan with some friends and Kyrgyzstan was round the corner, so I thought we would go there for a week as they have beautiful mountains.
In the international airport, you are a bit vulnerable. For example, I was slightly overweight on my luggage and normally it is a fixed price you pay per kilo you are overweight. I asked, ‘how much will the excess charge be?’ And the guy at the airport desk asked me, ‘how much do you want to pay?’
South Korea
When I went to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, I didn’t realise it was in the middle of nowhere, so I had to get a train and all the accommodation was booked up. But I managed to get this little tent, which was expensive as it cost me about $100 USD a night.
In South Korea there are Kim John-Un and Donald Trump lookalikes which are quite famous. They are both from California but travel around together to get publicity.
It was the first time North and South Korea came together as a delegation for the Winter Olympics. The Kim John-Un lookalike decided to go up on stage and just act stupidly, which didn’t go down well with the North Korean’s.
It was the final day of the Winter Olympics, so they have the closing ceremony and I was walking back to my tent when I saw the two lookalikes and I started talking to them as there were not too many foreigners there.
They were like ‘come with us’ and I was like ‘where?’ And they just said, ‘come with us.’ So basically, long story short, I sneaked into Canada House which is where the after party for the Canadian Olympic team was taking place. I just pretended that I worked with the lookalikes and it was super sick. I wasn’t dressed the part. I was just dressed in my winter clothing but that was a pretty cool experience.
North Korea
I went for the Winter Olympics in South Korea then I flew back to Beijing (China). I spoke to this guy in the hotel lobby who said he could get me a visa for North Korea and I could go on a guided tour. So, I went there for a week.
I love to read and always have books with me, including religious books like the Bhagavad Gita, plus I buy books from airports. But when you go to North Korea, you are not allowed to bring in any religious books because they are scared of other religions like Christianity coming in and corrupting the minds of locals, so to speak. You hear stories of people in South Korea putting Bibles in rivers with the hope of getting it to the North.
You are also not allowed to bring in Lonely Planet books.
On arrival in North Korea, in the airport you have to fill in this customs declaration form, which is full of spelling mistakes by the way, to disclose which books you are bring in, who the author is and when it was written.
I had a book called ‘Liberty or Death’ by Patrick French, which is about Indian Independence and the Economist magazine. I thought if they spot these, I am in trouble.
They also check your phone in the airport by the way, so you need to delete anything they consider as porn, which is pretty much any girls showing skin and that sort of stuff. (When I was in Beijing before, I just deleted everything, just in case).
So, they checked my phone for about three hours. Luckily, they didn’t see anything they deemed as propaganda, porn or religious material, which was great.
They then opened my bag and said, ‘you have said this’ and they take out my ‘Liberty or Death’ book and I am thinking ‘oh my god’ but they were fine about that, surprisingly. They saw the Economist and took that off me.
Then they picked up the religious Bhagavad Gita book and were talking amongst themselves and ended up putting it back in my bag. I think if they knew what it was, I would have been in deep trouble, like it if was the Quran or Bible.
You don’t have much free time on the tour. It was jam packed and they wake you up at 6AM and they make you do all these activities and take you to quite a few places. They tell you what to eat and when to go to sleep. They had quite a few UNESCO World Heritage sites actually and they have the best roads I have ever been on. There are massive statues every 2/3 kilometres of the Korean leaders as well.
I still remember on the tour, we had two guides and I think they were always suspicious of me from day one because I had a British passport and brown skin, which did not sit well. I would take photos and then look behind me and they would just be staring at me. I would also ask really weird questions as well.
Kazakhstan
I am still in touch with a lot of people I have met whilst travelling. I met this one guy in Almaty, at a ski resort. I was staying in a hotel and I hear these Indian boys speaking Gujarati and I thought what is going on. I started talking to them, as you do. They came from Delhi and were on their way to the football world cup in Russia.
They are fun and exciting people that are not happy doing a 9-5 or living a passive life. They want to push the boundaries.
Egypt
When I was studying at the London School of Economics (LSE), in my first year I worked for the UN on a project in Cairo, which was during the Egyptian revolution in 2012.
All foreign diplomats were told to fly back but for some reason my friend and I decided to stay in Egypt. It was crazy and violent around Cairo with people getting killed. I remember going to Tahrir Square and we dressed up as Egyptians and painted flags on our faces. There were people just shooting guns in the air and toppling statues of Muslim league leaders.
Liberia
Liberia, a country in West Africa, doesn’t really have much to offer. It has one of Africa’s most dangerous slums, a Freemasons building which looks amazing and an ape sanctuary. We had two weeks there and everything is super expensive as they use US dollars.
There is this guy there called General Butt Naked (Joshua Milton Blahyi). He was part of the rebel forces and used to fight ‘butt naked,’ hence his name.
He used to worship the devil and go on the streets to shoot people. Two days before the Liberian civil war ended, the story goes he turned to Christ and Christ came to him in his dreams.
Now, he is a pastor who goes round West African countries. He can’t visit many countries though, as he is on the United Nations (UN) ban list.
We decided to go and find General Butt Naked. There are only two really nice hotels in Liberia. We came across one guy who claimed he was GBN but he wasn’t and it was a really awkward experience.
It took us five days but we finally found GBN and they said ‘we were expecting you.’ They knew quite a lot about us. They knew we were staying in the hotel the UN diplomats usually stay. So, they thought we were from the UN and were trying to interview him but actually we were some random guys trying to find him.
When we spoke to him it was a very weird experience. He was telling us about his war crimes and the stuff he used to do. He has killed thousands of people and he has got away with it all.
His army was full on child soldiers which he used to give drugs to, in order to keep them on a high and now he has created a rehabilitation centre for the children he gave drugs to.
Now he makes money by selling his cook books and he has made so much money, that he now lives in a mansion.
Instagram: @aroundtheduniya
Romania
When I worked for the United Nations, one of the guys I met in Egypt was Romanian. He was the son of a Minister, who called me over to Romania for his wedding.
The night before though, there were these awards in Park Lane, London and I got absolutely smashed. I was partying with ‘Raj’ from the Big Bang Theory, Kunal Nayyar and I was doing shots with Lord Bilimoria (the founder of Cobra Beer).
When you think of Romania, you probably don’t think of partying but it is a great experience.
I had a great time at the wedding and I had one day left to travel around Bucharest. I had a 9PM flight and I thought ‘what can I do?’ So, I decided to get a taxi to Peles Castle and Bran Castle which were beautiful, situated in the middle of the mountains.
Overall, Romania surprised me with how green it is.
At Peles Castle, I got my drone out and you are meant to ask for permission but I didn’t so the guards chased me and said you can’t use the drone, you need to have a licence. I apologised but was quite happy I got some footage.
This gave me some level of confidence. So I went to Dracula’s castle, Bran Castle. It was quite small and they have this small open area about three meters by two meters. I became brave and got my drone out of my suitcase and I thought I am just going to try it.
I took it out and sent it about 250 meters and then I lost connection and thought ‘oh no, I have lost my drone!’ I regained connection and tried to send it ‘home’ as my battery was dying. Sometimes the connection is not great and long story short, I smashed a window. But I managed to get my drone back and get out of there quickly before anyone clocked on.
On the way to the airport, the taxi driver stopped on the motorway and asked me for more money and I had to pay him as I had my flight to catch.
Belarus
Belarus is coming up in the news as it is the last dictatorship in Europe.
There were military personnel dotted everywhere, like with any communist country. I asked this military guy, if I could use his anti-aircraft gun and he rubbed his fingers together to gesture he wanted money. So, I gave him $20 USD and fired anti-aircraft bullets into the sky.
Brazil
In Rio de Janeiro, something I used to do was go up to the military and police and ask them to drop me off somewhere. I don’t know why I did this, maybe because I thought it was funny at the time. Sometimes they loved it because they think you are some famous blogger. They are like ‘yeah, yeah, we will drop you off.’
I remember these two policemen taking me around Rio for ages. I have learnt that wherever you are, just ask for random stuff. 9/10 you won’t get anything but that one time, you will get lucky and have the best experience of your life.
Lebanon
When you think of the Middle East, you think of war-torn countries but although Lebanon went through a civil war, it is stable now. Saying that, you can still see bullet holes in a lot of the buildings in Beirut but you still have your fancy Radisson hotels and rooftop bars.
In Lebanon there is a Sun Temple of Jupiter, which is the biggest Roman temple in the world. But it borders Syria and most taxi drivers didn’t want to take me there but luckily one did.
I went knowing my flight was in the evening, which was a bit risky but I thought I might as well go. When I saw the temple, it was so beautiful. It had pillars 10-meter-wide and 50 meters tall, it was bigger than anything I had ever seen in Roman architecture.
Apart from me, there was just this one random French guy there. If anyone every goes to Lebanon, they should definitely visit the Sun Temple.
Then I thought, Syria is just round the corner, so I asked my taxi driver if he could take me to the border and he said no repeatedly. I ended up paying him $30 USD and he drove me to the Syrian border. I knew Damascus was about 8KM from the border.
I always say if you never ask, you never get, so I went up to the border guards, knowing it was a sensitive area and I asked, ‘can I just step over, just to say that I have done it.’ The guard said, let me go inside and ask. And he came back and said ‘no.’
Zambia
I have visited about 30 African countries with my friend who I studied with at the London School of Economics. He has a lot of family, wealth and connections.
Once he decided to book a private jet to visit the Royal Zambezi Lodge, which was this exclusive resort. It was stunning! It was just us and about 40 staff there catering for us. They had their own yachts and 500 acres of land with elephants just roaming around. You can do anything. If you want to go on a safari, you will get taken out in Jeeps.
He does tend to do random things like when we were in Congo, he just hires a small private army to take us around. I love travelling with him as you get to live the high life, which is at a level of luxury I am not used to.
Transnistria
There is a breakaway country called Transnistria, which wants to be part of Russia, but Russia doesn’t want them for some reason. It is essentially in the industrial part of Moldova and to enter, you need a visa.
They have their own military and government but is unrecognised by the United Nations. They have road names like Stalin Road and Lenin Road with loads of statues of them everywhere. It is somewhere you probably should not go, as it is a very weird place.
Japan
When I travel solo, I would stay in hostels, which can be uncomfortable but is always a great way to make friends and meet some interesting people.
When I was in Tokyo (Japan), there was this crazy dude who was going through a divorce and it was Tuesday night and he said let’s go out.
We ended up in an underground gang’s club, called Yakuza. They were gangsters but also respected business owners and leaders. When you think of gangsters you think they would look rough but these people didn’t.
Follow Vivek on Instagram: @aroundtheduniya