Winning tip: Night train to Siping, China



The sleeper train journey from Beijing to Siping in Jilin province takes about 11 hours. I was sort of swept to the right compartment by a combination of conductors and passengers. My bunk was the topmost of three and I was halfway up there when a yank on my foot brought me back down again: a fellow passenger wanted to make it clear that I really should take off my shoes. I was then shooed back up the ladder once more. During the night, marching music was piped over the speakers at regular intervals; and at stations, food vendors dangled dried chicken feet and baskets of dumplings through the windows on long sticks.

Eating featured a lot on the sleeper train; on the other hand, sleeping didn’t. Of my three nights in northern China, this was the worst night’s sleep but the best night’s sleeplessness.

LTaylorM

Camping on the motorway, Chile



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pilgrims camp out during the feast of the immaculate conception in Lo Vasquez. Photograph: Getty Images

This is a rather specific recommendation. It only occurs once a year, on 7-8 December – but for just over 24 hours, the vast majority of Ruta 68, a motorway running from Santiago to Valparaíso, is shut down, with no cars in sight. The roads are filled with cyclists and walkers, all making their way to an otherwise insignificant church in Lo Vásquez to mark the feat of the Immaculate Conception. Most people camp overnight, curling up on the hard shoulder, or just carry on walking. I stayed a night in a motel in Curacaví, not particularly fancying braving the cold concrete alone. If you want to understand Chilean culture, meet local people, see the slightly apocalyptic sight of bundled-up people huddling together along an empty highway at dawn, mark next December in your calendar for a trip to South America.

Elara S

Sleeping in a pyramid, Sudan



It was lucky that the bus broke down. By the time a replacement had arrived, it was well after sunset and my two backpacker friends and I were unceremoniously dropped off on the side of a Sudanese highway. The bus driver pointed into the desert and told us to “walk that way”. Ten minutes later we saw them; the Pyramids of Meroë. Under the full moon they appeared like tiny fingers reaching to the sky. Of course, there was no one around to take the entry fee, so we did the only thing one can do in these circumstances and jumped the rickety fence that encircled the site. We meandered through the site for hours, before breaking to eat the tuna sandwiches we had brought along, our sustenance for the evening.

Then we had to think about where to sleep. As far as we knew there was only one warm place to sleep in the vicinity and that was inside a pyramid – so that’s what we did. After checking for creatures we lay down and eventually nodded off.

We slept well on the sands in our low-ceilinged room, a few metres above the remains of Nubian royalty. When the sun rose we got back to the highway and hitchhiked our way back to the capital before anyone knew we had been there.

absy83

A haircut in Delhi



We first took our sons backpacking when they were nine and six years old. On the first evening of the first trip, in a packed market in Old Delhi, they had their hair cut by a young lad in a small shack. They loved it, and ever since, whenever we go to a different country, it’s imperative we find a little shack or room down a back alley to get that special and cheap cultural experience. Preferably, the barber will not speak any English, which only adds to the entertainment. I can’t remember one haircut that hasn’t been fun.

ID469186

A trip through the Tatras, Slovakia and Poland



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Orava Castle. Photograph: Alamy

The rising foothills of the Gorczański Park are the first sign that you’re entering the Polish highlands as you head south on the meandering roads out of Krakow. With friends I took a road trip with tents and backpacks for hikes down to the timber-clad town of Zakopane and beyond. After this, we went across the Slovak border and into the deep valley that cleaves this section of the great Carpathians in two: the High Tatras and the Low Tatras. Shrouded by shadowy thickets of spruce and fir and hurtling over countless potholes, we wove our way through the forests that coat the borderlands here. Eventually, the precipitous bluff of Orava Castle came into view, glinting in the spring sun like something out of Game of Thrones. Then came the rolling hills around Ružomberok and the chiselled landscapes of the Veľká Fatra. Finally, we came to the high peak of Chopok, and we pulled up to don the backpacks and head off to pitch the tents.

Bolkonsky

Tupiza, Bolivia



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Desert landscape near Tupiza. Photograph: Alamy

The town of Uyuni is very much on the backpackers’ route for those who want to see the salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) and stay at the salt hostel. But if you go to the town of Tupiza, south of Uyuni, you get a much better experience. I went through Torre Tours, who didn’t charge all that much (for five of us in one jeep it was around $150 – bargain). We went for four days and three nights, stopping off at amazing places untouched and unseen by the backpackers who set out from the more popular Uyuni.

Sleeping Duck

Jungle ruins in Mexico



One of my favourite experiences when backpacking came when I visited the Mayan city of Calakmul at the very southern edge of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. The huge site lies at the heart of a biosphere reserve, and is completely covered in a sub-tropical jungle full of birds, butterflies and even monkeys. There are hundreds of stelae and overgrown ruins to explore, but these are dominated by two 50-metre-high pyramids, the tallest Mayan structures in Mexico. You are free to climb them, and from the top I found myself looking down on an endless sea of trees, punctured only by the tops of the other pyramids. Far from Cancun, the site was almost completely deserted, and I felt like Indiana Jones as I explored the ruins alone.

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The Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Getty Images/Flickr RF

Four of us, hardened backpackers from different corners of the world and all on tight budgets, planned to visit Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater national park. We had to go with the cheapest outfit in town and, sure enough, the jeep started to make strange noises as we descended into the crater. On the flats, with all of Africa’s wildlife around – lions, rhino, elephant, hippos, crocs – the vehicle conked out. Our driver didn’t know what to do. Do we get out and look at the engine? It felt kind of dangerous to get out with who knows what hiding in the bush … An age passed. Maybe “budget” wasn’t such a good idea. Then some rangers arrived on the scene, put on a tow and took us to their lodge – we had to stay the night in the park (when all other tourists have to leave!) camping next to their wooden huts. Next, the kindly rangers invite us on their evening 4x4 patrol – all tourists were gone and we could go off-road, stopping inches from lions, seeing hippo and being very grateful for our tour operator’s clapped-out jeep. The late evening had us sharing whisky and hearing ranger’s tales. Camping out included wild animal eyes shining back from torchlight on late-night toilet trips, then sunrise and another pre-tourist patrol and rhino sightings. So, my tip: sometimes cheapest equals best!

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Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fresh Wave Festival, Banja Luka

Last summer we took the train from Zagreb to Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska, an eight-hour trip with loads of stops. But Banja Luka is incredible! It was hot and sunny everyday and its river, the Vrbas, is a torrent of clean ice-cold water. There are even hot springs to swim in at night. The best thing, however, are the people. Many asked, “Why are you here?” but were extremely hospitable, friendly and funny. We made many friends just by walking down the street speaking English. The region has a bad reputation, garnered from the terrible civil war years, but people were non-threatening and often wanted to discuss the recent past. On the day we arrived there was an electronic music festival called Fresh Wave held in the 500-year-old city castle. It cost €15 for three days and was so friendly; people would stop and talk to us and offer us rakija when hearing that we were foreign. The contrast between the past, present, young and old of this place made it the most incredible backpacking experience I have ever had.

• Freshwave 2016, 4-6 August, on Facebook

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Hiking, South Africa

The 650km Rim of Africa trail follows a line of intertwined mountain ranges through the Western Cape province of South Africa, from north to south, eventually turning east, between the towns of Clanwilliam and George. The scenery is epic, and so is the route. Hikers are traversing one of the most botanically diverse areas on the planet, and a dazzling variety of plants surprises at every turn. Fantastic rock formations, crystal-clear streams, and great guides make this an absolutely memorable walk. In full, the trail takes about 56 days to complete or it can be done in nine distinct sections each taking about a week.

Charles Powne

Pokhara, Nepal



I was advised by newly made friends to go to Pokhara. It turned out to be a great idea and I only wish I had known about it sooner instead of feeling as though I was running out of things to do in Kathmandu. My outstanding memory of it was a stroll I took along one of the lakes around the city, through a small village on stony pathways but among lush green rice fields with women wearing cerise saris working in them. As I took a rest on a hilly part of the path I saw a tiny man carrying a massive basket filled with freshly plucked and bound green rice. He was so small that once he’d passed, all I could see looking back was a basket with legs making its way up the hill.

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