Beglika Fest Bulgaria – Photo Essay Part 1
Beglika Fest is held every year near Batak (Bulgaria), 1600m high in the Rhodopa mountains, next to the stunning Beglika lake. The fest promotes sustainable living, resource saving, energy efficiency and waste reduction. When we visited Beglika we felt like we were a part of a colourful, responsible and joyful community that cares about the environment and holds the future of Bulgaria. It was an exciting experience to camp in this beautiful area, to listen to Bulgarian folklore music and to visit many interesting workshops.
Безброй причини да се върна/ да остана в България
Снимка: Gen
Младите хора- младите хора в България се събудиха и сега искат промяна. Надеждата и бъдещето са в нашите ръце. България е майка на милиони умни и талантливи деца които без съмнение ще се справят с нелеката си задача да опазят родината си. За мен беше чест да се върна само за да мога да застана до тях.
Българската природа – малко са страните по света които могат да се похвалят с такова разнообразие – море, планини, гори, равнини, езера, реки. В България все още има безброй недокоснати от човешката алчност уникални местенца и е наш дълг да ги опазим за бъдещите поколения!
Щастието тук поне е истинско – сигурно много от вас си мислят, че “на Запад” ще бъдат или са по-щастливи. Но нима консуматорският живот ни дава щастие? Според принципите на консуматорското общество “когато имам това което нямам ставам щастлив”. Логично погледнато, когато получите това което нямате то се превръща в нещо което вече имате. Винаги ще има нещо което нямате и задоволяването на този нестихващ глад е просто невъзможен, следователно и постигането на щастие става невъзможно. Когато отидете да работите в чужбина вие се превръщате просто в един консуматор, защото чужбината много дава, но и много взима. Казвам го от опит. В изкарването на пари и безмозъчното купуване на предмети няма щастие, но има една огромна илюзия – това, че целият свят живее във нея не я прави по-малко илюзия. Сами си задайте въпросът сега: “Какво е щастието за мен? Какво НАИСТИНА е щастието за мен?”.
Красиви мъже, жени и деца - безспорен факт е, че сме красива нация която ражда красиви деца. Българките на скоро влезнаха в Tоп 5 класацията на най-красивите жени в света според независимо проучване и проведена анкета от световно известното […]
Artmospheric Festival Bulgaria 2012 Photo Essay
Photographer: Yavor Lazarov
Time to say “Farewell Britain”
It is time to say goodbye. Once again my soul is filled with little sorrow and lots of gratitude. I am grateful that even in a cosmopolitan, hectic and “cold” city like London I was lucky to find friends and colleagues that are hard to say goodbye to. Goodbyes are hard but they are necessary if you would like to move forward so keep them short and sweet and let the good memories linger in your mind. Four years of “slow travelling” made me a dedicated contemporary nomad with a sense of independence, freedom and respect for our world. Although there was pain, hard times and English weather, it was a great experience. Living in a different country changes you forever as it opens your heart for different cultures and places instead of just seeing them with your eyes. Here is my personal top 5 list of things I have learnt or done while living in London:
1. Realising that I am better off around nature than in the city 2. Training Karate Kyokushinkai with Hanshi Steve Arneil (10th dan black belt) 3. Being independent 4. Getting a Creative degree 5. Making friends from all over the world Whenever I go from here there will always be a small part of me that will feel British. Farewell Britain!
Summer Reading List for Nomads
Photo by Yavor Lazarov © 2012
The nomadic lifestyle is rarely boring – there are so many amazing places to see and so many interesting people to meet that there is never enough time to read books. But the summer is finally here and unless you are in England or in Antarctica you can always enjoy the nice and hot weather with a good book. Here is a light list of carefully selected books that every dedicated traveller needs to read for inspiration:
1. Three cups of tea by Greg Mortenson
With the first cup of tea, you are a stranger. With the second …a friend. With the third cup of tea, you are family. One day Greg Mortenson set out to climb K2 – the world’s second highest mountain – in honour of his younger sister, but things went wrong and Greg became lost. He wandered into a poor village, where the chief and his people took him in. Moved by their kindness, Greg promised to return and build a school for the children. This is the remarkable story of how Greg built not one but more than sixty schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how he has dedicated his life to promoting literacy, peace and understanding.
2. The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, travelling the world, earning a monthly […]
Lost in Marrakesh (Part 3)
Continues from Part 1 and Part 2.
Author: Anna Pelova
Photographer: Apel.les Lopez
I thought that wearing a hijab will help me avoid all the unwanted attention that women have to deal with in Morocco but it was exactly the opposite – for four days in Marrakesh I got four marriage proposals. As I looked Moroccan, locals often felt like I was one of them. Moroccan men had this bizarre tendency to joke with foreign and even local girls about getting married. So whenever I got a proposal I replied ‘Five thousand camels!’ and then we both laughed. “Well, maybe not five thousand but five? And my shop. And my house. And my heart.” – said Hassan, a shop owner in Marrakesh. Was he serious or was he trying to outsmart me? I remembered what Najla told me that when Moroccan men are looking for a wife they don’t date her – they just propose. But yet they never did this unless they knew her first. Maybe these marriage proposals were serious, or maybe not. Let it stay a mystery.
In Marrakesh it was a lot easier to socialise with men than with women as with men conversations can spark in every shop, at every food stall, in every riad or even on the street. This is where I found many friends for a very short period of time. Often we weren’t even speaking the same language and had a different religion but it was as if we communicated on another purely intuitive level. Moroccan men had strong intuition – I felt as if they could see through me and read me from the inside out.
Morocco is a poor country and this was obvious even in Marrakesh – when […]
Treasures of the souks (Marrakesh)
Author: Anna Pelova
Featured image (above) © Craig Jenkins
Shopping in Marrakesh is such an adventure that it will turn even the most indifferent tourist into a passionate explorer looking for treasure. Within this colourful frenzy there are a few items that are worth the hunt. Morocco is a place not dominated by globalisation and thanks to this there are many small shops with hand crafted goods, natural remedies, berber cosmetics and unspoiled food.
Here are Great Nomad’s top 10 treasures:
10. Sellou and Khoul danjal
Sellou (tikawati in Berber) might look like chocolatey, moist and sweet cake but it is actually quite spicy and dry. It is made of cinnamon, galangal, ginger, clove, cardamom, massis, nutmeg and star anise topped with a hint of cocoa. As it is a bit dry, sellou is served with khoul danjal – spicy tea with a similar taste. Moroccans believe that eating sellou improves their general heatlh and gives them more energy. Sellou and khoul danjal can be found at Djemma El Fna near stall 69 where locals are queuing for small portions.
9. Moroccan mint tea
Shop owners often offer mint tea to tourists just to make them hang around longer or simply to socialise. I was drinking 4-5 cups of mint tea a day that was served for free. Moroccans never use tea bags and this is why their mint tea had a great natural taste with some added sugar. Going to Morocco and not drinking mint tea is impossible. Even if you don’t want to drink mint tea the offers to do it are so kind that you won’t be able to resist. If you think otherwise then go ahead and try to resist – I challenge you.
8. Fresh juice and food […]
In-flight matchmaking to improve flying experience
Author Anna Pelova
Photo (above) © Great Nomad
As a frequent flyer I often imagine that someone really hot will sit next to me on the airplane and then everything will develop as a love story soppy enough for a Hollywood movie script. But as I dream, sitting on my window seat and looking around with hope that maybe this time a Channing Tatum lookalike will sit next to me, I get slapped by reality.
There are many types of passengers who can ruin the whole flying experience such as the classic crying baby, the chatty guy who never lets anyone sleep, the seat-kicking kid, the neighbour who wants the whole armrest for himself, the grumpy tourist who complains about everything and the silent traveller who ignores everyone else’s presence. Fortunately, there is an airline that has embraced the innovative concept of in-flight dating or simply choosing a flight companion with similar interests. KLM’s social feature Meet & Seat allows passengers travelling on intercontinental flights to and from Amsterdam to share information from their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, review other travellers who will be on the same flight and choose where to seat accordingly.
Meet & Seat gives users between 90 days to 48 hours to share as little or as much information about themselves as they want. While this service is promiscuous in terms of increasing chances to meet someone interesting on the plane passengers should be mindful when deciding to use it as a dating platform as the concept is not much different than online dating. The main difference is that both travellers will be stuck with each other on the plane for a good few hours so escaping the situation when the Facebook charmer turns out to be different than expected is […]
Lost in Marrakesh (Part 2)
Continues from Part 1.
Author: Anna Pelova
Featured photo (above): Photographer © Rokos Frangos
Later that day I met with Najla – a local girl who greeted me on her moped and took me to Gueliz (a trendy neighbourhood in the new part of Marrakesh). Unlike in the Medina, where locals walked around with djellabas, in Gueliz a lot of women wore their hair down and almost everyone was fashionably dressed . When I asked Najla why so many young women have stopped wearing a veil she explained that they were actually now coming back to this tradition as their previous king had made it really hard for women wearing a hijab to find work back then.
With modern buildings, fashionably dressed residents, fancy restaurants and wide streets Gueliz was the exact opposite of the Medina. I felt like Najla has taken me to another city. She parked her moped and we decided to take a walk as I wanted to explore the little streets of the neighbourhood. Surprisingly, Gueliz reminded me of my hometown, Sofia. It was peaceful and quiet but yet all the traffic and city buzz were breaking the silence. Monotonic block buildings had surrounded the streets where cars were parked on both sides of the way. Trendy street cafes were full of well groomed friends who were socialising over the latest gossip in town. Somehow everything felt very familiar and I had to find out why.
As we discussed our countries I found that although Najla had a different religion she wasn’t much different than me. The few stereotypes and prejudices that existed in my mind disappeared with our conversation. She was very open-minded, honest, chatty and passionate to learn as much as possible about […]