Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Backpacking of sorts in weird places

Sriharsha (centre) with his friends during his trip in South East Asia.

VIJAYAWADA: Want to blast a living water buffalo out of existence with a bazooka? Or brushfire a chicken with an AK-47 at a shooting range for just 50 dollars? Do such weird places exist? They do, says Sriharsha Majeti, an engineering student of the city. Having completed his Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani in flying colours, Sriharsha embarked on an adventure of his life.

He travelled alone with just a backpack through countries that are rarely visited by an average Indian tourist, let alone a student of his age. He travelled in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for nearly a month-and-a-half. It was at Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, that he came across these firing ranges that offer the thrill of shooting down live targets. For $200, one can shoot away for an hour with the weapon of one’s choice, all relics of the Khmer Rouge regime. It was in this country that Sriharsha also got to see Angkor Wat, a world heritage site of tremendous beauty.

Sriharsha began his adventure with just a ‘Lonely Planet’ guide in hand. He went to Phnom Penh by bus from Thailand. “I learnt from some foreigners that I befriended on Goa beaches that it is possible to travel through these countries with a backpack,” he said.

Making friends in backpackers’ lodges, he travelled with them to extremely interior places where foreigners are not even welcome. He also saw the ‘Killing Fields’, the mass graves of thousands of people killed by Pol Pot and his followers.

Sriharsha was pleasantly surprised to find a person with origins from Karimnagar running a South Indian restaurant in the interior Lake District of Cambodia. A vegetarian by choice, Sriharsha survived eating the food available on the street paying on an average a dollar for a meal and three dollars for a night stay in a backpackers lodge.

He, however, found Khmer (Cambodian) cuisine that included frog, dog and a whole range of insects, including Tarantula, most bizarre. “It is difficult to eat chicken when it is in the dish next to the dog meat curry,” he observed. He found Vietnam, by far, the least hospitable and even got lost in the country-side once and got back to civilisation with considerable difficulty.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Rotary’s district meet from today
History-sheeters warned
Three held on murder charge
Backpacking of sorts in weird places
Students campaign for Tiranga blood donation camp
‘Expedite airport terminal works’
Telugu Desam opposes contracts to BGR Energy
‘Extend LPG price cut to consumers’
‘Provide pucca houses to the poor’
Call to end child labour
Students told to rely on Indian model of leadership
Surgeries performed by US, NRI doctors
In Vijayawada Today

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu