Olesya Novikova: Asian attraction. Asian attraction. The story of one cherished dream of Olesya NovikovAsian attraction

Asian attraction Olesya Novikova

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Title: Asian Attraction
Author: Olesya Novikova
Year: 2016
Genre: Foreign reference literature, Foreign adventures, Travel books, Guidebooks

About the book “Asian Attraction” by Oles Novikov

The book “Asian Attraction” is a godsend for those who are planning to travel alone. Olesya Novikova shares her experience and reveals many advantages of traveling without the involvement of travel agencies. To get as close to the culture of different countries as possible, to communicate closely with people and to have a lot of fun with minimal money, you need to read this encyclopedia of a literate traveler.

The author, a twenty-three-year-old girl, talks about her travels to Asian countries. She succumbed to the impulse of her soul and, leaving a prestigious job and an established home life, went to Asia for six months. She returned from the trip a different person - absolutely happy and free from many stereotypes. Perhaps the point is not only in her familiarity with the life experience and worldview of people from another part of the world, but also in the fact that the heroine was initially determined to take on this brave journey, despite the opinions of others. “Asian Attraction” is a hymn to the free traveler who listens to his heart and seeks true happiness in exploring the world.

The book is written in the form of a diary. Individual chapters contain parting words and organizational advice, and there are even links to useful sites. Olesya Novikova pays a lot of attention to describing situations that may arise in a foreign country and gives valuable recommendations on how to behave in different circumstances.

“Asian Attraction” seems to take you on a journey with the author - it’s extremely exciting to read about getting to know Asian culture, and all the events colorfully described in the book seem to be happening to the reader himself.

Olesya Novikova talks in detail about the culture of independent travel without the services of travel agencies. It turns out that this is a whole movement with its own infrastructure and set of rules. At special forums, backpacker travelers (this term means a person traveling on their own) gather and exchange their experiences. How to get ready for a trip, what documents need to be prepared, what minimum of things you should take with you, where to spend the night, how to meet people - these and many other pressing issues are presented in detail in the book.

The described trip was the author’s first trip, so it was not without its “shoals”. These oversights are also included in the table of contents to caution readers against common mistakes. Enjoy an exciting journey not only in your imagination, but also in reality - after reading the book “Asian Travel” you will receive complete guidance and motivation for action.

On our website about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read online the book “Asian Attraction” by Oles Novikov in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For aspiring writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Current page: 1 (book has 15 pages total) [available reading passage: 10 pages]

Olesya Novikova
Asian attraction

about the author

Olesya Novikova – sales specialist, travel journalist, writer, trainer, author and project host re-self.ru.

She was born in Kamchatka, where she built a career in the advertising department of a local newspaper until she was twenty-three. Until one day I turned my life around one hundred and eighty degrees. Having written a statement of her own free will, she set off on her first independent journey - towards the equator. Towards your cherished dream.

From the author

Dedicated to my mom

Successful office ascension from chair to chair: from sales agent to department head - did not in any way foreshadow that I would ever get off the “needle” and decide on an adventure. But such a moment has come. The bewilderment and fears of friends and acquaintances (“how can this be?”, “good job”, “what then?”) could no longer stop me - I set off on a big journey towards my dream: six months with a backpack in five countries in twenty three years old.

This was in 2007.

Then I sincerely thought that I was going on a trip to Asia - to explore the world, get to know countries, open new horizons in the literal sense, but it turned out that my intentions would also take on a metaphorical meaning - today, seven years later, I can say with confidence that it was not just a trip to exotic corners of the Earth, but an expedition through the unknown facets of my own nature: the first “foray” into myself, which served as a complete restructuring of my worldview and the foundation for many transformations in life.

When packing my backpack, I did not plan to write a book; in any case, I did not leave such declarations either to my friends or to myself, as many novice travelers like to abuse. I didn't even keep records on the road. There were only letters to my mother, which preserved all the colors of the world spread out before me.

But upon my return, an unexpected fact awaited me: my friends listened to the details of my adventures, albeit with delight, but with absolutely no applied interest. It was as if they were watching the program “Around the World,” only with my participation. No one needed such a life story for personal embodiment.

Many of my “deep conclusions” before the start turned out to be empty, I simply had to give answers, since the world allowed me to see them. There is probably a young life somewhere that also dreams of seeing the world, but it is surrounded on all sides by numerous “what if?” How to tell her that everything is real and simpler than it seems? How to reach the very heart?

The only heart I had at hand was my own. I decided to pave the way to him. Writing for myself at twenty years old.

This is how a book appeared, which I could not find before the start and in which I answered my own question from the past: “Is it possible to travel for a long time, independently and right now (and not in retirement)?”

It was important for me to raise all the key questions through the prism of personal experience: how, where, how much, and most importantly, why?

Why not get together soon, instead of endlessly waiting for “better times”?

I have always had the desire to get to know the world and one day make a real trip. But it could have been collecting dust on the shelf of cherished unrealistic dreams if one sultry day, when I was taking a break from the crazy race of workdays on the snow-white sand of a peaceful beach, the thought, frightening in its naivety, did not come to me: “But, you can go traveling. Just not for two weeks, as now, overpaying to a travel agency and not seeing the country, but on your own – for six months, for example.”

That's how it all started. An absurd idea took over my life. An irreversible Asian attraction emerged.

I had no experience of independent travel, nor did I have rich parents or sponsors. I dare say that I was nothing special at all. She worked, studied, had fun, fell in love, broke up, once a year she went on vacation for two weeks, having previously collected money for it for six months. Although no, there was still one peculiarity - I lived in Kamchatka. Very far.

Close communication with the Internet revealed two facts. Firstly, I am unoriginal in my dreams, and secondly, everything was invented a long time ago, and that’s great. It turned out that there was nothing supernatural in my desire. The concept of “backpacker” is widespread all over the world, that is, a free traveler with a backpack on his back. Moreover, many countries have developed an entire infrastructure for comfortable and budget tourism without intermediaries. “But in Asia this is very good because of low prices,” the Internet seemed to specifically clarify, increasing the force of attraction.

In our country, backpacking and its attributes have not yet been mastered. It seems that there are already hostels in the center of Moscow, and all the shelves are lined with guidebooks, and there is a lot of information on the topic of independent travel, but there is no mass awareness. I lived in a vacuum, which I was able to understand only when I entered the world of independent travelers. Would I have gone to multi-star Turkey or mass China on my first vacation if I had known that I could go on my own, cheaper and more “youthful”? It’s just that no one has ever driven like this, no one said it was possible.

In September 2007, I wrote a statement of my own free will, took a student at the institute, said goodbye to my friends, got a new haircut, changed my heels for trekking sandals, and my handbag for a backpack, and set off on the road - towards the equator. In the company of myself.

I had a six-month route in mind: China – Laos – Thailand – Cambodia – Malaysia – Singapore – Indonesia. I didn’t make any hard plans or make any promises, so I didn’t know where it would lead me.

Letter 1

06.09.2007

Despite the promised rain and wind “up to fifteen meters per second,” as the evil radio broadcast the day before, clear skies, the rising sun and my native Kamchatka volcanoes saw me off. “Friends, I will definitely return to once again climb one of your peaks and think about life surrounded by the smell of sulfur and the smoking fumaroles of a huge crater.”

The flight went well. The plane landed, and a whole delegation of people in uniform was waiting below. One of them immediately came on board with the question:

-Have you brought the generals?

The flight attendant smiled, and a group of satisfied men emerged from the first cabin. They would have immediately said that the generals are with us... I would at least walk around the cabin and not listen to the creaking of the trim. The generals were greeted by black cars at the ramps, and the whole of Khabarovsk greeted me.

Go to nowhere, or towards a dream

The decision has been made, things have been collected - the time has come to tell colleagues and friends:

- I'm leaving to go on a trip.

I persisted in going to the office for four years and saw results. Everything was built step by step: agent – ​​manager – department head. Some considered my career just a lucky coincidence, others - the result of my efforts. But absolutely no one expected that I could leave. Not to competitors, not on maternity leave, but to nowhere. This was the verdict my friends made when assessing an act that was incomprehensible to them.

I was ready to talk about the route, about the countries I want to see, about the equipment and attractions. But this turned out to be less interesting than horror stories about distant places and the uncertain future of young girls with strange views on life.

– What then?

Literally everyone asked this question. Everyone considered it their duty to clarify how one could quit a good job for the sake of an incomprehensible event lasting six months. The answer about my cherished dream did not satisfy me, and I had no other options. I had to pretend that I didn’t understand the depth of the question and the meaning of “later,” and answer with the standard formulation: “Everything will be fine.” Although, in principle, I really didn’t understand all these “then”, because I asked myself a counter question: “What if I stay in one place and don’t realize my dream, what then?” There was no answer either. Apparently, the question about “later” will always be rhetorical.

The following questions could be recorded for history. Even divided into two sections: banal and original. Actually, the banal ones were heard regularly, from almost every acquaintance, sometimes twice.

-Are you leaving us?

In the hit parade of questions, this is number one from colleagues. The word is “throwing away.” My mother did not puzzle me with such formulations, but some colleagues filled in the gap. Smart psychology books would call this “a manipulative question that causes a feeling of guilt, which must certainly be eradicated.” It’s good that I haven’t read such literature for a long time and because of ignorance - neither the feeling of guilt nor the need to fight it.

- How does your mother let you go?

My mother trusts and supports me. It happens.

– You’ll get tired of Asia in half a year, won’t you?

Russia hasn’t become boring in twenty-three and a half years.

The original comments were irresistible. I would never have believed that such a thing could be asked in all seriousness, and most importantly, that one could think so, if I had not heard it personally.

– You must be a patriot of your country!

- How can your mother let you go, you’re the only one with her?!

– Southeast Asia is a very dangerous region: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Australia...

– Because of this trip, you won’t buy yourself a car.

- It would be better if you said that you are getting married!

– What will you look for there?

It turned out that you had to be a patriot. Marry a neighbor and have many children, so that you don’t feel sorry for one if he suddenly wants to travel. Buy a car and drive comfortably around your usual circle. It's safe in the yard. But when traveling, what should you really look for? Probably a treasure. But we, adults, already know that they do not exist. Therefore, everyone should marry their neighbor.

I refrained from any controversy. I didn’t want to respond to other people’s fears, which were absolutely unsubstantiated.

Moral support and the phrase: “You did great!” there were too. More often - from those from whom I did not expect. Your close circle has the right to be very worried about your fate, but people you don’t know well have the right to be sincerely happy for you, without worrying about the consequences at all. This, probably, is the harmony of communication with the outside world.

Letter 2

10.09.2007

Unlike the airport, Khabarovsky Station smelled of freshness and new technologies. This is my first station in fifteen years and, in general, my first independent station, so I looked at it with special attention and, perhaps, will remember it for the rest of my life. Electronic help desks, a large waiting room and clean toilets put me in a philosophical mood - I am at the very beginning of a journey when many things will be for the first time, and all this will be only because I allowed it to be...

The first independent train started on time: seventh carriage, seventh place, seventh of September. Continuing to think about the global meaning of what was happening, I thought that if I had not decided to go, had not brought a statement to my boss and had not gone to buy a ticket from Khabarovsk to Chita, then there would have been no mystical numbers. Is there a role for our actions in incredible luck, random coincidences or fateful coincidences?

Remembering my mother’s instructions that I would see as much as a third of the great Trans-Siberian Railway, I often went out to the window. I waited an hour, waited two. When will it start? Well, I don't know what will happen. Anything. Great Russian cities, great forests and rivers, mountains and hills - in short, when will it start? All two days outside the window there was a forest, creepy-looking buildings and dull names of cities. When at the next “Cheryomushkino” I asked if it was a village, the conductor answered insultedly that it was a big city. Fellow travelers from neighboring compartments, who had the honor of traveling along the famous highway from beginning to end, said meaningfully that it would begin near Novosibirsk.

We drove calmly. We literally had a “train of non-violent” people. The men drank quietly, the women slept quietly, the conductors quietly snored from the next compartment. The main troublemakers of the silence, who were asked to speak more quietly, turned out to be my neighbor and I, since the entire carriage already knew about China, Kamchatka and Kazakhstan, her homeland. We shared our stories and anticipations of great travels. I arrived in Chita to talk.

Fellow traveler, you and I are not on the same path

Probably, like everyone else, I would like to open the world with a like-minded person. Share impressions and resolve controversial issues together, trust completely and not seek compromises, since desires and beliefs coincide. When I meet such a person, it is unlikely that we will part. This will be a partner for life.

And before the significant meeting with the other half, backpackers travel with friends, relatives, and unfamiliar fellow travelers. They look for compromises, take into account each other’s interests, smooth out conflicts, get offended, quarrel, get tired of each other, make peace, share opinions, rejoice together. Or they travel alone when they don’t want to experience the above emotions with strangers.

I wasn’t going to start alone. I didn’t want to travel alone through unfamiliar countries, especially into the incomprehensible Asian world. I didn’t even consider this prospect; I immediately decided to look for a travel companion. Of course, male. I could hardly imagine how it was possible to travel with a stranger, but if he was also a girl, I couldn’t imagine it at all. I am for harmony, for yin-yang. With a guy it’s somehow easier to find a compromise, it’s easier to give in and at the same time it’s easier to insist on your own. And of course, more reliable.

As a result, I started looking. In Kamchatka, backpackers were absent as a class, so, like most “seekers,” we met on the Internet. This is a hot topic on specialized forums. Traveling alone is much more intimidating for an inexperienced backpacker than traveling with a completely different person. Few people think about the fact that other people's interests can interfere with your own. I was sure that everyone who is interested in independent travel is, by definition, kindred spirits, and I found a travel companion easily and simply - based on the similarity of the route. That’s why I ended up in Chita a couple of days before the start to China, where the first meeting with my intended companion was planned.

I’ve read a lot of advice on “how to find a travel companion.”

“A good travel companion for a long trip is a person with similar views on life, flexible in communication, independent, and with strong internal motivation. In order to understand how suited you are to each other, just discussions are not enough, you need to meet repeatedly and, preferably, go on a hike together (preferably for a couple of days) - test each other for compatibility on the road,” the Internet repeated the same thing , changing the faces of the speakers.

But I had a territorial factor. All good advice about preliminary communication was rejected as impossible. Kamchatka is very far away, you just can’t meet it. I went my own way - I communicated with my fellow traveler only in virtual space.

This was the first thing I said to my new friend. He fully supported this point of view. Just because I was a girl didn't mean I was a dependent traveler. I can comfortably travel alone, I can return home at any time with or without a serious reason, I can fall in love with some place and stay there. Accordingly, my travel companion can do all this too. The mutual independence of unfamiliar people can make them excellent travel companions, and even friends in the future. The main thing is that no one owes anyone anything.

My friend completely agreed with such reasoning. I found a good travel companion. That's what it seemed to me at first.

The history of virtual communication lasted several months. It all ended with the fact that it became clear to me that the motives for our trips were radically different. It is internal motives, and not goals voiced when meeting. We won't be able to travel together. It was an intuitive feeling, an inner knowledge, but it was enough for me for the first meeting to become a parting. I voiced that we were traveling separately and prepared for the internal phrase: “Curtain.”

But there was no amicable ending according to the scenario “if something goes wrong, we’ll part easily.” The words: “We are different, so we are not on the same path” brought the guy to hysterics. I heard a lot of interesting things addressed to me.

Then there were apologies and persistent offers to carry out what was planned, to start together. In general, I haven’t been married yet, but I’ve already been divorced.

Just the desire to see the world does not make people like-minded people. Without the coincidence of internal motives, it is unlikely that you will be able to travel for a long time. If a person goes on a trip for self-development, that’s great, but if he’s running away from problems because he can’t fulfill himself at home, and abroad seems like a magic pill, most likely he will be disappointed and dissatisfied, which he will immediately share with his companion. It turned out to be very important for me that I prepared for everything myself, that I was autonomous. I was able to decide a couple of days before the start that it would be more comfortable for me to start the journey alone than to try to fix something that I couldn’t fix and simply didn’t want to. After all, my dream is coming true, and there is no point in turning it into an addiction - “just not alone.” On top of everything, China was waiting for me - a large, incomprehensible and friendly country. During preparation, I read amazing reports of girls who traveled through this country on their own and alone. There was not a drop of sadness or fear in their memories, only joy and overflowing with feelings from what they saw.

I think that before the start they had the same doubts and worries as me, but they didn’t turn around and decided to try.

Letter 3

13.09.2007

Chita received me on a sunny day and an understandable layout of the streets, along which I walked without a map and easily navigated. It was felt that the city was accustomed to transit travelers to China.

I had a couple of days left before the start, one of which I devoted to communicating with real backpackers. Probably, deep down in my heart, I wanted to make sure that they, independent travelers, exist and that everything is happening in reality, and not in virtual space. Experienced colleagues gave me advice and recommendations, I read a dozen reports, but all this was done remotely, via the Internet. What was missing was personal interaction and the eyes of a storyteller. Apparently, I was looking for evidence that all the events of the last month actually took place.

Stan responded warmly to the SMS and posted his contact information on one of the forums. We met with him and his friend in a pleasant pizzeria, where over dinner three backpackers, one of whom could only consider himself such for a couple of days, discussed how great it was to travel independently. Sometimes the conversation felt like a question-and-answer blitz, where I clarified what I already knew, trying to capture it in real time. Interesting, sociable, cheerful and such real guys shared their impressions, talked about China and gave me a charge of positive emotions, with which I boarded the train departing in the direction of my dreams.

We reached Zabaikalsk quickly, the road was not felt. And at the border we stopped for eight hours. In addition to border and customs checks, tires were also changed here, since China has a narrower railway gauge.

There was nothing in the border town: no cafes, no attractions, only swarms of midges, from which you could only hide indoors. The assignment at the station, where tourists were marinated for six hours, included pies and lemonade. No TV, no cozy cafe, no other entertainment. Poor foreigners tried to explain something without knowing Russian, but in the border town the sellers did not speak English. A strange city that doesn't want money. The Moscow-Beijing train passes here once every two weeks, and no one even tries to take advantage of it.

Finally we set off. It was already dark on the street, outside the window were the same dilapidated buildings, exactly like on the great highway. We had been driving for no more than five minutes when lights appeared on the horizon. National Chinese music began flowing through the carriage. We stuck to the windows. Our thoughts were voiced by a three-year-old child: “China!” China! Hooray!

The first stop was in the city of Manchuria, where we received the coveted stamps to enter the country, and I could consider my Asian marathon officially open.

Successful office ascension from chair to chair: from sales agent to department head - did not in any way foreshadow that I would ever get off the “needle” and decide on an adventure. But such a moment has come. The bewilderment and fears of friends and acquaintances (“how can this be?”, “good job”, “what then?”) could no longer stop me - I set off on a big journey towards my dream: six months with a backpack in five countries in twenty three years old.

This was in 2007.

Then I sincerely thought that I was going on a trip to Asia - to explore the world, get to know countries, open new horizons in the literal sense, but it turned out that my intentions would also take on a metaphorical meaning - today, seven years later, I can say with confidence that it was not just a trip to exotic corners of the Earth, but an expedition through the unknown facets of my own nature: the first “foray” into myself, which served as a complete restructuring of my worldview and the foundation for many transformations in life.

When packing my backpack, I did not plan to write a book; in any case, I did not leave such declarations either to my friends or to myself, as many novice travelers like to abuse. I didn't even keep records on the road. There were only letters to my mother, which preserved all the colors of the world spread out before me.

But upon my return, an unexpected fact awaited me: my friends listened to the details of my adventures, albeit with delight, but with absolutely no applied interest. It was as if they were watching the program “Around the World,” only with my participation. No one needed such a life story for personal embodiment.

Many of my “deep conclusions” before the start turned out to be empty, I simply had to give answers, since the world allowed me to see them. There is probably a young life somewhere that also dreams of seeing the world, but is surrounded on all sides by numerous “what ifs?” How to tell her that everything is real and simpler than it seems? How to reach the very heart?

The only heart I had at hand was my own. I decided to pave the way to him. Writing for myself at twenty years old.

This is how a book appeared, which I could not find before the start and in which I answered my own question from the past: “Is it possible to travel for a long time, independently and right now (and not in retirement)?”

It was important for me to raise all the key questions through the prism of personal experience: how, where, how much, and most importantly - why?

Why not get together soon instead of endlessly waiting for “better times”?

online store "Litres"

Buy “Asian Attraction” 2016 in the Neformat online store

Buy "Asian Attraction" 2016 on iTunes

Buy Asian Attraction 2016 on Google Play

Clarification! The first edition of the book was published in 2009 by the Eksmo publishing house; since then it has been actively distributed, including on the Internet under different covers. In 2015, a reissue of the book was published by the Vector publishing house, but only in paper version, and in 2016, an e-book was published by the Accent Graphics Communications publishing house - this is the latest, expanded version. Look at the cover below - only this version of the book is relevant!

Always yours,

P.S. Smiles

Photo By: Made by me on the way and illustrate the stages of the trip.

I wanted to write a book that I couldn’t find before starting my first independent trip. Collect all experience. How to get ready? How much money do you need? How to store them? How to make money on the road? How to travel abroad and obtain visas? Where to live? How to communicate with locals? And most importantly: how to decide on all this? How a 23-year-old girl living in Kamchatka and building a bright future as a middle-level manager decided to do this.

Where can I buy:

Buy “Asian Attraction” from 2015 at the best price in the Labyrinth online store.

Buy “Asian Attraction” from 2015 at the Moscow House of Books.

Buy "Asian Attraction" from 2015 at Biblioglobus.

Clarification! The first edition of the book was published in 2009 by the Eksmo publishing house; since then it has been actively distributed, including on the Internet under different covers. In 2015, a reissue of the book was published by the Vector publishing house - this is the most recent, expanded version, which is available only in paper version. Look at the cover above - only this version of the book relevant!

dikti
A very useful book - usually before traveling you have to scour half of the RuNet and a quarter of the Internet before you find something valuable, and not a woeful story about how poor Russian tourists didn’t get a swan out of a towel on the bed :)
In general, traveling alone is, on the one hand, more difficult than traveling with a group, but on the other hand, it is much easier. Now I’m also ready to go alone. And it’s just Southeast Asia that’s been beckoning for the second year (more precisely, winter) :)

saved
I read it!!!
I just finished the book and already found the LiveJournal.
I like it!!! Very informative and interesting, as if I was traveling with you...
Thank you!

popugaysingle
Ufa is reading you :)
Good afternoon, Olesya,
I was given your book in Ufa (purchased at the Bibliosphere store), I read it in one sitting. It is very inspiring and inviting to go on a journey, and I think that your book is a very good gift for friends and a useful source of information for those who are afraid to “go out into the world.” You once again confirm the idea that it is stupid to be afraid.
I was also pleased with the presentation style and design of the book :)

motorka_lara
To say that the book is simply interesting is to say nothing. She's unusual. The content cannot even be accurately analyzed - what is it? Novel, reference book, travelogue, psychological drama, chick-lit? I would define it as adventurous prose. The awareness that this is all taken from life, that this is not fiction, is slightly intoxicating, dizzying, and excites the imagination. And if you take into account your young, almost young age, you are completely amazed. Amazement is the exact word.

denka79
Hello! I bought a book in Moscow in the new shopping center "Rio" at the intersection of Dmitrovka and the Moscow Ring Road. 393 rubles. I read the book and really liked it, so I don’t mind the money. I used to always think that such a trip was not for me, but for homeless-looking people with unwashed heads. Now I think differently. I became very interested in Southeast Asia. Before this, I had only been to Hong Kong - this Asian New York and the border areas of China, but now I understand that even in “wild” Asia it is quite safe and there is something to see. I hope that I can go on a similar trip for at least 2-3 weeks.

abrrracadabrrra
Good day!
I read your book thoughtfully, slowly, and with great desire. Our big little world has become a little closer :)) when I was in elementary school, the first teacher at school gave my older sister a book, I don’t remember which one, on the cover it was handwritten: “May your mind be good and your heart He'll be smart." It fits. The combination of feminine lightness, simplicity, and at the same time seriousness in decision-making, control, reporting in specific situations when performing specific actions, the strength of your character is “catchy”.
The most valuable thing for me after reading are the universal conclusions that were born during the trip: about the attitude towards the world and the world’s response to you, about loneliness and its perception, about harmony, about “our” problems in the “other” world (a guide who girls like it :)) ... Descriptions of routes, hostels, views, parks, this is something else (special thanks for all these tips!).

modest_modi
The more I live in this world, the more I strive to cognize this very light. And I am imbued with terrible respect for those who are obsessed with such a goal. Therefore, I read the LJ of travelers with interest and fanaticism, to which I include alishha))) Therefore, I purchased the book almost immediately after it came out. I bought it on Friday, I think I’ll read it over the weekend, do some work, and go see my friends. Yeah. I went to see my friends. I spent all Saturday watching Asian Attraction. I even ate without stopping from reading (I ate carefully, the soup didn’t get on the book). I couldn’t tear myself away because I was so immersed in the world described in the book...
These are, in general, quite canonical travel notes. The only thing I especially want to note is that these notes contained the most vivid and delicious facts, without unnecessary details - extremely important and significant details. And, of course, general information regarding the author’s thoughts about the journey, its reasons, and components is valuable. That is, on the one hand, this is a book about how Olesya Novikova traveled, and on the other hand, how we can all travel, and what is needed for this. There are a lot of valuable instructions. And for them - special thanks. I recommended “Asian Attraction” to friends, and they paid for it. Because they immediately confiscated it from me;) Reading...Oles, thank you!!!

about the author

Olesya Novikova – sales specialist, travel journalist, writer, trainer, author and project host re-self.ru.

She was born in Kamchatka, where she built a career in the advertising department of a local newspaper until she was twenty-three. Until one day I turned my life around one hundred and eighty degrees. Having written a statement of her own free will, she set off on her first independent journey - towards the equator. Towards your cherished dream.

From the author

Dedicated to my mom

Successful office ascension from chair to chair: from sales agent to department head - did not in any way foreshadow that I would ever get off the “needle” and decide on an adventure. But such a moment has come. The bewilderment and fears of friends and acquaintances (“how can this be?”, “good job”, “what then?”) could no longer stop me - I set off on a big journey towards my dream: six months with a backpack in five countries in twenty three years old.

This was in 2007.

Then I sincerely thought that I was going on a trip to Asia - to explore the world, get to know countries, open new horizons in the literal sense, but it turned out that my intentions would also take on a metaphorical meaning - today, seven years later, I can say with confidence that it was not just a trip to exotic corners of the Earth, but an expedition through the unknown facets of my own nature: the first “foray” into myself, which served as a complete restructuring of my worldview and the foundation for many transformations in life.

When packing my backpack, I did not plan to write a book; in any case, I did not leave such declarations either to my friends or to myself, as many novice travelers like to abuse. I didn't even keep records on the road. There were only letters to my mother, which preserved all the colors of the world spread out before me.

But upon my return, an unexpected fact awaited me: my friends listened to the details of my adventures, albeit with delight, but with absolutely no applied interest. It was as if they were watching the program “Around the World,” only with my participation. No one needed such a life story for personal embodiment.

Many of my “deep conclusions” before the start turned out to be empty, I simply had to give answers, since the world allowed me to see them. There is probably a young life somewhere that also dreams of seeing the world, but it is surrounded on all sides by numerous “what if?” How to tell her that everything is real and simpler than it seems? How to reach the very heart?

The only heart I had at hand was my own. I decided to pave the way to him. Writing for myself at twenty years old.

This is how a book appeared, which I could not find before the start and in which I answered my own question from the past: “Is it possible to travel for a long time, independently and right now (and not in retirement)?”

It was important for me to raise all the key questions through the prism of personal experience: how, where, how much, and most importantly, why?

Why not get together soon, instead of endlessly waiting for “better times”?

I have always had the desire to get to know the world and one day make a real trip. But it could have been collecting dust on the shelf of cherished unrealistic dreams if one sultry day, when I was taking a break from the crazy race of workdays on the snow-white sand of a peaceful beach, the thought, frightening in its naivety, did not come to me: “But, you can go traveling. Just not for two weeks, as now, overpaying to a travel agency and not seeing the country, but on your own – for six months, for example.”

That's how it all started. An absurd idea took over my life. An irreversible Asian attraction emerged.

I had no experience of independent travel, nor did I have rich parents or sponsors. I dare say that I was nothing special at all. She worked, studied, had fun, fell in love, broke up, once a year she went on vacation for two weeks, having previously collected money for it for six months. Although no, there was still one peculiarity - I lived in Kamchatka. Very far.

Close communication with the Internet revealed two facts. Firstly, I am unoriginal in my dreams, and secondly, everything was invented a long time ago, and that’s great. It turned out that there was nothing supernatural in my desire. The concept of “backpacker” is widespread all over the world, that is, a free traveler with a backpack on his back. Moreover, many countries have developed an entire infrastructure for comfortable and budget tourism without intermediaries. “But in Asia this is very good because of low prices,” the Internet seemed to specifically clarify, increasing the force of attraction.

In our country, backpacking and its attributes have not yet been mastered. It seems that there are already hostels in the center of Moscow, and all the shelves are lined with guidebooks, and there is a lot of information on the topic of independent travel, but there is no mass awareness. I lived in a vacuum, which I was able to understand only when I entered the world of independent travelers. Would I have gone to multi-star Turkey or mass China on my first vacation if I had known that I could go on my own, cheaper and more “youthful”? It’s just that no one has ever driven like this, no one said it was possible.

In September 2007, I wrote a statement of my own free will, took a student at the institute, said goodbye to my friends, got a new haircut, changed my heels for trekking sandals, and my handbag for a backpack, and set off on the road - towards the equator. In the company of myself.

I had a six-month route in mind: China – Laos – Thailand – Cambodia – Malaysia – Singapore – Indonesia. I didn’t make any hard plans or make any promises, so I didn’t know where it would lead me.

Letter 1

06.09.2007

Despite the promised rain and wind “up to fifteen meters per second,” as the evil radio broadcast the day before, clear skies, the rising sun and my native Kamchatka volcanoes saw me off. “Friends, I will definitely return to once again climb one of your peaks and think about life surrounded by the smell of sulfur and the smoking fumaroles of a huge crater.”

The flight went well. The plane landed, and a whole delegation of people in uniform was waiting below. One of them immediately came on board with the question:

-Have you brought the generals?

The flight attendant smiled, and a group of satisfied men emerged from the first cabin. They would have immediately said that the generals are with us... I would at least walk around the cabin and not listen to the creaking of the trim. The generals were greeted by black cars at the ramps, and the whole of Khabarovsk greeted me.

Go to nowhere, or towards a dream

The decision has been made, things have been collected - the time has come to tell colleagues and friends:

- I'm leaving to go on a trip.

I persisted in going to the office for four years and saw results. Everything was built step by step: agent – ​​manager – department head. Some considered my career just a lucky coincidence, others - the result of my efforts. But absolutely no one expected that I could leave. Not to competitors, not on maternity leave, but to nowhere. This was the verdict my friends made when assessing an act that was incomprehensible to them.

I was ready to talk about the route, about the countries I want to see, about the equipment and attractions. But this turned out to be less interesting than horror stories about distant places and the uncertain future of young girls with strange views on life.

– What then?

Literally everyone asked this question. Everyone considered it their duty to clarify how one could quit a good job for the sake of an incomprehensible event lasting six months. The answer about my cherished dream did not satisfy me, and I had no other options. I had to pretend that I didn’t understand the depth of the question and the meaning of “later,” and answer with the standard formulation: “Everything will be fine.” Although, in principle, I really didn’t understand all these “then”, because I asked myself a counter question: “What if I stay in one place and don’t realize my dream, what then?” There was no answer either. Apparently, the question about “later” will always be rhetorical.

The following questions could be recorded for history. Even divided into two sections: banal and original. Actually, the banal ones were heard regularly, from almost every acquaintance, sometimes twice.

-Are you leaving us?

In the hit parade of questions, this is number one from colleagues. The word is “throwing away.” My mother did not puzzle me with such formulations, but some colleagues filled in the gap. Smart psychology books would call this “a manipulative question that causes a feeling of guilt, which must certainly be eradicated.” It’s good that I haven’t read such literature for a long time and because of ignorance - neither the feeling of guilt nor the need to fight it.

- How does your mother let you go?

My mother trusts and supports me. It happens.

– You’ll get tired of Asia in half a year, won’t you?

Russia hasn’t become boring in twenty-three and a half years.

The original comments were irresistible. I would never have believed that such a thing could be asked in all seriousness, and most importantly, that one could think so, if I had not heard it personally.

– You must be a patriot of your country!

- How can your mother let you go, you’re the only one with her?!

– Southeast Asia is a very dangerous region: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Australia...

– Because of this trip, you won’t buy yourself a car.

- It would be better if you said that you are getting married!

– What will you look for there?

It turned out that you had to be a patriot. Marry a neighbor and have many children, so that you don’t feel sorry for one if he suddenly wants to travel. Buy a car and drive comfortably around your usual circle. It's safe in the yard. But when traveling, what should you really look for? Probably a treasure. But we, adults, already know that they do not exist. Therefore, everyone should marry their neighbor.

I refrained from any controversy. I didn’t want to respond to other people’s fears, which were absolutely unsubstantiated.

Moral support and the phrase: “You did great!” there were too. More often - from those from whom I did not expect. Your close circle has the right to be very worried about your fate, but people you don’t know well have the right to be sincerely happy for you, without worrying about the consequences at all. This, probably, is the harmony of communication with the outside world.

Letter 2

10.09.2007

Unlike the airport, Khabarovsky Station smelled of freshness and new technologies. This is my first station in fifteen years and, in general, my first independent station, so I looked at it with special attention and, perhaps, will remember it for the rest of my life. Electronic help desks, a large waiting room and clean toilets put me in a philosophical mood - I am at the very beginning of a journey when many things will be for the first time, and all this will be only because I allowed it to be...

The first independent train started on time: seventh carriage, seventh place, seventh of September. Continuing to think about the global meaning of what was happening, I thought that if I had not decided to go, had not brought a statement to my boss and had not gone to buy a ticket from Khabarovsk to Chita, then there would have been no mystical numbers. Is there a role for our actions in incredible luck, random coincidences or fateful coincidences?

Remembering my mother’s instructions that I would see as much as a third of the great Trans-Siberian Railway, I often went out to the window. I waited an hour, waited two. When will it start? Well, I don't know what will happen. Anything. Great Russian cities, great forests and rivers, mountains and hills - in short, when will it start? All two days outside the window there was a forest, creepy-looking buildings and dull names of cities. When at the next “Cheryomushkino” I asked if it was a village, the conductor answered insultedly that it was a big city. Fellow travelers from neighboring compartments, who had the honor of traveling along the famous highway from beginning to end, said meaningfully that it would begin near Novosibirsk.

We drove calmly. We literally had a “train of non-violent” people. The men drank quietly, the women slept quietly, the conductors quietly snored from the next compartment. The main troublemakers of the silence, who were asked to speak more quietly, turned out to be my neighbor and I, since the entire carriage already knew about China, Kamchatka and Kazakhstan, her homeland. We shared our stories and anticipations of great travels. I arrived in Chita to talk.

Fellow traveler, you and I are not on the same path

Probably, like everyone else, I would like to open the world with a like-minded person. Share impressions and resolve controversial issues together, trust completely and not seek compromises, since desires and beliefs coincide. When I meet such a person, it is unlikely that we will part. This will be a partner for life.

And before the significant meeting with the other half, backpackers travel with friends, relatives, and unfamiliar fellow travelers. They look for compromises, take into account each other’s interests, smooth out conflicts, get offended, quarrel, get tired of each other, make peace, share opinions, rejoice together. Or they travel alone when they don’t want to experience the above emotions with strangers.

I wasn’t going to start alone. I didn’t want to travel alone through unfamiliar countries, especially into the incomprehensible Asian world. I didn’t even consider this prospect; I immediately decided to look for a travel companion. Of course, male. I could hardly imagine how it was possible to travel with a stranger, but if he was also a girl, I couldn’t imagine it at all. I am for harmony, for yin-yang. With a guy it’s somehow easier to find a compromise, it’s easier to give in and at the same time it’s easier to insist on your own. And of course, more reliable.

As a result, I started looking. In Kamchatka, backpackers were absent as a class, so, like most “seekers,” we met on the Internet. This is a hot topic on specialized forums. Traveling alone is much more intimidating for an inexperienced backpacker than traveling with a completely different person. Few people think about the fact that other people's interests can interfere with your own. I was sure that everyone who is interested in independent travel is, by definition, kindred spirits, and I found a travel companion easily and simply - based on the similarity of the route. That’s why I ended up in Chita a couple of days before the start to China, where the first meeting with my intended companion was planned.

I’ve read a lot of advice on “how to find a travel companion.”

“A good travel companion for a long trip is a person with similar views on life, flexible in communication, independent, and with strong internal motivation. In order to understand how suited you are to each other, just discussions are not enough, you need to meet repeatedly and, preferably, go on a hike together (preferably for a couple of days) - test each other for compatibility on the road,” the Internet repeated the same thing , changing the faces of the speakers.

But I had a territorial factor. All good advice about preliminary communication was rejected as impossible. Kamchatka is very far away, you just can’t meet it. I went my own way - I communicated with my fellow traveler only in virtual space.

This was the first thing I said to my new friend. He fully supported this point of view. Just because I was a girl didn't mean I was a dependent traveler. I can comfortably travel alone, I can return home at any time with or without a serious reason, I can fall in love with some place and stay there. Accordingly, my travel companion can do all this too. The mutual independence of unfamiliar people can make them excellent travel companions, and even friends in the future. The main thing is that no one owes anyone anything.

My friend completely agreed with such reasoning. I found a good travel companion. That's what it seemed to me at first.

The history of virtual communication lasted several months. It all ended with the fact that it became clear to me that the motives for our trips were radically different. It is internal motives, and not goals voiced when meeting. We won't be able to travel together. It was an intuitive feeling, an inner knowledge, but it was enough for me for the first meeting to become a parting. I voiced that we were traveling separately and prepared for the internal phrase: “Curtain.”

But there was no amicable ending according to the scenario “if something goes wrong, we’ll part easily.” The words: “We are different, so we are not on the same path” brought the guy to hysterics. I heard a lot of interesting things addressed to me.

Then there were apologies and persistent offers to carry out what was planned, to start together. In general, I haven’t been married yet, but I’ve already been divorced.

Just the desire to see the world does not make people like-minded people. Without the coincidence of internal motives, it is unlikely that you will be able to travel for a long time. If a person goes on a trip for self-development, that’s great, but if he’s running away from problems because he can’t fulfill himself at home, and abroad seems like a magic pill, most likely he will be disappointed and dissatisfied, which he will immediately share with his companion. It turned out to be very important for me that I prepared for everything myself, that I was autonomous. I was able to decide a couple of days before the start that it would be more comfortable for me to start the journey alone than to try to fix something that I couldn’t fix and simply didn’t want to. After all, my dream is coming true, and there is no point in turning it into an addiction - “just not alone.” On top of everything, China was waiting for me - a large, incomprehensible and friendly country. During preparation, I read amazing reports of girls who traveled through this country on their own and alone. There was not a drop of sadness or fear in their memories, only joy and overflowing with feelings from what they saw.

I think that before the start they had the same doubts and worries as me, but they didn’t turn around and decided to try.

Letter 3

13.09.2007

Chita received me on a sunny day and an understandable layout of the streets, along which I walked without a map and easily navigated. It was felt that the city was accustomed to transit travelers to China.

I had a couple of days left before the start, one of which I devoted to communicating with real backpackers. Probably, deep down in my heart, I wanted to make sure that they, independent travelers, exist and that everything is happening in reality, and not in virtual space. Experienced colleagues gave me advice and recommendations, I read a dozen reports, but all this was done remotely, via the Internet. What was missing was personal interaction and the eyes of a storyteller. Apparently, I was looking for evidence that all the events of the last month actually took place.

Stan responded warmly to the SMS and posted his contact information on one of the forums. We met with him and his friend in a pleasant pizzeria, where over dinner three backpackers, one of whom could only consider himself such for a couple of days, discussed how great it was to travel independently. Sometimes the conversation felt like a question-and-answer blitz, where I clarified what I already knew, trying to capture it in real time. Interesting, sociable, cheerful and such real guys shared their impressions, talked about China and gave me a charge of positive emotions, with which I boarded the train departing in the direction of my dreams.

We reached Zabaikalsk quickly, the road was not felt. And at the border we stopped for eight hours. In addition to border and customs checks, tires were also changed here, since China has a narrower railway gauge.

There was nothing in the border town: no cafes, no attractions, only swarms of midges, from which you could only hide indoors. The assignment at the station, where tourists were marinated for six hours, included pies and lemonade. No TV, no cozy cafe, no other entertainment. Poor foreigners tried to explain something without knowing Russian, but in the border town the sellers did not speak English. A strange city that doesn't want money. The Moscow-Beijing train passes here once every two weeks, and no one even tries to take advantage of it.

Finally we set off. It was already dark on the street, outside the window were the same dilapidated buildings, exactly like on the great highway. We had been driving for no more than five minutes when lights appeared on the horizon. National Chinese music began flowing through the carriage. We stuck to the windows. Our thoughts were voiced by a three-year-old child: “China!” China! Hooray!

The first stop was in the city of Manchuria, where we received the coveted stamps to enter the country, and I could consider my Asian marathon officially open.