Dream your life or live your dreams…

François de Halleux made his choice – The story of a talented travel photographer

by Virginie Wéverberg

It is in the very nice and small restaurant called “Le Hasard des choses”, located within a stone’s throw from the place Chatelain in Brussels that François and I met.

Exhibition at the restaurant "Le Hasard des Choses" in Brussels

The initial idea was to record the interview while we were at the exhibition but we soon realized that it was a far from easy task because of, among other things, the sound of clanking dishes and silverware. His simplicity and his kindness are reflected in his spontaneous suggestion to meet again in a quiet place. Consequently, he nicely agreed to come to my office at the Delvaux headquarters where I am currently undergoing an internship. And I am glad he did: His story is gripping, quite unusual and unexpected for a 28-year-old management engineer, to say the least.

François de Halleux was born in Belgium and studied management engineering for five years in Louvain-la-Neuve. It is during his exchange program in South Africa that he developed a taste for both traveling and photography. Even though he specialized in finance, he knew that he would not like to work for a financial institution and he had always been passionate about the internet “so [he wanted] at least to try to work for one of the big internet companies”. He succeeded in doing so but in September 2009, after three years of good and faithful service at the Google headquarters, which are located in Dublin, he decided to chuck it all in order to fulfil a dream he has had for a long time: travel the world. During his last conversation with his grandfather, the latter told him that his greatest regret in life was not to have followed his passion for Romanesque architecture and to have so heavily focused on his insurance business. This is one of the reasons why François decided to leave his job at Google. He was “starting to think to move on to another job but [he] had this idea of traveling [in mind]. The perfect time to travel was maybe before taking another job.”

He then came up with this daring idea: to fly to Sydney and make it back to Brussels without flying! He only had a few rules to stick to: no flights, no time limit and no fixed itinerary. It finally took him 273 days but he did it! He crossed 22 countries, covered more than 32000 kilometers and more importantly he managed to stick to his objective: he did not take a single flight. Nevertheless, he has been compelled to change considerably the initial itinerary he had drawn on a map.

Map of the itinerary I ended up with, very different from my naive initial plan!

He visited, among other things, the natural beauty of Australia, the heat of South-East Asia in Singapore, Indonesia, Northern Vietnam, the contradictory modern China and the spiritual high plateau of Tibet. He then crossed Central Asia and its mysterious countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaidjan. Georgia and Turkey were the last legs of his journey before finally reaching Europe.

Lake Maninjau in Indonesia

Even though the Belgian artist’s dream came true, he thinks about the future and grasps how difficult it is to earn a living from his passion. “It is great as a hobby but it is not enough to really earn money. I think [you need] to find a specific style that defines you [in order] to become a pro. Maybe I will find it one day but for now I don’t think that moment happened yet. Hopefully later. We will see…” He already plans another exhibition and would like to publish a book with his best pictures.

Thanks to his blog completely written in English, people from all over the world were able to follow his adventures and stay updated with all the legs of his journey. Not only can one find magnificent pictures of all the countries he has visited, but also enjoy eco-friendly tips. While traveling, François paid special attention to places where the impact of human activities on the environment is the most appalling. The purpose of his journey was to demonstrate that the plane is not the only way to travel. His award for winning his bet are the thousands of pictures he came back with and the priceless sensation to be totally free. Saint Augustine said: The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. Thanks to his pictures, we already travel. It is a good start to read the book.

The first reward for my travels are the thousands of pictures I came back with, and since my return, I have been sitting down to choose the very best ones and created this slideshow. Make sure you click the expand button in the lower right corner to watch it full screen!

All in all this trip has been a fantastic experience for me. There are still several things I want to talk about so stay tuned for more news in the coming days and weeks!

Map of the itinerary I ended up with, very different from my naive initial plan!

Georgian shopkeeper in Tbilisi

Describing Georgian people really is no easy task. They compare themselves to Italians because they are proud and expressive. Still that didn’t convince me. The only way to get a better idea is to visit the country yourself, something I’m recommending to everyone since I left the country. Because in my opinion, Georgia is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by travellers.

First of all the history of the country is captivating. Georgia is the second country on earth to have adopted Christianity as a state religion in the 4th century. Some remarkably well preserved churches still date from that period and are a joy to visit. Religion in Georgia is still very much alive too. Listening to polyphonic Georgian songs in an extremely old church located high on top of a hill surrounded by the mighty Caucasian peaks is just magic.

Svaneti landscape in the Caucasus

The Caucasus mountain range is another highlight in Georgia. Higher than any other mountains in Europe, with several peaks above 5000 m, they have seen little commercial development. In the Svaneti region the wild forests dotted with old ruins of watchtowers overlooking the scenic valleys are a joy to trek through.

A Georgian Supra I was invited to with a big bottle of Chacha.

Lastly, Georgian hospitality is beyond anything you could imagine. In the countryside it is difficult not to be invited by Georgians to share a a never-ending meal, always accompanied by countless toasts of a home brewed liquor called Chacha. These traditional meals are called supra and have very specific rules and usually last for a very very long time. As I was hitchhiking in the Svaneti region, the driver and his friends stopped twice: once for a meal and the other time for drinks… It took me seven hours to cover the 30kms!

Go to the photo gallery for more pictures of Georgia.

Azeri man met on the cargo ship from Aktau to Baku.

Luckily, the phone call came three days later and a couple of hours after that, I was boarding the ship with four other passengers. This ferry is the easiest alternative to cross the Caspian sea without flying ( the second option being through Turkmenistan but I never managed to get that visa). So it was a good opportunity to meet other people avoiding airplanes. There was a friendly Belgian couple and two French guys. All four of them on their bicycles!

Cycling is a very popular means of transport in Central Asia. Most of the travellers I met were in facts cyclists going on huge journeys from Europe to Asia, or in the opposite direction. I even met an Israeli guy who had been cycling for three years! From Alaska to the Terra del Fuego, from Cape Town to Ethiopia and now from Europe to God knows where!

The cargo ship, the second one on this trip already, was relatively comfortable and fast.

Extravagant Baku

At my arrival in Baku, the atmosphere was quite different from Central Asia. To begin with, Baku is unbelievably rich! The streets are very clean, all the old buildings perfectly restorated. Shops in the city centre are almost exlusively expensive fashion shops like Armani, Gucci and so on. And there was even a Mc Donalds, the first I had seen since Chengdu, 3 months before! At this point I guess you are wondering how a town you might never have heard of could be so rich? Well there’s one simple answer and it is oil. Azerbaijan has very big reserves of oil and since the fall of the soviet Regime is emptying them with delight. Amazing how the presence of oil always dramatically changes the living conditions.

Baku is also beautiful, there’s a charming old town surrounded by quarters with big fin de siecle stone buildings. But for some reason, it all seemed fake to me. The perfect cleanliness of the place, the posh dressing style of the locals just seemed to be out of place. So after two days I decided to move on and take a train straight to Georgia, about which I had heard many positive things!

The first vendors met on the road: they just would't stop smiling!

Tashkent was my first stop in the country, and I wasn’t immediately convinced by this big city with its ultra-wide streets that give it a not very human feel. But the Turkmen embassy decided that I should give it a second chance, by making me wait for two weeks for a five-day transit visa that I would finally never obtain. This embassy illustrates the craziness of central asian bureaucracy. It is open two hours a day from 11 to 1pm, five days a week. To get in you need to be on a waiting list, and for that you should arrive at around 6am to write your name down, or bribe the guards if you arrive too late. Once that is done you need to stay to make sure nobody gets before you on the list. Or that nobody starts a new list! Once in the embassy, nobody speaks a word of English and nobody seems at all willing to help you in any way. They first told me to come back one week later to collect the visa. But once I arrived after a week, I was told: “it is not ready, come back in another week”. And whenever you need to enter the embassy, you have to go through the whole list procedure again! After two weeks when it was refused again, I abandonned exhausted and decided to go through Kazakhstan instead.

Thanks to all this time, Tashkent slowly grew on me. I enjoyed the old market area, the magnificent metro stations that take you back in time to the sovietic regime period, and the extravagance of the official buildings amused me. But this was most certainly also due to some of the friendliest people I’ve met on this trip who made me discover a side of Tashkent that isn’t obvious to discover at first sight ( Hello Z, Yulia, Daniel, Olga, Yulduz, Zafar and all the others!). These new friends took me to some surprisingly good restaurants and introduced me to Tashkent’s really funky nightlife. I know no other place on earth where you can smoke a Shisha at 5am on the comfortable cushions of some traditional Uzbek tables with a good plate of plov and modern techno in the background! Neither could I forget the party organised by the Marines at the US embassy, where the soldiers with their black anti-terror t-shirts were drinking beers on loud american hip-hop.

The breathtaking Registan in Samarcand

To understand the soul of Uzbekistan better, I had to finally leave Tashkent and visit the mythical ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Only there could I realize the richness of Uzbekistan’s history. The architecture jewels in these cities are magical, with sumptuous azur mosaiques ornating their walls. With sunset these enchanting buildings turn to a superb goldish color.

Of course, I’m not the first to notice, and Uzbekistan was the first place in a long time (Halong Bay, Vietnam?), where I saw tourists in organised tours. An amusing sight to witness these big groups of people of the same nationality, being driven from attraction to attraction in air-conditioned coaches, and then staying altogether patiently nodding at their guide detailing the history of each monument. Extremely interesting, I even sneaked in on some occasions. But by limiting their contact with the local population to some bargaining at a souvenir shop, aren’t they ignoring the present?

The docile camels met on our Aral sea trip

Before leaving the country, I met with my Swiss friend Daniel again to witness the Aral sea disaster. And this turned out to be much more of an adventure that I had imagined! Our driver was a friendly, but one-eyed Uzbek and the jeep, a Daewoo Nexia which is of course not a jeep at all. At the first break for lunch, our driver took out a bottle of Vodka to go with the food. We didn’t like the idea at all, but soon realised that if we didn’t join, he was going to finish the bottle on his own. And finish the bottle he did! So there we were with a drunk one-eyed driver in the middle of a hostile desert! Luckily it all went well as there wasn’t much to crash into, except the occasional camel. It actually became amazingly fun when we stayed with a Kazakh family in the desert surrounded by their sweet camels and tons of children. You already heard enough about our driver to understand that we spent the night drinking toasts to the good health of the children, camels, to peace and every other imaginable thing you can drink to!

Uzbekistan certainly adds itself to my ever-growing list of highlights on this trip. Leaving the country was difficult and the people suddenly became much colder when I crossed the border to Kazakhstan, where I took a ferry from Aktau to Baku in Azerbaijan for some new adventures!

But never has any ecological catastrophy been as visually spectacular as the drying up of the Aral sea.

Abandonned ships left in the desert, some 180 km away from the new shoreline.

How did a whole sea dissapear? In the 60′s under the Soviet regime, Russian central planners decided to boost the production  of cotton in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. To do this they created new cotton fields in the middle of the desert much further from the rivers with inappropriate open-air irrigation systems.  Most of the water evaporates before even reaching the fields. Cotton is a crop requiring phenomenal amounts of water, and by deciding to increase its production, the soviets actually knew that the Aral sea would dry up. For most part of the year, the rivers ceased to reach the sea, which started to evaporate.

In the next 50 years, the sea did dry up as expected. All the fish went extinct with salinity increasing tenfold, and the fishing industry dissapeared. What is left over now is a huge desert covered with salt and pesticide residues from the cotton fields. The amount of rain days dropped dramatically, changing the climate of a huge region around the sea. Dust storms filled with salt and pesticides plague the local inhabitants, infant mortality and malformations are amongst the highest in the world. And so on.

Satellite pictures of the Aral sea taken from left to right in 1960, 1970, 1990, 2000, 2009.

But what is even more disturbing to me, is that the cotton production actually continues to go on as before in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. All these disasters are not enough to diminish the production or to at least switch to some less water intensive crops, more adapted to the desertic climate.

There’s a memorial at the former fishing town of Moynaq now located 18 km from the shoreline. It explains the dramatic consequences of the disaster, and presents it as though it was some sort of natural catastrophy for which there is nothing to do… Even more absurd is Bukhara’s natural museum. They have a room dedicated to the Aral sea with some cliche sentences like “Even at the shoreline of a sea, save every drop of water”. Not a word about the origin of the problem though. And guess what the next room is about? Yes, it glorifies cotton production! Connect the dots, as Steve Jobs would say…

The Aral is also one example of a very widespread phenomenon. The dead sea in Israel for example is drying up as well, with all the water from the Jordan river being used to cultivate fruits and vegetables in the desert. In fact because of excessive exploitation, most of the world’s great rivers are drying up and do not reach the sea anymore.

The dry Aral sea

Finally I see it as an extreme illustration of the impact men can have on nature. A warning to the overly optimists who argue that scientists will always find a sollution as an excuse not to make changes in their lifestyle. For the Aral sea, it is too late.

The first sign that things would be different in Central Asia occured when I applied for my Kyrgyz visa in Urumqi. I naively asked if a same-day procedure would be possible and, instead of telling me it wasn’t, the official replied: “It is too expensive”. A big change from the more radical Chinese “Meio” I described in the previous post and a first introduction to corruption in Central Asia.

The wonderful Kyrgyz mountains right after the Torugart pass.

To enter Kyrgyzstan we had to make complicated arrangements to cross the border post located on the Torugart Pass at 3800 meters altitude. I rented a jeep with British Tom and another 4×4 was waiting for us at the kyrgyz side of the border. The Chinese side was a pain, the hords of guards at the empty border post stared at us for about 2.5 hours befored they finally decided to ask for our passports. During that time, they clearly demonstrated that they had nothing to do: they were smoking, joking and even tapping their feets while looking at us. They didn’t want to make this a pleasant experience for us.

But as soon as we entered Kyrgyzstan, the atmosphere changed. Our driver walked to us with a big smile: “Welcome to Kyrgyzstan, here you can take photos again: we are a free country!”. The Kyrgyz border officials luckily were much more cooperative too. The landscape also changed dramatically, the Chinese side was dusty and arid, while the Kyrgyz side miraculously became green and fertile!

Other changes became apparent when we arrived at the town of Naryn; the remains of the Russian occupation were everywhere: abandonned bus stops, glacial and depressingly identical housing buildings, vodka and perhaps most importantly: the Russian language! A new challenge for me after 2 months of Chinese.

Cooking Shashliks, the most common food in Central Asia

I nearly had to skip Kyrgyzstan entirely because of the revolution that occured just before I arrived. But thankfully I decided to come anyways and have not regretted it. The situation in Bishkek was absolutely normal and only some burned buildings that belonged to family and friends of the president reminded me that a revolution had happened there a few days earlier.

The advantage was that there were only a handful of tourists in the country and I met several really interesting people. Most notably two geo-archeologists, Renato and Jean-Marc, with whom me and my travel buddy Etienne spent a memorable night in Bishkek. Halfway between geniuses and madmen, these two ex-hippies entertained us with detailed stories about the fascinating history of the region mixed with some of the least politically correct cultural generalisations like (read with strong italian accent): “Russians are superior beings, if they weren’t drunk all the time, they would rule the world” or “all French people are morons. Did you ever notice that they always travel in couples? There are more than three billion women on the planet, why do they need to travel with their girlfriends?” and so on!

Kyrgyz herder

The end of my trip is slowly approaching, but Central Asia promises to be a last fantastic adventure and my morale is still high. In fact many people ask me if I never feel lonely or bored. To my own surprise, I have to say that I am not at all. Every day on the road is different and not one goes by without some totally unexpected surprise. I meet so many interesting people that it would be impossible to introduce each of them on this blog. The scenery I’ve crossed all along is ever-changing and breath-taking. And travelling overland slowly allows me to understand how many things fit together in this world. So to reassure everyone: this is without a doubt the most enriching experience I’ve had in my life and I’m enjoying every minute of it!

More pictures of Kyrgyzstan in the gallery.

Old ladies in Ya'an

In all honnesty, I had feared entering this huge country before starting my trip. The image given in Western media isn’t very reassuring most of the time, many things there seemed to be very far away from my principles and ideals. Luckily, I was going to be surprised!

The first surprise came in Jianshui at one of my first meals in the country. When I finished my dinner and was preparing to pay the bill, the guy next to me stepped in and paid for me before I could even understand what was going on. “No, No”, I naively protested. “Yes, yes I invite you” insisted my mysterious neighbour. “You are our guest here in China, I’m paying!”… And this went on until I finally gave up and accepted the gift. And this was only the first of a never-ending series of acts of hospitality and generosity displayed by the Chinese.

Not everything was that easy in China though. I soon discovered that the usual “Yes!” answer I always received in South East Asia disappeared in favour of a firm “Meio!” (=No!) in China. “Hello! I’d like to extend my Visa here in Kangding”. “Meio! You should go back to Chengdu (8 hours by bus in the mountains)”. Whatever! “Hello. I’d like to go online in your internet cafe”. “Meio! You need a card”. “Ok, I’ll buy the card”. “Meio!”. Go figure. Or even: “Can I buy some credit for my sim card?”. “Meio!” “Uh, this is a China Unicom shop, my card is China Unicom, why not?” “Meio!!”, and same answer even after three attempts in different shops! And I could go on with hotels, bus and train tickets and so on!

The stunning rice terraces of Yuanyang

I did however really enjoy the whole experience, that obviously wasn’t as easy as it was in South East Asia sipping banana milk shakes in hammocks, but definitely adventurous and enriching.

China surprised me in many ways. First of all the economic development is something to be witnessed, cities have great infrastructure and are much more modern that I imagined. The growth of the Chinese middle class is certainly no fantasy.

On the darker side, the disrespect shown by the government towards China’s ethnic minorities is even more brutal than I had envisioned. The situation for Tibetan and Uighur people is not one to be envied. They are treated as second class citizens. Their traditions are being heavily repressed, getting a passport is nearly impossible, making them prisoners in their own country. Witnessing the absolute desperation of these people was heart-braking and is a real shame.

Friendly Uighur man in the fascinating town of Kashgar

I will certainly remember my time in China, a complex country capable of the best and the worst. A country that fuels endless debates and on which everybody has its own opinion.

A few more pictures are in the Photo Gallery!

But as I progressed through my trip, thanks to the numerous long discussions I’ve had with other travellers I realised that Tibet is far bigger than the actual Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Map of Tibet

Hope came back and I decided to follow the Northern Sichuan-Tibet highway from Chengdu right to the border of the T.A.R. through the towns of Kangding, Tagong, Daofu, Ganzi, Manigango and Dege and continue my way up to Qinghai to Yushu. The regions I’ll cross are known as the Kham and Amdo regions by the Tibetans.

My expectations were high for this part of the trip and that’s always dangerous as reality can often be dissappointing. But nothing had prepared me for what I experienced in this area. In short the culture is a joy to witness, the people are certainly among the friendliest I’ve met and the scenery en-route possibly the most stunning I have ever seen.

Yihun Lathso holy lake at more than 4000m

The region is home to numerous Tibetan nomads getting around on their horses or motorbikes blasting loud Tibetan music. Tibetan monasteries are everywhere and locals endlessly circumambulate around them spinning their prayer wheels and humming buddhist mantras “Om Mani Padme Hum”. Locals throw coloured prayer papers through the windows as the buses cross unbelievably high passes up to 5050m above sea level. Grasslands are filled with peaceful black-haired yaks and hills decorated by forests of prayer flags flapping in the wind.

Tibetan Nomad

In most towns, I was the only foreigner and have therefore had the chance to experience the life of a Rock star for three weeks. It’s impossible to avoid the “Hallo”s, “Tashi Delek”s and handshakes as you walk in the streets. Every five minutes a monk, nomad, pilgrim or even a policeman or military stops me to take a picture of me with their mobile phones. “How do you do”, “Good morning” at any time of the day and “I love you!” are common too and were practically the only words of English I heard in three weeks.

Laughing Tibetan lady

People indeed do not speak a word of English and this coupled with the horrendous road conditions, the often freezing temperatures at this early time of the year and most of all with the wild dogs do make this a very adventurous trip. Wild dogs are the worst! Tibetans are so kind that they wouldn’t kill any animal without a reason. The cities therefore pullulate with them. And of course they are not used to see strange smelling white people and it seems to not please them at all. And this is without mentioning the ferocious Tibetan herder dogs guarding the yaks in the countryside.

Unfortunately the tragic events in Yushu forced me to end the trip a little bit in advance as the police asked me to leave the area. I’ve had incredible luck being two days behind schedule, otherwise I would have been in Yushu, right at the epicentre of the earthquake. The locals weren’t as lucky though and it is deeply sad. These people do not deserve this.

But all in all, this trip was simply unbelievable and I will remember it for a long time. It was definitely a highlight on my trip so far so make sure to check out the picture gallery!

Morning prayers at Serxu Monastery

If you plan to take the same route here is a detailed itinerary with some tips:

• Chengdu: I stayed at the Mix hostel, highly recommended. 25 Yuan with breakfast and free internet! Super friendly staff and good vibe.
• Kangding: stay at Zhilam Hostel. Cozy and friendly, a last heaven before the real adventure!
• Tagong: the Jya Drolma and Gayla’s guesthouse is really nice. Contact english speaking Angela for treks and travel information: 13684493301
• Daofu: interesting Tibetan wooden houses and beautiful monastery. I stayed at the Yala hotel. Expensive but the only one I could find. All the other refused to have me in.
• Ganzi: stayed at the Himalaya hotel. Go to the lamasery and the nice ancient Tibetan town. The mountains around Ganzi are beautiful.
• Manigango: slept at the Pani Hotel. There are ok dorms for 20 Yuan. The owner collects bank notes, ask to see his collection it’s quite impressive.
• Yihun Lhatso Lake: do NOT miss this one. One of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen! 13km from Manigango. Just hitchhike. Any nomad will be glad to take you on his motorcycle.
• Dege: the town is ugly but the route to the town is the most spectacular. The printing house is another highlight making it worth the effort!
• Manigango
• Serxu: I stayed at the old town in the hotel next to the monastery. One of the best places to meet monks and experience their life.
• Xiewu: because of the earthquake I had to skip Yushu and go through this little town instead.
• Maduo: overnight stop, NOT recommended. My worst night on the trip.
• Xining.
  The whole trip took me about three weeks, but I was stuck because of heavy snow in Tagong for 6 days!