AGNIESZKA and PIOTR GASZYŃSKI |
Here you find a handful of information about us and about our travels, and - at the end - what achievements we have.We are a couple of Polish travellers - journalists (freelancers), who are the kind still rather hardly represented in Poland. Agnieszka deals with photography, Piotr writes articles, so we both create well prepared and well-functionning journalist team. And apart of that, which is even more important - we are married with each other. The most important day in our life was 29th of August 1998 - the day of our wedding. That day Agnieszka changed her surname from Koltonik to Gaszynska. We both were born in Lodz (Agnieszka on 23rd of August 1973, Piotr on 18th of September 1969), but our ways through life have joint together in 1992. We met each other during studies of Protection of Environment in University of Lodz. Our travelsIn summer 1993 we went with a group of friends to Kirghizstan. We were trekking in Tien Shan Mountains, in the region of Issyk-Kul Lake's eastern edge (Karakol). We got to Kirghizstan and came back overland - by train via Belorussia, Russia and Kazakhstan.Since that time we've been coming back to Asia for a couple of months every year. Altogether we have already spent almost one year travelling in Asia. These travels, though organized independently by ourselves at all, haven't been tourist. They've been reporter, journalist voyages. We want to know the real face of the world, with all its problems and conflicts. In 1994 only we returned overland to Kirghizstan. Hitch-hiking, even with Russian soldiers, we passed through the country and succeeded to cross Kirghiz-Chinese border on Torugart Pass, which is usually off-limits for foreigners. We got to Kashgar in Chinese Xinjiang, where we were investigating the conflict between Chinese and Uigurs. Then we went Karakoram Highway to Pakistan. In Pakistan we visited North and the Centre, we've been to: Hunza, Punjab, Peshawar (there we met with Afghan refugees), Khyber Pass, Chitral (were we got to Kalash-Kafirs). We came back to Poland the same way overland via China, Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belorussia. In 1995 we went overland to Mongolia. We wanted to see changes that have been happening there after collapse of communism, in particular renaissance of Buddhism. We also watched the biggest Mongolian national festival - Naadam. In Mongolia we hitch-hiked over 2000 km, got to such remote places like: Harhorin, Tsetserleg, Horgo, Tosontsengel, Sogot, Moron, Hovsgul. In Erdenet we dealt with one of the 10 largest copper mines in the world. Besides we also visited Buryatia, Irkutsk and Lake Baykal, we were travelling Trans-Siberian Railway. In Ulan-Ude we were interested in development of Buryat autonomy inside Russian Federation, and at the Baykal - threats to the lake's environment. In 1996 we flew by plane first time - to India. There we've been to: Delhi, Calcutta, Varanasi, Patna, Amritsar, Dharamsala, Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Manali. We were dealing with such problems like anti-Indian uprising in Kashmir, rickshaw-pullers and slums of Calcutta, culture of „Little Tibet” - Ladakh. Because of collecting materials about Tibetan refugees we visited Dharamsala, and then Nepal (Pokhara and Kathmandu Valley). During the same voyage we also returned to Pakistan, where we were travelling all over Punjab (getting to know about the life of Pakistani Christians), and we reached Azad Kashmir to meet Kashmiri refugees and guerrillas. In the meantime we have finished our studies. First Piotr - in 1996, Agnieszka one year later. We've become M.A. of Protection of Environment with University's diplomas. As fledgling alumnus, in 1997, we went overland, via Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, to Turkey and Caucasus. In Turkey we visited Istanbul, Ankara, Cappadocia, eastern part of the country (Diyarbakir, Van, Erzurum) and Black Sea coast (Trabzon). There we were collecting information about islamists and Kurdish issue. From Turkey we went to Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We also succeeded to get to Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and - which was exceptionaly good luck, because of strict blockade - to Abkhazia. From Caucasus we came back to Turkey and then via Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to Poland. Finally year 1999. In that year we spent almost 8 months (!) travelling abroad. In January we flew by plane to India, but soon afterwards we went to Pakistan, namely - to Karachi on Arabian Sea coast. There we were almost 3 weeks, collecting materials about difficult problems of that giant city. In the meantime Agnieszka got an assignment from American photo agency KRT to make photos of Pakistani politicians. In Karachi we succeded to shoot Benazir Bhutto with her children. Then we had to move to Lahore, to shoot the president of Jamaat-i-Islami Party, and then to Islamabad, where most of other politicians were. In the end of January we came back to India. At once we went to the state of Gujarat, to The Dangs district, where anti-Christian riots took place. Then we moved to another end of India, to the state of Bihar. There is going on a cruel "war between castes". However, on 10th of March we were in Dharamsala, "the capital of Free Tibet", where the Tibetan government-in-exile resides. We witnessed the commemoration of 40th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising. Soon afterwards we crossed again all India, just to reach Calcutta. In the end of March we entered Bangladesh. First we went by Rocket steamer through the Mouth of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, to Dhaka. Then we went south, on the longest beach in the world, in Cox's Bazar, and then even further - on a tiny St. Martin Island in the Bay of Bengal. Later we visited the region of Chittagong Hill Tracts, bordering Burma and India. We were among the first foreigners who were allowed to get in there, after more than 20 years, during which little-known war was going on between tribal guerrillas against Bengali government and settlers. In Chittagong we witnessed hartal, the general strike. We returned home in the beginning of May, but just for a while to rest a little bit. On 2nd of June we came by plane to Indonesia, to Jakarta. At once we got in the middle of the election heat. Piotr was sending correspondances about the voting in Indonesia to the biggest Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" and Agnieszka was making photos for the assignment from KRT. Tired of politics we set off to the country, via Bandung to Pangandaran, then to Yogyakarta, Kaliurang and on the Dieng plateau. But we wanted something more adventurous - Borneo. We got to that huge and mysterious island by a ship from Semarang. We landed in Pontianak and went on to Sambas. Just 3 months earlier there was a horrible "war" between Madurese immigrants and native Dayak and Malay people. We had to renew our Indonesian visas, so we crossed to the Malaysian Sarawak for a week. Coming back to the Indonesian part of Borneo (Kalimantan), we tried to reach as far inland as possible. Four days we were going by boat on Kapuas River to Putussibau. Finally, we got to the "long-houses" of Dayak tribals. In one of them, Malapi, we stayed 3 days watching Dayak harvest festival. We also met real head hunters. We tried to cross overland from West Kalimantan to the South one, but it appeared to difficult for us. So we took a ship from Pontianak to Java and then another ship back to Borneo, to the city of Banjarmasin. In the southern part of the island we visited e.g. Cempaka diamond fields. Then we went north, to the city of Samarinda. From there are going river boats inland of the East Kalimantan. By such a big boat, then by a small one, we reached Long Bagun. In the heart of Borneo we were visiting native Dayak tribes, but we were sad because the decline of their culture. In August we went by sea ferry from Borneo to Celebes (Sulawesi), a strange-shaped island. In its mountainous centre there live Toraja people. We were especially interested in their funeral ceremonies. Finally we returned to Java and saw the most beatiful volcano there - Bromo. On 1st of September we flew back to Poland. Our achievements
The most significant meetings we had with H.H. Dalai Lama of Tibet, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, president of Mongolia Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat and president of self-declared republic of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba. During voyages we often had chances to speak with politicians and intellectuals, but the most we appreciate contacts with ordinary people, among whom we have many friends. We've always travelled the cheapest way - local buses and trains, sometimes hitch-hiking, We've stayed at the bottom-end hotels or slept in a tent. We've eaten in cheap, local restaurants. We speak fluently English and Russian, Piotr also speaks French well and know some Spanish and German. We both can speak Chinese a little, too. We live in Lodz, second biggest city of Poland, in the very centre of the country. |
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