We have now been in Kazakhstan, a country where kidnapping is still a form of courtship, for just over 2 weeks and its been a very weird experiance.
We went trekking in the mountains after we'd both recovered from the squits where we were interviewed for TV talking about ecotourism in Kazakhstan. Roz talked about the ecology of Kazakhstan and I talked about how to better advertise tourism in Kazakhstan to the outside world. We managed to maximise our screen time by saying exactly what the interviewer wanted to hear; Waxing lyrical about how wonderful a country Kazakhstan is ect. My comment about 'Borat' hit the cutting room floor though. We whatched the resulting program (with our interviews translated into Kazakh) two days ago in Almaty which was cool. (Roz has discovered how to do photos and put one on her blog- see the link to the right).
Following the mountains we left on an expedition to visit the Aral sea- it took about 2 days to get there. Hardly anyone speaks anything but Russian here but luckily everytime things become really frustrating a helpful english speaker miraculously appears or someone calls someone on their mobiles who can help translate. So, through the kindness of strangers, We were taken to soemones house for lunch, discovered a bus station and the right bus and at the other end stayed in a pilgrims rest place in Turkistan (where theres a mausoleam- the slightly lazy muslims here have worked out 3 trips to here is equivalent to one to Mecca and you dont have to take the plane).
Someone then helped us bribe our way onto a train where we spent 12 hours playing cards and talking to the most of the carrage through the 2 guys who spoke broken English. Our answers where then relayed through the carrage around the piles of contraband and luaggage to the other passengers promoting much debate.
In Aralsk we stayed in the home of Gulmira a local teacher that a nice Russian ecotourism person had called for us. We ended up sleeping in her garden and she got two of her friends to drive us (in their 4X4 lada) out to whats left of the sea (remember the Aral sea- GCSE geography?). Enroute we saw camels picking at the scrubby desert around the rusting carcuses of ships. Lunch was in someones house in a tiny village (camel meat and potatoes followed by camels milk). Our photos of home where passed around reverently and all the local men popped round to see the foreigners.
This was followed by swimming. Our little lada raced accross salt flats and bounced enthusiasticly across dunes to the sea shore and our guides stripped off and raced to the water (gold teath flashing in the sun), waded out and splashed about. We followed rather more gingerly, but it was the first time we'd had a good soak since Tiblisi and rather welcome.
On the 30 hour train Journey to Almaty I met a guy called Jon who spoke great English and tried to sell me oil (they have lots in Kazakhstan) at the equivalent of $100 a barrel but I declined as we already have too much luggage as it is.
Almaty is like Europe, at least to our eyes, they have western shops, western restaurants and western prices. It also has greenery (after the dessert its amzing how much you miss greenery). When you order a couple of beers the one for Roz always comes with a straw. We are just typing this out before skipping to the border and the high mountains of Kyrgistan.
hope everyone is good at home- I owe lots of people emails, internet is not so hot here so will try in Bishkek.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Kazakhstan
Hi
we've now crossed to Kazakhstan and are living it up in Shymkent. Tashkent was a cool city althuogh a world away from the rest of Uzbekistan; full of wide boulevards, people who looked like expats, police and blond/bottle blond russian girls in spray on clothing who may or may not have been prostitutes. The police were slightly more vigilant here and stopped you everytime you used the metro to check your papers were in order (given we used the same 3 or 4 stops the whole time they were just stopping us to say hello by the end).
We spent a load of time in the Bazaar mainly perusing the aftershave stalls- I'm trying to find a souveneer sized bottle of "pure Cigar", "Mafia don" or "cash" (available in doller or Euro versions) but as yet have only found them available in large vats.
Unfortunately we both made our selves ill for the first time so have been largely lieing low. However Tashkent is a good place to recover as we found an italian restaurant that surved up Pasta and pizza dishes that were a fair approximation of what you can find at home (with real cheese!!!).
We limped acoross the border yesterday and Kazakhstan feels really different, much richer and slightly cooler. Hopefully will be fully better and we can head off to the mountains tomorrow. have updated the map so you can follow electronicly in our footsteps.
Tom
we've now crossed to Kazakhstan and are living it up in Shymkent. Tashkent was a cool city althuogh a world away from the rest of Uzbekistan; full of wide boulevards, people who looked like expats, police and blond/bottle blond russian girls in spray on clothing who may or may not have been prostitutes. The police were slightly more vigilant here and stopped you everytime you used the metro to check your papers were in order (given we used the same 3 or 4 stops the whole time they were just stopping us to say hello by the end).
We spent a load of time in the Bazaar mainly perusing the aftershave stalls- I'm trying to find a souveneer sized bottle of "pure Cigar", "Mafia don" or "cash" (available in doller or Euro versions) but as yet have only found them available in large vats.
Unfortunately we both made our selves ill for the first time so have been largely lieing low. However Tashkent is a good place to recover as we found an italian restaurant that surved up Pasta and pizza dishes that were a fair approximation of what you can find at home (with real cheese!!!).
We limped acoross the border yesterday and Kazakhstan feels really different, much richer and slightly cooler. Hopefully will be fully better and we can head off to the mountains tomorrow. have updated the map so you can follow electronicly in our footsteps.
Tom
Thursday, 5 June 2008
been through the desert on a donkey with no name
sorry for the rather lax efforts here. We are currently in Uzbekistan having motored through Turkmenistan- internet is rather sketchy so we have been blissfully unaware of the world, hope everyone is ok.
we got our money's worth on the boat to Turkmenistan as we got stuck on it for 2 days and ended up having to beg for food along with the rest of the passengers as our supplies; 2 snickers bars got eaten at the port
Turkmenistan was a weird weird place thanks to the ex president who called himself Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmen) and plastered the country with his slogans, the most popular being "people,nation, me".
He turned the capital into a vision of white marble, resplendant with fountains and golden staues of himself. the centre piece was the 70 meter "arch of neutrality" topped with a gold statue of the president in a busienss suit and a flowing suoperman style cape. the statue rotated so it was always facing the sun.
after a few days of pottering we headed up north, camping in the dessert next to a burning gas crater formed when some soviet oil prospectors stopped for a cigarette. The resulting explosion left a 10 metre deep, 30 m across pit that has been burning for 30 years.
Uzbekistan is more conventional in it's attractions although just as hot; summer has come early and its already 30 degrees at 9 am. We're in the silk road proper now loads of gently crumbling dessert towns resplendant with blue tiled mosques. They have a fairly relaxed attitude to Islam here though, taking elements from zoastronism, buddism and mixing it up with liberal quantities of alcohol.
Given they refuses to revalue the currency in the face of rampant inflation the highest value bank note in circulation is worth less than 30p and changing money means bringing along a carrier bag. Even paying for dinner becomes a bit of a palava and with the huge wad of notes that you have to carry around in your pocket it looks as if you're very pleased to see everyone.
Roz and I also seem to rank as popular attrations as at most of the sights we have had to pose for photos with huge families of Uzbeks. we're learning to scowl as photos are a serious business here and my jazz hands don't go down too well.
Just got back from a few days in the sticks where we went donkey trekking. we wern't that good as Roz's one kept running off with her and my geriatric one just wanted to eat things. Anyway off to get our evening kebab and beer. we cant put photos on here as the only internet is dial up- will endevour to do so in Kazakstan
we got our money's worth on the boat to Turkmenistan as we got stuck on it for 2 days and ended up having to beg for food along with the rest of the passengers as our supplies; 2 snickers bars got eaten at the port
Turkmenistan was a weird weird place thanks to the ex president who called himself Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmen) and plastered the country with his slogans, the most popular being "people,nation, me".
He turned the capital into a vision of white marble, resplendant with fountains and golden staues of himself. the centre piece was the 70 meter "arch of neutrality" topped with a gold statue of the president in a busienss suit and a flowing suoperman style cape. the statue rotated so it was always facing the sun.
after a few days of pottering we headed up north, camping in the dessert next to a burning gas crater formed when some soviet oil prospectors stopped for a cigarette. The resulting explosion left a 10 metre deep, 30 m across pit that has been burning for 30 years.
Uzbekistan is more conventional in it's attractions although just as hot; summer has come early and its already 30 degrees at 9 am. We're in the silk road proper now loads of gently crumbling dessert towns resplendant with blue tiled mosques. They have a fairly relaxed attitude to Islam here though, taking elements from zoastronism, buddism and mixing it up with liberal quantities of alcohol.
Given they refuses to revalue the currency in the face of rampant inflation the highest value bank note in circulation is worth less than 30p and changing money means bringing along a carrier bag. Even paying for dinner becomes a bit of a palava and with the huge wad of notes that you have to carry around in your pocket it looks as if you're very pleased to see everyone.
Roz and I also seem to rank as popular attrations as at most of the sights we have had to pose for photos with huge families of Uzbeks. we're learning to scowl as photos are a serious business here and my jazz hands don't go down too well.
Just got back from a few days in the sticks where we went donkey trekking. we wern't that good as Roz's one kept running off with her and my geriatric one just wanted to eat things. Anyway off to get our evening kebab and beer. we cant put photos on here as the only internet is dial up- will endevour to do so in Kazakstan
Friday, 16 May 2008
got it!!!
after 3 days of trying they finally let us have a boat ticket out of here!!
next stop Turkmenistan...
next stop Turkmenistan...
Thursday, 15 May 2008
A lada for all seasons
Am typing this from Baku where petrol is cheaper than water. Everything here is oil, there are puddles of it in the country side, loads of platforms off the coast and even the sea smells slightly of it. And everyone drives stupid big cars- there's even a 4*4 Lada!
Have spent the last few weeks in Georgia which is currently down as the friendlyest country in the world in my book- we've been wined and dined by random strangers and drunk homemade wine by the bucketload. They have a tradition of hugely elabourate toasts (although not with beer- you only toast your enemy with beer beacause the head of the church said so)- the best was from the artisitic director of Tiblisi Theatre who looked a bit like Ian Makellan and invited us to drink his wine; he offered up a toast to "England and Georgia not the best of friends but we both have Shakespere; as you like it, romeo and Juliet and the Tempest" not sure the Bard made it from Stratford to Tiblisi or wrote any of his works in Georgian but he defiantely had an impact here.
We spent a few days by the black sea; lovely and laid back with Cows wandering aimlessly on the roads and beaches before heading up into the mountains where we had a rather hairy ride through the passes and spent a few days throughing snowballs and toboganning around on our backsides.
Crossing to Baku we've definately left Christianity behind although they have a nicely relaxed interpretation of islam here; lots of cannodling in the streets and a surfet of bars. We're are currently trying to get a ferry ticket to Turkmenistan- they really dont want to sell us one!
anyway there are loads of Lada's here every where (threading through the sheep on the roads in Georgia and amoung the Landcruisers in Baku) have to go, next update from the stans!
Have spent the last few weeks in Georgia which is currently down as the friendlyest country in the world in my book- we've been wined and dined by random strangers and drunk homemade wine by the bucketload. They have a tradition of hugely elabourate toasts (although not with beer- you only toast your enemy with beer beacause the head of the church said so)- the best was from the artisitic director of Tiblisi Theatre who looked a bit like Ian Makellan and invited us to drink his wine; he offered up a toast to "England and Georgia not the best of friends but we both have Shakespere; as you like it, romeo and Juliet and the Tempest" not sure the Bard made it from Stratford to Tiblisi or wrote any of his works in Georgian but he defiantely had an impact here.
We spent a few days by the black sea; lovely and laid back with Cows wandering aimlessly on the roads and beaches before heading up into the mountains where we had a rather hairy ride through the passes and spent a few days throughing snowballs and toboganning around on our backsides.
Crossing to Baku we've definately left Christianity behind although they have a nicely relaxed interpretation of islam here; lots of cannodling in the streets and a surfet of bars. We're are currently trying to get a ferry ticket to Turkmenistan- they really dont want to sell us one!
anyway there are loads of Lada's here every where (threading through the sheep on the roads in Georgia and amoung the Landcruisers in Baku) have to go, next update from the stans!
Monday, 28 April 2008
capper, Kaper, Kappy... bugger it- the middle of Turkey!
well I'm pretty hopeless at this so far! it just seems like such a hassel to leave the sun and look at a screen.
After a marathon sprint accross Europe we've finally crossed into Turkey. On the way we've seen dancing horses, got drunk in bars hıdden in ruined buildings, been caving and stayed ın a hostel that offers free beer (always magicaly full despite being in Romania)
We spent a few days in İstanbul whatching Australians commemorate Gallıpoli the traditional way by getting roaring drunk, stripping naked and pissing in the street. I also had a turkish bath whıch was a strange experiance, a bit like being beat up but a good way to exfoliate.
Anyway we're spending rather longer in internet cafe's than I'd like as China has thrown us a bit of a curve ball and changed its visa rules so we cant get in. We've decided to be bloody minded and just have a go but have had to be creative and come up with alternative plans- Bıshkek airport not really being a hub for anywhere has meant exploring the underbelly of the worlds airline industry for ways out.
We're just about to leave Goreme in Central Turkey which is a weird place that was featured in a Starwars film- not sure which one though. Anyway we went hot air balloning this morning at sunrise which was increadible and the landscape looks like another world. We had a slightly hairy landing which involved crossing a motorway at a height of 2m. Cars changed lanes to avoid us and honked and waved as we slowly careered accross the road.
hope everyone is good at home, There's loads to see in Turkey but as its still within Easyjet range we're going to move on to Georgia and come back for the beaches on another trip
over and out
After a marathon sprint accross Europe we've finally crossed into Turkey. On the way we've seen dancing horses, got drunk in bars hıdden in ruined buildings, been caving and stayed ın a hostel that offers free beer (always magicaly full despite being in Romania)
We spent a few days in İstanbul whatching Australians commemorate Gallıpoli the traditional way by getting roaring drunk, stripping naked and pissing in the street. I also had a turkish bath whıch was a strange experiance, a bit like being beat up but a good way to exfoliate.
Anyway we're spending rather longer in internet cafe's than I'd like as China has thrown us a bit of a curve ball and changed its visa rules so we cant get in. We've decided to be bloody minded and just have a go but have had to be creative and come up with alternative plans- Bıshkek airport not really being a hub for anywhere has meant exploring the underbelly of the worlds airline industry for ways out.
We're just about to leave Goreme in Central Turkey which is a weird place that was featured in a Starwars film- not sure which one though. Anyway we went hot air balloning this morning at sunrise which was increadible and the landscape looks like another world. We had a slightly hairy landing which involved crossing a motorway at a height of 2m. Cars changed lanes to avoid us and honked and waved as we slowly careered accross the road.
hope everyone is good at home, There's loads to see in Turkey but as its still within Easyjet range we're going to move on to Georgia and come back for the beaches on another trip
over and out
Monday, 7 April 2008
first post
not sure what your meant to write in the first post but here goes
have quit my job, sold/thrown out half of what I own and stored the rest with the folks, I have a fistful of visa's, a bag full of guidebooks and a train tickets as far as Viena. The plan is to fly out of Hong Kong to Auz on my birthday towards the end of September and then back to the UK with 2 months to explore southern India. Should be fun
have quit my job, sold/thrown out half of what I own and stored the rest with the folks, I have a fistful of visa's, a bag full of guidebooks and a train tickets as far as Viena. The plan is to fly out of Hong Kong to Auz on my birthday towards the end of September and then back to the UK with 2 months to explore southern India. Should be fun
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