Sunday, June 27, 2010
Katie and Taylor
Friday 25th June
From Bishkek we left for one nights bushcamp beside Lake Issy-kol, which was unexpectedly warmer than the swimming pool in Sammarkand – that’s what the few brave soles who ventured in reported anyway – we sat back and enjoyed the view! Our next stop was into the mountains, Jeti Orgus, it’s named after a spectacular 7 peak red rock mountain which is said to represent 7 bulls which protect the village. After a few dodgy river crossings and a short time stuck in the mud we set up camp just before the torrential rain set in.
All porridged up the next morning Taylor, Mike, Heather, Dennis, James and I took off with our guide trek up to an Alpine lake 6 hours from camp. We walked though mud, rivers, fields, woods, scrambled through rocks, snow and ice to get to our destination just in time for lunch. We sledged (on our bums) down some of the way and almost killed our knees the rest. Managed to make good use of the raincoats for the last hour of the walk and got back to camp just in time to make dinner. A little soggy and totally drained all the trekkers retired to their tents for a much deserved early night.
A relaxing day was had by all the next day, some of the group hired horses (which didn’t want to move), others went for walks whilst us lazy ones had a day of R&R which involved absolutely nothing which was great. Simon organised a quiz in the evening and right on cue the rain came in so we all squeezed into the kitchen tent to test our brains – Pete’s team won: conspiracy maybe?
Our third day in the mountains started off with a pancake breakfast and a morning of UNO – the trucks game of choice just now. We set off to the village in the afternoon where we treated ourselves to tea and “scones” with cream and jam and relaxed in the sun, then the shade, then the sun again until dinner.
Goat Polo and our “Bad Taste” fancy dress party have been scheduled for Lake Song-Kol... watch this space for some interesting photos if we ever get internet again!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Katie and Taylor
After finally getting the Kazhak visas in the nick of time on Friday afternoon, before we needed a visa extension as our Uzbek visas ran out on Saturday which would have dented the wallet a fair bit. We rocked off towards the Uzbek border which to our surprise was simple passing through… well the Uzbekistan side anyway as the Kazhakstan side decided to close.
Literally in “No Mans Land” 10 metres from Uzbekistan and 10 metres from Kazhakstan (also apparently 10 metres from land mines) we set up camp! Can’t imagine this being advertised for a holiday – “Visit Nomanstan where we have many famous sites for personal illumination like the land mine exhibit (danger loss of limb is likely) or relaxation station/concrete bollards”
All part of the fun of the trip though as the following morning we gained passage to Kazhakstan and within our 1 day transit we had to bribe a police officer who was on the hunt for some more money for a nicer Mercedes we think. Also a wee bit of road rage as another local tried to claim we had hit the side of his car even though the damage was red and nowhere near the colour of our big blue truck. The problem was resolved after he noticed everyone racing out of truck, especially the raging Kiwi!
Anyway now holed up in Bishkek the capital of Krygzstan and gladly there is no uprising or ethnic clashes here just now. Went on a bar crawl last night to some very traditional places...British, Italian, American and a Mexican. Today we are heading to the mountains and lakes of Krygzstan for a spot of hiking, horse riding and goat polo, far away from the possibility of being shot.
P.S We shall have limited to no access to the internet in the mountains as surprisingly enough there is no computers hidden in trees, or yurts which have been turned into internet cafes. Mobile reception is almost non existent so don’t worry if we aren’t in contact for a while….. in this case no news is good news!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Katie and Taylor
The tour of the Usbek part of silk route has come to an end, we’ve travelled from Khiva to Bukhara to Samarkand and now we are in Tashkent. Main highlights have been Registan Square in Samarkand, climbing the minaret in Khiva, the walking tour of Bukhara and the ice cold swimming pool in Samarkand. We’re now all minaret and madrassed out and looking forward to getting back into our tents.
Borat land visas are proving problematic! Pete went to pick them up yesterday and was told to come back today, and today he's been told to come back tomorrow so who knows what will happen. Apparently the passports are locked in the safe but the guy with the key isn't available...probably taken the day off.
In the meantime we’re living it up in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, spending the last of our thousands having a few lazy days. There’s not much to see here, last night an hours walk eventually brought us out to a restaurant and later we set off in search for the FM bar – a yearly visit for Odyssey. Unfortunately there was no guy with a drill up his nose (like there has been in previous years) but we did get to witness what can only be described as your little brother getting a lap dance which was incredibly disturbing but a fun night was had by all.. including the girls.
Another Uzbek highlight is the money exchange process, normally a quick visit to a hotel or atm is suffice for changing money but here the bank rate is roughly 1,500 Som to the Dollar whereas the Black Market rate is around 2,200. So we have been on the hunt for people carrying giant bags of money or a sneaky nudge nudge wink wink at a local supermarket is the trick. Very odd!
Dinner bill - roughly $20
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Katie and Taylor
As you may be aware southern Krygzstan has erupted in violence and around 80 people have been killed in the city of Osh which we are due to visit in a week. The border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgzstan has been closed causing a slight problem with our route, thus we are going to be adding another “Stan” to our list. The land of Borat and Mankinis await as we shall drive north from Tashkent into Kazhakstan and skip along eastwards and drop into Bishkek, so we shall still get to visit everything as intended, just eliminating the slight chance of being caught up in a war which is always good.
Anyway back to the trip, we are currently in Bukhara our next stop along the Silk Road which quite similar to Khiva just a lot less film set like and even managed to watch the England game last night which provided much amusement to the whole group, including Ben who can now laugh at the English contingent.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Katie and Taylor
Apologies for the lack of updates recently after being hidden behind the wacky walls of Turkmenistan who apparently don't believe in the internet so we have uploaded 3 posts to keep you occupied (read from the bottom up).
Friday 11th June (World Cup....woohoo)
Border crossing into the next “Stan” was prolonged due to the unveiling of the trucks drug baron….but after some fraught discussions the convict was released without charge but has promised to attend 2 weeks of rehabilitation and community service. A few more people were knocked down by the heat, with temperatures reaching around 45 degrees its not surprising as us westerners are not designed for this kind of heat….especially the Scottish and Irish contingent but by the magical powers of Irn Bru I’m feeling much better (thanks Mike and Alice).
Visited Moynaq, the location of the Aral Sea, well what’s left of it after the Russians diverted the water from the sea towards cotton fields and now there is hardly anything left apart from a graveyard of old fishing ships, leaving a fishing economy wiped out and thousands unemployed. Stupid Russians!
Kylie, Taylor, Katie
Managed to have a dunk in the river to freshen up after leaving Moynaq, after 3 days with no showers in the desert felt amazing. Felt like a proper hobo!
Currently in our first proper stop on the Silk Road, Khiva which looks almost like a film set as the place has been restored to its former glory. Lots of minarets and mosques, its just nice to wander around and take in the sights, although due to searing heat around lunch time most people hide in their air conditioned rooms. Tonight we have even managed to find a place to watch the opening game of the world cup....should be interesting.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Katie and Taylor
Tuesday 9th June
We’re now into section two of the trip: 32 days to get from Turkmenistan to Kyrgystan before section 3: China. New section, new jobs (for me at least) and new cook groups. Taylor is still on roof crew and probably will be for the rest of the trip, Darrell has been replaced by Ben with the hope of bulking him up a bit – not sure who weighs more the tents or Ben. I’ve passed on my duties on the bar to Kylie (sorry) and am now replacing Joy as the Truck Walla. My job so far has involved collecting money for visas, birthdays and a tip for our Turkmenistan guide, but will extend to sorting out bills when we eat out in a group and anything else the crew throw at me. Maggs and Mike have been replaced by Simon and Roberta in our cook group and our first meal prepared together was pasta and really tasty!
We checked into our fancy pants hotel for our first night in Ashgabat. Took a wander round the city in search of food and ended up back in the hotel with Kylie, Neill, Alice, Mike, Darrell, Roberta, Heather and Ben for a slap up meal. Ashgabat is an extremely clean city, there’s no one to be found on the streets apart from police who tell you not to take photographs and follow you to make sure you are causing no harm to their city. There’s also a curfew of 11pm so if you’re out partying you need to get a taxi home or walk and face a night in jail – none of the group risked the latter.
The next day we headed for the Sunday Market. You can find everything here from camels and cows to carpets and spare car parts. Unfortunately we didn’t see any flying camels (camels being hoisted onto the back of a truck) that Pete promised us, but we did see plenty of camels, and all sorts of other livestock. We then headed into the main part of the market which sold just about everything, stocked up on the essentials and avoided the sour camel’s milk which was on sale. It wasn’t long before we left for Ashgabat in search for some shade. The heat has increased dramatically; at least 45οC with 40% humidity so we chilled out in the air conditioned room for the afternoon and enjoyed a group meal at the local British pub.
The next morning we set off for our final bushcamp in Turkmenistan and everything went a bit sour. Taylor and Barry were suffering from heat stroke and having to face a long drive and there’s no escape from the sun. We took it steady and Taylor was beaten by 20 mins as the first to throw up in the truck, upset in his failings he did one better and threw up out the truck and managed to spray a few fellow passengers along the way (apologies again to them).
After an extremely hard drive through the desert we arrived at camp and sat the invalids together in the shade of the truck with flat coke and rehydration salted water – something not to be forgotten on a trip like this, the flavoured ones are the best! We all chilled out in the shade of the truck before starting dinner of shepherds pie and salad and were later picked up by a local to take us over some sand dunes to the Darvaza gas crater which has been burning for nearly 40 years. Taylor and Barry feeling a little better joined us. The locals have renamed this "The Door to Hell" and looking at the photos you can see for yourself why.
An early start the next day for the Uzbekistan border and Taylor and Barry are looking much better – still not 100% but they are drinking plenty of water so no need to worry (mums).
Friday, June 11, 2010
Katie and Taylor
Saturday 5th June
Our sleeping arrangements for our last night in Baku was a bit of a change with some of the group sleeping in the truck at the port to make sure we knew exactly when the ferry arrived, others outside; some in tents and others without tents providing a nice meal for the mozzies, and the rest of us (10 in total) camped out in the only hotel room left in Baku – cosy! An early morning wake up call to let us know the ferry was docking thanks to Pete, Neill, Mike and Dennis and we were all packed up and ready to go. After a couple of hours at customs we were allowed to board our home for the next 36 hours.
A quick tour around the ferry left little to discover – probably a 1960s/70s ferry which would have been luxury in it’s time was in need of a little TLC. The map indicated a music hall and restaurant but these were non existent. These ferries are rarely used for passengers and any food available is for the crew – good job Odyssey were prepared with cereals for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and pot noodles for dinner – excellent! We were given cabins but advised that it would be too hot to sleep there and we should try sleeping on the deck or in a common room (which was a little cooler). The toilets were in need of a good clean so Pete kicked one of the crew members out of his cabin for $20 so the group could have use of a “luxury” toilet (well it was clean at least). We set up our thermarests on the deck and lay in the sun for the day, played some cards, did a pilates class for the girls (and Taylor and Ben), had wine and nibbles in the evening and watched some films – what more could you ask for?
The next morning we woke up to see the Turkmenistan coast, but we had dropped anchor and weren’t going anywhere for a while. Although we were priority as we had passengers, other boats were priority as they were carrying fuel and the boat currently in the dock was taking ages. There is no real system in place so we just had to sit back and enjoy the sun until we were allowed to leave. Our new local guide was our saviour; he was at the port sorting everything out for us and eventually got us docked at 11pm, with customs ready to process us straight away. We later find out that our delays with the ferry were caused by the Turkmenistan President being in Turkmenbashi (the port) and the whole town was closed down – he has a complex about getting assassinated so foreigners are best kept out of the equation.
After a quick “medical” which involved a doctor writing our names down we all left the ferry and got settled at the port for a short nap before being taken through immigration and customs at 2am. Reunited with Maureen we were off in search for a nearby bushcamp. We are now 3 days behind our original plan which was get to Turkmenistan on Wednesday, bushcamp for 2 nights on the way to Ashgabat then 2 night stay in a hotel in Ashgabat so we make it to the Sunday market. As this route revolves around the Sunday market we set up for a bushcamp close to the port in preparation for a long days drive (600Km) to Ashgabat the next day so we make the market the morning after.
The scenery has changed dramatically since arriving here, we are no longer in green, mountainous farmlands but flat desserts, the sheep have been replaced with camels and the heat is hotter than ever, but I’m still working on my tan (ok – sunburn), so I’m happy!
