After leaving the Lake Bulunkul area, we were nearing the end of our time in Tajikistan. The drive would continue into Kyrgyzstan but Orzu was not able to cross this border so we would be saying goodbye to him today and meeting our new Kyrgyz driver for the final days of the trip. We headed …
After leaving the villages behind, the next section of the trip took us through Badakhshan National Park, which is close to the Tajik border with China. Although it had a much more remote and deserted feel, we saw many transport trucks along this section of the highway bringing goods from China into Central Asia and …
Over the next few days, we passed through several interesting villages and towns. Khorog is one of the largest towns in the Pamir region with a population of about 28,000. We had a fantastic Indian lunch and a quiet night exploring the riverfront. The next day, we stayed in Ishkashim, a sleepy town full of …
The next day, we headed towards the Bartang Valley where we had planned an overnight hike into the Bartang Valley to the village of Jizeu. Orzu didn’t come on the hike with us but had organized our accommodation with a family in the village beforehand. He dropped us off at the start of the hike …
We departed Kalai Khum in the morning and followed the road along the Pamir River again. Day Two would see us travelling 175km in about 4-5 hours. Across the river, we saw many more villages on the Afghan side. Another interesting sight were the many Tajik soldiers we passed patrolling the road. Because the Pamir …
Picking up where Steve left off, the next few posts will cover our time in the next of the ‘Stans we visited. After we crossed the border from Uzbekistan, we headed to the capital city of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, where we had a quick one-night stop to prepare for our upcoming road trip. For this section …
After backtracking on that fantastic high speed train, we arrived in Samarkand, which is about twice the size of Bukhara, in the early evening. Ashraf quickly and effectively bartered for a taxi, and after the driver gave us the usual lengthy spiel about ‘knowing a better hotel’, we arrived at our next guesthouse, this one …
After enjoying our quick stop in Tashkent, it was time to move along and explore more of Uzbekistan. We headed off to the ancient city of Bukhara, a famed stop on the silk road, and would be taking the brand new high speed train for the ~600km journey. This was hands down the nicest train …
After 2 weeks of relatively quiet downtime in Shenzhen, we were ready to get back to life on the road and all the amazing adventures that come along with it! Ashraf returned from his 2 week break in Thailand and after a quick re-pack, we were all ready to head off to Kazakhstan to start …
I’d been looking forward to getting to China for most of the trip, as I’d heard a great deal about Shenzhen and was keen to see one of China’s newly built and cutting edge megacities. It did not disappoint. Shenzhen was nothing more than a small fishing village a mere 40 years ago, and the …