I hadn’t heard of Karakalpakstan (Qaraqalpaqstan) until I found myself here. It’s actually the ‘Autonomous’ Republic of Karakalpakstan but since having that name it’s been part of the USSR and now part of Uzbekistan. ‘Autonomous’ […]
There is no straightforward overland route from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan to Tashkent in Uzbekistan. You have to go the long way ‘round – either all the way back down to Osh in the south and […]
Kyrgyzstan is just a little bit scruffy. Not in a sad, rundown, slummy, dirty kind of way but in an offhand, cool and slightly messy, ‘don’t care what the neighbours think’ kind of way. It’s […]
Kyrgyzstan is all about the spectacular scenery. The Tian Shan (Heavenly) mountains cover most of the country. Pretty much the whole country is above 1500m and almost half is between 3000m and 7500m. In between […]
Even though it was only a few hours from Gansu on the fast train, Turpan feels like we’ve been transported to the Middle East. The Islamic influence is obvious – in the bread and food, […]
It was an adventurer called Zhang Qian, between 100-200 BC, who is said to have started off the old silk road trade route, from China to the west. He keeps appearing in lots of different […]
Arriving in China felt like we’d landed on an entirely different planet. One where we didn’t know the customs, how things worked or how to behave, where we couldn’t even communicate or manage the basics […]
Even though we paid more than double the going price for tickets on the one-whole-seat-per-person fancy van, somehow we still ended up sitting in the aisle on the public bus to Oudomxay in northern Laos. […]
There’s something special about the town of Luang Prabang. Almost everybody says so and I have to agree. It has a kind of perfect harmony. It feels ancient and it is. Apparently it’s been here […]
Now I know why everyone who’s been here says ‘Oh, I love Laos!’. It’s because Laos is lovely. It seems to have a lot of the best parts of South East Asia without the madness […]
