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Kyrgyzstan – Home of Hospitality and Letting Freedom Ring With A Shotgun Blast.

How we reconvened with other overlanders in Bishkek, had a drunken night out with prostitutes, tried to climb a mountain and finally used the packraft.

After a freezing final night in Tajikistan we (reluctantly) exited the country encountering few problems (the usual “problem” requiring $25 to sort out soon disappeared when we settled back into the car offering to wait for the right official to arrive) and took the long road down to the Kyrgyz border. We were ushered through the gates and into Kyrgyzstan with barely a glance at the car (minus a required customs declaration which will become apparent later), taking less than twenty minutes. It was lunchtime and obviously not a convenient time to check vehicles!

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Posted by  |  09/09/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tajikistan – The Pamirs and the Wakhan Corridor Part II

 How we ended up back in the Wakhan Corridor, drove the eastern half of the Pamir highway and saw a meteorite entering the earth’s atmosphere.

The day after we returned from Afghanistan we set about reorganizing all of our gear as we had left a number of things at the Pamir Lodge including the trailer. It took a fair amount of time which was further delayed by the number of other overlanders at the lodge. Whenever groups of travellers get together, not a lot gets done other than drinking, eating, relaxing and chatting, and as usual we all went back to the Indian that night for a lot of drinking, eating and… well, chatting.

2indian

Another Indian? ow, go on then, only if I can have half chips/half rice

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Posted by  |  02/09/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Overlanders Tips: Top 5 Girly Essentials

Despite what many may think, overland travel is not a holiday.

It gets tough when you have to wake up and exit your roof tent to an audience, eat local food without offending your hosts (or your stomach), and travel with the same companion day in, day out. Don’t get me wrong, life on the road is great, but it’s definitely not a break. When you have to wash your clothes by hand, and source your food every day or so from who-knows-where, it’s very, very time-consuming and tiring, even without the language barriers. But travelling isn’t an excuse to let yourself go and sprucing yourself up is no mean feat when all you have is a muddy wing mirror for assistance! So here are some of the things I have with me that have made being a lady on the road a little easier…

Taken on the floor of a Russian hotel room

Photo taken on the floor of a very Russian hotel room

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Posted by  |  12/08/2013 | Categories: Overlanders Tips | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Overlanders Tips: Registering yourself in Almaty, Kazakhstan

If you need to register yourself in Almaty, Kazakhstan you can do so here:

43°15’01.9 N 76°55’30.9 E Click link for map.

Open most of the time but closed for lunch. Its a long lunch so I suggest you arrive early.

Go through the main door and go to window 3. Fill out the blank form (in Cyrillic) with your name, passport details, duration of stay and address. Just put down any address from the Lonely Planet. We used the Almaty Hostel on Khan Tengry which was enough for them! Registration card returned in your passport 1 hour later. Free.

I hope this information is of use.

Posted by  |  05/08/2013 | Categories: Overlanders Tips | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Into Afghanstan – Eshkashim, The Wakhan Corridor and the Hindu Kush… but not with the Land Rover

How we spent a lot of time on the Ishkashim border, got stuck in no-mans land, had to leave the Land Rover with crazy Tajik police and got a military escort into town.

…and hatched a plan to re-new our 15 day import permit.

Hindu Kush - Afghanistan

Hindu Kush – Afghanistan

The Plan: pick up our Afghan Visas at the consulate in Khorog, drive to the border at Ishkashim, exit the country fully using the second entry on our Tajik Visa and return the same way thus renewing our temporary import document.

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Posted by  |  29/07/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tajikistan – Dushanbe, the Pamirs and the Wakhan Corridor Part I

How we spent a lot of time in Khorog, Got very wet in the Pamirs and hatched a plan to re-new our 15 day import permit.

Prior to leaving, the Pamirs was big on my list for exploring. Alongside Georgia, for me, it was to be one of the highlights. Big mountain scenery, alpine landscapes, dirt roads and isolation. I managed to track down a full catalogue of old Soviet maps scanned in detail and saved as JPG’s thanks to the guys at Berkley University (US) and Google. Lots of things in the region have changed but the old maps gave the sites of ruined forts and numerous roads constructed for military use. I would spend hours on the laptop at home looking at potential roads and piecing together our plan for the Pamirs.

Over the pass - Tajkistan

Over the pass – Tajikistan

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Posted by  |  22/07/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

5 months on the road – Progress So Far…

With the use of our daily tracklogs from our Garmin GPS our GIS man (Jack Pitts) back home has pinned together our route from landing in France (I don’t need a GPS to find Dover from Swansea 😉 ) to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.

After 5 months (147 nights) on the road totalling 24,000Km (15,000 miles) we have crossed 22 countries, survived temperatures from -25 to +35 degrees C and camped for 102 nights.

check out our Interactive Map here: Progress So Far

There are a few gaps in the tracklogs which we will work on to iron out for the next stage of the mapping progress.

Enjoy.

Posted by  |  15/07/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uzbekistan – The Silk Road Cities and near-death in Bukhara

How we found the Aral Sea, ate Camel meat and got ourselves in a spot of trouble.

The Fishing Fleet - Aral Sea

The Fishing Fleet – Aral Sea

I will just start this post by apologising if it unfairly puts Uzbekistan in a bad light. It was probably not Uzbekistan’s fault that we had such a rough time of it, but we have blamed the country purely on circumstantial evidence – we were fine before and have been since! This doesn’t encompass the Uzbeks themselves, as they were warm and friendly. And there’s more than likely a massive part we ourselves played in making things difficult for ourselves, as will become clear.

It started with a seven-hour border crossing, which in the burning midday sun was not one of the finer moments we’ve had on the trip, it must be said.  Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  08/07/2013 | Categories: Overland Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Overlanders Tips: Top Five Budget Overlander Hangouts in Central Asia

You have driven hundreds of kilometres all day on dirt tracks, corrugated and potholed tarmac roads, been stopped five times by the police for ‘documents’, then an unfamiliar noise emanates from the engine bay. Your still 10 km outside of an unfamiliar town looking for somewhere to stay that has secure parking and won’t blow your daily budget. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need that damn (delete as appropriate) Visa/Registration Document/Permit/Customs Form/Flight Ticket/Spare Part.  It’s the usual battle.

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Posted by  |  01/07/2013 | Categories: Overlanders Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Overlanders Tips: Registering yourself in Atyrau, Kazakhstan (for free)

If you need to Register yourself in Atyrau, Western Kazakhstan you can do so here: N47.09347 E051.92116 (click link for map!).

Its an ominous back door in a wall of the main OVIR office. Let yourself in (or bang on the door) go up the steps into the room and hand them your passport explaining you need to register. They do most of the leg work, you just need to fill in your vehicle details with some of their help if you have no address to register at. We explained we were not staying in hotels or at any address expressing we were camping and they just put down our vehicle registration number.

It took a few hours but we did it and it was free. Others have reported needing to get copies. These can be obtained following the directions below:

‘…Left from the gate, right on the main street and 50 metres on the right (just before the big blue Eurasian bank on the left of the road) is a Police / Army kit shop with “APMEHCKNN” above the door in camo coloured letters. In there is an office on the right was a copy place. Needed 2 x copies of the vehicle ownership docs, 1 x copy of each of the passport ID page, Kazakh visa, and also a copy of the immigration slip we got at the border. Less than a £1 for the copies.’

Hope this information helps.

 

Posted by  |  24/06/2013 | Categories: Overlanders Tips | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment