Archive for April, 2008
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Travel chatter
A few days ago Friedel had the chance to talk to Chris, the host of the Amateur Traveler podcast, about our time in Iran. It was a fun hour chatting about a wonderful country and perhaps some of you would like to listen in so check on the site to download the show. Chris also has an amazing archive of over 130 shows on all parts of the world, worth adding to your “listen-to” list.
Going even further back, around Christmas we met a couple Americans, Andrea and Michael, travelling around and they did an interview with us. We haven’t seen this video yet because connection speeds are just too slow but the rest of you can enjoy it.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Iran, Radio Shows, Random Ramblings, Video by andrew
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Welcome to Kazakhstan
125km Tashkent-Shymkent
Kazakhstan greeted us with the sound of the Beatles playing from a speaker outside a slick new shopping centre. Inside its air conditioned walls were all the big clothing names, an Apple computer store and a thoroughly modern supermarket. We were back in the land of vegetables wrapped in plastic and whole rows devoted to olive oil. Returning outside, it took us a moment to recover from the shock of seeing our first real supermarket since Turkey. As we rested in the shade we watched brand new SUVs roll down the streets of Shymkent and young women parading in high heels down the newly cobbled and tree-lined sidewalks.
Was this really Kazakhstan? It felt more like a middle-class London suburb. Up the road from the shopping centre was a restaurant with wireless internet access where Kazakhs were surfing the net on their laptops. Around the corner, a night club had just opened charging 3,000 Tenge for admission – about $25 U.S. – for admission, no drinks included.
By now we’d realised that Kazakhstan was the most prosperous country in the region by a long way and the prices reflected its riches. Everywhere in Shymkent, one of Kazakhstan’s largest cities, people seemed to be pursuing Western standards of wealth and for the first time in quite a while we felt like the poor cousins.
It was different in the countryside, of course. There we found people still in traditional dress, the women with their colourful headscarves, the men in felt hats. To the east we were treated to a stunning view of blue skies and snow-capped mountains and all around horses grazed in green fields, newly born foals at their sides. But even far from Shymkent, the new cars rolled by us regularly. There were far fewer Ladas here than in Uzbekistan and many more people wearing dark glasses and dressed impeccably in tailored suits. (more…)
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Visited Countries by andrew
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
More spring cleaning… watch a video!
With some time in Tashkent and surprisingly decent internet access (although communicating to staff is always fun with our limited Russian) we’ve managed to continue our spring cleaning and get more than a few videos up that have been lurking in the depths of our computer for ages. You can watch them by going to the video category, where we’ve put the videos on the relevant posts for each day.
Since we first arrived in the city we haven’t been out very much, rather put off by the hassle of being checked by the police every time we step out of our front door. Our main excursions have been to the markets, picking up spices like cinnamon, coriander and pepper for a snip and of course we’ve sampled a few of the Uzbek dishes on offer in the ever-humble and reasonably priced cafes. We also popped by one of the more popular hotels here, looking for a friend, and managed to end up drinking vodka with the owner well before 10am. Ouch. Check that one off our Central Asian “to do” list.
Tomorrow we’ll go to pick up our Kyrgyzstan visa and on Friday we’re going to make a beeline for the Kazakh border. We’ve heard Kazakhstan is more expensive than Uzbekistan and we still have a couple weeks left on our Uzbek visa but the hassle of always having to be registered makes wild camping more a worry than a pleasure and we just want to be relatively free again. Uzbekistan is a nice country but the bureaucracy dates from another age and it’s doing our heads in.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Uzbekistan, Video by friedel
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
Tashkent Shenanigans
It took us less than an hour to be stopped by the police in Tashkent. “Documents,” the young man in his tall hat and turquoise uniform said in a Russian accent, looking us up and down with a serious expression. We’d been warned to expect this. Every corner in Tashkent is full of police, or so we were told by a friend who arrived a month earlier. We managed to fit in all of one beer and an evening meal before being apprehended.
“Where are your documents?” we asked, trying to prompt him into handing over some identification. We’d been told to use this tactic to use to put off crooked officials and it seemed a smart move generally before handing over our passports to some unknown person. It didn’t work. The man either played dumb or didn’t understand and before long a second official appeared on the scene with the same demand.
We quickly weakened. We didn’t feel like playing the game so we gave our passports over to the police who, like officers everywhere between here and Turkey, couldn’t tell where we were from, what our names were or what an Uzbek visa looked like. In a humourous twist, we ended up assuring them that our documents were order and with that settled they let us go on our way.
Welcome to Tashkent. Although we weren’t asked for a bribe, being stopped was annoying and we wondered how many more times we’d be checked during our stay in the city. We resolved to use our bicycles to get around, making it harder for the police to catch us. Travelling by bicycle has some advantages and during our trip between Samarqand and Tashkent we certainly worked on improving our speed and stamina. We covered the 360km over three days, pushing hard so we could get started on the next round of visas as soon as possible.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are all on our shopping list. Until a week ago China was there too but now it seems that’s impossible. The shutters are coming down on embassies everywhere ahead of the Olympics and we were told by a French woman who spent a frustrating day at the embassy in Tashkent yesterday that a visa was now impossible without a return plane ticket. (more…)
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Uzbekistan by andrew
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Spring Cleaning
They tell us Samarqand is a beautiful city but it’s pouring rain outside and how can you see all the ancient buildings when the heavens are open and water is falling from the skies with full force? There was nothing for it but to do a bit of spring cleaning instead and for us this meant digging out all those things we’ve wanted to share with you but haven’t. Why haven’t we? Well, you know, it’s complicated. So much to do on a world bicycle tour, so little time! Anyway, finally we found the time and here you are, a spring present from us.
First there’s an interview with six German fellows (correction: five Germans and one Lebanese, listen to the show and you may understand) who we met carrying guitars at the Iranian-Turkmenistan border. They’re hitching to Mongolia and singing along the way and they were kind enough to sing a song for us.
Then you’ll find a second mini-show where we introduce you to Carl, a French Canadian who we met way back when we were just green cycling tourists, hardly through our first month on the road. This interview has really been hanging around a long time and it’s high time we shared it with you so put on your headphones, sit back and enjoy.
As a third bonus, take a look at the site of Michel, a French guy who’s staying in our hotel in Samarqand. He’s going around the world on a recumbent tricycle and his motto is one we can really identify with: don’t dream about your life, live your dream.
Show 15: German singers: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Show 16: Meet Carl: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
