The Stans 2026

 A pleasantly easy day today - which is good because we're tired. We got the whole morning off and used it to sleep in and catch up on things. We've also got a couple more days here and I don't think there's that much to see (based on today's outing) so no rush. When we did go out, we started at 28 Panfilov Guardsmen Park. Named after some soldiers from the Battle of Moscow, which was a big deal in the USSR, it is largely a war memorial with suitably ugly sculptures. But in the middle of the park is a wooden Russian Orthodox Church. This was quite attractive but the interior was over the top with the gilded theme. Then we walked the couple of blocks to the Green Bazaar. We're pretty much over bazaars but to be honest this was better than most. It smelt better, was tidy and practically hygienic. When we wandered beyond the main building the rest was all drab, cheap clothes from China. We went to the chocolate factory and shop next door, but it was pretty underwhe...

 Today was essentially a bus day, travelling into Kazakhstan. Other than the time looking at highways, we're only seeing one city in Kazakhstan, Almaty. While Almaty is the biggest city, this is a very big country so I'm not sure that I can say we'll know much about it by the time we leave. We started by driving an hour or so to the border. This turned out to be  a random-seeming point on the highway, on the middle of a wide flat plain. It really makes you wonder how they decide where these borders should be. We showed our passports, put our bags through the x-ray machine, but it was actually the quickest and easiest border we've encountered so far. Then we got on a new bus and carried on. We're really on the steppe now, so it's mostly flat with some distant mountains. After another hour or so we reached Charyn Canyon, which was quite impressive and seems to be a significant tourist attraction. Like our stops yesterday, it seems to be all about what you can make...

 Not a lot happened today, which was fine really. It was essentially driving from the yurt camp on the south shore of Issyk Kul to Karakol at the eastern end. This was kind of painful; they seem to be upgrading most of the roads and so it was all uneven, gravelly potholed roads the whole way, just interupted by short sections where they'd got around to sealing it. It was still scenic - you can just see the north side of the lake where there is a continuous line of snow-capped mountain tops paralleling the shore. We stopped a couple of times at sort-of-scenic points (which involved turning up narrower but equally bumpy roads). The first time it was around eroded sand gullies. The second time there were large red rocks. Both were actually busy with tourists because this is apparently the touristy part of the country. As well as locals coming to the lake in summer, people come to hike in the mountains and there are snow fields in winter. It was about 3pm when we eventually reached Kar...

 Day 26. That feels like a lot of days, particularly living out of suitcases. We're a bit over all that, but down to the final week now. Today involved as bit of backtracking as we headed north and then east, but that's fine as the scenery is great everywhere. Late morning we got to Kochkor where we were instructed in the art of yurt assembly. Essentially they are made of curved trellis and covered in layers of felt for warmth and a degree of waterproofing. That's all that you, and to be honest I, need to know. We had lunch at the same place and this followed the prescription I have outlined before. The next stop was a demonstration of golden eagle training and hunting, which was pretty entertaining. It involves taigan hunting dogs as well as eagles, which can catch things up to the size of a wolf or goat. Late afternoon we got to our yurt camp on the southern shores of Issyk Kul which is an extremely big alpine lake. Everyone comes here in the summer to escape the heat so ...

 We're in this hotel for two nights - which works out well, because it's pretty comfortable, particularly for a place in the middle of nowhere. For the day we essentially drove up into the mountains for lunch and back, just with a few stops along the way. After driving up twisting gorges we came to a large, wide, At-Bashy Valley stretching away into the distance. Largely populated by large herds of horses, the north wall was a series of low sand-coloured hills while the south wall was capped by snow and clouds. Part way up this we stopped to look at the ruins of the Koshoy Korgon fort, which was really just the outline of the clay walls. South wall of At-Bashy Valley A bit further up we turned into a smaller valley and drove some way. Eventually we stopped for lunch at a yurt camp. The same meal I described yesterday, with prominent meat and potatoes as the main course. The meat was said to be yak, which seemed possible as there were herds of yaks in the valley, Looking up the ...

 The guest house we stayed in last night was basic, but not bad. The same goes for the food. But at 9.30 we were off again, winding through valleys and gorges all day. I think wer have gradually been going up, too, so that by the end of the day we're at around 2000m. There are lots of trucks, often going to or from China, which is close by. Also herds of sheep (very large, fat-tailed varieties), cows and horses. I think that because it's autumn they are coming down from the high mountains, where they spent the summer, to low pastures and then mangers when the snow arrives. Apart from that today was mostly scenery. Steep snow-capped mountains bare of any trees. At lunchtime we stopped in Kochkor and ate in another guest house. We're getting used to the local hospitality now - plates of salads, bread, balls of fried dough, fresh rasberry jam and fruit. They bring out a soup and then a main course which involves meat and potatoes. Endless cups of black and green tea. We were a...

 Perhaps Bishkek doesn’t have much to recommend it. Certainly we didn’t stay very long. But a man we were chatting to at lunchtime said that in Uzbekistan the cities are good but the countryside is unattractive, and in Kyrgyzstan it’s the opposite. All I know is that this morning we mostly saw communist statues and then headed out of town. Their biggest statue, next to their big flagpole, is of their mythic hero Manas. But further back there is Lenin, Marx and Engels. The walking was actually quite pleasant though, and I think we would have enjoyed more of the sightseeing the last few weeks if it’d been 10 degrees cooler. Lenin Anyway, the 14 tourists are now in two minivans and we headed east, along the border with Kazakhstan. For lunch we stopped at a local farm. We had to walk through the farmyard, which definitely smelt agricultural, but the food was actually very good.   Then we went to Burana tower. Kyrgyzstan has very few old buildings as they were all nomadic for a...

 Back to another inefficient travel day. Today being more inefficient than most. At least it started well - tghe hotel has a particularly good buffet breakfast and we didn't have to assemble until 11am, so we had a leasurely start. It's only 20 minutes or so to the airport. But after arriving we discovered that our 1.40pm flight to Bishkek ion Kyrgyzstan had been rescheduled until 4pm and then further delatyed to 6.30pm. The initial rescheduling had occurred prior to today but it's not clear whether the guide should have been aware of that as the airline seems to have a record of rescheduling (or cancelling) without notifying people. Either way - after some indecision most of us went back to the Hyatt where there were sufficient seats, food and drink and wifi. Actually that's where I am now, writing this as a way to pass the time until we head back to the airport and the usual rigmarole. I'm picking up again at the end of the day... after a quiet afternoon reading i...

 The observant reader, should such a thing exist, will notice that this entry is headed 'Tashkent'. Such a reader might be confused by this - surely we'd already been to Tashkent? Yes! And we are again. We flew to Tajikistan just to drive back here again. But first we were obliged to see the sights of Khujand, such as they are. I did ask my guide where all the million-plus visitors to Tajikistan go, as they're certainly not at what we understand to be tourist attractions. He explained firstly that the number of 'tourist' conflates that figure with other visitors, and these are mostly locals who hop back and forth over the border. Then of the people from further afield, some are Russians avoiding the war with Ukraine and pushing up local house prices. Finally, if there are any actual tourists left, these are still mostly Russian and they don't comer for education - they grill their own shashliks and drink vodka on 'gastronomy tours'. Our tour this mor...

Today was another transit day. So pretty straightforward, which is good. I suppose. As we left Dushanbe we were taken to the Navruz Palace. This is a new building and not an actual palace. But it’s very fancy, in an over-the-top kind of way (that we might be coming to appreciate). It’s used for weddings and big meetings and they’re very proud of it. Then we headed north, through several ranges of mountains. Our eventual destination was Khujand. All of these are significant historical places on the silk route. But on the way we stopped a couple of times to take in the view, some restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch, and Istaravshan to visit the market. The mountains started off low and rocky. A bit like the Australian landscape it is parched and scrubby. Then it got higher and more rocky with bare rubble-strewn slopes. Eventually we were driving along a deep ravine, sometimes switchbacking up to a tunnel pass. There are also lengths enclosed like a tunnel to protect...

 I think yesterday afternoon largely exhausted the tourist sites in Dushanbe itself, as this morning we went to Hisor, about 30km away. It's a village, though now more a suburb, and also the site of Hisor fort, which dates back about 2500 years. The original thing is mostly just the gates and enclosing wall now - the contents being lost over the intervening period. From the Fort walls But the whole area is pretty old. Just below the fort is a(nother) madrasa we walked around and an adjacent caravanserai. Then there was a very loud distraction as there were several weddings taking place (presumably because it's Sunday) and they seem to compete with each other.  They had drums, very long horns and at least one saxaphone. Madrasa Back in town were were taken to a Turkish restaurant for lunch. This seemed an odd choice, but the guide suggested the food is very similar. Certainly the shashlik platters were large and very good and we were happy to spend the afternoon recovering.

 Well we'd been in Uzbekistan for quite a long time and this is meant to be a trip to the 'Five Stans'. So I expect you were wondering when we'd move on. The answer would have been 'today'. Admittedly this is a short excursion, only 3-4 days, so the implication is that there is less to see in Tajikistan, or at least that it has fewer tourist facilities.. That means today was a transit day. However we also spent time sightseeing. I thought those things were generally separate, and today I found out why. Doing both is too much. We left the hotel at 8am and went to the airport, which wasn't far and wasn't too big. All the usual hassles of international travel - multiple checks and scans, but we were pretty much through by 9am and our flight wasn't until 11.10, so there was a fair bit of sitting around and waiting, which is now comfortable in its familiarity. They have some decent shops in the airport, including one that sold a carry-on bag which was als...