STEBO'S BLOG

Hotel Corridor We had ordered a taxi for 05:30, it was still dark and I was incredibly hungover. Luckily I had pre-packed everything the day before and put the last few items in my hand luggage. The receptionist had two little breakfast packages for us too. Our bird It was dark for most of the drive, we exited the city and drove across the undulating steppes to the airport. When we arrived at the airport the sun was just rising. For some reason our Turkish Airlines flight wit

The Market Entrance It was decided that a day at the market was on the cards. After breakfast we walked 3 km to the Narantuul Market with its beautifully decorated gate. Then market was huge, selling clothes, school stationary, household stuff and what not. Carpet-land More interestingly, they had lots of carpets which in itself was spectacular as they were hung on either side of the aisles and above the aisles making for a very colourful and special experience. Traditional

Early Morning We went for a late breakfast. There was a toaster called "lekker" which I thought funny, but nothing like warm toast with melted butter. After breakfast we walked together to the post office. We bought and sent postcards there, after which we went to the much acclaimed "Mary and Martha's Gift Shop", it was totally overrated. Flowers Then we went to the "State Department Store" which bore that name in English too. We browsed the clothing section looking at very e

Korean Breakfast We were up early and ordered an uber to the airport. I handed over my postcards to the porter who promised to post them for us. The taxi journey was again a chaos of pings and a frantic female voice. Our Plane Our check-in with T'way was smooth then we had to find breakfast. We wondered using a touchscreen where I chose a bibimbap which was a tray full of lots of little dishes, a soup, rice, spicy sauce, sugary seaweed, tofu. Inside the plane We hung around t

Seoul Station When we arrived at Seoul station, it was painfully obvious that "regular" taxis didn't operate. I had an idea. We would find a place for coffee, then using the WiFi order an uber to the temple. It worked and we were set off at Gyeongbokgung Palace where we walked around fora good two hours. Gyeongbokgung Palace There was a rule that if you hired a traditional costume the ticket was free, as it happens the ticket was cheaper than the costume, but it made for inte

Our hotel Upon arrival, we joined the long queue for the immigration and got an actual sticker in our passports. Without stating the obvious, the first thing I noticed is that everything was written in Korean, a language that I had zero knowledge of its written or spoken form. Street signs Outside the airport we quickly picked up a taxi and for the entire journey, the phone and navigating system was pinging like crazy with a semi hysterical female voice. Incheon When we arriv

Guinness at teh aiprort We again ordered our breakfast, I had fried eggs with toast, again, but it was better than the previous day. This was a transit day, so we hung around the hotel un check out at 12:00. The receptionist ordered a taxi for us and we quickly left the city behind. We also noticed they had a light rail system to the airport which we drove alongside. More Guinness1 It was a long wait in the airport, so I ordered a check beer and a Guinness, then waited around

Arrival in Astana I slept well on the train but Stanislav didn't sleep so well. The train was very slow as it arrived into Astana, dull grey sky welcomed us. Of course the "taxi-taxi" guys were there but they wanted to charge us 30 dollars. Stanislav used some colourful Balkan words. Vladimir a kind Russian guy intervened and ordered a Yandex taxi for us, and even though I offered to pay him he refused. I am eternally grateful! Our home was somewhere in one of these hotels on

Sunny side up This was a bit of a purgatorial day as we needed to get to the railway station. We grabbed a nice breakfast at "crave" nice cappuccino and shakshuka, Stanislav had eggs and porridge. We wanted to hang around until it was check out time at 12:00 but our cleaner arrived at 11:30 to kick us out. It was around a 30 minute walk to the station, it was heavy work as my suitcase was loaded with wines and beers, and the wheels became damaged. Shakshuka We deposited the b

At the mall Basically we had salad and bread for breakfast. We left cash behind for payment in the apartment and went for coffee at a place close-by. Recharged after the coffee we went to the MegaPark shopping mall where I splurged and bought 3 bottles of Kazakh wine. I also went to a Turkish cooking shop and got a baking tin which was patterned, it was meant for cakes but I will use it for bread. The guy serving us was from China, an Uyghur and he took out his phone and film

Bus to Almaty Breakfast time again, I love breakfast made to order! This time I had the "fried eggs with vegetables" that turned out to be an omelette with vegetables, it was okay, edible. On the bus We ordered a taxi to the bus station which was completely full with tourists, up to this point I had not seen so many tourists at all. It was only 11km to the border and we arrived to see a huge cue of all kinds of vehicles waiting to be checked through. On the bus we already mad

Shakshuka We hadn't ordered breakfast when booking, that was extra. It wasn't a buffet but actually made to order breakfast which I prefer! I ordered shakshuka and Stanislav order fried eggs and porridge. The market We wrote our postcards then went for a long walk through the city, stopping at Paul for coffee. We walked to the Ak Emmir market, small compared to what we already had seen, but it sold fruits, cheese, nuts, alcohol and even French style bread. MIG21 The next chal

Our driver Just after breakfast we packed up and met our driver for "Bishkek" one potential driver said he was Kyrgyz and could go all the way, but this guy assured us. "Bishkek, Bishkek yes, yes, yes, Bishkek". Not far from our hotel in Shymkent, the driver picked up a mystery traveller and off we went. Dust Devil I have no idea what speeds we were doing and I was afraid to look, but I recon about 150-180 km/h. Every so often we would slow down as oncoming traffic would warn

Our driver and his car I was pretty much over my "Dushanbelly" episode but I decided a modest breakfast. We were to meet our driver at 08:30 at the entrance of the hotel, it was 08:25 and as I was messaging him he texted "I am here" in English, he was right in front of us. He immediately picked up our bags and loaded them into the car. He was a gentle and humble soul. The border It was about an hour and we had left behind the parched brown landscape of Tajikistan, it was kin

View of the mountains from our hotel Our first "full day" of Khujand and I could barely eat. I was still suffering from "Dushanbelly". I tried my best balancing hydration with butt clenching for the rest of the day. Zoroastrian statue We visited a wonderful museum and met a friendly German lady. The museum had many artefacts dating back 2400 years. What I really liked were the Zoroastrian statues and sculptures. Book of multi-lingual sayings The gift shop was nice and I got H

Our taxı I woke up with "Dushanbelly" and could only eat half an egg and a small piece of bread. The toilet also became clogged and I needed to use the loo at the reception. Pit stop I opened the "Jura" taxi app and ordered a taxi which he accepted straight away for our journey to Khujand for 1227 Somani thats about 120 euros. Our driver was very friendly and had great English but I also got to practise my Tajik. Pretty much immediately after starting our journey, we had to c

Sunrise at the border At around 03:00 the sun was coming up and one of the guards knocked on the door and we handed over our passports as we were at the border. Lots of Uzbek guards got on board to ask us questions and finally gave our passports back with the exit stamps. Dushanbe Station As we arrived into Dushanbe it looked like a city from India to me, lots of rubbish everywhere and poverty, kids in rags, small semi-derelict houses that were lived in and these gave way to

Samarkand Station We had breakfast at our hotel and packed our bags, afterwards we just waited in the garden for our taxi guy to arrive. Pomegranate While lounging around in the garden an older man arrived with a dead sheep and turned it into a family affair. First he ripped out the testicles by hand, skinning them, then he took out the liver, a lady was handed the intestines and she washed them in the sink. Very quickly cars started arriving and bags of meat were handed out

Our driver Breakfast was a relatively simple affair, some sweaty cheeses that had been lying out for too long, and some very sad looking fried eggs that looked like they had been abused, and the bread was like cardboard. At the cemetery At 12:00 our taxi driver and guide arrived and took us to a Jewish grave, we didn't enter but took a few pictures outside there was also an observatory he told us about that we also just took pictures of. 40 shades of blue We also went to a be

The train to Samarkand At the reception of our hotel the young guy ordered us a taxi to the railways station, quite an impressive soviet style building. The driver was not happy as he realised the nice guy at the reception had actually paid him via the app but I gladly paid the cash which I assume he gave to the hotel guy. The train seat I tried to sleep on the journey to Samarkand, but at a certain point I noticed dry brown mountains and very arid looking landscapes. Samarka