STEBO'S BLOG

A Travel Blog

I am Stephen. I was born in Dublin, Ireland, I now live in Rotterdam, the Netherlands since 2003. I love cooking, travel and learning new languages.

Asia Tour 2026 - Day 25/25 - 3rd September - Going Home

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

eusts6

Oct 102 min read

Asia Tour 2026 - Day 24/25 - 2nd September - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - City 15/15 - Country 9/9

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

eusts6

Oct 92 min read

eusts6

Oct 32 min read

Asia Tour 2026 - Day 19/25 - 28th August - Astana, Kazakhstan - City 12/15 - Country 6/9

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

eusts6

Sep 283 min read

Asia Tour 2026 - Day 14/25 - 23rd August - Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - City 10/15 - Country 7/9

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