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Sean Plamondon
Sean Plamondon

Sean Plamondon

traveled in 86 countries Read more🇨🇦Ottawa
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  • Sean PlamondonMexico, Puebla, TaxcoSean Plamondon

    Taxco

    November 14, 2024 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Drove west 3 hours to reach the beautiful town of Taxco, built vertically down the side of a mountain. Navigating to the hotel required driving up and down quaint narrow maze like streets, trying to avoid pedestrians on both sides of the car. All the buildings are built with similar styles and similar wood accents, and everything is white. Really charming place.

    From the very nice hotel we booked, walked back to the historical center up and up and up :) Reached the main cathedral which was quite striking. Had lunch in the main square across from the cathedral. After our late lunch, we took the gondola to the top of the adjacent mountain and hung out there for quite a while admiring the view.

    Came back down the gondola, and found a great little brewery tucked into the narrow streets. Chatted away with the nice bartender Sarah for a few hours before going to a restaurant that she recommended. I had a fantastic octopus meal there. I've been getting super spoiled with all these amazing meals so far.

    Kris wasn't feeling well, so he taxi'd back to the hotel and i relaxed with a beer before returning a little while later too.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonMexico, Puebla, TaxcoSean Plamondon

    Puebla - Day 2

    November 13, 2024 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Started the day with a side trip to nearby Cholula, which has the widest pyramid in the world but is mostly covered in dirt and grass now. This pyramid has a very interesting network of tunnels and multiple layers and levels below the surface. And the spanish built a church on top of it to convert the native folks to Christianity.

    Unfortunately the tunnels were closed because one of them collapsed a year ago, so we checked out the museum and walked around all sites and eventually to the church on top. We also walked around the pretty historical center before returning to puebla.

    Mike found a great restaurant where i had the best seafood stew ever. It was so good, i ordered it twice haha. Capped the evening at a very loud mexican bar and then said our farewell to mike because the next morning he was taking a bus south to oaxaca while we were heading west to taxco.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonMexico, Puebla, TaxcoSean Plamondon

    Puebla - Day 1

    November 12, 2024 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    To retrieve our 5 day rental SUV, we had to uber back to the airport first to get it. Then we set off to the pyramids which was an hour drive. Walked maybe 10km to see all the temples, two major pyramids and tour the amazing murals amazingly still in tact. Unfortunately, most structures are no longer climbable, but still are incredibly impressive.

    After the pyramids, we found a wild nearby place for lunch literally in a cave. My food was great but unfortunately kris and mike couldn't say quite the same.

    From there, we drove another 2 hours to the charming city of puebla. Arrived at sundown, so didn't get to see a lot but still a very beautiful historical downtown area.

    Kris and i rented an insanely huge modern 2 bedroom apartment with en suite bathrooms, kitchen, bar and big living room. We didn't want to leave haha.

    Made our way into town and had beverages at a local brewery, followed by food and drinks at a place called Kingstons before calling it a night.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonMexico, Puebla, TaxcoSean Plamondon

    Mexico City - Day 2

    November 11, 2024 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Mike and i met at a traditional yucatan restaurant near the zocalo for lunch. I unwittingly ordered a massive turkey leg that was smothered in awesome mole sauce. Yummy but kinda weird on its own. No way could i dream of finishing this massive plate!

    Then met up with kris in front of the cathedral for the walking tour we signed up for. I had already seen most of the locations but our tour guide warryor was quite a character with lots of fun anecdotes tying everything together.

    After the tour, i promised the guys i would show them a few of my favorite beer spots. Unfortunately i misremembered and brought them to the wrong first spot. Still, we had some decent beers.

    Then i took them to yeccan which is my home away from canada. The staff and owner always recognize me and treat me like long lost family. And the craft beers are always great. A little out of stock this time but a good time :)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonMexico, Puebla, TaxcoSean Plamondon

    Mexico City - Day 1

    November 10, 2024 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Arrived late Saturday night and had a couple of quick beers before getting to bed.

    The next day, i slept in and in the afternoon found a sportsbar about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. Reunited with Kris from Ottawa, and Mike from belgium. Mike is traveling mexico for a month and kris and i are tagging along for a week.

    Spent the evening at a nearby jazz club which also served tasty food and then got to bed at a respectable hour.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    1

    Edinburgh

    July 30, 2024 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Arrived about 15 minutes before the canada v Australia olympic basketball game. Tried a few sports pubs close to my haymarket area hotel but neither had the game. So decided i would hike 30+ minutes with my backpack to the cowgate area to the Oz bar. Figured they must have the Australia game on. And i was right, phew. I was surprisingly the only one watching it but was an impressive canada victory nonetheless.

    Hiked all the way back to haymarket, checked in and lay down for a few hours. Charlie and i were up late chatting away the night before. Took a lot of effort but convinced myself to get going and took the tram to the Leith port area. Unfortunately the seafood restaurant i wanted was completely booked for the evening but i found a really nice spot on the water instead. The only table i found available on their massive multi level deck was a table for 6. So i wasn't very surprised when a foursome asked if they could join my table 10 minutes after i sat down. 3 from belgium and 1 american. Chatted with them for a few hours and then left early cuz the temperature dropped to 15C. I congratulated them for outlasting the canadian and hopped back on the tram :)

    Had a few beers at a nearby pub to my hotel and chatted with super friendly guy from london sitting next to me for quite a while. One last pint at the sport pub and off to bed. Had to be up at 6am for the flight back to canada.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    1
    1

    Bruges

    July 29, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Train ride from Luxembourg was 4 hours, connecting through brussels but missed my connection. Fortunately there was another connection 20 minutes later to Bruges, arriving at 3pm.

    On arrival, Charlie greeted me at the train station and off we went into the old town of Bruges. What a fantastic place to wander aimlessly with all its beautiful old buildings, quaint streets and canals. "Venice of the north".

    Charlie and i stopped at a small beer place where we met lovely sofie and oliver from denmark. Chatted with them for about an hour and then made our way to the main plaza, which is just spectacular. Had some snacks there until Mike found us and took us to a really nice interior courtyard place for some beers. Followed by another Mike hand picked spot for supper where i ate an awesome fish stew. And one more spot chosen by mike for late evening beverages before he had to train back to Ghent.

    Charlie and i then drove to his house a block from the seaside in blankenberge. Walked the beach enough to dip our toes in the ocean and then found a nice beachside place for a beverage before heading back to Charlie's apartment to cap the night.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Luxembourg

    July 28, 2024 in Luxembourg ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today Alexandra and i took the train to Luxembourg. Unfortunately our train to Brussels got delayed by an hour "because of terrorism" according to the overhead speaker announcement. So arrived a bit later than originally planned, but otherwise all went well.

    Walked around the immaculately clean old town for a bit. Alexandra being the basketball fanatic that she is, really wanted to find a place to watch the usa v serbia match - which sounded great to me as well. Found a sportsbar with a lot of Americans wanting to watch it too. After a while, it became apparent the sportsbar didn't have that channel despite all their frantic efforts. But i remembered i installed a streaming service on my phone before the trip. And with permission from the bar manager, i was able to broadcast the game from my phone to the bar's big screen. Everyone was so happy haha.

    After many thank you's from the manager and all the americans, we left and found a nearby microbrewery and did some beer samplings. Followed by trying some local wine at another establishment and a game of rummy 500. I am slowly teaching the world how to play that game haha.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Lille

    July 27, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Walked about 30 minutes to the Ghent train station, which was a bit laboured because i sprained my ankle a bit trying to exit the craziness of the festival the night prior. 30 minute train back to brussels and another 30 minutes to reach Lille, France. I was here to attend the Canada v Greece olympic men's basketball game

    Walked from the train station into the old town with all my gear and sat down for a small break and then continued to my hotel. About 30 minutes total. The old town is really beautiful.

    I wasn't able to checkin until 4, so i dropped off my bags and walked back to the old town to get some food and check out the quaint streets and sights. Wearing my canada shirt, i got heckled by many greek fans and surprisingly i didn't see any other canadians. But it was fun to interact in good natured ribbing.

    My friend Alexandra was en route from Paris to join me for the game but her train endured massive delays because of numerous sabotages to the tracks. Many people here are thinking its russians doing it. Eventually i realized Alexandra wasn't going to make it on time for the game, so i contacted Charlie who lives an hour away in Bruges to see if he wanted to come to the game with me. 90 minutes later he arrived and off to the stadium we went.

    The crowd was mostly greek supporters and they were really loud. But canada led the game from start to finish. Definitely a nail biting finish but canada prevailed, yay!!!

    In the meantime, poor Alexandra still hadn't arrived in Lille. This whole game was her idea and she was so discouraged to not be able to attend. Took Charlie and i two hours to get back to the hotel around 1:30am and Alexandra arrived at the same time. Poor her. We all walked to the old town for a beverage and then charlie drove back to bruges and we crashed out too.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    1

    Ghent

    July 26, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Late morning start, Charlie and i walked to european part of brussels and had a good italian lunch right outside the european union buildings. Relaxed there until Raquel found us and charlie gave us a small tour of all the European headquarters in brussels. Then onto some nice parks. Ubered to his car and he drove us to Ghent to Mike's house for some pre festival drinks and snacks.

    The Ghent festival is insane. 200,000+ people a day attending. Its a 10 day, 24/7 party. It literally never stops going until the final hour on the 10th day. 12 atages, djs, street parties, its all just so beyond what i can describe.

    And Ghent might now be my favourite medieval city. Its soooo amazing. Towers, castles, cathedrals and canals all over. I had no idea. Constantly picking my jaw off the ground.

    Mike gave us a tour of ghent and then we ate at a very traditional belgian restaurant. Wim also made the drive down to join us. He's such a nice guy too.

    After supper, we found a fun concert area where we hung out for a few hours. Then wandered through the crowds and different party areas. Eventually Raquel decided she should get back to Brussels because she's going to Amsterdam in the morning. And Wim was super sweet to wait until she wanted to leave and then drove her all the way back to brussels. I think they departed at 2am.

    Charlie and Mike took me to a small packed bar in the middle of the chaos and we danced there until i had to get out of there. I think it was 430am. My 20 minute walk to my apartment turned into an hour walk because i got stuck in a crazy massive party crowd and could barely move. Annoying but definitely a unique experience too.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    Charlie first to meet up with me in brussels
    Mike showed up nextRaquel eventually found us

    Brussels

    July 25, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    During my trip in the amazon last November, i met two awesome guys from belgium who told me i gotta swing by and visit them sometime. So i dedicated a few days of this trip to doing just that.

    After a few hours of sleep after my red eye flight, Charlie met me at my hotel at noon. He was nice enough to drive from bruges to brussels to meet up with me and give me a great walking tour of central brussels. Its a much nicer city than i realized. Tons of beautiful old architecture throughout.

    Mike had to work, so he showed up around 6pm after taking the train from Ghent. And their friend Wim joined us too, as we all reunited on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city.

    A couple hours later, Raquel arrived from moldova and we all had supper at a traditional belgian restaurant. Followed by bouncing around to some fun bars and sampling world renowned belgian beers. Mike had to take the midnight train back to Ghent because he had to work the next morning, but Charlie stayed the night and shared my hotel room with me.

    Super fun day and night. So glad i splurged to get here from Armenia after the FlyOne debacle.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    In Limbo

    July 24, 2024 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    This was a messed up day.

    Loaded up the car and drove to see the blue mosque and the very impressive cathedral before heading to the airport.

    Raquel and i had both done our online checkin the day before and had our digital boarding passes. But once at the airport, Raquel was allowed onto the flight to Moldova but i had been re-booked for a flight there two days later. Which was fairly disastrous for all my pre-booked plans and reservations. Apparently there was a problem with the plane so they switched it to a smaller aircraft with less seats and i was unfortunately one of the people that drew a short straw.

    After finding the FlyOne office to complain, and calling their head office, the best i could do is cancel completely and receive a refund. Poor Raquel now had to fly to moldova herself. And i had to figure out how to get out of this mess.

    Spent about 90 minutes talking with the airport information girl for every flight that day departing from armenia to western europe and hope i can find a way to belgium via train once there. Discouragingly, every single flight was full. Started to become a very stressful moment because of how much the rest of my trip was going to ruined. People expecting me in belgium, and olympics were in jeopardy. So i had to start looking at the next day. Semi luckily i found a direct flight to brussels.. the unlucky part was the cost: $930. And it was 1:45am, arriving at 5am. But it would save the rest of my trip, so i had to bite the bullet.

    Spent the rest of the afternoon back in yerevan killing time at sidewalk cafes, and arguing with FlyOne airways people about compensation for making me lose 2 flights, one hotel reservation in moldova and the costly flight i had to purchase. They did give me about $400 back, so thats a semi victory. And decided time to just move forward.

    Booked an extra night in brussels so when i arrived i could go to bed right away. Got there at 6am and passed out. Lets not do that again.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Yerevan

    July 23, 2024 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Drove about 2 hours to Saghmosavank and visited another ancient monestary. This one was situated on the edge of a huge, striking gorge. Took some time to marvel at both the ancient church and the incredible scenery. Then got back in the car and traveled another 15 minutes to another ancient church Hovhannavank on the side of the same Kasagh gorge. These are the oldest churches in the world.. so amazing they are standing and look to have very little restoration work done.

    Was another 45 minute drive to get to downtown Yerevan, the capital. Very hot day again, so while walking around to see the different sites, also ducked into various places for cold beverages. Yerevan is a really nice city. Full of parks and sidewalk terraces throughout. Its a bit short on monuments but definitely a place i could enjoy living in.

    Found some good beer places but nothing too amazing either. German wheat-style weizen was the best i could find, but a lot better than many cities on this trip. And ate lamb at local favourite Yerevan tavern. Finished the night at a hip little lounge bar below the hotel and respectably in bed by midnight :)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Haghpat

    July 22, 2024 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Very big drive from the furthest northern point of Georgia into Armenia. Left around 9am, stopped for food around 11am, got stuck for an hour trying to get through tbilisi and took a good hour to get through the border crossing. Didn't arrive at our hotel until 7pm.

    The border crossing was a bit more involved than i thought. Raquel had to exit the car and go through the customs buildings on foot while i drove the car through both the georgia exit and the armenia entry. Tons of paperwork involved and car searches. And i was forced to purchase car insurance on the armenian side but that was a fun experience too with locals and their curiosity of me.

    Beautiful drive into the huge mountains very shortly after entering Armenia and all the way to Haghpat - which is an ancient monestary atop a mountain. After checking out the monestary, drove another 30 minutes to our hotel in the middle of tight mountains and a river. Definitely the nicest stay of the trip. Had a multi course meal and great wine sitting by the river. Just as we were finishing up, we got invited to join a table of 8 armenians who were having a huge feast, so we joined them. Hilarious, nice group of guys.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    11

    Kazbegi

    July 21, 2024 in Georgia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Taxi'd back to the airport to pick up our rental car and headed due north high up into the caucasus mountains. Stopping several times to take in the beautiful scenery and lakes and high lookout points. Much colder in this part of the country and a tshirt definitely wouldn't be enough.

    Finally arrived in Kazbegi, and drove up to picture perfect Gregeti Trinity church and its amazing panoramic views. It was really hard to leave. But i was getting super hungry. So we drove down the mountain and to the town for food. Super yummy stew type meal. And then found a small hotel to crash at for the night. Early to bed to recharge our batteries.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Tbilisi - Day 2

    July 20, 2024 in Georgia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Slept in and met up with Marcus and Maria in the old town at a craft beer place they found. Raquel eventually joined us and then we all went to a wine tasting in a cool basement winery. All the wines we sampled were really good and different than the wines I'm used to.

    After that, Raquel and i found a nice restaurant to grab a good meal at and while sitting there, a girl sat at our table with us. Turns out that restaurant was the meeting spot for a pub crawl and that girl thought we were part of the group. Fairly fortuitous so we decided to join the group.

    Lots of dancing and socializing with a very diverse international group. Fun night.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    1

    Tbilisi - Day 1

    July 19, 2024 in Georgia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Arrived in tbilisi around 6pm and met up with my Brazilian friend Raquel who flew in from New York to travel with me for about a week. Had a quick beverage together and then we set off to find a good restaurant and later to meet up with Marcus and Maria once again (from Norway). They led us to a craft beer place and we all did a sampler flight.

    After Marcus and Maria left, Raquel and i found a nice basement bar for a beverage. And then after that found a super packed street of all lounges and nightclubs. Popped in and out of a bunch and finished up at a really fun irish karoke spot where we met a ton of people.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    11

    Baku - Day 2

    July 18, 2024 in Azerbaijan ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Spent the afternoon walking around the old town stopping occasionally for a glass of wine here and there. Popped into a lovely winery and found an awesome rooftop location.

    It was a much less social day and just to to myself wandering around. As i headed back towards my hotel, i saw bunch of women cooking food in a park with their kids. I decided to sit down on some steps not too far away. They were so kind, bringing me a cup of tea, and then some bread, and then some pastries and desserts. All the with a kitten in my lap :) And they also insisted i do some purification thing in a smoke kettle of sorts. I was

    Just before leaving, i took a quick snapshot, which they unfortunately didn't like. And some of the teens followed me for a few blocks insisting i dont publish that picture. So i will of course honour their request and omit it from this entry.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Baku - Day 1

    July 17, 2024 in Azerbaijan ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    I had a long trip to get to baku. 5.5 hours from bishkek to ankara, turkey. Then 2.5 hours from ankara to baku. My connection was only 2 hours, and my flight was an hour late arriving. I thought for sure i would miss my connection because in bishkek i wasn't given both boarding passes and i was thinking i would have to exit security and check in again in ankara. But fortunately i found desk inside the security zone to give me a boarding pass.

    Baku is both old and modern simultaneously. Really beautiful city. I wandered the old city a bit before relaxing at a place with great dolmas and a beer and extremely friendly kittens. Eventually wandered around some more and found a place with a great live band. And after that went to a small pub and met some really nice azerbaijan guys who shared my world views quite a bit surprisingly. We chatted and played pool for a few hours before ending the night    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    Tim from kentuckyRussian friend

    Bishkek - Day 3

    July 16, 2024 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    My excursion started at 830am. Aziz picked me up first and we had to wait for Kati's plane to arrive from Germany. Pretty crazy she is going from an overnight flight right onto an excursion!

    First we stopped at Burana tower. Not much left of the former city here. Climbed to the top and walked around the site a bit. Then lunch at a restaurant along the way and finally hiked into Kongorchuk canyon. Took about 1.5 hours to hike to the end which was spectacular red rock formations as a reward for the tiring effort. Hurried back because a big thunderstorm was rolling in and we got back to the car minutes before hitting us.

    Took a 3 hour nap and one last evening at Pivo where i met Tim from kentucky and a russian guy who is escaping the war.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    Kyrgyzstan stop signAwesome Navat restaurantMy $3 meal at NavatTijou from OregonMax from FranceAlina and co-bartender whose name escapes meRita from BishkekDavid from Quebec

    Bishkek - Day 2

    July 16, 2024 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Decided to not plan anything for this day and needed some sleep after the very late soccer match. Nice to slow things down a bit. Eventually got going and walked a few hours around the city. Lots of soviet era statues and monuments and soviet style buildings. Not the most creative architecture.

    Went to a traditional restaurant Navat and ordered something that was much more asian tasting with veal, vegetables, soy sauce and lots of different spices. Super tasty.

    Then back to the Pivo pub and chatted to the bartender Alina a lot plus met many other travelers. One guy from france drove all the way to Kyrgyzstan from Paris!! Crazy. My canadian friend david eventually joined me as well. Very social evenings in Kyrgyzstan.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    Ascension cathedral in almaty
    David, Marcus and Maria

    Bishkek - Day 1

    July 14, 2024 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Another travel day, this time to Kyrgyzstan. Visited a cathedral and also had an awesome meal called Ossobuco before heading off to the airport. Almaty's airport is easily the newest, nicest, biggest airport in central asia. Bit sad i didn't have more time in Almaty. Really nice city!

    Upon landing in bishkek, found out my norweigan friends were also in bishkek, and we made arrangements to meet up again. Another canadian, David, joined us too, who i met on a Facebook travel group. Had some really good craft beers at a place called Pivo (russian word for beer) and then we found a place to watch the Euro football final match between England and Spain.

    Game started at 1am because of the timezone difference.. so it was a very late night but such a fun time with friends.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    Charyn canyon
    Charyn canyonCharyn canyonCharyn canyonMoon canyonMoon canyonStone shelfStone shelfHorse meat meal

    Almaty - Day 2

    July 13, 2024 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Early start to the day for my canyons excursion. Sergey picked me up at 7am and off we went.

    Took over 2 hours to reach beautiful Charyn canyon. Hiked the length of the interior red rock area and also hiked most of the upper rim for panoramic shots. Wow it was hot inside the canyon, over 40C. Super popular and teeming with people

    I thought that was awesome until we drove off road to the Moon canyon. Spectacular tight golden rock formations. Continuing off road, really off road, to Stone Shelf which was perhaps even better. We had lunch right there. And deeper off road to two spots Napoleon and Austrian viewpoints. Geez it really didn't seem possible to keep getting better, but it did. Came across a number of camels in our off road venturing and even some on the highway. All these off road locations we were the only souls anywhere.

    On return i briefly rested and then made my way to a craft beer place i had researched. Finally some really good beer 🍺 😋 From there went to a traditional kazakh restaurant that Sergey recommended and i hesitantly ordered the traditional horse meat meal. Pretty good but one time deal for me :) Also tried fermented horse milk which is also absolutely never happening again! Yuck!!! It was 100x worse than i was anticipating haha, and my expectations were super low.

    Bounced around town to a few other places, trying more kazakh wine in a few nice places, chatting with some locals and eventually calling it a night.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Almaty - Day 1

    July 12, 2024 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Flight to Kazakhstan was rescheduled for 1pm but again by 3pm the flight showed "closed" on the big board and i was starting to think my Kazakhstan leg of the trip might not happen at all. But fortunately at 4pm we were in business and my 21 hour delay was over.

    Turned into mostly a travel day. By the time i arrived at my downtown apartment, it was well after 6. Then had problems finding a bank to pay for the apartment plus some difficulty coordinating with the apartment owner. Finally sat down for supper around 9pm.

    First impressions of Almaty are great! Very close to a huge mountain chain. Large boulevards with lots of trees and buzzing nightlife. I came across many pedestrian streets filled with street performers, shopping and restaurants. Very lively and safe city.

    Decided with my limited time to try out a local brewery for both some food and local craft beer. And also went to a winebar to sample some Kazakhstan chardonnay too. The beer was average and the wine was definitely better than i expected. And then off to bed for my 7am excursion.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon
    1

    Dushanbe - Day 2

    July 11, 2024 in Tajikistan ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Got up and took some more pictures at Iskander lake before the 3 hour drive back to Dushanbe. Such an incredible drive. My pictures do not do it justice. We stopped by Hisor fortress on the way which was a cool hilltop walled fort. Unfortunately not much remains on the interior. But very scenic spot. But again the heat made climbing the fortifications extremely hard.

    Then just killing a few hours before my 7pm flight. All the airports in this part of the world are tiny and not somewhere you want to hang out for very long anyways. So i went downtown for a few hours to a couple different places. Got to the airport 3 hours early but i wasn't even allowed into the checkin area until 2 hours before my flight. Things are just different here.

    Disappointingly, my flight was delayed 2 hours and eventually got cancelled. And supposed to get rescheduled for tomorrow at 1pm. I'm really tired and don't really mind that much because i can sleep in now. I was supposed to have a 7am excursion which I'm relieved i was able to reschedule a day later too. Apparently the airplane struck a bird on its way to dushanbe so they grounded the plane.

    Got put up in a really nice hotel for free, paid me for my taxi and apparently i will be refunded my meal tonight too. Could be a lot worse :)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonCentral Asia and CaucasusSean Plamondon

    Iskanderkul

    July 10, 2024 in Tajikistan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Farzona and her brother picked me up at 8am and off we went north into the mountains for another tour. Apparently Tajikistan is 93% mountainous and holds the world's second highest mountain chain after the Himalayas. And these details became apparent very quickly. Within 15 minutes of leaving the capital, we were entering some pretty crazy terrain. And it got more dramatic as we went.

    3.5 hours later we arrived at Iskander lake. Didn't really see the lake on arrival, and we had a big feast again immediately. Then farzona and I embarked on a two hour hike. First past the turquoise lake, and eventually to a canyon and waterfall. Beautiful throughout.

    On the way back, got even better shots of the iconic iskanderkul lake before hesding to snake lake. Bit of a challenge getting there but was a very nice place to relax for a while. Also went to some natural springs along the way.

    Returned to a rustic spot by the lake where we they rented us a house but with food and beverage service too. Big family operation. Me and Khurshed had some beer together on the dining table and then moved things to the lakeside. For a brief period the lake was so still and we unwittingly got some crazy awesome pics. Followed by endless food and then just relaxing on the cushion table until bedtime. I'm starting to get used to relaxing on pillowed tables haha. Life is rough 😁    Read more

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