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From Hull to Everywhere Else

My trip from Hull heading eastwards. The aim is to reach Turkey overland, then into the 'Stans. Thence to India and further east. . After that who knows? But I'm not overplanning. Just going to see what happens. Meer informatie

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Back to Almaty
8–10 aug. 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
So we (Dana and I) said goodbye to Saty and drove to Almaty. Dana drove all the way which meant that I could relax which made a nice change,. We had to had east first towards the Charyn Canyon again and then double back on ourselves to the west back to Almaty.

This time I was booked into Wanderlust Hostel not the Ritz. After dropping the car off at the airport and parting ways I got a taxi to the hostel (extortionate) and spent the remainder of the day there. A nice clean hostel with a friendly vibe. I met a guy from Bangladesh who was an itinerant paraglider. His rucksack was basically his paraglider. He had spent 7 years touring and paragliding with trips back to Bangladesh to teach and fund his travelling, He was actually being deported because when he was trying to leave the country his visa was wrong - from what he told me it sounded like a mistake by the authorities rather than his but that didn't stop them deporting him. Seems a bit odd to stop someone as they are leaving the country in order to deport him but nonetheless...

Met up with E/J in the evening for curry and a beer at the Shakespeare. Yes really the Shakespeare, despite this being Kazakhstan not England!

Saturday was a day spent working, editing videos and watching the olympics.Meer informatie
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Lake Kolsai Kazakstan
7 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
After lunch a solo trip for me in the car to Lake Kolsai . A little bit concerned that we might no have enough cash to pay for petrol if we could only pay in cash to get back to Almaty for Thursday, but it turned out that the car could be filled for 9000T and we had 20,000 in total left so even without a card, that was enough for another full tank, therefore enough.

Trip to Lake Kolsai 1 - there is a second a 4.5km hike past the first. I skipped that and just did lake number one. After all this was already my second lake of the day. This was much, much more touristy with stalls, horse rides archer and pedalos. Dana I'm sure would have like those had she come. In all about an hour to walk down to the lake, explore take a few photos and reascend. That was all I needed to do there. The drive there and back was interesting as there were horses and cows wondering freely in the streets both of Saty, where we are staying and on the way to the lake.Meer informatie
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ReizigerLooks very cool and beautiful!
09-08-2024ReagerenVertalen
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Lake Kaindy
7 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Up early for breakfast at 7.30 then a taxi/minibus ride (or as I was later to discover UAZ) to Lake Kaindy. The route to the lake is a road just off the main road through Saty and is 8km of very rough road. It starts with some of the best ruts you have ever seen and then eases off into a cratered pothole-fest of fun. Pass though the entrance - 600T each. And then swap taxis for a quick run up the entrance to the hiking part of the lake route. This is not particularly long but a gentle downhill track through some amazing scenery of endless pine trees lining the mountains.

Down to the lake and the lake is one of the most beautiful natural scenes I think I have ever seen. I could have sat there all day looking at it. There was an observation platform and from this you could walk down to the lake's edge. I did this and had about 5 minutes of complete solitude. It was so beautiful I could have stood there all day but for the fact that we had to get back to the taxi/bus for 10.30.

Track back up the hill. Back to the bus. Back to the guest house. Done by 11.Meer informatie
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Reiziger Beautiful water.
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Charyn Canyon, Upper Route
6 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
After traversing the lower canyon, and then having a quick break, I made sole trip along the top ridge of the canyon. I don't know whether it was because it was a little late in the day or because I was wearing yesterday's clothing but from about half way along the route I was completely alone. At the far point there were some wooden seats with wooden gazebo like structures to keep off the sun and a large sign saying Charyn to no one in particular (if you could see the sign you had spent 1.5km walking along the top of the canyon and had already paid for entrance so you kinda knew where you were.) Nonetheless - spectacular. There was a bell at the end. I rang it. Nobody but me heard it. Nice to find solitude in such an amazing place.

Full day. We left there at about 5 and it's an hour and half drive back so we didn't have much time to spare to get back for dinner at 7 but we stopped at the Black Canyon on the way and it was worth it. Two great canyons in one day. There was a guy with a drone there. I imagine he got some great shots. I think a drone could be necessary.

Back at the guest house, tonight we met up with an english couple Emma (GP) and Josh (geography teacher) from Brighton.

Apparently there are race riots in England. Not good. From the perspective of someone so far away it just seems very strange and very sad. Especially since the cause seems to be nothing to do with it. I feel so sorry for the parents of the children killed in Southport. It must make it so much worse for them.Meer informatie
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Charyn Canyon, lower route
6 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ 🌬 27 °C
So there are two entries here, just to accommodate more photos. We drove from Saty to the Charyn Canyon - about a 1.30 drive. We left at 11ish and arrived about 1. Had a bite of lunch at the restaurant there. There were a couple of take away food stalls but for some reason both were shut. Missing out there.

Then made our way down the steps to the canyon floor and walked along for about 2.5km to the river at the end. Very beautiful. And very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon but on a smaller scale. There were a variety of rock formations, some resembling basalt hexagonal extrusions resembling Giants Causeway, and lots of sedimentary formations, some of which looked like they might collapse and squash you at any moment. Any moment in the next 100,000 years anyway. It resembled the kinds of scenes you would get in old Westerns. The valley was a gentle downhill slope which meant that the return was a gentle up hill slope. Rather, we opted for a return trip in a taxi-bus, available for a mere 500 Tenge, which enabled me to capture a video of the whole canyon in one go. Then on to to the top.Meer informatie
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Saty
5 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Today we drove from Basshi in the Altyn Emel national park where having stayed at the caravan park with the delightful host Russian Victor. A slight panic when the car didn't seem to start but somehow I think I had activated the immobiliser.

The route took us through the Charyn Canyon but the visit proper is tomorrow. Also, a couple of directional lapses on the satnav but ultimately no big crises.

Arrived at Saty Aisha guest house about 5ish and had a lovely dinner of Malti(?) - dumplings not too dissimilar to kinkali from Georgia - the Georgian ones are more shaped like a flowers bulb - but the taste is more or less the same.

The guest house is very friendly - can a guest house be friendly? Anyway the people are. The main downside is the toilet paper which is the same as the Georgian half-ply toilet paper. No matter. I appropriated some toilet paper from the Ritz (I'm sure interpol must be on my case) so no sore bottoms.

Met a lovey couple from Singapore - Titus and Julia - who are heading into Kyrgyzstan today and who we may meet up with at a Bird of Prey festival on Saturday. We'll see.Meer informatie
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Altyn Emel National Park
4 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Today was a trip to the so-called Singing Dunes in the National Park. There were actually two drives to choose from but Victor suggested that the second route might be beyond the capacity of our car which is a model VS Polo. So we chose the route to the dunes. Which was a fun gravelly drive most of the way - about 44km on gravel. With a few stops on the way to take photos we arrived at the dunes about midday. Boy was it hot. There were maybe five other sets of tourists there as well. I ventured up the dune, Dana stayed at the base. Got maybe a little less than half way up. It was just so hot. I was basically doing intervals of 30 steps and then taking a rest and then doing another 30 steps. The combination of the heat and the difficulty of tramping through the sand of the dune meant that I decided that going to the top would be too much pain and who needs too much pain. So about half way up just before a sharp right in the ridge I decided to call it a day and slide down the dune. I'd anticipated that it would be like a slide but in fact I had to paddle my way down, but this did indeed make the dunes sing. In fact it was more a low drone than a song but very loud nevertheless. I asked Dana if she could hear it from her vantage point at the base but apparently not. It was loud to me though and you can make it on the video once you get past my huffing and puffing.

After that a drive back and a quick trip to the secret lake recommended by Victor This was more of a challenge to the car and confirmed my view that the second route to the petroglyphs would be beyond us.

Rested the rest of the day but were visited in the evening by a couple of lovely cats and a hedgehog.Meer informatie
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Almaty
3 augustus 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Today we checked out of the Ritz. We were given a gift box containing a number of apples and two baseball caps inscribed with Nomads?. As we were checking out we encountered a bunch of quite scary looking guys in dark suits and earpieces. ie secret service - not American but belonging instead to the DRC as their president was apparently checking in today. They had installed a couple of metal detectors at the entrance. I can't imagine that anyone really knew or cared that he was there.

They booked us a cab to the Avis office to pick up the hire car but for some reason the satnav took us to the middle of a residential district near - but not too near - the airport. We refused to leave the cab and eventually he dropped us at the airport entrance. Found the Avis office despite information at the airport not knowing where it was (and it being more or less visible from the top of the escalator). And then the office didn't seem to have our booking or at least was surprised that Dana hadn't been required to pay. The guy at the office didn't speak English which seemed odd for a hire car at the airport. After some shenanigans we eventually got a car sorted although it had a low tyre pressure indication. We sorted that out at our destination at BMeer informatie
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Ritz Carlton, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1–3 aug. 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
... Dana had millions of Marriot points on her credit card and so to get a bit of a rest and catch up she decided, with my enthusiastic agreement, to use some of those points on a twin room at the Ritz Carlton.

Not exactly the normal backpackers accommodation I've been staying at so far. I seem not to have taken much in the way of photos here because I normally only do so for outdoor scenery which is a shame. Absolute lap of luxury. Although what we must have looked like compare to their normal guest I can only wonder - suffice to say that as we were checking out, they were checking in the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And his secret service were all over the place.

The room was excellent with two very comfy double beds. Two relaxing chairs and a view of the mountains bordering Kyrgyzstan from the 24th floor. Nothing was too much trouble and all the staff were so friendly and interested in us. Whether genuine or not it made a huge change to the attitude you get in hostels, which is fine, and friendly but not about service. Here it was all about service. I'm not too sure I'm happy about that from a political viewpoint but I can see that it could get addictive if you experienced it all the time. You get something delivered to your room then later you get someone asking you if the delivery was okay. And then someone asking you if the person asking about your delivery did his job well and so on ad infinitum. And there were endless gifts of little bits of food left for us.

In addition there were two restaurants. The first night we ate at the 30th floor restaurant. Dana had Malti and I had Beshbarmak which is a national dish with a little bit of horse. To me it tasted similar to beef but a little bit milder. Others say it is a bit gamey.

Had a bath in the enormo-bathroom. First bath in four months. So nice.

Second day I can't recall what we did. I do know that for two days from when we checked in to when we checked out I didn't venture outside. At all. They had a gym spa and sauna/steam room plus pool. Took advantage of the gym to have a half hour row. Hurt.

It's just occurred to me though that this is the only place that I didn't meet anyone to talk to who was also a fellow traveller. Not even a passing conversation. I think that is the hotel vibe compared to the hostel vibe. In the long term that would be a drawback but for a couple of days, not a problem.Meer informatie
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Almaty Kazakhstan
31 jul.–2 aug. 2024, Kazachstan ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Flew from Tbilisi to Almaty leaving at 10.20 and landing at 2.50. Met up with Dana at the airport and got a taxi to our guest house which was a bit basic but shortly that wouldn't matter. Had a long lie in then explored the locality for most of the day before having a burger for dinner. Spent a second night in the guest house before the accommodation highlight of the trip so far...Meer informatie
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Back to Tbilisi
23–31 jul. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
So I have a few more days in Tbilisi before heading off to meet Dana in Kazakhstan. I'm planning to do a little more work and maybe a trip or two. first couple of days have been very hot but today (26th) is much cooler and we are actually forecast a thunderstorm although it is yet to happenMeer informatie
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ReizigerHow will you get to Kazakhstan?
27-07-2024ReagerenVertalen
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Yerevan, Armenia
20–23 jul. 2024, Armenië ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
And so to yet another country. This time Armenia. Spent three nights here in the appropriate but very strange Capsule Hostel. The beds were capsules of moulded plastic.

Met up with Steve and Amy and wandered around the food festival which luckily enough was right next to the hostel.

Was there for two full days. On the second day went up to the Mother Armenia Statue and had a go on the ferris wheel nearby. This overlooked Mount Ararat which was shrouded in mist.Meer informatie
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Tbilisi
16–20 jul. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
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40 Bagration Street Guest House
3–17 jul. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Spent two weeks working or trying to work. Too hot.

The abiding memory that I will have of Georgia is the street dogs. There are a huge number of stray dogs living around and they are just free to roam. In Kobuleti people also own dogs but they seem to let them live outside on the street too. Some of the dogs are tagged which means they've been given their jabs and sterilised and some don't. They seem to know how to cross roads safely (often they will cross with humans but not always). It is a little unssettling to see so many dogs around but you get used to it and in some ways it's kinda nice.Meer informatie
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Kobuleti, Kobuleti Guest House
3–5 jul. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
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Batumi
27–29 jun. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Two nights at the everyday cat hostel and a day in Batumi with Steve and Amy. Had a great day exploring the city and then ending it with a curry - I felt the need for some home food. And a shisha afterwards.

The hostel was very odd but could just about manage it for two days.Meer informatie
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Into Georgia, Kars to Batumi
27 juni 2024, Georgië ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
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Kars
25–27 jun. 2024, Georgië ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
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Dogu Express, Ankara to Kars
24–25 jun. 2024, Turkije ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
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Ankara
23 juni 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
On the Sunday got the bus from Avanos to Ankara. Had hoped to get the midday bus but it was full so got the 5pm bus instead. Hung around the town killing time during the day. On arriving at Ankara got a taxi to the hostel Deeps 2 Hostel. Very basic. But only a one night stay. All the taxi drivers. Or at least the two that I have been on do nothing but talk on their phone all the time. Driving one handed. Glad I’m not riding around these areas.Meer informatie
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Avanos doing the Red Tour
22 juni 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
So having enjoyed the green tour yesterday I am doing the red tour today. This time it is more concerned with the rocky valleys - the ones that you see in the tour brochures and photos.

Had a great group - Dasha from Russia (a fellow skydiver!!!), Rodrigo from Brazil, Shin from Japan and Nom from Ethiopia.

Went to the Love Valley, Imagination Valley and a number of others too. My brain is too hot to remember them all. But we had a great time with great company. Unfortunately I cannot remember the named of the tour guide!

Tour is thoroughly recommended!Meer informatie
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Kavlaki the underground city
21 juni 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
After lunch on the green tour we hit the underground city at Kaymaki. There are a number of underground cities in the region where people hid from invaders. This one had 8 underground levels and held up to 5,000 people. Small people if the size of the tunnels are anything to go by. Lovely and cool inside. As with most caves they hold a constant temperature. In this case about 15 degrees. So a welcome respite from the heat. Tip for cavers. On the way in make sure the fat people are in front of you. Coming out, the opposite.Meer informatie
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Avanos, Cappadocia - the green tour
21 juni 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
First full day in Cappadocia and I’m on what they call the green tour. Apparently because it goes through a more lush Mediterranean valley. ie is green. After a quick photo stop we stopped at one of the churches carved into the rocks. Early Christians bid here from the Romans prior to the empire converting. Then down for a half hour walk through the valley and then lunch. Also on the tour were two South African couples from Johannesburg. After lunch the highlight of the tour - the underground city at Kaymakl (separate entry). After that a few more sites and a visit to a local shop where we had the opportunity to spend our cash on tea coffee Turkish delight and the rest. Managed to avoid that. I’m pretty good at not shopping. Anyway there is no space in my rucksack for ephemera.

A full day in the heat. Got back and laid in the bed before food and then bed proper. Red tour tomorrow.Meer informatie
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Avanos, Cappadocia - Quad biking
20 juni 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Having arrived in Avanos mid morning I arrived at the hotel and was blown away by how good it was. Had a quick kip which turned into a longer kip and then organised an evening of quad biking in the valleys.

Set off at 5pm and arrived at the centre where they supplied us with a hairnet and a helmet, showed us how to use the quads and then we rode off without a safety briefing. However speeds were very low as there were 20 or so of us in a row.

Spent about two hours riding around and stopping at various places to take photos. All good. The only drawback was the guides who seemed more concerned with showing off their quad bike skills than doing their jobs which presumably was to keep everyone safe. This led to an “incident” when the wife half of an American couple in their 70s I guess in front of me seemed to zoom off at high speeds. I was two bikes behind so could see it. I thought she’s not doing that on purpose. Maybe her throttle had got stuck open? Turns out she felt she had to as she was being overtaken by one of the guides at a place where she felt unsafe. She had a right to at them afterwards. But no injuries so all ok. Wonder if they’ll sue?Meer informatie
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Avanos the Sofa Hotel
20–23 jun. 2024, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
While in Cappadocia I am staying at the Sofa Hotel in Avanos. It is definitely the best hotel I’ve stayed at. Check out the videos - it’s like walking around some ancient market in itself. Add to that a great room, a lovely host and Tarçin the dog and it’s perfect. They organised the tours that I went on and laid on magnificent breakfasts. Couldn’t recommend more highly.Meer informatie
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