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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 315

    Almaty

    23 oktober 2023, Kazachstan ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    After leaving Dushanbe I headed back to Uzbekistan for a few days so that I could get a night train from Tashkent to Almaty in Kazakhstan. The train was pretty comfortable and I met a couple of other solo female travellers that were fun to hang out with while in Almaty. Almaty is yet another soviet city, probably my favourite so far. There were loads of tree lined avenues that were nice to walk around, and there are lots of interesting things to see including museums, opera houses, parks, cathedrals, bazaars, mosques, cool architecture and monuments. After spending quite a bit of time in the mountains I loved being back in a cosmopolitan city, so I spent most of the time wandering the streets and parks, visiting the cool buildings and monuments, drinking the fruit teas and eating the good noodle soups! I also made the most of the russian connection and had some good Russian food. Apples originally came from Kazakhstan and they are very proud of it, you see monuments to apples all over the city. Almaty even means "full of apples", so there are lots of good food and drink containing apples that we also tried as much of as possible!

    One must do thing in Almaty is to visit the Arasan spa, a huge complex built in 1982. The spa has many types of saunas including a Moroccan hammam, a Finnish sauna, a Turkish steam bath, and a russian banya, where you're supposed to wack yourself with birch leaves and then douse yourself in freezing water from a bucket. I only did that the once! There is also a nice pool and lots of areas to relax, plus an area for treatments. I had a back massage as I'd cricked it and I was in agony the whole time and couldn't wait for it to finish! It did fix my neck though. Everything is gender separated and you have to be nude while using the facilities, with just a towel for sitting on.

    While I was trying to endure the sauna one local lady called Aliya started chatting to me and asked if I'd like to go to hers for dinner one evening as she'd like to continue to practice her English, which I did. I was interested to go inside one of the Soviet blocks where she lived. The building stairwell was original but the inside of the apartment was very modern. She lived alone as her husband had died of COVID, and her children all lived abroad. She very kindly made me mushroom pancakes with salad, and she bought me some Kazakh chocolate, which was great! She then showed me around the local area a bit which was nice of her.

    Just 20 minutes outside of Almaty is the ski resort Shymbulak and the highest Ice skating rink in the world. Even if like me you're not a skiing fan, you can still get the cable car to the top to see the views. Unfortunately the ice rink hadn't opened for the winter yet, which is probably for the best considering my coordination!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 302

    Pamir Highway part 5 & Dushanbe

    10 oktober 2023, Tadzjikistan ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    The last couple of days of the Pamir Highway road trip spent driving along dusty mountain roads through deep dramatic valleys. These roads seem to be constantly in a state of construction so we had to stop many times while the road was blocked for construction workers, sometimes for hours at a time. In these deep valleys there is no way around, so people would just park their cars up and wait in the shade of the vehicles until the road opened to let people pass.

    The mountains gradually gave way to hills and gentle valleys as we got closer to Dushanbe, the capital. Dushanbe is another ex-soviet city, but a lot of its charm had been diminished as the Tajik government removed much of the old architecture and tree lined alleys. There were still some interesting monuments, including a flashy monument to Ismail Somoni, the ruler of the 10th century Samanid dynasty, whose mausoleum I had visited a few weeks earlier in Bukhara. Somoni is also the name of the currency in Tajikistan so they obviously really like this guy!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 300

    Pamir Highway part 4

    8 oktober 2023, Tadzjikistan ⋅ ☀️ -2 °C

    We continued on through the stunning scenery, stopping to see some crystal clear lakes and a rather unimpressive, but still quite pretty geyser. We passed through Kargush pass at 4244m, and there was an option to hike to a view point at 4800m but considering that my head feels like it's about to implode at any height above 4000m I decided to give that a miss!

    Later in the day we had to get our permits out for inspection as we reached the Afghanistan border in the Wakhan valley, along which we were going to be driving for the next few days. Just before nightfall we saw an Afghan caravan of horses and donkeys, and had a nice view of the Hindu Kush mountains on the other side of the border.

    We stayed overnight in Langar village in another homestay with great, warming food, before continuing along the Pamir River that makes up the border. Life is pretty traditional in this part of Tajikistan, with the people being traditionally dressed and mostly relying on herding and some agriculture. Things looked pretty similar on the other side of the border, with just the clothing being slightly different. Both sides of the border seemed pretty well patrolled, we passed countless groups of soldiers that all looked very young. Most of them were 18 year olds on national service. On the other side of the border we saw the occasional taliban patrol vehicle too.

    The area is also historically well fortified as we visited the 12th century Yamchun Fortress perched on a high rock, and the 4th century Khaaka Fortress. Then to get some R&R we managed to squeeze in two hot springs! One was built into a rock, with water coming directly from the rocks, and the other was so rich in minerals that there were piles of precipitated minerals in the bath and around the water pipes. At least this time both were at a temperature that was bearable to stay inside for more than a few minutes!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 299

    Pamir Highway part 3

    7 oktober 2023, Tadzjikistan ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Day 3 of the Pamir Highway trip was mostly more of driving through some of the most beautiful scenery that I've seen. We stopped by a large "crater", an old soviet observatory, and some petroglyphs, which were all very cool but we're mostly just things to aim for as we headed through the mountains. My highlight was the huge herd of yaks!

    We ended up at a very remote hot spring guest house. Being so high up it was absolutely freezing so getting to the toasty guest house that was heated almost too much by the hot spring water was a luxury. The actual hot springs were less of a luxury as they were so hot it was almost unbearable to be in them! It was more an exercise of endurance than of relaxation, but I managed it for a while at least. And the stars were incredible in such a remote location!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 298

    Murgab - Pamir highway part 2

    6 oktober 2023, Tadzjikistan ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    Conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan resulted in the border closing in 2021, only opening for foreign tourists again in July 2023. The border is still closed for locals which meant that we had to change vehicles and drivers in the miles of mountainous no man's land. We had to say goodbye to our nice Kyrgyz driver (who's name I can't remember) and meet up with our Tajik guide Kanybek and driver Abu. We needed special permits to enter this part of the country due to the proximity to China and Afghanistan, so after a thorough checking of our paperwork by the supposedly notoriously corrupt border guards, we were allowed through without issue. It took longer for us to exit Kyrgyzstan than it did for us to enter Tajikistan.
    The Kyrgyz/Tajik border is already pretty high, with the first snow I'd really seen close up on this trip. Shortly after the crossing we passed through Akbaital pass, at 4655 meters (>15,000 ft) it's the highest pass that we'd be driving through on the highway. My head was already pounding from the altitude!
    We drove to the beautiful Karakul Lake before heading to Murgab village, where we stayed the night in a home stay run by Kanybek's family. Nearby the village there's a Snow Leopard sanctuary where we got to see a Snow Leopard that had been rescued as a cub. The poor thing looked pretty disgruntled to be there, but all 3 leopards at the centre were being rehabilited for release. Snow leopards are incredibly rare and elusive so to see one up close was awe inspiring and something I never thought I'd see.    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 297

    Osh & Sary Mogul - Pamir Highway part 1

    5 oktober 2023, Kirgizië ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    I headed back to Osh via a couple more days in Bishkek as I'd managed to arrange a ride share for a Pamir Highway trip. The Pamir Highway is a mountain road through the Pamir mountains, built in the 1930s by the Soviet Union for transporting troops and provisions. It is one of the highest roads in the world and is famous for being a spectacular journey.
    I met up with my ride-share mates Ed from London and Huyên from Vietnam and we hit the highway for our 7 day trip. The flatlands of Osh soon gave way to mountains and village life, we headed over the Taldyck Pass at 3600m (12,000ft) and on towards Tulparkol Lake and hiked to the viewpoint of Lenin Peak.
    As it was so late in the season it was freezing by night and way too cold for sleeping in the yurt camps, so we all voted to head to a nice heated guest house with hot water in Sary Mogul village, where we had lots of hot tea and hearty Central Asian food. Central Asian food typically consists of dumpling or noodle soups, meat dumplings, plov (like pilau) and stewed meat. Not my usual fare but perfect for this weather!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    1
    Dag 286

    Karakol

    24 september 2023, Kirgizië ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    After sufficient time chilling in Bishkek I headed to Karakol in the east for some trekking in the famously beautiful Kyrgyzstan mountains. First I enjoyed spending time in Karakol itself, previously a small Russian outpost that has become the fourth biggest city in Kyrgyzstan, that being said the population is still less than 100,000 so it feels like a small town. It's also the main jumping off point for trekking which means that a lot of travellers congregate here making it another nice place to hang out. Some of the sites include the Russian Orthodox Cathedral made out of wood, the Dugan mosque for the Chinese Muslims that looks more like a Chinese temple, and the colourful Russian houses.

    Further afield there were some nice day hikes, and a trip to Jeti Oguz, a soviet sanatorium. Stalin enshrined the right to rest in the 1936 constitution - labourers needed a two week rest in one of the many sanatoriums throughout the Soviet Union. This is one of the few that still survives and is still in use, although it was looking a little past it's prime. Supposedly the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin stayed here to recuperate after returning from space. If you fancy it you can still get treatments here including radon baths and electrocution treatments. Needless to say I gave this a pass, but I did drink from the health giving spring which has a long list of minerals in it, including radon. The sign says that you shouldn't drink from it without guidance from your doctor, but our taxi driver insisted that everyone drinks from it and indeed there were people there filling up large vessels with the water to take home. It tasted like sucking on copper pennies and surprisingly I didn't get sick!

    It was getting a bit late in the season to do the high hikes because of snow, thankfully as altitude does not like me! So I set off with some hikers from the hostel to Altyn Arashan, a valley 3000 meters above sea level and home to several hot springs. We did this hike over two days, hiking up to the valley and spending the night in a guest house heated by spring water. After the long hike we soaked in the springs to ease our muscles. Some of the springs were excruciatingly hot! Luckily there were some slightly cooler ones that were a bit more relaxing. Then there was a good communal dinner and lots of tea. The following morning we visited an outdoor spring before heading back down the mountain. The scenery on this hike was stunning, very alpine with snowy peaks, crystal clear rivers and horses roaming around.

    I loved Karakol and was intending to stay a bit longer to see more of the sights and do more hikes, but then I got word of other travellers wanting to go on the pamir highway in Tajikistan so I had to head off to meet them!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 282

    Bishkek

    20 september 2023, Kirgizië ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Leaving Uzbekistan I crossed over into Kyrgyzstan by land. I stayed in Osh for a couple of days doing research into a pamir highway trip, and then moved straight onto Bishkek, the capital. Bishkek is yet another soviet city that I spent many days wandering the streets checking out the architecture, museums, monuments and bazaars. Great places to just chill out for a while.Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    Dag 268

    Tashkent & Margilan

    6 september 2023, Oezbekistan ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Next I was in a shared taxi to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Tashkent was also a major player on the silk road, but after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1966 it was rebuilt by the Soviet Union as the model soviet city so little remains of its silk road history. Soviet cities are characterized by wide tree lined avenues, large parks and plazas often with fountains or large monuments at the centre, grand brutalist architecture for state buildings and numerous uniform apartment blocks, and large mosaics and murals dotted around. I find these cities fascinating and spend hours wandering around checking out the architecture and hunting for mosaics.

    Tashkent was the 4th largest city in the USSR at the time of its rebuild and is home to the first metro in Central Asia, which was modelled on the famous Moscow metro. Each station is different but they are all grandly designed, often with murals and chandeliers. The actual trains seem to be from that time period as well! Another iconic soviet relic is Hotel Uzbekistan, a brutalist masterpiece that hasn't changed much on the inside since it's completion in 1974. However after independence from the USSR the monument to Karl Marx outside was replaced with a large Timur of silk road fame.

    After spending a while wandering around the tree lined streets of Tashkent enjoying the architecture and good coffee, I was back on a slow train to Margilan in the Fergana Valley. Silk has been produced in the Fergana Valley for thousands of years. Margilan became the centre of its production and it is still the major industry in the area, making Uzbekistan the 3rd largest silk producer after China and India. I visited the Soviet era Yodgorlik Silk Factory, where they still produce silk in both the traditional way on manual looms, and using mechanical looms, which were pretty interesting in their own right as they were original soviet era machines. I was impressed they were still going!    Meer informatie

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  • ReizigerSophie's Trip
    1
    Dag 263

    Samarkand

    1 september 2023, Oezbekistan ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    On the fast train this time I was off to Samarkand, the last of the big silk road cities in Uzbekistan. Samarkand had a rich history with evidence of inhabitation since the paleolithic period, and like the other silk road cities has had many ups and downs, being conquered over the centuries by Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, amongst others. In the 14th century it was conquered by Timur and became the capital of the Timur Empire. However unlike other conquerors Timur had an appreciation for the arts and spared the lives of artists, craftsmen and architects so that they could improve and beautify his capital. This resulted in some of the most impressive buildings along the Silk road being in Samarkand, such as the majestic Registan Square at the heart of the old town, a complex of Madrasas that were at the centre of the Timurid Renaissance that lasted from the 14th into the 16th centuries.

    There was also the impressive Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Timur's mausoleum, and Shakhi-Zindar, a series of tombs for royal and religious leaders dating from the 11th to 15th centuries. Samarkand certainly had the most beautiful sites along the Silk road, although a lot of restoration has gone into them. I'm not sure if it was allowed but one of the security guards let us go up one of the minarets, which probably wasn't a good idea as the steps are very steep and there isn't much heath and safety! The view at the top during sunset was worth it though!    Meer informatie

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