Rockin' the Kashgar

June 11, 2009 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Old and new Kashgar

Kashgar, in the far west of China in the Xingjiang province was our first stop in China after crossing the Torugart Pass from Kyrgyzstan. The place was roughly 200km or so from Naryn in Kyrgyzstan, but in many ways we felt a million miles away.

Since the days of the Silk Road, Kashgar has been a market town where people of all different ethnicities, nationalities and religious persuasions came to buy and sell goods. Its massive Sunday livestock market is still today one of the biggest around. We unfortunately missed it by a day due the border being closed for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Located in an oasis and surrounded by furnace like desert regions, Kashgar is a strategic crossroad on the Silk Road and has from time in memoriam been the site of cultural conflict and cooperation. Today the local Muslim Uighur people (who look nothing like the typical image most westerners have of the Chinese – see below) live side by side with Han Chinese who are arriving en-masse from the more eastern provinces and a whole host of other minority groups.

It is easy to see that Kashgar is undergoing great change. Large sections of the old town are being levelled to make way for high-rise apartment buildings. But you can’t help but feel Kashgar has always adapted according to who was in charge at the time, or what goods have been available to sell. Sure there are more cars, mobile phone sellers and high-rise apartment blocks now, but as the picture above shows there is still plenty of the traditional Kashgar. Amongst the shiny new fast food stores are the sights and smells of the street side food vendors offering everything from smoky shish kebabs, pastries, watermelon and all manner of curious cuisine. Donkeys and scooters jostle for space on the old town alleys and there is no doubt that the hammering of copper bowls still drowns out the tinny music blaring obnoxiously from teenagers mobile phones.

As Lonely planet aptly says, “Kashgar was globalised before globalised was grammatical.” And the evolution continues.

We spent out our time in Kashgar soaking up the sun and walking around the bazaars and markets of the old and new town. Below are some of the pictures from our visit.

Market trader making noodles in Kashgar

Uighur men near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar

Watermelon trader in Kashgar

Kebab vendors

Elizabeth eating watermelon streetside

All of our China images can be seen here.

Filed Under: China, Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Kashgar; China; Xingxiang; Silk Road; Uighur

Observations from Kyrgyzstan

June 3, 2009 By Matthew Gain 2 Comments

Sarala-Saz Jailoo

Yesterday as we drove from Naryn, Kyrgyzstan over the 3,752 metre Toruguart Pass into the Xingjiang province of China we bid farewell to Kyrgyzstan and in fact Central Asia. Thus as has been my tradition with the previous countries, this post is dedicated to our ten observations from Kyrgyzstan.

As I have said previously, when making observations about Turkey and Uzbekistan, these are merely my observations, drawn from a very short stay in a complex country, where I didn’t speak the language and only visited a handful of places. So needless to say they are not definitive.

1. Mountains – even a blind man couldn’t miss the mountains in Kyrgyzstan. They are spectacularly beautiful and a very welcome wake up jolt to our lazy flat-London leg muscles.

2. Russian influence – unlike Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan has retained many of the hallmarks of its Russian occupation. They Kyrgyz still use the Cyrillic alphabet (thankfully Elizabeth taught herself this so we could read things) and seem rather partial to lashings of vodka, which is scarily comparable in price to bottled water, is available in abundance. You could also be forgiven for thinking the USSR was still in existence given the number of Lenin statues and busts that litter the towns and cities.

3. Less obvious state control – unlike Uzbekistan, policemen were not a sight on every street corner, our accommodation each night did not need to be registered with the government and the internet appeared to be unfiltered and uncensored. That being said President Bakiev is figuratively omnipresent – peering out of the myriad billboards on the roadsides an in towns and villages.

Ever-watchful President Bakiyev

4. Community Based Tourism (CBT) – CBT is a nationwide network of community based tourism projects that marry westerners with local Kyrgyz families and communities. The scheme, whilst a little on the pricey side when compared with other options, is an excellent one and enables local people to continue to live their traditional (in some cases nomadic) lives whilst capitalising on the tourist dollar.

5. Beers with straws – ladies drink beer with a straw in Kyrgyzstan, something Elizabeth found simply too strange to comprehend.

Elizabeth never quite got used to drinking beer with a straw

6. Limited historic built environment – unlike the grand structures and monuments we encountered in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan had relatively few historical building or sights. I can only assume this is due to the fact that the Kyrgyz people were nomadic for much longer after the Uzbeks .

7. German cars – like used Japanese cars in New Zealand, it seems all of Germany’s used cars end up in Krygyzstan. Every second car it seems is an Audi 100 and there are also plenty of BMWs and VWs too.

Audi 100s are everywhere in Kyrgyzstan

8. Fabulous felt – from shyrdak rugs, the ak kalpak hats, to the covering of their yurts, the Kyrgyz people sure do know their felt. We were so impressed in fact that we bought ourselves a rug that we are currently trying to send home.

9. Young population – it seems everybody in Kyrgyzstan is young! There are kids everywhere and rarely do you see an aksakal (which directly translates to white beard). According to the UN children and teenagers (age 0-15) comprised 38.1 percent of the population in 1999 (National Statistical Committee 1999).

10. Cemeteries – It seemed that on the outskirts of every town there was a cemetery. Though don’t imagine some modest affair, they were often times massive, housing enormous tomb like monuments with sandblasted images of the deceased staring out at you. Interestingly many people performed a subtle Muslim blessing that looked as though they were washing their face when we travelled past a cemetery in a bus of shared taxi.

So with this post we have completed our tales of Central Asia. The region has been difficult travelling in many ways, with the fairly ordinary food and the fact that we forgot out Russian phrasebook being the two standout items. Both the countries we visited, though incredibly old in history, still feel like they are finding their feet after their Russian occupation. Though, if the pride and the determination of the people are anything to go by, this will change. The sights we have seen and the experiences gathered will be with us for a long time yet.

Posting this I am sitting using Wi-Fi (something that was for us non-existent in Central Asia) in Kashgar having just last night having potentially the best meal of our trip so far. The marvels and quirks of China lay ahead of us, so best get out amongst them.

All of the Kyrgyzstan images can be seen here.

Filed Under: Kyrgyzstan, Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling Tagged With: Audi 100, Bakiyev, Blogsherpa, CBT, Community Based Tourism, Kyrgyzstan, Shrydak

Yurt baby, yurt!

May 29, 2009 By Matthew Gain 1 Comment

Elizabeth and the yurt

So,Elizabeth has fulfilled one of her childhood ambitions of sleeping in a yurt. What is a yurt you ask? Why it is that funny looking shelter in the picture above. Traditionally the nomadic Kyrgyz people would live in these and move them to high ground in the summers and back down to the warmer valleys in the winter. Nowadays though it is typically only the shepherds who use them during summer as they tend their flocks on the jailoos (alpine grass plains).

The yurt is covered by sheep’s felt on the outside and decorated with shyrdak (felt) rugs on the inside. Complete with a fire, for burning sheep dung (don’t worry when burnt it is fully dried and not smelly), soft mats for sleeping on and a skylight to let in the light, it was a cosy little place for us to spend the night – it had to be, it was bloody freezing outside!

Over our stay we went horse riding and hiking around the hills up around the patches of remaining snow clinging on into summer. It was great to get a glimpse into family life up in the mountains – definitely a no frills way to live. We made a video and got some photos which hopefully paint a picture better than I can with words.

Our hosts Mr and Mrs Bobby

The yurt and our guard dog at dusk

I took this photo shortly before we retired for the night. The temperature was rapidly dropping, but the little fire burining dried sheep dung inside the yurt ensured we were cosy as we drifted off to sleep.

Elizabeth horse riding near the snow capped peaks of Sarala-Saz Jailoo

Horses on the Sarala-Saz Jailoo

The day following this shot all the foals were speperated from their mothers so that the mares could be milked to make kymys , a local low alcoholic drink. Like home brew in Aus, each household has their own take on it and everybody thinks their’s is best, so you have to try a few.

Mr Bobby's wife

Having been chased out of Kochkor as a result of my heavy internet using habits (long story), we are now back in Bishkek as we wait out the Chinese Dragon Boat festival and the reopening of the Torugart Pass. The next post, assuming all goes well, should be from western China!

View all our Kyrgyzstan images taken to date here .

Filed Under: Kyrgyzstan, Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling Tagged With: Blogsherpa, CBT Yurt Stay, Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan, Sara-Saz Jailoo, Yurt

Altyn Arashan

May 28, 2009 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Altyn Arashan

A couple of days ago we hiked out of the alpine town of Karakol to Altyn Arashan, joined by Christine from the US who we met in town (and who gave us some awesome travel tips for China where she has been living for the last four years – thanks Christine!).

Given the elevation of the valley is 3,000 metres we were a little out of breath at the end of the hike, but the views the whole way were well worth it, as was the presence of hot springs at the top to ease those post-hike aching muscles! We spent the night in a home stay mountain lodge – definitely on the chilly side after sundown. After two and a half years living in the bright lights of London it was awesome to see a night sky carpeted with stars.

The place is beautiful and we were incredibly lucky to get such sunny, clear weather. Pics and video below:

Sunset in the Altyn Arashan Valley

Hiking in the Altyn Arashan Valley

Horses in the Altyn Arashan Valley

To view all our Kyrgyzstan images go here.

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Filed Under: Kyrgyzstan, Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Kyrgystan; Altyn Arashan; Karakol; Kyrgyzstan Trekking, Silk Road

We’ll be coming through the mountain…

May 23, 2009 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

GUEST POST – BY ELIZABETH DAWSON

Our first stop across the border into Kyrgyzstan was a town called Osh. Nice place, worth a visit, only it was at least a ten hour drive north across two mountain ranges to our next stop – the capital city Bishkek.

We had sorted out our shared taxi through our hostel and we were all set for an early morning start. A quick dinner the night before in the standard local chaykana seemed the way to go – cheap and tasty. Alas, said dinner was less than gratefully received by Matthew’s digestive system and a rough night of technicolour yawns left us both fairly unsettled and Matthew still tres queasy come the morning.

Still, the show must go on and into the car we got, ready for a full day on the road. Unfortunately the turn of the ignition was all the emetic that Matthew needed and within seconds of the car leaving the kerb the poor love’s stomach gave it up all over again (thankfully a plastic bag was on hand!). The driver and our fellow passenger were obviously intrigued at the speedy onset of travel sickness given we had barely moved a hundred metres.

We pressed on however and we were soon out in the lush, green landscape of the Kyrgyzstan side of the Fergana Valley. Snow capped peaks far off in the distance framed the view.

Our friendly driver rifled through his eclectic selection of cassette tapes to set the soundtrack for our road trip. He had a clear favourite that was played at least nine times over the course of the journey. Top highlights included 70s/ 80s classics such as Abracadabra, Woman in Love, a selection of Abba and aptly summing up our level of conversation with our road trip buddies – Words (Don’t Come Easy).

As well as mixing driving with DJ-ing the lovely man was always only to happy to stop for us to take photos and even pulled over to pick wild mulberries from the side of the road.

Our journey took us past a mirror-like turquoise lake reflecting the craggy wildflower covered mountains and alongside the Naryn River cut off by a series of massive Soviet dams. Fresh mountain honey stands, trout sellers, grazing horses and scatterings of yurts were just some of the other sights to be seen from the window of the car as we climbed the twisty road.

Those distant snow capped peaks we saw at the beginning of the day got closer and closer until we were up at 3,184mt driving past glaciers surrounded by thick snow that buried car wrecks and huts. A 2.6km dark, dripping tunnel spat us out onto the other side of the mountain before we began our descent towards Bishkek.

We made it to the bottom of the mountain as dusk fell, the scenery now a strong contrast to the remote, rugged landscape of the past few hours. The long straight road towards the city was lined by factories, markets, houses and all the buzzing life that makes up a metropolis.

Eleven hours after leaving Osh we made it to our destination. The road to Bishkek was also a road to recovery for Matthew who after a shaky start was in much better shape by the end of it all.

I am writing this post in the town of Karakol on the shores of Lake Issy-Köl from where we will be doing some hikes expect some pics soon.

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Filed Under: Kyrgyzstan, Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling Tagged With: Kyrgystan; Silk Road; Osh; Karakol; Bishkek. Blogsherpa

Observations from Uzbekistan

May 20, 2009 By Matthew Gain 2 Comments

Uzbek police officer in Samarkand – you are rarely far from one of these fellows anywhere in Uzbekistan

So in the tradition of the recent Turkey post, here are some of my top observations from our time in Uzbekistan. It should be said loudly and clearly that these observations should be taken with quite a few grains of salt. I don’t speak Uzbek or Russian, which no doubt would have altered the experience considerably. I also only spent two weeks in the country and I have only visited a handful of places.

That being said, we have enjoyed our time here in Uzbekistan immensely. We were nervous to say the least about the police presence and were expecting to be stopped regularly for passport checks and to be quizzed about our travels – though this only happened once and was a painless experience. We were also a bit wary of the cash situation with a dearth of ATMs and the subsequent need to carry wads of USD to exchange for bricks of Uzbek sum, but again this all seemed to be relatively painless. The ancient monuments and cities in Uzbekistan, as my previous post has highlighted, are spectacular and the people so friendly and accommodating. We even got an unexpected dose of Uzbek hospitality on our last night in the country in the city of Andijon where we were pulled off the street to join a massive wedding reception.

So without further ado let me observe:

Police – as per the caption under the image at the top of this post, you can’t help but notice the police in Uzbekistan. It would be fascinating to know the ratio of police to civilians – they are everywhere.
Money – you certainly need to be cashed up in Uzbekistan – more in the literal sense than the figurative. You see, the biggest Uzbek note is roughly worth 60 cents, carrying the relatively small amount of $100 US was a unique challenge.
Elizabeth with the equivalent of $100 US dollars
Food – carbs and fat aren’t hard to come by that’s for sure. Uzbeks are very proud of their national dish plov, an oily fired rice topped with poor cuts of meat, meat fat and tripe combined with strips of carrot and perhaps raisons – it tastes as good as it sounds. That being said we hardy starved and they must have some of the prettiest bread in the world.
Outdoor relaxation – not unique to Uzbekistan of course, but they certainly do have lounging al fresco sorted what with the cushy tapchans (tea beds), hidden leafy green courtyards and seemingly never ending pots of choy (tea).
Decoration – be it interior, exterior or personal decoration, Uzbekistan knows how to so it with colour, detail and splendour.
Beautiful interior decoration at Mubinjon’s in Bukhara
Tashkent Metro – the Tashkent Metro stations are staggeringly beautiful. Each has its own look, from cathedral like arches, cosmonaut inspired space scenes or ballrooms with chandeliers – words cannot describe. Unfortunately for me, they were also designed to serve as nuclear bomb shelters, so taking photos is strictly forbidden.
Korea – in addition to large ethnic Korean communities across the country, Uzbekistan has a strong trading relationship with Korea. Uzbekistan sells uranium to Korea, the two countries are both testing for oil and Korea has large Daewoo manufacturing plants based in the country (as evidenced by the extraordinary predominance of Damas, Nexias and little Matizes on the road)
‘AYGEN Styled in Italy’ plastic bag – this random bag is absolutely everywhere in Uzbekistan and when I say everywhere I mean every second shop and every single stall owner at the bazaars were handing them out. I assume it was meant to say agency, but somebody stuffed up along the way and they sold the mistakes onto a large plastic bag distributor in Uzbekistan. (PS – it seems these babies are also flourishing in Kyrgystan along with, randomly for our UK readers and Australian readers respectively Morrisons and Sportgirl bags)

bag Observations from Uzbekistan

This shot was taken in Samarkand, but really could have been anywhere that bags were being handed out

Hand on heart – accompanied by a gentle tilt of the head, this simple gesture of placing one’s right hand on on one’s heart is commonly used by Uzbeks to show thanks, acknowledge a compliment or in greeting. We even found ourselves doing it – using it to express our feelings where our language failed us.
Grangos – when in South America we were on the Gringo Trail – gringo being the term used there to identify westerner tourists. But here, amongst hordes of empty nester travellers from Europe it felt at times like we were on the ‘Grango’ Trail.

Next we travel east to Kyrgyzstan where we expect to be hiking hills and around lakes, riding horses and fulfilling a lifelong dream of Elizabeth’s to sleep in a yurt.

We are now inKyrgyzstan and uploading images where and when we can, though connections tend to be slow.

For all our Uzbekistan images go here.

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Filed Under: Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling, Uzbekistan Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Silk Road, Tashkent Metro, Uzbekistan

Mosques, mausoleums and medressas – the marvels of Uzbekistan

May 12, 2009 By Matthew Gain 4 Comments

The amazing Registan in Samarkand is a complex of medrasses (Islamic academy/seminary) and a large mosque

When we flew into Tashkent from Istanbul a little bleary eyed at 4am we were already a tad hot under the collar. From what we had heard of the Uzbek immigration/customs process we thought it was going to be complicated to say the least and we had a connecting flight to catch at 7am. Every piece of cash on us was accounted for on our forms along with a full declaration of our ‘radio communication devices’ (our mobile phones) and ‘printed matter and data carriers’ (books and our laptop). When we were first met by people in white coats and face masks wielding thermometers for the inevitable Swine flu screening we crossed our fingers that we were really cool customers underneath our sweaty, stressy exteriors.

We passed through the health and customs check in flying colours and we made it to the domestic airport in super early time for our next flight to Urgench. Mission accomplished!

Having thought it would be a bit of an earnest backpacker scene we have been surprised to find rather it is THE hotspot for hordes of French empty-nesters on tour. Who knew? We were clearly wasting our time researching on the internet when we could have just given my sister’s French parents-in-law a quick call for all the top tips!

So all the talk of it being being a hard place to get into and around is obviously greatly unfounded. People couldn’t be friendlier or more accommodating and we always seem to find someone who can speak some English. Language here is a diverse concept – the official language is Uzbek but most people also speak Russian along with some of the other ethnic tongues of Tajik or Karakalpak. Elizabeth is swotting up on the Cyrillic alphabet so we can at least make out some of the Russian signs on marshrutkas (little public minibuses) etc.

The Uzbekistan we have seen so far is a mix of the old and the Soviet, jammed up against each other. Ancient Muslim mosques, medrasses and mausoleums are here in amazing glory, restored to reflect the grandeur they once exhibited in antiquity. Apparently some historians and bleeding heart Lonely Planet authors have taken offence at this preferring to leave the structures as they were. Not me though. The big ticket items (like the Registan above) are stunning. In my mind providing ongoing maintenance to reflect how the original creators had intended a structure to be is in no way a bad thing. But each to their own I guess.

So far we have visited the ancient khanate (kingdom) capitals of Khiva, once a bustling slave trading centre, Bukhara and the ancient and the legendary Samarkand, where I am writing this post. All have had their charming old town centres and Soviet built new towns. We have spent most of our time in the old towns, but next up is Tashkent where by all reports there is oodles of Soviet architecture to enjoy. Now enormous Soviet style, concrete heavy, monuments aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for me they are heaven. I am very much looking forward to getting up early and photographing these without too many people around.

There is more to tell you, but I might save some of that until we are in Kyrgyzstan. Enjoy some images until then – I will post more on Flickr, once I find a fast internet connection.

NOTE – I am not sure when this post will appear on my blog. WordPress appears to be blocked here, along with a few other things.

Islam-Hoja Minaret, Khiva

Uzbek women in Khiva. We only wish the woman on the left had flashed us her full set of gold teeth – quite the thing here

Sunset over the West Gate in Khiva

The beautiful Kalta Minor Minaret.

Apparently this minaret was started with the intention that it would be well over 100 metres tall. The khan who commissioned it, Mohammad Amin Khan, died before it was finished. The tradition was that the tower was credited to the ruler who finished it. Not wanting his dad discredited with the tower the new khan, Amin Khan’s son, halted construction so that it retained his dad’s name. Nice.

Elizabeth researching transport connections on a tapchan (tea bed) in Khiva

Cleaning time at Guri Amir Masusoleum in Samarkand

Korean lady at the Bukhara bazaar.

After a lengthy interaction that involved a lot of miscommunication due to language difficulties we purchased some tasty noodles from this lady. We have learnt to seek out the Koreans, locals here following a large forced migration after the second world war, who sell items that do not consist solely of meat and carbohydrate.

I think she enjoyed the experience, they don’t get too many westerners in the bazaars.

Technorati Tags: Registan,Samarkand,Islam-Hoja Minaret,Khiva,Kalta Minor,Guri Amir Masusoleum,Bukhara

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Filed Under: Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling, Uzbekistan Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Bukhara, Guri Amir Masusoleum, Islam-Hoja Minaret, Kalta Minor, Khiva, Registan, Samarkand

Ten observations about Turkey

May 5, 2009 By Matthew Gain 3 Comments

Atatürk

Well people, the masthead at the top of this page needs changing as today is our last day in Turkey. We fly for Uzbekistan tonight and then will be travelling overland for the next few months through Central Asia and China.

Turkey has been an amazing and fascinating. It is my first visit to the country, Elizabeth’s second (she was here exactly 11 years ago). Whenever she mentioned this fact to the locals they would, without fail, respond with ‘a hell of a lot has changed in the last ten years’, and Elizabeth agreed. The days of westerners travelling around like a colonialist inspecting a far flung outpost of the empire are over. Turkey is no longer cheap – a beer at a bar is roughly $5 AUD or £2.50 – and there is a large middle class of domestic tourists that drive shiny new cars and surf the net on their iPhones. Of course beyond making a bigger dent in our budget than expected this is not at all bad thing.

It is impossible to sum up such a vast country in a short blog post, so instead I thought I would list the ten things, in no particular order, that stood out for me:

Atatürk – the father Turk may have died in 1938, but he is still omnipresent. There are statues of him it seems in every town square, every main street seems to be named after him and his photo adorns the walls of every establishment be they large/small, touristic/official or otherwise.
The special relationship – the Turks seem to really respect that Australians will travel to the other side of the world to honour and respect the men who fought in a battle in World War I. They consider the relationship with Australia a very important one and I expect will become more regular tourists of Australia in the coming years.
Rising middle class – as I mentioned above there is a real sense of prosperity in this country and a middle class that Elizabeth didn’t remember from last time.
Bus services – the complimentary drinks and snack services on the Turkish coaches would put many airlines to shame – and I am not talking about one of those nasty budget airlines.
Half finished buildings – there seems to be a hell of a lot of people in Turkey that can build concrete slabs many stories into the sky. Though there appears many less people who can build walls, doors and windows. This may be the result of ye olde credit crunch?
Turkish music – In the Turkish top 20 there appeared to be not one Western song. The entire chart was made up of what I assume are local Turkish artists. Not that they are ignorant to Western music – they just seem to like their own better.
Seasonal tourism – the coastal towns in the south of the country appear to survive solely on the tourist dollar. Given we were visiting these places before ‘the season’ many were completely empty. Some of the smarter tourism operators we spoke to advised they were working on ways to attract tourists through winter via walking tours and the like.
European Union – It seems EU entry is still a way off for Turkey, but none of the people we spoke to were too concerned about that and figured that Turkey was doing just fine on its own.
Smoking – every man and most women smoke it seems. And unlike Europe, US and Aus there is not yet a ban on smoking indoors. Funny how quickly one forgets how nasty cigarette smoke is. Apparently the restaurant smoking ban is due to hit in July which will be a shock to the system.
History – there is just so much history packed into this one country. There are so many historic sites that they have only excavated about 30% of them – there is just not the resource to do it all.

Turkey in short has been amazing, but our next stop, Uzbekistan, calls. I don’t think it will be as easy as tourist-friendly Turkey. They are a little more wary of outsiders there and they are much less likely to speak English, which will no doubt pose a bit of a problem given we speak absolutely no Russian or Uzbek. As such we requested the lovely lady who has been helping us with our visas to write out a passage in Russian for us to give to the immigration officials when we land:

Пожалуйста могли бы Вы оформить нас побыстрее у нас утренний рейс в Ургенч в 07.00. Мы боимся не успеть на него.

We hope it informs him of the fact that we have a connecting flight to catch and that we need to move quickly to catch it. Though it could just as easily say that we think Uzbekistan is a sham nation and that we intend to wipe our asses on their national flag. Wish us luck!!!!

See all our Turkey images here.

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Filed Under: Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling, Turkey Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Silk Road, Turkey

From the coast to Cappadocia

May 4, 2009 By Matthew Gain 1 Comment

Elizabeth enjoying her last swim before Thailand

Sorry for the dearth of updates, but posts repeating the fact that yet another day has been spent lounging around, drinking Efes Pilsener and going for the occasional dip in the Med was not likely to go down well. Especially for our London based readers. Though take heart in the fact, as the above image’s caption states, that we will be largely landlocked until we arrive in Thailand in July.

Kaş, and Olympos were our last two seaside stops. In Kaş, a nice little seaside town populated with the type of shops not out of place in Noosa, we took in a spot of sea kayaking over sunken ruins and amongst ancient Christian monasteries.

Sea kayaking near Kaş

In Olympos, less Noosa more Nimbin, we stayed in a treehouse and spent two days lazing around and lying on the beach. Not much else to do there really, though Elizabeth managed to locate some ruins. Me convinced that the Olympos version of the Lycian tomb was going to look no different than the other 13 or so she had dragged me to decided to remain prone. The tomb picture is below – worth the hike up the hill? “Another Efes please, the little lady is going for a walk, but I am staying right here.”

Yet another Lycian tomb…

From the coast we travelled north to Cappadocia, the land of fairy tale chimneys and cave houses.

Love Valley – couldn’t work out why the valley got its name…

In Cappadocia we saw church after church carved into the rock and also visited Derinkuyu, an enormous city carved underground around the 7th century AD for the purpose of defending the town’s people from attack by invaders.

Elizabeth in the narrow passages of Derinkuyu, some 65 metres underground

As I write this post I am sitting on a bus travelling to Turkey’s capital Ankara where we will change buses to return to Istanbul. In Istanbul we will change our money to US dollars, stash our money in various pockets of our bags (ATMs are apparently very thin on the ground across Uzbekistan, so we need to carry all the cash we will need there with us) and prepare to deal with rather strict customs officials at the Uzbek border in Tashkent.

Until then enjoy some more photos from the last week or so:

Cave houses in Cappadocia

Rock church fresco that proves, if anybody doubted it, that red heads are indeed the ones closest to God

Love the iconic VW bug, but need somewhere to house all your hippy belongings? Then the bugombi is just the thing!

Video of kids dancing in the streets in Goreme

All our Turkey images can be found here.

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Filed Under: Personal Posts, Silk Road, Travelling, Turkey Tagged With: Blogsherpa, Cappadocia, Cas, Goreme, Olympos, Silk Road, Turkey

Fethiye

April 27, 2009 By Matthew Gain 4 Comments

Ölüdeniz

I think the picture above fairly accurately sums up the last four amazing days that we have spent in Fethiye – it has been a like a holiday from the holiday.

Whilst here we have taken the foot of the accelerator a little, have gone to bed early and woken without an alarm, eaten amazing home cooked meals from our guest house and spent our days roaming the countryside or along the coast in search of remote beaches and deserted villages. We enjoyed our first swim of 2009 (bloody cold, but oh so good) and counted down the clock each day until the call to prayer rang out at five marking what we deemed an appropriate time to have a beer. We contemplated taking a cruise for a couple of days along the coast to Olympos, but were enjoying doing our own thing and the friendly atmosphere at our pension so much we gave it a miss.

That is all I am going to write, this is my last night of the holiday from the holiday and sitting in front of a computer on a holiday is simply not the done thing. I will let the photos and videos tell the story instead.

Every day at 5.00 we cracked open a beer in front of these two fishing boats and watched them bob back and forward

Elizabeth enjoying her first swim of the season at Ölüdeniz

After an eight kilometre walk over hills and through the bush we reached the village of Kayaköy, which consists of about 2000 deserted buildings. The inhabitants left after WWI and the war of independence. At the time it was deserted there was a large swap of Ottoman Christians from Greece, replaced by Muslim Greeks.

The scene above was what greeted us after a long 1.5 hour dolmuş (mini-bus) ride from Fethiye. It was a bloody steep walk down and we were slightly concerned that the next bus back wasn’t for another six hours. But that beach sure was enticing given the heat, so we bid the dolmuş farewell and scrambled down through the bush.