Christmas came and went pretty much as it always did – getting pissed up on Christmas Eve and cry-singing Fairytale of New York alone on a street somewhere in Almaty, Kazakhstan, while planting my face on ice. The hitchhike to India was on a brief hiatus for the festive period. I’d been venturing to a load of ex-pat …
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Hookers, hitching, and holidays
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Hitchhike to India leg 52: Shymkent to Almaty
OK so as ever over the festive period I’m way behind on current events. Here’s the hitch to Almaty before Christmas, and I promise to get up to date soon. If you’re wondering why there are no pictures (because I know some of you like that) it’s because I’ve left all my camera gear to …
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Hitchhike to India leg 51: Tashkent to Shymkent
Right balls to this I’m off. I had originally planned on sticking it out in Tashkent until after New Year, then popping off down to Tajikistan to attempt to hitchhike the Pamir Highway. I mentioned that place to you before. You know; avalanches, earthquakes, drug runners, altitude sickness, wolves, sub-zero temperatures and the Taliban? Well …
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A nightmare in Tashkent
As ever during the festive period I’m a little behind, so maybe it’s time (as I know many bloggers do) to employ a skivvy. Honestly some of these entries takes hours and at the end of it I’m expected to try and promote the damn thing? You’re all just going to have to wait. Anyway this …
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Hitchhike to India leg 50: Samarkand to Tashkent and other stuff
It’s cold. The skies are drab and grey, and the wind is whipping through empty streets. Streets that are thrust into darkness come half past four, presumably to save money on the leccy bill. Uzbekistan feels like someone forgot to turn on the lights. I’m sure in summer the sweeping silk road sunsets capture the …
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Hitchhike to India leg 49: Bukhara to Samarkand
I had been living in a palace compared to my crack den in Ashgabat, and all for $15 a night. Private room, brand new en suite bathroom with an amazing shower, and the bed was one of the most comfortable in a hostel I’ve ever had since traveling. Seriously I graded it in the top …
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Bukhara, Uzbek opticians and new glasses
I can relax a little. I’ve made it into Uzbekistan, and with that comes a thirty-day visa, clean(er), cheap hostels, friendly people and less suspicion. I’ve been told I still need to be wary of the authorities as police can be pretty corrupt across all the ‘stans’, but for now I’m just ecstatic to be …
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Hitchhike to India leg 48: Ashgabat to Bukhara
I’ve arrived back in Ashgabat around 1 am from my trip to the door to hell. This is of course the last day on my visa, so I’ve got until 5 pm today to make the border – after that it’s closed for the night. With this in mind, and the fact that I had …
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The door to hell
Now this was one I’d been looking forward to for a long time. You’ll have all seen it before – it’s one of those tourist oddities that crops up in lists of strange places you won’t believe are on this planet. Or things to see before you die. Or Sovietfuckups dot com. Not sure that’s …
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Ashgabat
Oh where to begin?! Ashgabat is just crying out for a lampooning by an eloquent, witty wordsmith with biting prose and scathing humour – but unfortunately I’ll have to do. Let’s all follow the impeccable brick road shall we? The insanity starts when you ease into the city from the border checkpoints, on tarmac that looks …
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