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Matthias
After having finished my theoretical studies in France (just the master thesis still has to be written), I am travelling overland to China, my second time already, this time I'm following the Northern Silk Road. I intend to pass the following countries:Hiasi
Germany - Austria - Slovenia - Croatia - Serbia - Macedonia - Greece - Turkey (maybe a short stay in Georgia) - Iran (I really look forward to see this country)- Turkmenistan (in honor to Turkmenbashi ;-) - Uzbekistan - Tajikistan - Kyrgystan - China (Xinjiang and Tibet, then to Shanghai)
My timetable is quite flexible, but I think that I am going to be in China in September, in Shanghai certainly around November. There I will settle down for a while in order to search a company where I can write my thesis in polymer engineering...it should be located in Asia or Australia...but I don't like to plan too much...so let's live it first!
Thanks for following my steps in the world, I try to keep you updated...a big hug from me for whoever cares about what I am doing...Matthias
Travel Blog Posts
August 20th 2007
After some relaxing days in Osh with its nice and big market and its lively and pleasant atmosphere (at least in daytime), I headed off alone towards Kyrgyzstan's north, out of the Ferghana valley, which is mostly populated by Uzbeks (thanks to Stalin it's part of Kyrgyzstan though) to the Kyrgyz heartland. Once in Bishkek, I had to solve some money-transfer problems which forced me to stay longer than planned in this modern and quite pretty city that's turned into a terrifying place at night by drunk Kyrgyz, Kazhak and Russian men. Without the intention to scare anyone, just some stories from me and people I personally met in the 5-7 days I was there: one French traveler was beaten up for nothing, they broke his jaw and he had to fly home Alastair, my English ... read more
August 5th 2007
As I wrote last time, we arrived safely in Alichur and checked in to the home stay of the local English teacher, a 50 year old woman. She was living with her husband, two of her children and a nephew who was on visit from Khorog. We explored the "huge" village and found out that it is half Tajik and half Kyrgyz, with the city hall in the middle. The Tajiks live in the Western part, where you find a Tajik shop and houses, whereas the Eastern part of the village is home of a Kyrgyz mosque, a Kyrgyz shop and many gers. The first thing I noticed was the quite high number of men strolling around as if they were searching something..which led to an interesting discussion with the English teacher as I mentioned it. ... read more
July 26th 2007
Safely arrived in Dushanbe, I took my time to relax and regain strength for the next step of my journey... The city itself is very nice, though unexciting and not very interesting. You’ll find tree-lined avenues filled with Russian cars, big Land rovers of development aid workers and the occasional Mercedes of a Tajik who made his fortune with his contacts or by selling out the country's resources to mainly Russian, Chinese or British companies. You'll find Russian style stucco houses in pale colors, preferably light pink or fading green with huge white balustrades overlooking the shaded pave walk. Down there, the leftover of the Russian population tries not to blend in the Tajik majority. You can even treat yourself to a good meal of international cuisine from Georgian to Indian, you can find a restaurant ... read more
July 19th 2007
...as I wrote you, my little bath had an influence on my onward journey... So after the nice evening in the small Tajik village, I prepared myself to get up around 9 o'clock, as the bus to Iskander Kul was meant to leave around 11 from the city. That night I couldn't really sleep well and you can imagine my surprise when I was woken up at 5 in the morning...."we have to go!!!" WHERE? WHY? Everydboy was up (how I hate mornings!) and they told me that they want to show me the "city" first (they could've told me that the evening before.....) so we headed there at 5.30 in the morning. On the village square all people gathered to share the few cars and donkey carts to go to the market or work. It ... read more
Uzbekistan - Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent
Published: August 7th 2007Asia » Uzbekistan » Samarkand
July 13th 2007
After having left the mainly depressing, poor and wild Karakalpakstan, I went on to explore the rich historical heritage of Uzbekistan and joined the other tourists who come from all over the world to see what's left and to get an impression of past glory. My first stop was Khiva, a nearly totally preserved capital of a once mighty emirate. The soviets turned it into an open air museum and it is, despite the mass of day trip tourists, a pleasant place to spend some days. I stayed in a beautiful restored old traditional house with a caring housewife and two young female apprentices at her side....as I was the only guest I was really pampered by them. Mainly this and the fact that I needed some rest after the rush through Turkmenistan and to the ... read more
Karakalpakstan - in the shadow of a disappearing sea
Published: June 28th 2007Asia » Uzbekistan » Khiva
June 28th 2007
After having left Turkmenistan, I found myself in a quite deserted spot in Uzbekistan: Konye Urgench in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, which covers the North Western part of the country. Its capital is Nukus, a quite unimpressive town with an extraordinary art museum and an omnipresent heritage of the Soviet Union. The city was an outpost of the Union where biological warfare was developped and the fish, which came from Aral Sea, was processed. The only reason for tourists to enter this city today is the mentioned art museum and the fact that it is on the way to the former shore of the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea, once the fourth biggest sweet water lake in the world is going to be distinguished from the map in not less th... read more
June 24th 2007
After 6 weeks in Iran I headed for the Iranian/Turkmen boarder at Bajgiran/Gaudan, prepared for a totally new experience in the state of Turkmenbashy. But it turned out that my imagination was far too little for the reality in his realm. Neverthelsee, my first impression at the boarder wasn't that good, as I ran into a relict of the Soviet Union, the customs...time stealing and unnecessary in its extend, one has to pay an additional 12$ just for entering the country (not to mention the visa I purchased in Tehran after 4!! visits to the embassy). And then there they were: Shuttle bus taxi drivers who hold the monopoly over the boarder area and ask for not more than 10$ to take you to Ashgabat, the incredible capital of this desert dictatorship...which is 35km away! ... read more
June 20th 2007
First I want to say, i am currenly in Usbekistan and I left Iran one week ago. During this week I crossed Turkmenistan and visited the deserted Aral Sea. But this will be in the next topic :-) I didn't write for such a long time, because in Iran, like in China and some other totalitarian states, internet is censored and I couldn't access the travelblog site. ... read more
Some relaxing days without the Muezzin howling 5 times a day
Published: May 9th 2007Asia » Georgia » Tbilisi District » Tbilisi
May 9th 2007
I made it to Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia. After leaving Hopa I entered Georgia, not knowing what awaits me...and I was surprised. First by their alphabet which reminds me to Thai language...then by the plants and the forest around Batumi, a city, directly located at the Black Sea coast where you can find the only subtropical climate in the region. Also the hospitality of the Georgians made me wonder, I was hitchhiking to the border with a Turkish truck who told me that he can take me further to Tbilisi when he'll be finished at the customs...but that seemed too fast for me, entering the country and going 400km right away into the capital, and by night, as it was already evening. So I sat down and thought about what to ... read more
May 3rd 2007
It's time to give you some updates about my further way... I am in Hopa, a small city on the shore of the black Sea coast (Karadeniz) and ready to leave for Georgia. After I spent some delightful days in Sinop with exploring the beaches, eating great fish meals, discussing with old fishermen about the laic republic of Turkey and even seeing dolphins hunting, I decided to continue my journey. After leaving my host whose family has a small restaurant at the seaside, I hitchhiked to Samsun a quite big city on the coast. It wasn't very appealing, so I stayed only for the night and took a hotel, as I was a little bit ill and really not in the mood to accept the offer of a guy who met me in the street ... read more
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