We loved Lhasa and were sorry to leave but we started this final leg of the journey from Lhasa to Kathmandu with our minds firmly set on the Big “E” which undoubtedly was the highlight of this bit of the journey but we were delighted by the other unexpected highlights we came across along the way. For a start, the road between Lhasa and Kathmandu is known as the “Friendship Highway” which is another of the AA’s top ten roads to travel on in the world. We were on it for the best part of two weeks and it certainly was [View Full Entry]

---

---

We crossed the border into Western China on 22nd July over the Toruquart Pass at 3752m - quite a road. It was a day’s driving over nothing more than a gravel track - this is the main route into China from Kyrgyzstan! The border crossing is quite a palaver and has several phases - it took us from about midday until 8pm to complete all the phases of it and know that we were finally in China. This is an area of China that tourists don’t normally see as most foreigners are familiar with the Eastern side of the country. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

These are the photos I wasn't able to downloade from the last bit of the trip. We've been in China for the last ten days now - great but I'll do an updated blog next week when we'll be in a WIFI hotel in Lasa. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sorry no photos, the internet here in Bishkek is very slow and I couldn't use the laptop. It's a shame we had some beauties! What a difference a border crossing can make. After leaving Tashkent we spent a day driving through the beautiful and fertile Fergana Valley, quite a contrast to some of the desert type countryside we have seen and then on to the Kyrgyzstan border. From Minarets to mountains in a couple of days - no more majestic cities with tiled mosaic mosques, the cities are quite run down and Russian influenced with the exception of Karakol on a [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Ashgabat behind having met up with some new passengers, three Australians, two American and two Dutch and headed off into the desert having first visited one of the largest markets in Central Asia, where you can buy anything from carpets to camels (We didn’t buy either). We visited both areas, the carpets were gorgeous and the camels were very smelly and noisy - but then I would too if I knew what fate was ahead of me! The desert was unrelenting - a huge sand dune desert which just went on and on and we spent two days driving [View Full Entry]

---

---

Having left Esfahan behind, visiting mosques, wonderful bridges straddling a river with no water and having eaten some traditional Iranian food (apart from the ever present kebabs!) we headed south to Shiraz of grape fame - isn’t it odd that they are a nation of teetotallers. Although we were spending two nights there we only had one full day to explore and half of that was spent at the Iranian Department for Aliens (yes really) extending our visas as we discovered they were due to expire a few hours before we were due to leave the country - a hefty fine [View Full Entry]

---

---

This is just a quick in between blog because I know some of you have been in touch with Helen about the news coming out of Tehran at the moment. this is just really to say that we're sitting in a beautiful air conditioned hotel in the middle of Tehran and we have not seen any of the "riots". Everybody we have met is very friendly and happy to have us here. We have been to visit a very ornate palace this morning and going to see the crown jewels this afternoon. We leave Tehran tomorrow heading to the Turkmenstan border [View Full Entry]

---

---

On the morning we left Cappadocia we were up bright and early at 5.30 am for camp breakfast at 5.45 and we were met by the most beautiful sight. Hundreds of hot air balloons going straight overhead. Cappadocia is one of the top five places in the world to do a sunrise balloon flight. It was a real WOW moment and we just thought “How lucky are we?” We had a long drive ahead that day and Lucy was on her own as Steve had had to go on ahead to Erzurum to collect his visa for Iran. It was a [View Full Entry]

---

---

After our few days acclimatisation in Istanbul which we loved we set out on our first big drive of about 485km to our first “bush camp”. Our tour leaders consist of Lucy (late 20s), Steve (late 20s) who share the driving and Kristina (our truck which is also in her late 20s) Steve and Lucy are great fun and our travelling companions are all really nice too, all in 40’s/50s. There are only 8 of us on this leg of the journey as there have been a few visa problems so some have had to cancel. We had hoped to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi evryone Packing done! Getting excited(??) This is our blog, please feel free to browse and make comments (but only nice ones) James & Margaret [View Full Entry]

---

---