http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JulianGT/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JulianGT en-us Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:33:35 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:33:35 +0000 And so two months after getting onto a train in Beijing I got off one in Luxembourg. As easy as that really. That brings me to the end of my Silk Road journey. The Silk Road of course never was one road but a network of trade routes that crisscrossed their way across Asia between Europe and China and branched off to Persia and India. Most people at the time would also never have travelled all http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Luxembourg/blog-405808.html Greece is a homecoming. I'm not sure whether it's my secret affinity for all things Greek my arrival in a country I had been to before or the fact that for the first time since leaving China I can summon up the courage to order a coffee in the local language without holding a phrasebook behind my back. But with the sun shining and a view over the Mediterranean it is very hard to wipe a smile off http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-405807.html At the train station in Istanbul I learn that the Orient Express only operates once a year these days and tickets can only be purchased return from Paris. Well having left my top hat behind I may not be adequately dressed anyway so I settle for an overnight train to Thessaloniki instead.And so safely in Schengen territory that closes the crossing borders feature on this blog http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/blog-403495.html Back on the more or less straight line between Beijing and Rome http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-401601.html Arriving at the north east corner of the big rectangle that is Turkey the most direct path to Istanbul is of course along the Black Sea coast. But when you find yourself in that north east corner of Turkey it is hard not to be tempted to see a bit more of this vast country and so I decided to loop through it in a big U shape until I finally reached Istanbul.Three things strike me about TurkeyF http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-401596.html Sarp is a busy border crossing with the border between Turkey and Armenia closed because of the current political climate all traffic travelling between the two countries and indeed between Europe and the Caucasus goes through Georgia. It's a fairly straight forward process it just involves queuing for a couple of hours. Or rather fending your territory in the mob and try to stop every man and http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-400271.html Georgia country of adorable towns stunning mountains sea side resorts and cheese pies. Lots of cheese pies. Khatchapuri come in all shapes and sizes must weigh at least a pound and are delicious. They appear at all times of the day and might feature by themselves or as part of a bigger meal. They also seem to contain something that stops you from realising how many you have eaten until they ph http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/blog-400270.html This is the first border that I did not have to cross on foot Instead I was in the comfort of a train compartment not a Chinese import this time I think.. which I shared with a merry old Azeri. He offered me one of the many cans of beer he was carrying and made delightful conversation to me in Russian. The fact that I declined his beer and barely understood a word of what he said did not seem http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/blog-398656.html Arriving from the east Baku seems like the gateway to Europe a quaint European style old town with cobble stone alleys and narrow side streets big squares and fountains cafes and restaurants in all a lovely place to spend a few days. The slight distraction are all the oil fields. Oil and gas are the country's main assets and perhaps what it is most known for and step out of the old town an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/Baku/blog-398652.html If it takes a beer to tie you over the wait trying to get into Turkmenistan bring a keg when you're trying to get out. Granted I did not fly out from Ashgabat airport like most tourists would. Instead I took an overnight train clearly Chinese manufactured strangely familiar to Turkmenbashi the coastal city in the far west to get a boat across the Caspian Sea to Baku.I knew that this would http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/blog-397125.html Turkmenistan may have to be seen to be believed on one hand the ancient sites conjure up images of caravans of traders making their way across Central Asia on the other hand the capital's skyline makes you think that you are in some kind of strange fairytale wonderland.Merv was once known as The Queen of the World and was a bustling city along the Silk Road. Then Genghis Khan's son came along http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Turkmenistan/blog-397124.html If you ever consider crossing the border from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan bring a beer you'll be in for a wait. Getting out of Uzbekistan is straight forward enough and walking 2km to the next border control is relatively easy too but Turkmenistan is a notoriously difficult country to enter first getting all the right documents in advance and next physically getting in. You'll be in the good c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Turkmenistan/blog-397122.html A word about transportation in central Asia. One of the most convenient and inexpensive ways to travel between cities is by shared taxi. Just head to one of the spots where taxi drivers congregate explain where you want to go wait for a few more passengers to fill up the car and off you go. Except that the taxi you got on may not actually go all the way to where you want to go. Instead the dri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/blog-394901.html Crossing the KyrgyzUzbek border in three easy steps1. Walk up to the Kyrgyz border post and have your passport stamped by a friendly Kyrgyz2. Walk down the road to the Uzbek border post and have your passport stamped by a friendly Uzbek3. Heave a sigh of relief that there are no trucks mountains or flat tyres involved in the process http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/blog-394900.html Our extended stay in Kashgar and the delay in getting across the border has left us with little time to explore Kyrgyzstan. We don't manage to loop up to Bishkek and the lakes in the north east but instead discover Osh the second largest city of the country and centre point of the south in a country geographically and culturally divided by the Fergana mountain range.As we wander down the street http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/blog-394896.html Crossing borders in central Asia might not be quite as simple as inside the Schengen area but as long as you have your papers in order and transport sorted out it should be straight forward enough. Or so we thought until it took us almost 48 hours to cover the 400km between Kashgar in China and Osh in KygyzstanDay 1 0700Our driver picks us up and we head essentially due west from Kashgar tow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/blog-392786.html Xinjiang literally translates as the new frontier. And as soon as you step across the border you know how this province earned its name it is home to the Uighur minority with their own language religion food and dress that is much closer to that of its western neighbours than the rest of China. We may still be in the PRC but this definitely already feels like central Asia.Our first stop is Tu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-392779.html If there was a contest for the most oddly shaped administrative region in the world the Chinese province of Gansu would be a strong contender for the first prize. Stretching from Sichuan in the south to Xinjiang in the northwest it contains both the geographical centre of China and a border with Mongolia. Chris and I managed to spend substantial amounts of time in Qingdao pondering on how the s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-390011.html Any trip along the Silk Road must begin at its starting point Xi'an modern day Chang'an one of the great ancient capitals of China. Most famous today for being the home of the terracotta warriors the silent army that has guarded the tomb of Qin Shi Huang the first emperor of China for over two thousand years. Qin Shi Huang was the first to unify China build the Great Wall standardise the w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-389983.html Dear all For months I have been going on about my grand plans to travel overland from China to Europe. It's now April 2009 the time has finally come to tear myself away from Beijing and embark on my voyage home. Previously my trips between Europe and Beijing have involved a couple of hours waiting in an airport lounge ten hours on a plane being fed and entertained and a short car ride to my ho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Olympic-Park/blog-388208.html