Burial practices are always fascinating to learn about in other cultures, and I got a little taste of the Chinese way of doing things when we stopped off on the way to a little town called Luidan to bush camp in a Chinese cemetery. We were surrounded by big pyramid mound graves all around, most built close to large doorways leading to no where- a few quite intricate, some more than others, depending on the family budget I suppose, with thick sandy brick walls sloping down on either side; symbolising a path leading the dead to the afterlife, and looking at them, you almost expect to see another world through the doorway. All of the graves were surrounded by charred wood, broken bottles, bones, hoofs, horns & the dried out guts of goats, left over from ... read more

After a last shower for four days, we set off towards our first stop through the Taklamaken desert. Bush camping for me, is what the overlanding experience is all about, it's a very communal, basic and sociable way to travel. Once we find a good spot to set up camp, everyone attends to their previously assigned tasks to unpack everything you need to cook, wash up and camp comfortably. You're also assigned a partner for cookgroup duty, which rotates daily, when you need to buy food, and cook lunch, dinner and breakfast for everybody. After things are vaguely set up, most people drag a tent off to a spot they like and set up for the night, we'd sit in t-shirts until food is ready, then eat and pile on sweaters after another beautiful sunset, playing ... read more

The next day we had a 5.30am start to cross the border to China through the Torugart pass, one of the toughest & most remote border crossings in the world. Of the few homes we passed, many were made out of old disused train carriages, rusted single skeletons made new, usually with a yurt nearby, and a broken out house metres away. There were many shepherds, many herds of horses & goats, and miles & miles of wide open space. We drove & drove, watching the scenery change & feeling the oxygen levels sink every time we got out of the truck & did anything more strenuous than a stroll. Kyrgyzstan's red rocks & wide green slopes with beautiful blue rivers, gradually got a little more empty, a little more icey, a little less grassy, a ... read more

The Aksu-Zhabagly national park is the oldest in the country, I stayed with the nicest couple, Elmira and Lammert, at their home turned hotel, called Wild Natures, with the wife, Elmira's elderly parents, and their two adorable 3 and 5 year old daughters. They had a lovely big garden complete with a big dog & various cats. It was right at the end of the tourist season, so the only other guy there was Panos from California (originally Greek), who'd worked in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan twenty years before, and spoke fluent Russian. Lammert, who was from Holland, spoke a whopping seven languages, and was a lovely guy with puppy dog eyes and this great chuckle that sounded almost exactly like Doctor Hibbert from the Simpsons. "We arrive at our hut at about 5 o'clock ... read more