SA SilkRoad

After a bit more than 4 months of traveling around the world we thought that we needed some rest. In fact it was a great idea to spend the last 10 days of the trip on Thai beaches! When you go to a beach holiday there is usually not much to tell when you are back and that is pretty much true for our beach holiday as well! As the weather at this time of the year is usually better on the west coast (Andaman sea) we decided to ignore the east coast (Gulf of Thailand) and concentrate on two not-too-busy spots on the Andaman coast, which also ruled out Koh Phi Phi and its gorgeous beaches (too noisy). We spent one night in Krabi and then we went to the beautiful island of Koh Lanta ... read more

Our next station in the Southeast Asian cherry-picking tour brought us directly from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang in Laos. You think that Laos is remote and that few travelers would spend their dollars in this obscure country? Forget it... it is almost as packed with tourists as every corner of Southeast Asia! There are less tourists than in Thailand and because Laos is landlocked you won't find the beach tourists here but sometimes we wish these governments would never had softened visa regulations... this would vastly reduce tourism! Nevertheless, don't believe we are not enjoying our trip or that we would not encourage you this visit this part of the world... just be prepared to bump into your neighbour! ;-) The town of Luang Prabang is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site (by the ... read more

This is our blog entry for the Uzbekistan part of our trip. There are 47 pictures in this entry and you have to click on "next" at the bottom of the page to see the pictures on page 2 and 3. There is also a map available. We hope you enjoy! Crossing the border from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan went without problem and we found our way to Fergana where we stayed for the night. A first general impression of the country was that it seems more developed; a bit richer than Kyrgyzstan. Streets are in better condition (almost comparable to Quebec's roads... hum... some would say it is not an example!), less cows and sheep block the road (we didn't say none), industrial sites can been seen from the road, etc. People are a bit richer ... read more

We write you this entry from Bishkek, where we finally arrived last Thursday. As you can imagine, we were a bit nervous at the airport in Mashhad! The guy at the check-in first looked for Kirghiz visas in our passports, but this time we had the magic letter (see previous entry) that allowed us to board the plane! We also had the pleasure to see our Kirghiz "friend" there, but we weren't very motivated to talk to him! At Bishkek airport, we received one-month visas without problem in 15 minutes! Thanks to Vali (who has just received his official tourist guide card - not so easy to get in bureaucratic Iran), we spent a wonderful last day in Iran. He took us to the small village of Binalud, where we could meet some local people and ... read more

Finally, this is our next blog entry... it took a while and is short wrap up of our last 10 days in beautiful Iran. Esfahan This city is the beauty queen of Iran. We stayed 4 nights but could have stayed a lot more. The biggest attraction is the Imam Khomeini Square. The second biggest square in the world (the biggest is Tiananmen Square in China) is not only huge, but it is surrounded by nice buildings. Among others two of the most wonderful mosques in the whole Islam. We visited both, the Imam Khomeini Mosque and the Sheik Lotfollah Mosque and were deeply impressed. The square is also home to close to hundreds of souvenir shops as part of the bazar and as a tourist you are begged 10 times per day to buy a ... read more