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hauteboy

Visited countries/territories:
South America:
Colombia, Ecuador (+Galapagos), Peru, Bolivia, Chile (+Easter Island), Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana

Caribbean:
Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada (+Carriacou), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, St. Martin, St. Maarten, Guadeloupe, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Jamaica, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts & Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, Aruba

North America:
Canada, Mexico, USA (+Alaska, Hawaii), Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua

Oceania:
French Polynesia, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia (+Tasmania)

Africa:
Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

Asia:
Japan, China (+Hong Kong, Macau), Mongolia, North Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia (Bali), Myanmar, Malaysia (+Sabah,Sarawak), India (+Andaman Islands), Brunei, East Timor, Philippines, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan

Middle East:
Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq

Europe:
Iceland, Spain (+Canary Islands, Melilla), Portugal (+Madeira), Great Britain (+Wales,England,Scotland,Gibraltar), Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany (+Busingen), Italy (+Campione d'Italia), Vatican City, Monaco, Greece (+Crete), Cyprus (+Northern Cyprus), Lithuania, Latvia, Russia (+Kaliningrad), Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway (+Svalbard), Sweden, Denmark, Aland Islands, San Marino, Finland, Estonia, Belarus, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro

Travel Blog Posts

Silk Road and Samarkand

Published: January 10th 2013Asia » Uzbekistan » Samarkand » Samarqand

hauteboy
January 21st 2013

May 20, 2012 Hotel: Caravan Seraile, Samarkand, Uzbekistan; $45/double We had an early start today as it was going to be another long day on the road and a border crossing on the way to Samarkand. We caught a taxi right outside the hotel and told him we were going to the nothern bus station. When we got there and said we were going to the border, he offers to take us all the way for a reasonable amount, 100 TJS ($21.09) for 70 kms. A shared taxi would have been cheaper but we already had our bags in his car, and split 4 ways anyway it wouldn't have been much difference. The weather was gorgeously clear today, not too hot. We had been lucky with the weather so far this trip, no rain and May ... read more

Words: 2171 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 0 | Videos: 088 Views

Istararavshan

Published: January 10th 2013Asia » Tajikistan » Khojand

hauteboy
May 19th 2012

May 19, 2012 Hotel: Hotel Sugd; Khujand, Tajikistan; $75.50/dbl After the long day on the road yesterday it was nice to again have two nights in a place. There aren't a huge number of sights to see in Khujand itself. We started with an early breakfast at the hotel, it was decent enough with eggs, bread, cheese and watery dumplings. We caught a marshrutka (shared taxi) minibus to the Panjshanbe Bazaar (Thursday market) and the mosque/mausoleum of Sheikh Muslihiddin. The mosque was the first major example we had seen of Central Asian/Persian style with a tan brick minaret and curved domes. The area in front of the mosque was filled with pigeons and some children playing among them. The huge square between the mosque and the bazaar was filled with people this morning and very colorful. ... read more

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Transiting to Tajikistan

Published: January 10th 2013Asia » Tajikistan » Khojand

hauteboy
May 18th 2012

May 18, 2012 Hotel: Sugd Hotel; Khujand, Tajikistan; 360 tjs/double Today was going to be another long day on the road as we were planning on going to Khujand in Tajikistan. There are two ways to get there. One involves a transit of Uzbekistan through the flat Fergana valley, the involves going through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan which only involves a single border crossing. The problem with the 2nd way is there are enclaves of Uzbekistan in that part of Kyrgyzstan; even if you have a multi-entry visa many travelers have problems going through to Batken. Most taxis though now take detours on (non-existent) roads to get around these enclaves. The guy from Stantours said since we had double-entry Uzbek visas anyway that the first option was the better one. We figured we would need to ... read more

Words: 2246 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 0 | Videos: 035 Views

The road to Osh

Published: November 2nd 2012Asia » Kyrgyzstan

hauteboy
May 16th 2012

May 16, 2012 Hotel: CBT Guesthouse; Osh, Kyrgyzstan; $15.95/pp Today was going to be a long day on the road... the driver said that it was going to take at least 8 hrs driving to get to Osh. We set off after breakfast right at 9AM and started heading west through the valley towards the Ak-Bel pass. The road gradually climed up through glacial landscapes as the snow kept gettting closer and closer to the road. Evidence of previous glacial action was everywhere... erratic boulders and moraines. We stopped at the pass (10400') for photos, then started the long drive down the valley. The scenery was raw alpine beauty but started to change as we kept driving down the valley. There were actually forests here, the largest number of trees we had seen since Almaty. All ... read more

Words: 728 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 0 | Videos: 035 Views

Kyrgyz cowboys

Published: November 2nd 2012Asia » Kyrgyzstan

hauteboy
May 15th 2012

May 15, 2012 Hotel: Tourist camp; Suusamyr Valley, Kyrgyzstan; $21.27/pp We had a good breakfast at the guesthouse this morning; fresh homemade preserves, bread, tea, omlette, dried fruit, yogurt and pastry filled with dulce de leche.. yum. After breakfast we ran into a snafu. I had been corresponding with the owner of the guesthouse via email, and had arranged transportation to Osh with a stop overnight at a yurt along the way. However she wasn't there when we arrived, her daughter was having a baby. So that left us to communicate with her son and husband, who didn't speak any English. I had agreed to pay a certain price for the transportation.. it was expensive and quite a bit more than a shared taxi would have cost, but we figured the driver would have to return ... read more

Words: 911 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 0 | Videos: 022 Views

Bishkek

Published: November 2nd 2012Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Bishkek

hauteboy
May 14th 2012

May 14, 2012 Hotel: Radison house; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; $50/double Today was already our last day in Kazakhstan; it was time to move onto Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We wanted to get an early start to Bishkek as we would only be spending one afternoon there. Originally we planned to spend a day in Bishkek, then a day or two going to Issyk-Kul lake. That involved some backtracking though, and we also added an extra day into Tajikistan into the plans. I had been in contact with a guesthouse in Bishkek that had arranged transportation onto Osh with a night in a yurt and horsesback riding. I had stayed overnight in a yurt in Mongolia when I visited a few years ago but none of my friends had and they all wanted an 'authentic' Kyrgyzstan experience. A taxi from ... read more

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Travel make benefit glorious nation Kazakhstan

Published: November 2nd 2012Asia » Kazakhstan » East Kazakhstan » Almaty

hauteboy
May 13th 2012

May 11-12, 2012 Flight: Austin (AUS) to Houston (IAH); United Airlines 737, econ Flight: Houston (IAH) to London (LHR); United Airlines 777, econ Flight: London (LHR) to Almaty, Kazakhstan (ALA); British Midland A319, econ Hotel: Holiday Inn Almaty, 5k+$60/nt So finally the day of departure arrives and our plans are in disarray. Being busy with work and last minute preparations I hadn't had a chance to call up United to get our tickets changed. My friend was using miles on his ticket, but my ticket was a paid fare which made things more complicated. Dean and I did decide to visit Erbil for a day, then fly to Albania and do a mad dash loop through the southern Balkans, ending in Athens. I had booked the Supershuttle to the airport a bit tight on time, made ... read more

Words: 2416 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 0 | Videos: 056 Views

Pendjari Park

Published: June 5th 2010Africa » Benin » North

Antelope

hauteboy
May 14th 2010

May 14, 2010 Hotel: Hotel de la Pendjari, Benin Today was the start of our two-day safari to Pendjari Park, on the border of Benin and Burkina Faso. It is one of the best organized parks in West Africa, well maintained and has a list of accredited guides. We left the hotel around 6AM for the 2-hr drive to the park entrance. There are several guesthouses near the entrance to the park, but the only hotel inside the park is some 75kms from the entrance, quite a drive! The road from Nati to Tanguieta was paved, followed by dirt piste to the park gates. From there it was rattling washboard road all the way to the hotel.. I felt a little dizzy so popped a Dramamine which helped immensely. We arranged for 60,000 CFA per day ... read more

Words: 687 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 12 | Videos: 0169 Views

North to Nati

Published: June 5th 2010Africa » Benin » North » Natitingou

This was not our bus

hauteboy
May 13th 2010

May 13, 2010 Hotel: Hotel Bourgogne, Natitingou, Benin http://www.natitingou.org/bourgogne/ A LONG day of travel planned today, covering over 400 kms north to Natitingou (Nati). We went back to the maquis where we had dinner, the book had mentioned that a Belgian tourist had taught the chef how to make crepes. They were delicious with homemade mango jam, yummy! Our guide Marc picked us up on the moto-taxis for the ride back to Bohicon.. this is where the main north-south road passes. We bought a bus ticket around 9:00AM and waited.. and waited as bus after bus arrived from the south (but not our bus). Finally our bus arrived, only to have no seats available.. that was one problem we were worried about as the buses start in Cotonou. We managed to get on anyway and sit ... read more

Words: 584 | Comments: 0 | Photos: 5 | Videos: 0116 Views

That Voodoo that you do

Published: June 5th 2010Africa » Benin » South » Abomey

Our bus to Bohicon

hauteboy
May 12th 2010

May 12, 2010 Hotel: Chez Monique, Abomey, Benin We woke up this morning around 5:30 to get to the bus station, hoping to catch an actual bus for the 3-hr ride north to Abomey. One thing we had noticed in Benin was the proliferation of motorcycle taxis, known as zemidjans (or zems for short). The drivers all wear yellow or purple shirts, and the cost is pretty cheap. It was so early though (still dark out) and there weren't many out on the street yet, we had to wait a few minutes before a moto came by, he then drove off and was able to get two more. They plunked our bags onto the handlebars and then we rode off into the cool morning air on the pillion. About $0.60 to the bus station, at Etoile ... read more