itervitae

We rose up early at the seashore of the Black sea while the sound of cracking boat met the peaceful waves. Pretty quickly as a rule we hitched a car or two and crossed Turkey-Georgia border at no difficulties. Another moment, and we walked the streets of Batumi, where semi-melted snow mixed with dirt did not portray the town at its best. We secretly agreed with a popular view on the places near the sea: you need the summer to enjoy the full bounty of smells, views and tastes. The road however from Batumi, a tiny bit up north and then towards Tbilisi, is worth a pen, which sadly I wouldn’t be able to use in order to describe the beauty of the mountains snoozing silently in the distance. One car after another at a fast ... read more

China was still deeply in our minds whilst we were entering a new country. Loas seemed like a child trying to catch up with either of its neighbouring fellows. Having copper and gold in its mountains it still felt like an exotic yet poor land. In nature terms it felt like an extension of southern China – rich jungles covering mountains, where in the morning you see a light mist floating above the trees. It’s easy to enter Laos. You pay 30 $ on the border to cover the visa expenses and off you go. The beauty of this country sincerely jaw dropping and seriously mysterious. People suit well to this exotic exterior. Kids colour is the same like deep red ground, and their houses on poles almost like a part of the nature. No artificial ... read more

We have crossed the gate of China with a slight thrill. Previous hitch hiking, hospitality and other rules may no longer be valid. With only ‘ni how’ (‘Chinese) and ‘she she’ (‘thanks’ in Chinese) in our language stores, we had no idea of upcoming events. Back in Lithuania some people were rather had no positive forecast for hitch-hiking in China. This surely sounded like a good challenge for us. Kinija kontrastingiausia mūsų regėta šalis. � China - the most diverse country we have ever seen. Journey through this land was a long meditation throughout nature diversity and city madness. Both newly built houses and shabby homes on poles were with elegantly raised roof endings, which is an ultimate Chinese signature. Cities and towns we... read more

The Kyrgyz-Kazach border crossing was like a human traffic jam. People with full bags of something smuggling through the gate to sell it in a Big Brother neighbour which is the job destination land for many of ex soviet countries. The queus were messy, and everyone tried to be smarter than his neighbour to get in first. Soon after passport control we could observe another pretty site. One of the officers accidently stops people with no matter larger or smaller bags, and the caught-ones soon give their ‘tax’ – some money pushed quickly whilst shaking hands with finally happy looking officer. We seemed to be innocent as he waived and shouted something like welcome to Kazachstan in Russian. Corruption is a big thing in post sovietic countries. It is unwritten rule when in Kyrgyztan or Kazachstan ... read more

Osh after the war Kirgistano namai nėra išvaizdūs. � Houses here are not particularly beautiful. Crossing Uzbekistan – Kyrgyzstan border is one of the easiest steps in Middle Asia countries – no painful documentation filling. Show the visa and straight into the country. Just as we have entered the new land, a dark car has stopped and we had couple seconds to decide whether it is safe enough to get in. We made it and the risk was worth it. Aldynbek – which appeared to be a policeman – has given us a full on tour around the city. ‘These are the left-over buildings after the Osh war in the summer of 2010′ he showed us the ghostly looking black buildings. They were Uzbeki houses and shops. ‘Have you taken part in it?’ we dared to ... read more

Post-border adventures We have crossed Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan border before the nightfall. The last trucks have already passed, and when we noticed a lake nearby, we decided not to rush into Bukhara, but stay in the nature instead. The coastline was muddy a bit, but eventually we found near-to-perfect place to pitch the tent. We already imagined ourselves making a bonfire and having an early night. Soon we heard someone running into us, and when we turned around, we saw two young soldiers running heavily with their guns hanging loose. The saliva was all around one soldier’s face. We got frozen for a moment, and they were shocked seeing innocent faces. They tried speaking Russian but quite unsuccessfully and meanwhile reporting through their walkie talkies about possible law abusers. img=http://itervitae.me/wp-content/... read more

Getting our visas You’ve got to be a lucky chuck to get a Turkmenistan visa. We had no intention to get a tourist one as too many obstacles in receiving it. So we aimed for a transit visa, normally issued to cross the country in 5 days. It did not sound too little. We applied for one in Teheran, Iran. We handed in copies of our passports along with Uzebekistan visa copies, and had collected it in Masschad, northern part of Iran, very close to the border with Turmenistan. Unfortunately we had to speed our crossing the country as recently it happens to be 3 but not 5 days rule. We still count ourselves to be luckier, as hitching still a quicker process than cycling. Couple of dutch cyclists intend to do it in the same ... read more

Before entering Iran we had a bunch of warnings from our relatives. The media has mainly focused its attention on recent relationships between Iran, Israel, Europe and States. It is almost everything been so fragile and on the verge of a newly upcoming war. Though whilst we are on a go, it seems another kind of regime switches on. We rarely access the TV, the Internet is being used in a rush to update what we have been up to. Even though somewhere at the back of one’s mind the news exists, we enter this country as any other place. So standing between the borders of Turkey and Iran, we were happy to finally having obtained our visa, and looking forward what this country could offer us. Nuostabiai kontrastinga Irano dykuma. � Such a wonderful and ... read more

Upon the arrival from Azerbaijan back to Turkey, we were overly excited. Couple days or so, and we are going to pick up our Iranian visas to set off to the country full of mystery. The news were scarce and hopeless. We need to stick around and stir our uncertainty with a good dose of patience. Our feet needed a bit more of action, and we still had some desired spots on Turkey’s map. Sumela monastery was one of favorite ones, so soon we mounted another truck and headed towards another snow storm. Our driver with a fatherly look in no way wanted to let us off somewhere in the middle of fields with trees like ghosts. ‘There are wolves out there’ he mimed the aggressive animal mouth. The fields indeed were full of silence, solitude, ... read more

We took the rumours seriously – Azerbaijan is an expensive country. Hence we stacked our backpacks with sprats and pasta, which eventually had to snooze down at the bottom. Azerbaijanese hospitality came to a level that we hardly – apart from some nuts or sweets – had to buy our own food. It doesn’t matter you are going by the car or standing at the sidewalk ten p.m. you would be invited and hosted with love and care. ‘A guest is a blessing’ we frequently hear, and truth to say, we have been trying to enjoy it fully. So our tent got some rest and maybe even got lazy as we used it only once at the Caspian sea. Even then we have been invited to stay at someone’s house. At times we felt like in ... read more