kirstent - Kirsten T

You have got to love this long service leave idea! I have been back at Toorak College now for 8 years and have watched many of my friends come and go with their long service leave..... now it is my turn. I am taking 6 months leave and plan to do a big journey style adventure. Ten years ago I sat at the Chinese-Pakistan border along the Karakorum Highway and have since wanted to visit the other side at Kashgar. This time I am starting at Xian and heading through China along the Silk Route. The trip visits Kashgar and heads into Krygrzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and ends up in Turkey. (update .... Georgian will not be possible at this time, so we will travel through Iran instead) After Istanbul I will be heading to Barcelona, Madrid and then into Morocco via the Portugal coast.

Overland through Silk Route

Map Legend: 5%, 15 of 263 Territories

Silk Route

Green

Blue

Moroon

Your map description - the trip through the Silk Route. Starting in Xian in China into Krygrzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and finishing in Turkey.

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Joined on: January 1st 2008
Last Login: October 31st 2009

Blog Entries: 36
Photos: 239

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by kirstent, order by Date newest first.

By kirstent
November 30th 2008

The Dubai Marathon Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai

Dubai Airport - waiting

Casablanca was nothing like the movie! I was staying in the Medina Ancienne which was in reality down by the port. The Medina was quite small and nothing like Fes or Chefchaouen. The location was dodgy and the hotel had no heating (which I expected) but it did have and English movie channel which was the first time I had been able to watch English movies for months. I snuggled up in bed and watched back to back movies (yay!). The Hotel also had the best breakfast. Whilst in Casablanca I heard about the siege at Bangkok airport. The first reports [View Full Entry]

I'm so bored ... lucky they put mirrors above my head

By kirstent
November 21st 2008

Morocco Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Essaouira

Top pf Ait Bennahdou

After a night in Jerez which included a fantastic flamenco display we made out way to Tarifa to catch the ferry across to Tangiers in Morocco. We missed the 11am ferry by about 2 minutes due to traffic on the road so had another two hours in Tarifa that we had not planned. Tarifa is a lovely little town sitting on the coast. During the summer it is full of British tourists but it was pretty much closed up for the season. We had a good ferry crossing and landed in Tangiers. From there it was a couple of hours in [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
November 4th 2008

Bom dia ... but where has the sun gone? Europe » Portugal » Central » Coimbra

Lisbon

I am now in Portugal - currently we are in the University town of Coimbra . The university has a really long history and is set in the old town. We went out to see the Roman ruins in a nearby town this morning. It is still very cold and wet here. Hopefully as we head further south it will start to warm up again. Hope that everyone made lots of money on the cup today - sounds like it was a good race. We caught the train down to Lisbon on the 5th. Yesterday we headed across to Sintra [View Full Entry]

The Cloisters in the Old Cathedral Coimbra

By kirstent
October 26th 2008

Hola! Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona

Sagrada Familia

I left Istanbul on the 24th and flew to Barcelona. It was sad to finish up on the overland trip and head into more mainstream tourism. I have been here for a couple of days now getting back into my artistic roots. I came here to see Gaudi and it has been great having a look at the places that I have seen in books. Today I went to the Picasso Museum which I loved. As you can see the sun was out and real T-Shirt weather. Went to visit the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 games as well as the [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
October 24th 2008

Marking the end of the Silk Route with a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

Turkey

We caught a bus from Goreme to Istanbul. It turned out to be a long journey. We had left Dave and the truck in Goreme as he was doing an overhaul before it headed down into Africa. We had 12hrs on a comfy bus but we were ready now to be in Istanbul. The last McDonalds we had was in Xian at the start of the journey so it really was quite fitting to finish with ´Maccas´ when we got into Western Turkey (yep it still tasted the same and I don´t need any more for another 3mths.) Istanbul is a [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
October 20th 2008

Crossing Into Turkey Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Van

Ballooning 2

After Esfahan we headed to Tabriz. This was basically a rest stop before making the border crossing into Turkey. It took us just over 4hrs to get to the border and then about another 2hrs leaving the Iranian border and entering Turkey. As far as border crossings go that was a good one! As soon as we entered the Turkish side = scarves were off, coats off and we went and bought an ice cold Efeas - the local beer. We drove into Dogybaizit for the night and it was quite obvious that we were in Kurdistan - the locals introduced [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
October 12th 2008

Yadz, Shiraz, Persepolis and Esfahan Middle East » Iran » East » Yazd

Drying Fabric

Since Tehran we have been travelling west across Iran . Everywhere we go the people are wonderful, usually greeting us with 'Welcome to Iran'. I have had a man stop the traffic for me and a family invite me to their home in Northern Iran if I am in the area! After Tehran (which was fantastic) we stopped in Yadz. Yadz is one of the oldest regions in Iran and we spent the day following the walking tour around the old city. Lots of little laneways so we pretty much spent the day getting lost, finding ourselves again and then getting [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
October 4th 2008

Scarfed up and frocked up in Iran Middle East » Iran » North » Tehran

Scarfs and Bling

Well we are now in Tehran. We camped one night after crossing the border from Turkmenistan and then had an 18 hr drive to get into Tehran the following day. Tehran has been great - a very modern city where we visited the Palace, the "Den of Espionage' (the old US Embassy), the National Museum and the Jewels Museum - really enjoyed it all. We boutght black cotton in Ashgabat and borrowed long shirts from the boys to make our way over the border. Since then we have bought black headscarves and mantous (thigh length coats) to get around in. Some [View Full Entry]

One of the murals on the wall of the Den of Espionage

By kirstent
October 1st 2008

The Stepford Wives meets Brave new World Asia » Turkmenistan » Ashgabat

The Turkmenistan Gas Crater

I am a bit behind with this journal as Turkmenistan was pretty tight with internet access. I couldn't get phone access as well. After Bukhara we went to Khiva - wandered around more amazing buildings and bazaars. From there we travelled across the border into Turkmenistan. The Border towns had not seen many tourists so we had a lot of attention as we were changing money and shopping in the bazaar. We had a couple of days of bush camping as we made our way through the Turkmen desert. We drank our last beers as we were just out of Ashgabat. [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
September 22nd 2008

Bukhara Asia » Uzbekistan

Carpets in the Ark

We are now in Bukhara.... another awesome place in Uzbekistan. We had city tour yesterday and cruised around the sites. Visited the Ismail Samanid Mausoleum a 10th C Mausoleum for Ismail Samani who both the Uzbeks and the Turkmen hold in high esteem as hereos of their country. The terracotta brickwork has features from Zorastrian, Buddhism as well as Islam. The Turkmen want to relocate the tomb to Ashgabat. . . according to our Uzbek guide! The tomb was buried under sand to protect it from the Mongols and later the Russians. We also visited the Ark = 5th C to [View Full Entry]

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Overland through Silk Route

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