http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kirstent/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kirstent en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:23:43 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:23:43 +0000 We stayed the night in Karakol after Lake Issykul. A wierd place orange and pink it looks like a ski lodge but had the best beds .....and breakfast. Karakol was a great little town.Short drive from Karakol to DjetiOguz. DjetiOguz is about 25km away at the mouth of the DjetiOguz Canyon. It has Red Sandstone cliffs one was called the Broken Heart and the name DjetiOguz means nine bulls http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Karakol/blog-320412.html We were wet through from two days of rain. On the morning that we were due to leave DjetyOghuz it actually snowed on us. When we looked up we realised that the snowline was now on the pastures that we had visited yesterday. We were due to head for SongKul Lake. The lake was another 1000m higher so we didn't think that we would be able to get in and out due to the snow. We decided to head back to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Karakol/blog-323818.html We drove back to Kochkor as we resumed out journey west . It was a great day driving around the southern side of Lake IssyKul. All day it was the lake to the right of us and spectacular snow capped mountains to the left. Everywhere you looked were awesome views. We stopped in a small town for lunch. There seemed to be only one cafe serving food in the town so I think we stressed them out somewh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Osh/blog-323827.html With the visit to SongKul Lake changed due to the snow we had an extra day in Kyrgyzstan. Claire and Dave decided that with a name like Arslanbob we needed to go there ..... Reading the Lonely Planet it sounded like a beautiful place ...walnut forests all around.... a little Uzbek village that is trying to generate more tourism. This year they had 1300 foreign visitors to the village. Once again http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Osh/blog-323836.html We had a free day in Samarkand it was a bit of a lazy day for me . The next morning we headed out on our way to Bukhara. We had a Yurt stay planned and then a visit to Nurota and the Holy FishThe Yurt stay was quite surreal. Most YurtsGers we have come across in the past were in the middle of nomad pastures hellip this one was smack bang in the Uzbek desert. After around 6hrs of driving on m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-326208.html 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 c http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Essaouira/blog-347169.html 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 watche http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-350834.html 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 ra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-341622.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-338571.html 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 Turk http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-338565.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Eastern-Anatolia/Van/blog-336454.html 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 areaAfter 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 to http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iran/East/Yazd/blog-333526.html 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 shirt http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iran/North/Tehran/blog-330751.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Turkmenistan/Ashgabat/blog-330748.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/blog-326209.html bAfter Tashkent we travelled to Samarkand . The actual countryside in Uzbekstan is quite boring lots of cotton fields and not much else. The irrigation of the cotton is putting pressure on the water supply in rural Uzbekistan and they are also going through a long drought. The extra problem for the Uzbekis is that it is a country rich in natural gas but the source of the major waterways is in t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-326201.html After Arslanbob we headed to Osh. We had time there to have a look around. We went up King Soloman's mountain and just generally took in the city. Osh is Kyrgyzstan's second largest city. It was a lot prettier than Bishkek and I enjoyed kicking around. The weather also has turned warm again as we are starting to head towards Uzbekistan.The border crossing was relatively pain free it was only ab http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-323845.html We headed back into Bishkek to sort out Uzbek visas. My Letter of Invitation still had not arrived however my photo had gone missing. My spare photos were in the back of the truck so I couldn't get to them so I went shopping for more passport photos. I was very impressed the little man wiped away all the wrinkles on my forehead and got rid of my sunburnt noseWe got back underway and headed to t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Karakol/blog-320408.html It was a public holiday for the Kyrgyzstan Independence Day. We left Bishkek for the Ala Archa National Park. It was strange not having the Brits on the truck but we collected 10 new people and the truck was full.Dave driver had trouble with his Turkistan Visa. My Uzbek Letter of Invitation had not arrived I offered to write one but I couldn't do anything by staying. Dave stayed and the rest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Ala-Archa/blog-320406.html We drove for around 3hrs from Kochkor to Bishkek. It was strange coming into Bishkek as it was quite a built up town with a whole range of faces and body types. Far away from the Uighurs and the Han Chinese. We had lunch down at the German Beer House. The power was off they turn it off for 6hrs every day so we had a choice of different types of sausages and that was all. Sausage it wasThe hotel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Bishkek/blog-320403.html