mstravels

Please note that due to recent events in Khorog, Tajikistan, many of the details in this trip report are now out of date. The Afghan consulate in Khorog was attacked in the recent fighting and the consul and his staff are reportedly now back in Kabul. The border between Ishkashim, Tajikistan and Ishkashim, Afghanistan is reportedly closed until August 21st, 2012. The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgystan on the Pamir highway is also reportedly closed for travellers entering Tajikistan. Check on the recent situation before heading this way! ************************************************************************************ July 19, 2012 The rather beautiful unveiled Afghan consulate employee in Khorog, Tajikistan, wearing rather short sleeves, smiled and handed me back my passport after a brief 20 minute wait for the visa. "Here is your tourist visa to Afghanist... read more

*Please note that the names of those persons mentioned in this blog have been changed or omitted to protect their identities. I last left you all in Kerman province of Iran, what now seems an enternity ago but was in reality only 5 days ago. From Kerman, I headed to Zahedan, the capital of Balochistan and the centre of the Baluch nationalist movement. The Baluch people want to seperate from Iran and Pakistan and form their own seperate country. Iran and Pakistan cannot permit this because both parts of Balochistan are incredibly rich in oil and gas. The Chinese know this and are now very active in Pakistani Balochistan. In Zahedan, foreigners are technically required to have a police escort for their own protection to prevent kidnappings. I did not want such an escort as I ... read more

The past couple of days, I've been feeling as if I've been living inside a Hemmingway novel. I have been lounging around the beautiful city of Esfahan, described by French poet Rufi as "half the world," just basically doing nothing, chatting to other foreigners and the odd Iranian. Out of all the cities I have been to, I think it is up there with Paris and Saint Petersburg in terms of culture, history and atmosphere. On top of that, there are hardly any tourists and it is CHEAP! Sure, there is the odd desperate carpet merchant trying to butter you up and get you into his shop, but that's about all the hassle you will get. I was approached the other day by an Iranian tour guide offering me his services. He lamented, "I am a ... read more

Well it has been a busy week! In the past 8 days, I have managed to cover a lot of ground and see some of the best that Turkey has to offer the world, with relatively little tourist hassle! Last time I wrote I was in Diyarbakir, the centre of Kurdish culture in the region. From there I went to see the sunrise at Nemrut Dagi (huge tourist trap by the way but must be done if you are in the area). Erected by a pre-Roman king, Antioch, he believed himself to be one of the gods so erected statues of himself and the gods as his burial mound. The tourist thing is to go and watch the sunrise. Most people do an organized tour, which of course I did not and got dropped off at ... read more