Month: June 2024

On driving to Turpan the previous day, we had to stop and register at a checkpoint outside the city. A very pleasant young lady examined our passports and wanted to … Read more

Luckily we ran into the only member of staff who could speak some English and he reckoned the easiest way to get to Turpan was by taxi for £60. He … Read more

We got to Almaty Airport at 17.30 on the 25th and the plane left at 06.40 on the 26th so we had a very long and intensely frustrating wait, broken … Read more

After leaving the hotel we walked around looking for the bus stop which was 20 metres in one direction so we walked 500 in the other direction before somebody sent … Read more

Day 41 (24th June) Almaty. A useless and expensive day. We ordered a taxi to take us to the Great Almaty Lake, one of the city’s alleged tourist attractions. We … Read more

Day 40 (23rd June) Almaty. Went to see the Panfilov Park, named after Ivan Panfilov, leader of a group of 28 soldiers from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan who were all killed … Read more

I got up at 5 am to re-position the van in front of the hotel where our good friend Gapur is going to keep an eye on it while we … Read more

There was an impressive rapids near te lorry park where we spent the night. By midday we were back in the Dostuk Hotel. We got lost in Bishkek, so I … Read more

We had a grim night. Although it was freezing outside, we were very warm under the quilt. However the altitude of nearly 4,000 metres meant that the air was thin … Read more