May 2008 Archives
Horse trading, Kashgar Sunday Market
Horse seller, Kashgar Sunday Market
Sheep seller, Kashgar Sunday Market
Butcher with sheep, Kashgar Market
Kashgar Bazaar - selling cloth
Selling cucumbers
Kashgar Sunday Market
Hardware selling at Kashgar
Kashgar Sunday Market
Kashgar Sunday Market
Man with cot - Kashgar Sunday Market
Men bargaining - Kashgar Sunday Market
Children with toy - Kashgar old city
Children playing - Kashgar old city
Bicycle and doorway - Kashgar old city
Foodstall with Uighur men eating
Coloured powder for sale
Kashgar market stall
Uighur men read the days newspaper
Uighur men bargaining in Kashgar
Chairman Mao statue, and red banner
Chinese market vegetable stall
Nectarines with leaves
Nuts and raisins, Yengisar market
Uighur man in hat, Yengisar
Uighur man in hat, Yengisar
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
Uighur man, Kashgar
Bicycle and shop-front
Two baskets of eggs
Tea and honey for sale
Laughing girl, Kashgar old town
Balloon seller, Kashgar old town
Boys playing, Kashgar old town
Girl in white dress, Kashgar old town
Girl playing, Kashgar old town
Flower pots and bannister
Minaret, Kashgar old town
Copper and brass teapot
Uighur girl, Kashgar old town
Mother and child, Kashgar old town
Abakh Hoja Tomb, near Kashgar
Abakh Hoja Tomb, near Kashgar
Graveyard at Abakh Hoja Tomb
Taking a photo at the correct place
Minaret at Abakh Hoja Tomb
Pillar detail at Abakh Hoja Tomb
Central square and fountains, Kashgar
Sunday animal market, Kashgar
Uighur family dining at market
Grooming the sheep, Kashgar Market
Sheep seller at Sunday Market
Proud boy with mule, Kashgar Market
Horse seller, Kashgar Sunday Market
Horse trading, Kashgar Sunday Market
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
Chairman Mao in Kashgar
Uighur egg seller
Uighur-style bread
Cafe scene on Karakorum Highway
Mountains on the Karakorum Highway
Curio-trader on the Karakorum Highway
Mountains on the Karakorum Highway
Mountains on the Karakorum Highway
Yurt next to the Karakul Lake
Mountains on the Karakorum Highway
Adobe tombs on the Karakorum Highway
Yaks grazing by the Karakorum Highway
Mountain reflection in the Karakul Lake
Water carrier by the Karakul Lake
Mountain reflection in the Karakul Lake
Yaks grazing by the Karakul Lake
Mountains next to the Karakul Lake
Brass door handle - Kashgar
Id Kah mosque, Kashgar
Id Kah mosque, Kashgar
Travelling trunks, Kashgar bazaar
Travelling trunks, Kashgar bazaar
Traditional veiled ladies, Kashgar
Uighur men, Kashgar
Uighur man, Kashgar
A basket of apricots
Musical instrument makers, Kashgar
Uighur man, Kashgar
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
Just a quick posting from Kashgar, to let Margaret Makins, and Wayne and Dinah Rogers know that I have collected letters from them at the main post office here. Thanks, everyone - they are very welcome. If someone else has sent a letter to the Kashgar address then sorry - it didn't get here, or it is still on its way. In either case, it should eventually be returned to the sender's address. Margaret mentioned that she had also sent a Birthday Card - I was sorry not to have got that - perhaps it will arrive home again eventually! My next mail pickup, in Beijing, should be a bit more reliable: if YOU would like to send me a card or letter, you can post it to:
MAKINS, T
Poste Restante
International Post Office
Jianguomen Beidajie
Beijing
CHINA
You should post letters to Beijing by the 20th of June. I will be arriving there on the 5th of July.
As mentioned above, the truck and I are now in Kashgar, which is in the Uigur region of Xinjiang province, China. That's on the far western edges of China, very close to Pakistan and Central Asia - you can see the exact location on my 'Where is Travelling Tim?' map if you click before I update that page, or see here for a more permanent map, compliments of Encarta. On that map, Kashgar is spelt 'Kashi'.
Kashgar is great, very photogenic and a real exotic 'far east' location with lots of exciting things to see - I have been taking lots of photos, which will appear online one of these days. We are here for 4 nights - it took a while to get the truck through all of its Chinese paperwork, and once that was done, the drivers (Jay and Toni) have to apply for Chinese driving licences. Hopefully this is only a formality, and doesn't involve an actual test!
Whilst in Kashgar, I have been visting some of the sights: the Id Gah Mosque, the Apak Hoja Mosque, and enjoying the exotic alleyways and shops in the Old City. Kashgar is now quite a modern place, but still remembers, preserves, and lives in its roots.
The main post office, on Renmin Xilu, was in the modern part of town, and its clean and well run. They don't have much call for Poste Restante these days, though. It took me quite a while to explain that I wanted to collect mail, and when they finally located the right drawer there were only 3 letters in it, two of them for me. To collect them I had to pay a small charge of 1 Yuan per item (There are about 3.5 Yuan to the UK pound).
As expected, finding vegetarian food in China is proving a bit of a challenge. I now have some useful phrases written down, and have been learning some verbal phrases too, some things may get easier. Opposite the Seman Hotel, where we are staying, is a small Pakistani restaurant, so at least I can get a nice breakfast of dhal, parathas, and sweet chai.
Like most other travellers to Kashgar, I made a point of visiting the famous 'Sunday Market'. Actually, its in two parts: the Animal Market, and the Great Sunday Bazaar. The former is basically a gathering of local farmers, who get together to buy and sell sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels, and other livestock. Also present are another group, the Foreign Tourists, who gather to observe and photograph the farmers and their stock of stock. The two groups watch each other with interest - in some cases they could well be from different planets, so strange do they appear to each other. Luckily, a friendly smile and a handshake breaches all boundaries. The digital camera's ability to instantly provide a picture also bridges cultures, and a surprising number of old men delight in seeing their own and their friend's images on the tiny screen.
The Sunday Market proper is a huge bazaar - reportedly the biggest in China - where people sell and buy just about every commodity you can imagine, and quite a few you can't. The richest brocades, woven with gold, a variety of musical instruments, body parts of goats, preserved fruit, duplicate DVDs, dried snakes, and sisal shopping bags arew just a few of the wonders on offer. Some of the stalls are under cover, some are in the open, and the market is fringed by a large carpark of donkey carts, waiting to take stock or purchases home again.
Licences permitting, we will be travelling to, and through, the Taklamakan Desert in a few days time, which I'm looking forward to very much, as a desert afficionado. Please keep your fingers crossed for our journey: the name 'Takla Makan' means "go in and you'll never come out" !! Apparently there is no water in the desert too, and it is, or was, quite hazardous to cross, so lets hope the Dragoman truck keeps going. I'm especially looking forward to more desert camping, which is always beautiful. The moon is rather large at the moment, which is a shame, but it *is* waining, so I'm hoping for lots of starry black nights. This time, I've actually remembered to bring star-maps with me, so identification should not be so controversial!
Sometimes, it can be a very small world. I recently had an email from Caroline, a friend in Kathmandu, telling me that she had heard two people talking about Travelling Tim, and was going to investigate. A short time later I chatted to her via Facebook and discovered that the people in question were two of my other friends, Wayne and Dinah Rogers, who were also in Kathmandu, staying at the Kathmandu Guest House: they had been discussing out loud my last Blog entry when Caroline heard them! She went and introduced herself - previously they had never met, and would not have known the connection if Caroline hadn't heard the chance mention of my name! It really is a small world.
Sarycat Ertas Nature Reserve
Yurts near Zeti Oguz
Mountains at Sarycat Ertas
Kyrgyz horseman
Trekking at Sarycat Ertas
Trekking at Sarycat Ertas
Trekking at Sarycat Ertas
Trekking at Sarycat Ertas
Kyrgyz shepherds
Petroglyphs at Cholpon Ata
Poplar trees
Trekking in the Ala Archa Canyon
Sunrise in the Ala Archa Canyon
Sunrise in the Ala Archa Canyon
Cloud formations
Bush camping in Kyrgyzstan
An evening thunderstorm
Kyrgyz horse-riders
Kyrgyz horse-riders
Kyrgyz horse-riders
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
Jay and Chris admire the scenery
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
Izzy and Graham pose for a photo
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
Trekking near the Torugart Pass
A herd of grazing horses
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
Grazing horses, Kyrgyzstan
Snow mountains near Karakol Lake
Snow mountains near Karakol Lake
Dragoman truck stopped at the snowline
Grazing cattle, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Galloping horsemen, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Small village in Kyrgyzstan
Small village in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyz brick tombs
Kyrgyz tombs - detail
Kyrgyz tombs - detail
Dragoman truck stuck in snow
A snow-covered road
Bush camp in Kyrgyzstan
Kumiss sellers by the roadside
Statue of Lenin, Kochkor
Street and girls, Karakol
Children playing, Karakol
Russian-style windows, Karakol
Russian-style windows, Karakol
Grandmother and baby, Karakol
Victory park, Karakol
Victory park, Karakol
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
Tea stall in Fergana Valley
Kyrgyz girls, Kokand
Jummi Mosque, Kokand
Jummi Mosque, Kokand
Jummi Mosque, Kokand
Jummi Mosque, Kokand
Kyrgyz potter
Silkworm cocoons
Silk factory at Fergana
Craftsman at Fergana silk factory
Dyed and un-dyed silk
Craftsman at Fergana silk factory
Weaver at Fergana silk factory
Silk carpet hand-weavers
Man in a kalpak, traditional Kyrgyz hat
Drinks stall in city of Osh
Tower at Uzgen
Tower at Uzgen
Mountain view from Uzgen
Karakhanid mausoleum in Uzgen
Karakhanid mausoleum - terracotta detail
Uzgen mausoleum - terracotta detail
Toktogul Lake, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyzstan mountains
Kyrgyzstan mountains
These photographs were all taken on my Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Beijing, in 2008. High resolutions versions are available for licencing - please Contact Me for further details.
May 18th 2008, and the airwaves are filled with the shocking news of the terrible earthquake in China. Twenty thousand dead, and millions made homeless. I send my deepest sympathies to everyone.
I have had a number of emails wondering whether my own journey will be affected. The answer is, no, probably not in the main, though maybe to some small extent. Our actual route, which you can see as usual on my Where is Travelling Tim page, lies far to the north of the earthquake's epicentre in Sichuan province. Click here for a China province map. However, whilst we are unlikely to be driving in that area, such a big event is bound to cast ripples over the rest of the country, and we have just heard that there may be a few days delay getting the truck over the Kyrgyzstan - China border, and that we may have to travel initially on public transport. That's all I know for now - watch this space for further details.
I'm still finding it very hard to select, resize, and post photos on this Blog, so that will just have to wait until later - possibly in Beijing, where we will have about 10 days before the journey continues to Mongolia, Kazakstan, and Russia, or maybe not until I get back to the UK. I was really silly not to have brought my AC power supply for the laptop, with the amount of hotels Dragoman puts us in these days, and the Dragoman truck is STILL waiting for its new batteries so charging is strictly limited to when we are actually moving. We *had* been expecting them in Tashkent, but have now been told that it won't be until China, which is very frustrating. I am used to Overland trucks where the battery allows us to use reading lights etc in the evenings. Not this time. The current battery is so bad that we have to turn the fridge off when parked up. We haven't had to get a jump start recently, which is a positive step, but that is only because Jay, our excellent driver, takes extreme care to see that the battery gets minimum useage. Cook lights are allowed, but that's about all.
Well, you'll just have to wait to see the photos. I've been taking quite a few, as you might expect, and have been enjoying the results that I get with the Nikon D300. Its an excellent camera, but takes some getting used to. I started off by leaving it on the standard settings, but as time has gone on I am starting to explore some of its other capabilities, and getting used to changing settings between shots, as conditions and requirements change. As mentioned before, saving and burning the large images to DVD takes a long time, and lots of battery-use for the laptop. I hadn't expected this as last year (with a 4 MP camera) everything took place so quickly, but am pleased with the superior results that this camera and its great lenses produce.
Getting back to my journey - we are currently in Bishkek, the capital city, and getting near the end of our time in Kyrgyzstan. What a fascinating country it has proved to be. I had NO idea just how mountainous it was before I came here, but as it turned out, mountains are the one thing that I will remember in the future. Not just any mountains, either. The ones here are huge, and really spectacular. Generally snow-covered at this time of year, which makes for some great photographs. We have climbed a number of high passes, and spent time trekking in beautiful Alpine valleys. Camped by some chilly mountain streams, trekked to some glaciers, and even had time for a little horse riding. This time the horse did what I wanted it to do - I must be getting better at it! The horse did have a go at knocking me off though, by walking under every low-hanging branch that he could spot, but didn't seem surprised or concerned to be reined off as each branch was approached - its obviously all a wonderful game.
We've enjoyed lots of clear nights, so I have been sleeping out, under the stars whenever possible. Not too much to bother us - very few snakes, and the Marmots that can be seen everywhere in the mountains are quite shy, and certainly leave us alone - they just whistle from a distance, like wayward builders. The other night, camped by the shores of Lake Issyk Kol, I had the delighful experience of being sung to sleep by nightingales, then waking up later to count stars and watch the Milky Way. Overlanding doesn't get much better than that.
I didn't say much about Uzbekistan in my last Blog, but that's not because I didn't enjoy it. Quite the opposite is true: Uzbekistan was one of the major highlights of this trip so far, and I hope that the photos, when they eventually appear, will speak volumes by themselves. At the moment, I don't want to bore you with a long list of superlatives, but safe to say that the Silk Road cities that we spent time in more than came up to my expectations. They were all quite different, so don't get the idea that once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Khiva, where we started, is more like a museum than a living city, though its architecture is in great condition, having been wonderfully preserved or restored. This was the case, too, in Bukhara, though it definitely didn't have the feel of a museum, and took much longer to explore. What am excitement it was to wander through such ancient streets and markets, and to think of how the city might have been in the time of the camel caravans that journied across the deserts of China, to halt here on their way to the markets of Europe and the Middle East. I climbed to the top of the big minaret, making VERY sure that there were no slip-ups of the type that broke my ankle back in 2006! Samarkand was different again - a busy, vibrant city with its rebuilt centrepieces of the Registan and the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. I particularly enjoyed the City Museum, too, which had a enthralling range of exhibits, encompassing fabric, metalwork, wood and pottery, plus some lovely paintings of local scenes.
Tashkent, in comparison, was entirely different to the previous three. Its a large, modern, city with wide tree-lined boulevards, very spread out, and takes a long time to walk anywhere. There are very few old buildings to be seen, as the city has been extensively re-modelled over the years by Genghis Khan, earthquake, and the Soviet Union. I enjoyed the city museum, which attempted to make sense of all this history, and the Fine Art Museum, which had an astonishing range of wonderful exhibits spread over 4 large floors. Even more astonishing was the fact that I was the afternoon's only visitor!
I'll end with an update on truck-life. We currently have 19 passengers on board: Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and Americans. They are a great bunch, on the whole, though I miss the kind of diversity brought by other Europeans encountered in the past. Exodus always used to attract a good mix of nationalities: Germans, Dutch, Danes, etc. Dragoman, on the other hand, doesn't sem to be casting its advertising net as wide. There had been great anticipation on board to meet an Indian lady who was supposed to be joining the truck here in Bishkek, but it appears that she has cancelled her booking for some reason. Five passengers will be leaving in Bishkek, which means that the truck will continue on to Xian with just 14 passengers - actually a nice number to have on board. Cook groups have been changed accordingly, and are mainly composed of 2 people now.
Thanks to all for the Birthday wishes, sent through a variety of means. I had a great day, which was marked with my special shirt - the blue one with all the printed fishes - there's a photo of it somewhere in the African pages, I think. In the evening we had a bush-camp, away from it all, but somehow a birthday cake and lots of beer had ben purchased, so a great evening was had by all.
To all my Friends on Facebook - please don't be upset if you haven't received an answer to your Facebook messages recently. Here in Central Asia, it takes AGES and AGES to get my Facebook page to refresh, and doing any more than changing the 'Status Update' can be a major pain. I DO know when you've written on my Wall, as I get one of those automatic email thingys, but to try and reply via Facebook can often take ages, and still not result in a message sent! I'll say 'Hi' as soon as possible, but if you'd like something quicker, then send me an Email - the address is on the Contact Page.
