So there we were: I was sketching an amorphous menagerie – a sheep, a cow, and a chicken – along with a simple carrot, all on small pad of paper, while Dan offered a few charades and barnyard audio cues – a chicken dance, a moo, and a hearty “baaah” – to help bring the animal farm to life. (Thankfully, charading a carrot was beyond Dan’s abilities.)
Travel
A Tibetan Pilgrimage
When we missed the last direct train of the season from Urumqi to Dunhuang, China, we didn’t realize that lady luck was actually smiling on us. We skipped the Buddhist cave paintings of Dunhuang, but landed smack in the middle of a crowd of Tibetan pilgrims visiting the Labrang Monastery for a cham (Tibetan monastic opera) in the town of Xiahe.
Myanmar, Where Hope Dies Last?
News stories take on increased significance when we’ve actually visited the place being covered. For example, we've recently been reading more about the effects of a harsh winter on the lives of ordinary people in both Tajikistan and China. As we read these stories, images of the people we’ve met become superimposed on a piece of news that we might otherwise regard with detachment.
We now follow Myanmar (Burma) more closely, as well. Just a few days ago, the junta (military government) there made news by announcing another “road map to democracy” and elections in 2010.
Travel in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Best Sights, People and Scenery
From mosques and mountains to hats and limousines, the often unusual sights and scenery of the Caucasus and Central Asia always kept us guessing. Here are some of the more memorable landscapes, religious buildings, cultural artifacts, animals, and people that we encountered during the five months we traveled across these regions. If you check out the categories and keep reading, you'll see why this is a unique part of the world and travel experience.
Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics
No place takes the logic out of logistics, from pillar to post, like the former Soviet Union. Inspired by our own experiences, the following entries are in no logical order. Let’s dig in.
Marshrutka Monologues (or, Why We Travel the Way We Do)
I thought Americans liked to travel in comfort. I don’t know why you take a marshrutka.
You should take the marshrutka. There you will meet the real people.
— Two competing local views on whether or not we should subject ourselves to long-distance rides on marshrutka minivans, the dominant form of public transport in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Robbed! Sticky Fingers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport
I was robbed.
It didn't happen at a grungy guest house, in a crowded local market, or down a dark alleyway at night. It happened in Bangkok's shiny new Suvarnabhumi Airport at a gate security checkpoint. Worse yet, the thief was a security employee.
Tajikistan Visas and GBAO Permits
When we traveled across Central Asia years ago no one seems to know what was needed to get a visa to Tajikistan and a GBAO Permit to visit the Pamir Mountains. At that time it seemed to be embassy specific and heavily dependent on the relationship between Tajikistan and the country from which you happen to be applying.
Fortunately, a lot has changed — for the better — regarding obtaining Tajik tourist visas and GBAO permits.
Kyrgyzstan Visas
Kyrgyzstan is known as the most visa-friendly country in Central Asia as it offers visa-free travel of up to sixty days to travelers of sixty nationalities. This allows you to focus your planning time on what you want to do inside the country vs. navigating Kyrgyzstan visa bureaucracy. So nice.
Kazakhstan Visas and Letters of Invitation (LOI)
On the surface, a Kazakhstan tourist visa should have been our easiest visa to obtain when we first visited the country. Kazakhstan is arguably the most developed of the former Soviet countries. But the bureaucratic machine still runs strong at the Kazakh Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and in Kazakhstan itself.
Fortunately, Kazakhstan visa requirements have eased and become more simplified since our first visit. But if you're curious as to how it used to be, read our Kazakh visa and OVIR registration war stories.