It’s hard to believe it was only 4 days ago that I posted our Kazakhstan route, bemoaning the difficulties we were having with DHL – feels like weeks ago. On Wednesday we were finally able to collect Brian from the DHL office – hooray!!! There was sadly only time for a brief celebration as we […]
Author Archives: barkertrax
I can’t live without my radio
Many thanks to BBC Somerset for broadcasting the fruits of the other day’s interviewing labours. After hearing my own voice droning on, I can now safely say that I will never speak again for the rest of my life! Clare, on the other hand, chatted away and managed to make us sound moderately interesting. Here’s […]
Kazakhstan Route (second visit)
It wasn’t meant to turn out this way, but we’ve now been stationary for 5 days. The long and short of it is that DHL have let us down in a big way and failed to deliver Brian on time. He was meant to be ready for us to collect on Monday, then they said […]
Oh the Hardships
Though I’m enjoying this trip immensely there are undoubtedly some hardships that one has to suffer. The most obvious ones: defecating in dug out holes, wild camping on windswept nights, living out of the back of a car – aren’t really much of an issue to be honest. Rather it’s been things I wasn’t completely […]
Uzbekistan: Aral Sea Photos
The Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, or rather, where the Aral Sea used to be. A rather poignant place made even more depressing by the fact it’s here where we found out that Trump had won the Presidency. š The photos show the remnants of the fishing fleet at Moynak. Once located at the sea shore, […]
Uzbekistan Route
I’m currently typing this from the city of Atyrau in Kazakhstan having crossed the border from Uzbekistan a few days ago. The entry and exit procedures from Uzbekistan border on the ridiculous with our exit taking over 4 hours. The border guards had a very thorough rummage through literally everything – including a good sniff […]
Utterings on UzbekistanĀ
#1 Practically every car is a white Chevrolet……and that really is no exaggeration #2 Hardly any petrol or diesel. Most of the cars have been converted to run on gas. In Bukhara we had to queue for 1 1/2 hours to fill up š #3 Many of the buildings are painted creams, magnolias – think […]
The Colour of Money (take 2)
Today we changed another Ā£60 to cover our fuel expenses for the rest of our time in Uzbekistan – this time we got our Uzbek money in 1000 som notes! The wedge is even more extreme.
Uzbekistan: Khiva Photos
Another day and another stop on our tourism-optimised drive through Uzbekistan. Today we are in Khiva – a city in possesion of an ancient mud-walled citadel stuffed to the brim with madressas, mosques and minarets. It’s all very interesting, but at the same time a little bit weird. Clare sums it up in thisĀ blogĀ post.
Building with Botox
We’ve spent the last week travelling to the classic tourist sights in Uzbekistan: Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. To be honest it’s hard to do anything other than that as the road literally leads you from one place to the next with little chance to detour. Whilst the immense desert doesn’t help, you also get the […]