The other side of the truck

So there I was chatting with Steve when he says, ahh we are on the other side of the truck. It took me a while to realise that he was looking at the country names written on the side of the truck. We are one side down, one to go, we have covered some distance. It becomes a bit surreal sometimes, one forgets the rest of the world...this is not a trip....this is what we do, we are defined by our actions and we are overlanding.

The name says it all

Poker faces...

Selecting only the finest vodkas, these girls know how to live!

So what news. Well last I left you was Tashkent. Since then we have covered two more countries and numerous experiences. We left Tashkent and headed to the border with Kazakhstan. Due to regulations and building works we were forced to go to a border a ways from Tashkent. Nothing to report about the crossing save that it was boring, long and very hot. Most of the day was spent sweating and waiting. Finally we got into Kazakhstan, covered the necessary kms before looking for a camp. Now I will not dwell on this camp but it really was not the best it must be said...actually it would feature at the bottom of the list of places you would want to stay....mainly due to its proximity to the railway line that proved to be very busy with very long and loud trains ALL NIGHT.

Our noisiest bushcamp by far - big trains cometh often in Kazakhstan

Things improved the next day with a reasonable camp and easy crossing into Kyrgyzstan and our arrival at the hotel Asia Mountains, swimming pool, wifi, decent breakfast...a gem of a spot. Mates were met up with and a blinder of a night had. My liver is, however, no longer talking to me! We then cruised via a lovely chai stop to Lake Issy-kul and a marvellous water side bushcamp. A drive to Karakol at the other end of the lake gave us an idea of its size as we stocked up for three great nights bushcamping in the stunning mountains at Diety Orguz...check the photos out...

Em chilling by the water

Nice bushcamp by Issy-kul Lake

Top bushcamp

Horses were ridden, legs stretched and we celebrated truck Christmas...another blinder of a party organised by the girls.....my word the Kazbegi red party seems like a lifetime ago. And there we are, up to date as we wash and shop in Karakol, homestay spot, before heading to the high Song Kul lake and another three nights bushcamping. From there we will head to the Chinese border and the famous Torugart pass. Now this is not the easiest of borders to cross and I for one will be happy when we are all across it. China, my goodness ...bring it on.

All the ingredients for a great bushcamp

Burn baby burn

Calypso communing with nature

Enroute to some great walking territory

Ok I will leave it there but let my last words be for one of our group who has had to nip home for family reasons. May things turn out well, we are thinking of you and we hope to see you back with us again soon. Laters CJ

Mission to Tashkent

Following news of the route changes enforced upon us by the closure of Tibet to foreign tourists this year, wounds still need to heal but there was a nice feel on the truck as we drove from Samarkand to Tashkent and, I feel, we all are coming out the other side. Poker was played and beer drunk last night, accompanied by the sweetest of sounds, laughter. Today the guys have all decided that there are only so many sites one can see and so have swapped culture for something a little wetter, namely a water park. So am looking forward to hearing how it all went....the only real concern is that Aoife may get burned...so all are on guard to make sure she is fully covered. The feel is that we are all now satisfied that we have experienced enough culture and hotels and are looking forward to some bush camps and a couple of borders as we head through Kazakstan to Kyrgyzstan and a somewhat more “earthy” or natural side of Central Asia with some big bush camps at some top spots....we are thinking of a spit roast somewhere in there not to mention some walking and maybe even horse riding. I am also looking forward to a reunion party with the guys I was at Russian school with in Bishkek so I will leave you on a positive note this time and feel that we have all really had a whole range of experiences so far, all helping to shape us and show us what actually is important in life.

On that note please let me finish off by saying hi to the newest member of my family, Archie, and his parents, my brother and wife. He celebrated his first visit to London for which I was unfortunately not there but judging by the photos all the rest of the clan were there to welcome him, brilliant. Ok, speak when I can as we travel ever eastward...Photos attached, a mix of shots giving a feel for what we have ben up to these last few weeks! Be safe and speak soon, CJ

At the customs office in Turkmenbashi port, Turkmenistan

Letting off steam at sunset, 80km from Bereket, Turkmenistan

Denis with one of the statues at the Monument of Independence, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Paul assisting with the building of a bread oven, Jerbent, Karakum desert

CJ celebrating his 43rd birthday at the campsite near Ichoguz, Turkmenistan

Richard, Colin & Sylvia enjoying their lunchbreak, near Konye Urgench, Turkmenistan

Zoe holding the equivalent of US$50 in Uzbek Som

Clare, Aiofe and Colin in Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Colin enjoying his birthday dinner of shashlik, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Jenn performing at the 11th Century Caravansaray in Sardoba, Uzbekistan

A campsite show from CJ in Telavi, Georgia

Bush camp hair salon

Chilling out in the shade, Khiva

Jenn outside the MGM Grand

Local colour, Uzbekistan

The ladies ready for birthday celebrations

Willy Wonker enjoying some after dark entertainment...

When one door closes…

“Little did I know at the time, out of my greatest despair was to come the greatest gift”
“Change is never a loss it is a change only”
“Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune”


When one door closes another opens, and so it shall be for us. While in Samarkand I had the rather unenviable task of informing the guys that due to factors completely beyond our control Tibet is closed to foreigners this year. A major blow to those that had built up mental pictures of the experiences and memories they would receive on this future part of the trip.

The mood was sombre as the reality sank in that we are travelling through and experiencing the real world, both its ups and downs and things will not always go our way… Our route is blocked by politics, Tibet is closed to foreigners. I am, maybe,at an advantage in that this is not the first time that I have been so struck by fate. I was in fact earlier in the year due to work on a rally from London to Cape Town until we were stopped by the Foreign Office. It is always a blow to receive this sort of news but solace can be had in the knowledge that, and I do not know how this happens but it does, as one door closes so another one does indeed open up.

I understand that this, at the moment, is of little solace to shattered dreams but they will rebuild and Odyssey is busy working on the fabric and glue that will help rebuild them. The details are still being finalised, but our new routing will see us driving deeper into China, visiting the Terracotta Warriors at Xi’an and the Pandas in Chengdu, world class sites and not the only ones on the new route. There is also the chance for a visit to Beijing and more time in northern Laos as well as adding in Hanoi and Halong Bay in the north of Vietnam and national parks in Thailand and Malaysia. And Calypso drives all the way down to Singapore.
So I will sign off and post but two photos, an 11the century caravanseri doorway...one closes and one opens, and a reminder shot of where we are. And a message for any Calypsoites reading this. Know that Jim and I and all the Odyssey team will keep going and try our hardest to help deliver the trip of a lifetime. Let’s not forget that we are here in places most only dream of visiting, and have already had two unforgettable months of travel and can look forward to four more! Who knows what the future holds, is that not the joy of this type of travel...of life?

One door closes but another opens

Looking into the distance

Khiva & Bukhara

“Tell me what you saw”, they asked as the traveller returned, tired and dusty. They sensed in him a calmness they had not felt before.


Yo, not the way to start a proper sentence I know but there we are. There are a lot of things that are not proper but they exist, the road from Khiva to Bukhara for example. Well what will be the road when it is finished. At the moment it rather resembles a stage of some imagined torture gameshow from Japan where contestants sit in a boiling hot truck and take as much road punishment as they can before bailing. We lasted 10 hours and reached our destination before anyone bailed. And a number of the Calypsoites are suffering a cleansing of the guts, if you know what I mean. A really hardy bunch of overlanders we have become...no road can scare us, no temperature is too hot or cold...we have our sights set on Australia!

So we were in Khiva and had a great time. Fantastic hotel, great guided walk, fab group meal and a comfy bed in a hotel. I will chalk that one up as a result, oh and Jim headed off again and secured visas for onward travel...brilliant.

Aged beauty

Art in action

Doorway through to the secret garden

Emily in Khiva

Evocative buildings conjure up dreams of far flung places

History in the heat of Khiva

Khiva in a nutshell

Stunning Khiva

The only way is up... or down if you are naughty

We then set off early to Bukhara, arriving weary but ever ready we sprang (well crawled off) the truck and parked her up. We washed and ate or ate and washed before settling into the hotel courtyard for a celebratory drink, Colin turned 21 again. A good night was had and sore heads the next morning were proof of such, should it have been needed.

Colin, the birthday boy, and Wendy

Bukhara, the scene of the bug pit, Stoddard and Connely, The Great Game and the like was the focus of the guided walk as Mirza fired out more facts than anyone could hope to retain. Bukhara is a fantastic mix of architectures with minarets, mosques and The Ark, or citadel, throw in a monster minaret that “the guilty” were thrown off, tied in a bag with wild cats and there you have it. The tour was followed by lunch then we all retreated to internet, sleep or shop as we so desired.

Bukhara digs

Jewish merchant's house cum hotel

Mirza, our regal Uzbek guide

Natural and man made beauty, Bukhara

What you looking at?

 
I will, once more, let the photos explain the places..now these are not the best shots as they will be coming on future blogs as the photo stick is currently doing the rounds with the group. I will sign off for now and enjoy a day when we have no visas to chase, ferry to catch or...well nearly anything...there is always something but today we are having a rest! Samarkand is calling and we will heed its call....tomorrow.
Laters, CJ, Jim and the Calypsoites

CJ sitting down on the job

Jim asleep on the job

Back in the land of international communications and world class sites.

Hi...just reread the last blog...seems like an eternity since I last scribbled here...since then we have seen and experienced and are now in Khiva, first, for us, of the great, now Uzbek, Central Asian Kahnates. Leaving Ashgabat we visited the now very spacious and modern market. Opened this March the new market does not have the traveller appeal but for those that actually use it as their market this new market is a real boon being, clean, airy, spacious and clean! From here we entered the northern desert of Turkmenistan as we carved it neatly in half driving up the improved road to the Gas crater...a place that despite my numerous visits to this country I had not seen. This time Jim was not taking no as an answer and so, on my Birthday as it so happened we hired a monster 6 wheeler and drove into the nuts of the desert and as you can see from the piccies saw what rally is a gas crater! Not sure what I enjoyed most, the drive there or the crater.

The new market at Ashgabat

Burning gas, nature's way

The Odyssey boys, Jim and CJ, at the Crater

Desert bushcamp, a sandy sea

To those close to me thanks for the birthday wishes and fear not I was well looked after by the Calypsoites. I now have signed underpants, a new hat, booze and a new hair do. The thing is, in Turkmenistan there are no comms out for the common man. Well it is very, very, very hard to make international communication.

A slightly fuzzy shot of some birthday shenanigans...

From the crater we slowly cooked our way up to Konya Urgench where we replenished our water and had a surprise shower, thanks Max...great little spot he knew about. Refreshed we camped and then headed to the border where we really cooked and thanks to Max, the international trade of a book and bottle of wine we cruised into Uzbekistan where Mirza, our Uzbek guide turned us over, cooked us some more and helped us through proceedings.

3, 2, 1, Fire!

Culture explained by our guide in Turkmenistan

Old school overlanding, far out lands travelled with friendly faces...  northern Turkmenistan

We were all feeling a bit well done by now and once more really just had showers on our minds as we drove into a fabulous hotel or Madrasser, as was, in the picture postcard city of Khiva. It is a real gem, living history at every turn...will get some shots and send off too. However time stops for no man as they say, and so it was for us. Yet another visa to be got...and poor Jim only just had time to shower before, with 24 ppts, forms, cash, photos and instruction was on the plane...destination Tashkent. Good luck mate. For the group it is time to leave camping behind for a few days as we enjoy the first of about 10 hotel nights. Tomorrow morning we meet with Mirza for a guided walk around this magical city where fantasy, reality, imagination and dreams all meet...bring it on. Alexander Eliot once said: ”Personal answers to ultimate questions. That is what we seek” And so it may indeed be but for me tomorrow will provide the answer as I am crackered and in need of some shut eye so I will bid you adieu as I fall into bed exhausted. Time for the batteries to recharge!

Early morn in Khiva

Front door, Khiva style

Reach for the sky so god can hear your prayer, a minaret, Khiva

Sleeping resident, Khiva

The hotel lobby, madrassa style, Khiva

This is no smoke stack

Tombs of history

Laters CJ
PS – here are some more photos of Calypsoites in action…

Europe

Green woods bushcamp

Kazbegi, Georgia

Shady lunch

Turda Gorge, Romania

On top of the truck, Kazbegi, Georgia

Steve ethnicising

The Lesser Spotted Allen, comes out at night and is found around fires...

A well-oiled machine

Operation Marmalade : Stage 2

Code name Shifting Sands or as it says in The Art Of Pilgrimage; This is a great moment, when you see, however distant, the goal of your wandering. The thing which has been living in your imagination suddenly becomes a part of the tangible world. (Freya Stark)


Greetings from a place I am sure is new to most people, namely Turkmenistan. Mum, Dad hi, actually as I am the birthday boy can I say hi to all my family, Sarah and the Vav clan, Soph and Emre, Justin, V and the prince...I would suggest a strong coffee to go with this entry and an extra cushion on the chair.

We last spoke as The Calypsoites prepared for the ferry across the Caspian, is there a song title in that? As previously explained the port is not the most up to date. “Never forget where you are” and “Hurry up to wait” were good anthems for this section of the trip. Getting up at a very early 2am we arrived at the port ready to board the 4am ferry...which we did a mere 7 hours later, not bad really. We were moving fast by local standards.

Operation "port sit-in"

Wherever I lay my hat, that's my home

Standards, a word that rather like time varies depending on where you are and our preconceptions of what is an acceptable standard for toilet facilities was to be challenged on the ferry as we were met by a torture machine out of the middle ages...which coincidently was about the time it was last cleaned! Not the sort of device to approach in flip-flops if you know what I mean. Travel, broadens the mind don’t you know!
So what of the time, like I said this was going fast by local standards...so fast in fact that as we were informed by the captain that we had another 15 hours on the boat, we docked. Nothing like a surprise bash on the cabin door by a failed Soviet shot putter cum cabin assistant, variety sort-of-female, to get you up and well set for a day of more hurrying up to wait. So we hurried off the boat at 5.30am to wait until 1pm for the final entry proceedings to be completed...in all a fast ferry crossing, result.

Calypso is in there, trust me!  Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi

We were in Turkmenistan, a resource rich country that tolerates rather than encourages tourism, so rather like a rare species of bird we were observed and allowed passage. Max, the local guide met us at the port and as is always the case showed us that human friendliness survives even in the harshest of conditions...or does it flourish better there?

This is a country that has already won our hearts. Why? Well it is oven hot, lovely. It has camels that wander around all over the place, cool. The people are really friendly, brilliant. And it is a real thrill being here...we are well on our way, this is a country that you really can say of at the dinner party. “Anyway, there I was in Ashgabat..oh you don’t know where it is, well it is the capital of Turkmenistan...oh you don’t know where that is....well, let me tell you.....” Oh yes CJ the travel bore is back!

Cultural Calypso

Looking at things the Odyssey way...  or

Your name is on the list, you can come in

Few quotations that sort of match what we are doing...adventuring, stretching ourselves...experiencing, letting Odyssey help us expand our horizons. Aoife, for you...

Helen Keller, my heroine: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Amen to that!
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” Thanks for setting up and running Odyssey Overland....we are experiencing the magic of it right now!

“So often we rob tomorrows memories by today’s economies” Yes let us budget but never forget where we are and what we are seeing....this is a trip of a lifetime!

Then lastly one that is ours to live by. “Man cannot discover new oceans until he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” And that is what we have done...the safety of our own home shores are far behind us...we are letting the shifting sands write our futures, with a little help and planning by the Odyssey Overland dream team, as we travel the globe in search of meaning and adventure....Ok CJ stop there, maybe a short siesta is in order...has the heat got to you?

OK, best if I sign off. Am going to try and send this from here, Ashgabat but international coms can be hard so will see what happens...if not, will leave as is, and add to as we go and send asap. Next step is the market, which I am told has been modernised, gas crater and the road through the desert to Uzbekistan and the wonderful Khanates of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand. Life does not really get much better.