tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:32:18 +0000TurkmenistanVaranasibeergalleonKasauliRomaniameatferryChinaIstanbulhotelGoremefreeecampingcambodiaBudapestnaturecamelbirdsDelhiTurkish bathtrainschnitzelAzerbaijanAkcokoraUzbekistanKhivaIslamabadashramstormdesertTibetSong-KolHuang XaivisaChiang Raimalaysialeaving workBamberghorseTelaviitinerarycartoonLuang PrabangmeatbreadDharampursweatspeechesGeorgiacampingcraterSanawarUshguliStalinpreparationBulgariaBukharaTurkeySilk RoadAshgabatphotoHardwarsunshinegoat polofinal thoughtBishkekmountainsSumelaBangkokfreecampingcheesebreadEnglandPakistanPenelopebathHungarysouth east asiaairplanebbqthermal bathTrabzonMestiaChiang KhongwineBuzkashiCologneRishikeshwinerymonasteryTallulahgetting oldKyrgyzstanSekiHimachal PradeshSvanetisingaporeAla ArchaMcLeod GanjIndiacaravanseraiBucharestTournaimassageSighisoaraBakuGoribirthdayvietnamKazakhstanUttaranchalculturetoiletsGangesvampiresTbilisiCaspian SearouteNepalChandigarhKolkatalaosBrasovLake AidarkulChiang MaiBatumiCappadocianational expressfoodyurtkitbePragueThailandIssyk-kulDraculaCouldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel: going down to turn it on myselfhttp://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)Blogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-2662407115931271353Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:16:00 +00002008-08-25T03:38:17.074+01:00Huang XaiLuang PrabangThailandChiang KhonglaosfoodWe left our little hotel in Chiang Khong first thing and wandered down the road to Thai immigration where we hopped onto a longboat across the watery brown Mekong to Laos immigration in Huang Xai. A bit of form-filling-in, a small queue and thirty-five dollars later we were officially tourists in our eighteenth new country: probably our easiest and quickest border crossing to date.Our very own http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-get-from-thailand-to-laos-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-8456747296534014952Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:02:00 +00002008-08-22T11:19:52.481+01:00Chiang RaiThailandChiang KhonglaosChiang MaifoodCurrency: Thai BahtReading: Anna KareninaTemperature: Mega hot and ultra-mega humidWe clambered into three sawngthaew (little red tuk tuk-cum-van things – and obviously I have not yet heard anyone call them anything other than 'little red vans' since we've been here) and trundled off to the luxurious Tri Gong Residence, a little whitewashed teak house down a small soi (sidestreet) in the Old Cityhttp://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/oh-mai.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-569802021243703358Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:24:00 +00002008-08-22T11:00:36.706+01:00ThailandChiang MaiBangkokTo say that arriving in Bangkok was a bit of a shock would be the mildest of understatements. I had literally no preconceptions of the place, having never been particularly interested in visiting South East Asia and thus never thought to research it; besides which it's really only the beaches, full moon parties and Gary Glitter that spring to mind when Thailand or its ever-smiling neighbours arehttp://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/about-thaime-cough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-4029010362876068070Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:08:00 +00002008-08-22T10:24:36.948+01:00ThailandKolkataairplaneOur last day in Kolkata started bright and early before checking out of Modern Lodge at 10am. We then had the entire day to entertain ourselves, since our flight was in fact not scheduled to leave until 7am the following morning, and we filled our time with some final wanderings around the city, finding 79 Park Road where my grandfather once lived; watching a little man at the post office wrap http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/slight-anti-climax.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-5282828001818408069Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:58:00 +00002008-08-22T10:08:14.074+01:00singaporevietnamcambodiaIndiaMcLeod GanjKolkataKasaulilaosVaranasisouth east asiamalaysiaKolkata is just how I remembered it, just wetter. For the last four days the air has been thick and wet and hot, the sun occasionally breaking through the heavy grey clouds to make everything even hotter before the heavens finally cave in and Kolkata is drenched in fat warm drops of rain. That's the only time the temperature has really been tolerable and the rest of the time Carolyn and I http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/explorers-final-thought-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-8150773150884817911Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:14:00 +00002008-08-22T09:58:17.538+01:00IndiaKolkatatrainVaranasiGangesOur overnight train trip to Varanasi was considerably better than the journey to Hardwar, possibly because it's considered to be such a dodgy trip for tourists that we were put in a carriage with lots of other white people and some beige-uniformed men with guns who showed us a bit of paper advising us to not take sweets from strangers in case it rendered us unconscious for many hours before http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/not-vary-nicey-sorry-thats-awful.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-737770456894946142Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:07:00 +00002008-08-17T12:34:36.668+01:00DelhiIndiaDharampurKolkataKasauliChandigarhChandigarh is a large, sprawling city carved into a grid by wide, clean, tree-lined streets and enough flat, green, enormous roundabouts to make you feel like you're waltzing into town. In the interest of getting the blog up to date (mainly because I feel like it's gone rather downhill and I'd like to fast forward to some more interesting bits) I think I'll leave you in the hands of Wikipedia if http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/skip-to-end.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-455935987084548072Sun, 10 Aug 2008 07:51:00 +00002008-08-16T12:08:34.464+01:00IndiaRishikeshHimachal PradeshUttaranchalThe next morning we woke early and prepared to move onwards to High Bank, a traveller's enclave a few kilometres walk north - still within Rishikesh - the departure of our swami also signalling the departure of any hope of free yoga and meditation lessons at the ashram. We didn't take any breakfast, hoping for a ten minute trip in a shared taxi, but had failed to take into account that the place http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/plans-flexible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-8285791247534288764Sat, 09 Aug 2008 08:21:00 +00002008-08-10T09:09:10.753+01:00HardwarIndiaRishikeshUttaranchalFollowing the relative serenity of the Hardwar ashram we headed an hour south-east-ish by shared taxi to Rishikesh. That of course makes it sound relatively simple, but naturally involved standing at the side of the road for half an hour arguing with a man who wanted to put is in the back of a vikram that already had ten people in and, for that matter, had ten people in who definitely didn't http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/future-is-yes-orange.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-3898063238772728702Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:51:00 +00002008-08-09T09:21:25.720+01:00ashramHardwarIndiaUttaranchaltrainIt was an entirely different bus journey, the trip to Chakki Bank, not just because we were winding out of the mountains into wet, green paddy fields and tiny settlements of beautifully painted houses, but because their were no reclining seats, it was daylight and the best part of the whole of the state of Himachal appeared to be travelling west with us. It was not entirely comfortable; Carolyn http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/futures-orange.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-6493136020755841308Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:33:00 +00002008-08-09T09:16:46.426+01:00TibetIndiaMcLeod GanjHimachal PradeshOdette and Tim flew up to McLeod Ganj for the weekend on the Friday afternoon and Carolyn and I threw a huge party and trashed their house. We were then dropped off at the Tibetan colony in North Delhi – a tiny labyrinth of Tibetan tearooms and shops - where we picked up our tickets for our 12 hour (overnight) bus journey to meet them. We had a bit of time to spare so wandered around enjoying http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/well-if-pierce-brosnan-likes-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-773235661860060395Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:27:00 +00002008-08-06T08:32:38.371+01:00DelhiIndiaSo we arrived in Delhi, Carolyn and I, on July 7. Having hugged my truck buddies goodbye, those people I had shared every minute of the previous three months with (some minutes more intimate and embarrassing than others), Carolyn and I wandered through security to find Deepak, Odette's driver, who Odette had described – in order to distinguish him from the other four thousand Indian drivers http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/delhi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-5084881186226039092Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:16:00 +00002008-08-06T08:27:12.257+01:00IndiaThere are a number of painfully overused cliches that are never avoided when writing about India. I'm going to get them out of the way immediately in a slightly irritable manner:Oh, the colours! The vibrant orange of crowds of pilgrims heading to the Ganges; women wrapped in bright blue sarees working in the lush green paddies; the pink turbans of Punjab sikhs bobbing along amongst http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/08/land-of-overstimulation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-2508929708878945544Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:24:00 +00002008-08-05T14:06:45.994+01:00IndiaKazakhstanairplaneAnd thus at 0700 on Wednesday 9th July we waved goodbye to Penelope with a tinge of sadness regret, waved off Tim and Cher who were taking her home (but rejoining us in Bangkok) and glanced over our shoulders - not exactly unhappily - for the last time at Bishkek. Two minibus taxis tooks us smoothly out of green and pleasant Krygyzstan and into a barren, yellow landscape to discover that the http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-central-asia-hello-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-3945072649801830357Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:07:00 +00002008-07-25T15:24:00.602+01:00PenelopeKazakhstanTallulahAla ArchaBishkekKyrgyzstanfoodThe drive back down towards Bishkek was broken with a night in Kochkor at another lovely homestay. I took myself directly to bed and was brought bread by Nurse Sparks and a small helping of plov by Nurse Croft, both of which meant I felt much improved by bedtime. In the morning - another ten dozen jam pancakes later - we said goodbye to Terry, Leslie, Mike H and Neil who had decided to aim for http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/back-to-bishkek.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-4908802826759445835Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:42:00 +00002008-07-25T15:01:58.494+01:00horseIssyk-kulSong-KolcampingfoodWe left Bishkek for a weekend in the mountains, camping the first night by the crystal clear lake Issyk-kul and dining on some very smokey smoked pink fish and chunks of meat that I am still trying to convince myself wasn't horsemeat. Pete was taxied back to Bishkek the next day to sort out our Kazakh visas and we pushed on for the hills with Tim and Cheryl, staying night 2 at a lovely homestay http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-dummy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-2297539170709207561Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:32:00 +00002008-07-25T15:06:55.183+01:00hotelKazakhstanPakistanBishkekThe trip back out from lake Song-Kul to Bishkek took us down a rough track winding between very green hills, a wild-looking landscape spotted with yaks and horses and shadowed by some looming brown mountains, their rocky peaks dusted with fresh snow. The odd marmot dashed across the road in front of us, a blur of brown fur disappearing over the steep grassy drop into a carpet of purple and http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/normal-blog-service-resumed-apologies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-5911788415710406739Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:47:00 +00002008-07-02T11:06:56.468+01:00Song-Kolgoat poloKyrgyzstanstormSaturday, like so many Saturdays before it, started off cold, grey and drizzly; great dark swathes of cloud smeared across the sky over the slate-coloured lake and hiding the tops of the murky green hills, so 23 happy campers clambered onto Penelope who temporarily turned into a small cinema for the purpose of watching The Castle (and you absolutely must watch this film if you haven't). Lunch http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/theres-no-polo-like-goat-polo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-2591968333188087823Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:35:00 +00002008-07-02T10:46:28.486+01:00horsefreecampingSong-KolKyrgyzstanfoodThe next day I awoke to the sound of Pete exchanging 5 litres of diesel for 4 litres of fermented mare's milk. Not being one to pass up the chance to try a new food I gave it a go, and given the opportunity I would certainly recommend anyone else try it but I would probably also suggest, with the benefit of hindsight, that it isn't really a breakfast item. And that you'd probably only really http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/choo-chooooo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-1631938244979695648Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:12:00 +00002008-07-03T10:02:22.639+01:00horsemountainscamelfreecampingSong-KolyurtKyrgyzstanfood...but I can assure you that they were just as incredibly hot, dusty and full of beautiful turquoise mosques and barbequed meat as the rest of Uzbekistan. But now on to Kyrgyzstan:We crossed the border fairly painlessly and, having said goodbye to Jalol and hello to our Kyrgyz guide Assele, spending our first night in Osh, a capital that sits just next to the Uzbek border. The next morning, http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/sorry-im-missing-out-samarquand-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-1729659541253857406Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:39:00 +00002008-07-01T08:10:09.150+01:00routevisaChinaKazakhstanPakistanWell good grief, I have really done a spectacularly bad job of keeping up at this. I am already nearly at the end of yet another country (Kyrgyzstan) without having even finished telling you about the last one and, with our itinerary having gone completely haywire at least three times now, I have one or two things to update on. First off, yes, the re-routing, to which this post is entirely http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/07/pakistani-computer-says-honestly-youll.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-4214417817405089518Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:58:00 +00002008-06-14T19:29:32.180+01:00IslamabadDelhiIndiarouteChinaNepalThailandPakistanSanawarBangkokRoute update from a tapchan in Tashkent where it's so hot that at 2330 (which is way past my bedtime since I was dancing to Uzbek house music until 0300 this morning) I've just broken into a sweat whilst sitting down doing nothing:We've had a surprisingly small number of hiccups on the trip so far, I'd say, so here's some exciting news: China has decided that we no longer allowed in. No reason http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/06/chinese-computer-says-well-no.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-88380481985856954Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:25:00 +00002008-06-14T18:58:28.761+01:00BukharafreeecampingLake AidarkulUzbekistanBukhara, Uzbekistan, arrival date June 8th, and bushcamping by Lake AidarkulWe travelled at great speed through the Kyzylkum desert (along the A380), stopping only to collect two speeding fines and to eat some tasty fried beef for lunch in a rather random roadside restaurant. A rogue stomach bug had started to pick the group off one by one at this stage; sick people taking it in turns to sit inhttp://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/06/just-deserts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-2280373409308053104Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:16:00 +00002008-06-14T18:25:29.284+01:00BukharaSilk RoadKhivaUzbekistanKhiva, Uzbekistan (arrival date June 5)Time: GMT+4Currency: SoumReading: Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett – it is way, way too hot for MaoThe Turkmen/Uzbek border involved much bag searching (and great interest in the Terry Pratchett novel found within) and filling-in of Russian language declaration forms, which we did in a small building with no air flow to ruffle its peeling pale green walls and http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-give-me-khiva.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452337399592798530.post-7296359043346316383Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:14:00 +00002008-06-14T18:15:47.079+01:00freecampingTurkmenistancraterTurkmenistan continued...We spent three very hot days driving through the Karakum desert, the hot sand occasionally swirling madly around us ("windows SHUT SHUT SHUT!"), casually overtaking mangy-looking camels and sharing behind-some-very-sparse-shrub bery toilet stops with decomposing sheep's carcasses and really quite sizeable black-tailed lizards. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.italic.gifOur http://intrepidlittleexplorer.blogspot.com/2008/06/and-playing-catch-up-bit-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Frau Dietz)0