mercredi 12 août 2009
Here we are, the journey is over....
I m back in France now after something like two months on the Silk Road.
Starting from Shanghai, 15 000km and 5 border crossing over land after, I reached my final destination Istanbul.
And what a trip !!! I didn t really know what to expect and to see from this trip as none of my friends have been there before me and could tell me what to expect.
So, highlights, let s say that it was interesting to see post soviet countries as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan....which seems like they suddently stopped since the soviet left about 20 years ago.
Mix of culture and civilization also, Kyrgyzstan was kind of a shock, suddently been surrounded by Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tadjiks, Russian.....blond hair/blue eyes and Asian-looking living together in the same country.
First Islamic country for me with Iran...;and what a country, beautifull, nice people....the country I recommend.
About scenearies, let s say that I crossed almost everything, from snow mountains in Kyrgyzstan (see the video on the Kyrgyzstan page) to horribly burning hot deserts in Turkmenistan.... but except Kyrgyzstan, it was mostly desert areas that I ve been trought.
History now, following the silk road, you re quite sure now to pass along historical sites, Uzbekistan with Samarcande and Bukkhara, Iran and Yadz city with its thousand year old bazaars and the 2500 years old Persepolis, Turkey..... and Istanbul of course.
Nice people mostly, even in the "stan" where cops where supposed not to be the most honest ones, I ve been quite surprise to see that locals are "more or less" honests. Gold medal for the iranian...never seen such honest persons.
What else to say.....hmmmm, don t really know, never been that good for describing feelings...but for those who don t understand people travelling alone, let me tell you guys that this is THE best way to meet people all the way long and to get to know the locals and the country the best.
Special kasdedi (french word sorry) to:
David, Jiao,Helle, Manu, Bart, Arnaud (le breton), Debbie, Miquel, Alina, Vincent and Flore, Peter, Hug, Charles and David, Mory, Hugues, Mohammad, Laulau and GeoGeo, and of course Arnaud who shared the trip with me for about three weeks....
.....and all the other ones I met more briefly but made the trip quite enjoyable.
...all the dudes I met during my trip, and whith whom I spent special moments, from a bus trip to a historical site visit, it was good to share parts of my trip with those tourist or locals, for a few hours or a few days, and then just say bye, and take our own road for the next destination.
I m back in France now after something like two months on the Silk Road.
Starting from Shanghai, 15 000km and 5 border crossing over land after, I reached my final destination Istanbul.
And what a trip !!! I didn t really know what to expect and to see from this trip as none of my friends have been there before me and could tell me what to expect.
So, highlights, let s say that it was interesting to see post soviet countries as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan....which seems like they suddently stopped since the soviet left about 20 years ago.
Mix of culture and civilization also, Kyrgyzstan was kind of a shock, suddently been surrounded by Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tadjiks, Russian.....blond hair/blue eyes and Asian-looking living together in the same country.
First Islamic country for me with Iran...;and what a country, beautifull, nice people....the country I recommend.
About scenearies, let s say that I crossed almost everything, from snow mountains in Kyrgyzstan (see the video on the Kyrgyzstan page) to horribly burning hot deserts in Turkmenistan.... but except Kyrgyzstan, it was mostly desert areas that I ve been trought.
History now, following the silk road, you re quite sure now to pass along historical sites, Uzbekistan with Samarcande and Bukkhara, Iran and Yadz city with its thousand year old bazaars and the 2500 years old Persepolis, Turkey..... and Istanbul of course.
Nice people mostly, even in the "stan" where cops where supposed not to be the most honest ones, I ve been quite surprise to see that locals are "more or less" honests. Gold medal for the iranian...never seen such honest persons.
What else to say.....hmmmm, don t really know, never been that good for describing feelings...but for those who don t understand people travelling alone, let me tell you guys that this is THE best way to meet people all the way long and to get to know the locals and the country the best.
Special kasdedi (french word sorry) to:
David, Jiao,Helle, Manu, Bart, Arnaud (le breton), Debbie, Miquel, Alina, Vincent and Flore, Peter, Hug, Charles and David, Mory, Hugues, Mohammad, Laulau and GeoGeo, and of course Arnaud who shared the trip with me for about three weeks....
.....and all the other ones I met more briefly but made the trip quite enjoyable.
...all the dudes I met during my trip, and whith whom I spent special moments, from a bus trip to a historical site visit, it was good to share parts of my trip with those tourist or locals, for a few hours or a few days, and then just say bye, and take our own road for the next destination.
Here is the trip I finally did, more or less what I wanted to do originaly.....but never sure during the trip to go for the destination I wanted to....I wasn t travelling in the quitest countries.
Uigur riots, Kyrgyz border closing because of local fights, Turkmen border closed because of H1N1, Iran and the post elections riots....pfffff, I ve been at the good place at the good time (more or less), and I did see all the countries and crossed all the borders over land.
See below the final 15000kms trip:
View Final Trip in a larger map
Nothing else to add I think....the blog is ending up here.
Hope you guys enjoyed it !
THE END....
Uigur riots, Kyrgyz border closing because of local fights, Turkmen border closed because of H1N1, Iran and the post elections riots....pfffff, I ve been at the good place at the good time (more or less), and I did see all the countries and crossed all the borders over land.
See below the final 15000kms trip:
View Final Trip in a larger map
Nothing else to add I think....the blog is ending up here.
Hope you guys enjoyed it !
THE END....
mardi 4 août 2009
Turkey
How long will I spend in the country?? which stops to do and places to see ???
Was quite har to decide what to do for Turkey....time is running, I ll be in Singapore in a few weeks to start my first semester studies, qnd I d like to spend a bit of a time with my family in between (and not go back straight from France to S'pore after just a few days in my home-country).
For the silk road trip, I did what I wanted to do:
-Go from Shanghai to Istanbul over land
- Spend some time mainly in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran.
Turkey is an easy destination from France, that s why I m quite sure I ll back to this country again (but maybe not for the above ones mentioned).
Anyway, decision taken....I ll do one stop in Istanbul, stay there a few days and fly over from there to Paris.
... Last destination so....And quite a famous one... let s see if the place is as beatifull as everyone says.
Cheers
Was quite har to decide what to do for Turkey....time is running, I ll be in Singapore in a few weeks to start my first semester studies, qnd I d like to spend a bit of a time with my family in between (and not go back straight from France to S'pore after just a few days in my home-country).
For the silk road trip, I did what I wanted to do:
-Go from Shanghai to Istanbul over land
- Spend some time mainly in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran.
Turkey is an easy destination from France, that s why I m quite sure I ll back to this country again (but maybe not for the above ones mentioned).
Anyway, decision taken....I ll do one stop in Istanbul, stay there a few days and fly over from there to Paris.
... Last destination so....And quite a famous one... let s see if the place is as beatifull as everyone says.
Cheers
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