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2009-08-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

2009-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

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.

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....

Turkey

2009-08-04T09:29:00.001-07:00

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

Updates !!!!

2009-07-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

OK boys and girls ... new updates for the Iranian page.

The two days in the countryside were great...good to breathe some fresh air.

I m heading now to Turkey, last stop in Tabriz for tomorrow and then I ll cross the border...

;-)

ps: Can t use facebook in Iran to updates my status...that s why you don t get any news through the facebook pages...

Still in Iran ;-)

2009-07-26T01:45:00.001-07:00

Hey guys....

Just updated the blog ... added the Iran page and filled it up with pics from my two previous stops (Yazd and Shiraz/Persepolis).
Check out !!!

I m now in Isfahan but I'm taking a bus tonight to go up north in the mountains (Next to the Caspian Sea)....Feel like I need some fresh air and need to head up to "off beaten tracks" places for a bit. I had enough with cities and I was told by many travelers that the north west of Iran really worth the trip....
I let you guys know as soon as I m back and find an internet place to update the blog ....

Cheers.

In Iran !!!!

2009-07-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it, I'm finally in Iran...the country I was looking forward the most. But also the one I really wasn t sure to go with the post elections riots in the streets all over the country.

But actually, everything is pretty OK here, even if the fight is not over for a lot of citizens, for the city I was (Yadz) and I am now (Shiraz), everything is fine...and even locals are quite open to talk about it and to tell us their political point of view (I met both sides supporters who were heavily defending their leader).

I ll update my blog with Iran a little bit later...but for now you can check out the Turmenistan one (quite short I know,but I ve only spent two days there).

Tchuss tchuss !!!

News

2009-07-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

Back in Tashkent and waiting for my Turkmen visa....
pffff, quite looking forward to leave this countyr, not that I don t like it but more because I d like to see the next one...and the one after.
Might shorten my trip a little bit as I received sopme news from my scholl that they are waiting for me on August 31st in Singapore (I was more supposed to spend a week or two in Paris before leaving...anyway).

I m not sure I ll have enough time to go back to France over land....still don t know, otherwise I (hopefully) I said on a prievious post, I ll end up my silk road trip in Istanbul.

Let s wait and see....

Cheers ;-)

ps: And thanks for all the comments I received from you guys about this blog....
OK, nowI m thanking people through my blog.... I m a real geek...rrraaaaa

2009-07-05T03:39:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh.. in Bukhara now (Uzbekistan....)

Quite a little cute city (which has apparently 240 000 inhabitants but I hardly believe in that).
Hot... very hot, but the place is quite enjoyable, the old city is just beautiful, much more charming than the worldwide famous Samarcande.

The next step is to go up north to the Dead Aral sea....

Ok, guys, check out the new Uzbekistan page I updated yesterday and today.

Cheeers...

2009-06-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hi !!!

OK so now it s time to make the blog public....finally

I just wanted to be sure to leave China doing this trip before telling anyone about the blog.... anyway, now I m in Kyrgyzstan and I can finallly reach my blog and make some updates on it.
Yes guys, in China, since a few months, blogspot (my bolg incuded) can not be accessed unless using a proxy (thanks to the chinese governement which is greatly fighting against free thinking and after blocking Youtube, Dailymoton, is now blocking more and more blogs).
Anyway, stop complaining.....

So for today, I just quickly updated the Xinjiang web page and created the Kyrgyzstan one (but didn't put anything on it as I just arrived in the country).

Things are going pretty OK right now... I m in Bishkek now with my friend Arnaud (we met in Singapore in 2004) who, lucky bastard, is doing a trip around the world. We are moving tomorrow for Issyk Kul lake for a little trekking and tent sleeping...I ll keep you guys posted.
Bishkek is quiet...veeery quite, time seems to have stopped since the Russians left the place. I feel more like in a village than in a capital. Quite good though !

Feel pretty concerned about my trip at the moment as borders seems to be closed in Turkmenistan because of the H1N1 flue, and you should have probably heared about what s going on in Iran right now....my initial planning seems a little bit comproised at the moment....but who knows....Let s wait and see hein !!!!!

OK, time for me to go !

Bye guys

2009-03-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys !

OK, let's go...as some of you already know, I plan to end up my four years living in China by a little trip on the way back home in France.
The plan is to go from Shanghai to Istanbul and try to follow as much as I can one of the numerous ancient silk road merchants were taking centuries ago....one rule: No plane! I mean, that's the target and I'll try to follow it as much as I can.

So, the plan for the moment is to cross central Asia following this way:
China>Kyrgyzstan>Uzbekistan>Turkmenistan>Iran>Turkey.

If i have enough time, I'll finish this trip from Istanbul to Normandy (by crossing Europe in a bus or something)...otherwise, I'll end it up in Turkey and fly straight to France.

OK, so to be a little bit clearer, here is the trip on the below map, we're talking about something like 12,000km to reach Lisieux (my hometown) from Shanghai...

Agrandir le plan