Day 107: Border disorder

To save a little effort parts of this this are based on posts I made to the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree site.

At the West Bus Station in Bishkek the marshrutka driver intially asked for KGS 1000 to Tash-Komur, but dropped it to KGS 900 when I counter-offered. I could probably have forced him down to KGS 800 with a little more effort. However, even though Tash-Komur is only 2/3 the distance to Osh, he only had five passengers in his (8-seater van) so I figured if I negotiated too hard he might hang around waiting for another passenger or two to turn up.

Day 106: Breather in Bishkek

After relaxing in Almaty for a week and a half I felt I was ready for a rest, so I headed to Bishkek, capital of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, which proved well able to provide the goods on further relaxation.  I brought with me a new camera - not as good as the lost darling, but cameras cost 50% more in Central Asia than they do in Australia and I bought the best camera I could find for the money I was willing to spend.  The new device has only a 5x zoom (the lost one had 7x) and other shortcomings, but I figured it would be adequate to the task - and so, thus far, it has been.

Day 154: Sick and Shambling in Dushanbe

Long, long break.  I'm further behind the times now than I was when I completed my last post.  I shall do better.

I sulked around Turkistan for several days, then moved on the Shymkent, a larger town a little further south.  However, one thing I did do from Tashkent was visit the ruins of Otrar.

Day 90: Bones of a butchered sea

The train dropped me off in  Aralsk near midnight.  I knew town was only a kilometre away, but I felt a little nervous so I took a taxi.  The destination was easy: there was only one hotel in town and the other accommodation choices I knew of were all near it.

Friends, if you go to Aralsk, try not to stay in the hotel there.  My room cost me KZT 4000 per night - about AUD 32 at the then current exchange rate - and might have been acceptable at half that.  It had an ancient and ineffectual aircon unit (at least it moved the air - until my second night there, when the fan quit and could not be persuaded to continue) and its own bathroom with a trickle of cold water but the decor was Ancient Ruin.  The window curtain was a doona cover.

Day 89: Active in Aktau

Fleeing Baku, which had become hateful to me, I flew across the Caspian Sea and landed in Kazakhstan. I was excited. Three years ago I had planned to visit Central Asia. Alas, the difficulty of getting the first couple of visas defeated me then – I was coming from Iran and my first country would be Turkmenistan, whose visas are possibly hardest to acquire of all the 'stans; then Uzbekistan, almost as bad.

Day 88: Alrighty in Almaty

I have been remiss again.

When last I ranted, I was in Dilijan, Armenia. I'm now on the other side of the Caspian Sea in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and much has happened.

Day 40: Diligent in Dilijan

This blog is becoming very seldom.  I promise to do better.

The Caucasus has been a blast.  I have bored through it like a worm, from Batumi on the Black Sea coast to Svaneti high in the greater mountains, to Kutaisi (city of Medea of Jason and the Argonauts fame), to the cave city of Vardzia, then down into Armenia and several decadent days in Yerevan.  Last night I slept on the gentle shores of Lake Sevan, and tonight I am in the wooded hills of Dilijan.

Day 25: Time flies

Dateline: Georgia - Mestia, in the Caucasus

Fleeing the humidity of coastal Batumi, I rode a drunken marshrutka up a mountainside and found a cool haven where my plans for losing weight have been crushed beneath a deluge of food too good to refuse.  In partial compensation I spent hours today marching up down the town hoping to work off some of the kilojoules.  I even set out on an ambitious attempt to climb a nearby peak, but proved inadequate to the task.

Aoraki/Mt Cook, NZ's highest mountain, is 3,754 metres high.  There are several mountains near me now that top 4,000 metres - one is 4,700 metres.  This early in the year, ribbons of snow droop heavily down their flanks and their heads gleam like a collection of old men stooped over a table.

But if you'll excuse me - there is a fire burning in the yard and people having fun around it.  Must dash -

Angry not so young Turks

When one chubby middle aged Turk in an otogar hurdles a counter and
goes for another - you just *know* that it's not because they have
just discovered that they are long lost twins!
--
Sent from my mobile device

Day 17: A Malatya Tapestry *

The hammock days are behind me for now.  Yesterday I arrived in Malatya after an overnight bus odyssey from the Mediterranean coast.  Today I depart for Erzurum.

Malatya has to be the rudest town in Turkey.  From the moment I arrived I have been jostled, cut off, hissed at and treated as a walking wallet.  And it's an ugly place.  My guidebook says it grows on you – but after 24 hours here the only things growing on me were a film of stale tobacco smoke and a case of deafness from the ridiculously loud loudspeakers on the mosque across the street.  So I'm leavıng and, with a choice of spending 10 more hours in Malatya or spending those same hours out at the Otogar (bus station) I opted unhesitatingly for the bus station!  I doubt there can be a more devastating condemnation of a place than that its best feature is the departure plaza of its bus station.

Day 11: View from a hammock

I've figured out how to blog from email. The world is no longer safe.

I'm lying in a hammock beneath a shady tree, but thinking of getting
up and taking a walk through some atmospheric ruins down to a beach.
It's spring and the weather in Olympos is perfect. Does it get any
better than this?

Day 10: The trees of Olympos

Bodrum to Fethiye to Olympos – I am in full stride, working my way along the bottom left corner of Turkey.  I haven't blogged for a while because I haven't had access to a PC.  My lodgings usually have wireless internet but I haven't figured out how to post to my blog from the iPaq.  Maybe I should just spam everyone in email ...

Day 6: Wonders do cease

It's been a while since my last entry - I have been on the run since the 24th.

Gallipoli

It turned out to be a consıderably smaller event than 2005, apparently only about 7,000 attendees.  However, everything on the 24th was screwed up by security atrrangements for the VIP dignitaries such as NZ's Prıme Mınister and Australia's Governor General, and the Governor of Çanakkale.  Owing to the obvious risk of World War III breaking out should any of these stuffed shirts be injured, the entire Anzac area was locked down and the public were excluded from 10am to 5pm.  We wound up cooling our heels in Eceabat.  I thought these people were elected to wait on us, not we on them!  We are the ones who paıd to be there - and who also paıd for these politicians to be there.

Day 2: İstan bull

Didn't have an opportunity to blog yesterday – how humiliatıng!  However, I dıd make the followıng post on the Lonely Planet websıte:

Plastıc bags are charged for at Abu Dhabı too - 1 dırham each.

The observant will notice that the i's in the above paragraph are short a few dots. Here they are: ... It's been several years since I last used a Turkish keyboard.

Day 0: Take Off!

... But first I have a few last minute chores.

Day -1: Killing time

I was going to do all sorts of things today, but it turns out that my mail holding, which should have started tomorrow, is already in place; and the agents have not inspected my former flat so I can't complete the paperwork on that yet.  I have contacted the agents and they've assured me the inspection will be done tomorrow morning so I will drop in there to sign the forms after lunch tomorrow.

Day -2: Saying goodbye to melbourne

Had a nice wander today – down St Kilda Road to the Shrine, to St Kilda and along Acland Street and St Kilda beach, then back into town on the 112 tram.  I do something like this before each long trip, just sort of saying goodbye to home.  Last trip and this trip it is especially symbolic as both are long trips, not just a month or two.

Day -4: The happy moment

Bridge Rd

Every so often on any trip I experience moments of sublime happiness – when I am where I need to be, when I need to be there, with nothing that needs to be done immediately and plenty of time to simply enjoy the moment.

Day -7: On the doorstep

The third crisis has passed – this morning I was up bright and early for the plumber, and not long after he left (taking $165 with him) so did I. I called a taxi and, miraculously, they sent a station wagon instead of a sedan. My leftovers fitted neatly into the back.

Day -8: The Augean Stables

Gave the kitchen and bathroom floors a preliminary mop-out. I have been putting them off, but the hours are now ticking down – in less than 24 hours I shall be out of here – so all those yucky jobs finally have to be done.

Day -9: The second crisis

This morning the mini-skip was delivered about 9:30. Over the next couple of hours I moved the heavy stuff downstairs and into the skip. The washing machine was the first – and worst. Getting it downstairs was a minor triumph, but once it was beside the skip I had to get it up and over the sides. I had to demolish a cupboard in order to get some sturdy wooden boards to use as a ramp. Once the ramp was in place it was just a matter of tip, heave and push until the thing fell into the skip with a very satisfying bang. The concrete block in the bottom came loose and probably broke a few things – nobody will be using that washer again!

Day -10: Time to make Plan B back into Plan A

Strategy

OK, so I was thinking of changing things around and going from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan.

Plan A was Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan to Afghanistan to Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan and through to China. But though simple in visa terms (single entry all the way) it meant a long haul up to the capital, Bishkek, only to turn around and backtrack come time to go to China.

So I demoted that to Plan B and made a new Plan A, which required a double-entry visa for Kyrgyzstan but meant I could see Bishkek from Almaty and then just sort of cut through the bottom right corner of the country to get to China. Much easier.

Now Kyrgyzstan is in revolt and the new Plan A is in peril.

A lot can happen between here and Almaty – but I will need to keep Plan B well polished, as it may become Plan A again if things don't settle down before I get there!

Day -12: Taking out the trash

Progress

Started moving the last heavy items out today.  The carpet cleaners come on Monday, as does a 2-metre rubbish skip for the aforesaid heavy items.  $49 for the former (plus about $10 for the passage), a breathless $190 for the latter.  The removalists cost me $330.  I am hemorrhaging money just trying to move out of my flat!

Day -13: The empty nest

The crisis has passed and my flat is ... not as empty as I'd like it to be. But at least the bulk of the stuff I want to keep has been seen safely into storage, although things did not go according to plan.

Time and motion

Here is my approximate route and schedule.  Expect both to change – this is not an itinerary, merely an indication for my own purposes of planning and budgeting.  Note that the "Enter" date doesn't necessarily align with the  number of days I expect to be in the country as I may take a side trip into a second country from the first country.

Day -16: You guessed it – more packing

Four days ago I had a flat, now I have a bombsite.  Boxes of books dominate one wall of the spare bedroom, and boxes of other stuff dominate one wall of the living room.  Bits of clothing and boxes of this and that are scattered everywhere.

Day -18: More packing

More boring packing stuff.  Feel very free to skip this one.

Finished the living room, except for a pile of paper, and did the kitchen too.  I might play some loud music tonight and get a head start on sorting the paper stack.  I seem to accumulate an inordinate amount of paper.

Day -19: Good Friday 2010

This is another boring progress report but as packing is an integral part of preparation for the trip it has to be reported.

I have passed my Good Friday in packing stuff into boxes.  My library is all packed – 21 boxes worth – and I have dismantled the four big bookshelves.  I have now begun packing other stuff (such as my souvenirs and video collection), emptying then dismantling a large set of shelves in the process.

Launch!

Although it's still three weeks to take-off, I have finished working and am now totally focused on the trip.  In a sense, today could be considered the official launch of the trip.

I have signed on the dotted line for my storage locker.  In fact I paid for 12 months in advance, to avoid a hassle in case my credit card gets lost on the road the way it did last time.

Aside from that and a pulled muscle from slinging boxes full of books around, things are on track.  How boring!

Terrace houses at Ephesus

Pictures taken during a walk-through of the terrace houses at Ephesus in 2005.

General view:

RIP wristband

Sometimes when travelling I make friendship bands to pass the time.  When I've finished one I give it away.  In 2007 I made one for myself while sitting on the beach at Methoni in Greece.  I completed it on 16th June 2007.  After suffering all sorts of abuses and calamities it finally fell off my wrist on 3rd December 2009.

Will I make another one on this trip? I don't know.  I'll take the thread with me and maybe when I get to South East Asia I'll find a beach somewhere, and time to work on it.

View from a height

Parliament House, Melbourne, with the Windsor Hotel at bottom right.

2010 trip pre-departure update

Last day of daylight saving.  I have already turned my clock back, even though the official changeover is not till tonight.

[Edited to add: And yes, I was late to work on Monday because the powers that be decided to extend daylight saving for the millionaires car racing.  Bah!]

Time for an update on what's happening with the pre-trip preparations.

North of Capricorn

Here's another blast from the past, this time from 1989.  Note the exchange rate in the first paragraph, by the way.  The more things change ...

This is only the first part of the journey.

Patience.  We'll get to my 2010 trip in good time.

Introduction

I had been looking forward to my overseas trip for months. My savings plan was well in hand, brochures about Los Angeles, the Rockies, New York, and other places were bulging a large folder, and I had joined Noreasccon III, the upcoming world sf convention. But my plans depended from several crucial pins, one of which was the US/Australian exchange rate. This had been improving for months as the US dollar continued its gradual and (we were told) inexorable descent. By February the Australian dollar was touching on 90 US cents — the highest it had been since the early years of the decade. And then I made a mistake.

Donner und Blitzen

A blast from the past - 23 August 2003 ...

South Kaibab Trailhead.
"What goes down,
must come back up!"

Just after 9 am I was standing at South Kaibab Trailhead. It was a heady moment, culmination of three years of anticipation and planning.

In 2000 I stood here, looking down the first switchbacks and wishing I had time to explore the Grand Canyon's "alternative superhighway". That was when I knew I had to return to the Canyon.

Well, here I was. No point perching on the rim. I shouldered my pack and started down.

Road Music

I've bought myself a new MP3 player and have been busily compiling a music collection to take with me on the the road.

This is not as simple as just ripping my CD collection to MP3.  I have nearly 300 CDs, totalling something like 250 hours of music - I've never worked out an exact tally.  My new MP3 player has a capacity of 4 Gb, which at the compression I favour represents less than 50 hours of music.  Obviously 250 into 50 doesn't go.  I can only take about 20% of my music with me.

The Countdown

The first day of autumn marks the start of a countdown that ends on the day I board my plane.

My Disaster Recovery (DR) Plan

Having discussed my money strategy last post I realised that I had left the topic only half covered.  Here's the other half.

Currency affairs

The money game.  Happens every trip.  I buy a foreign currency, the Aussie dollar rises against that currency.  I hold off buying, the Aussie falls like a stone.  This trip is no different.  I bought some Euros and the Euro sank.  I held off buying some US dollars because the rate wasn't right, and the US dollar rose against the Aussie until I bought at a mildly disadvantageous rate, after which it sank again as fast as it had risen.  So while the topic stings, here are my money thoughts.

Decision points

A wisely planned long journey is not designed like a snake.  It's a flowchart with decision points, at each of which there are alternative routes based on certain scenarios.

For example, I would like to visit Iraqi Kurdistan; but I recognise that it may turn dangerous or may overstretch my budget.  I have budgeted for it but I have also identified a decision point at Dogubayazit, where I can choose to go south to Iraq, or north to Erzurum.  The latter course cuts nine days and $500 from my budget.

Progress Report #1

Rainy Istanbul, April 2005

Activities (planning aside) to date ...

1. Booked my flight to Istanbul
2. Booked a room in Istanbul for the period before Anzac Day — not really necessary but I like to have my first night's stay arranged before I leave home, as hunting for accommodation while jet-lagged and out of practice with being "on the road" is no fun.  I have no other separate room bookings.
3. Booked an "Anzac Day" tour.  Again, not really necessary as I have done Anzac Day before and know the ropes now, but it saved a lot of hassle.  The tour includes a post-Anzac night in Kusadasi, after which I am on my own.
4. Bought some cheap travel insurance, simply because I needed it for the Anzac tour.  The cover only lasts the first couple of weeks but that's all I wanted it for.

Painting the world red

Finally, a place to put this:

Map of all the places I hope to have visited after this trip:

visited 46 states (20.4%)
Create your own visited map of The World

What to expect at the Dawn Service on Anzac Day at Gallipoli in 2010

Sometimes it feels like I'm sitting here in a little hole, shouting out of it to a huge auditorium – an auditorium that may be completely empty for all I can tell.

No matter, here I am and I'm going to have a shout.

Yes, I'm going to Gallipoli.  Being a methodical bloke, I have assembled a lump of information about what I might find there.  I thought some few of you might find it informative, or at least mildly entertaining.

Guesthouse in Orchha

Guesthouse in Orchha

Travelling on a tight Passport

My Passport is one of the modern chipped models, expires in late 2011, and is in immaculate condition.  Border stamps can be squeezed in almost anywhere and as I have a dozen used pages that have space for more stamps, that's not a problem.  However, it has only 19 blank pages remaining and I plan to visit 21 countries in 2010/11.

Problem: Most visas occupy a whole Passport page and can't be pasted in on top of stamps or other visas.  Some countries even like to have the facing page blank, too — I have seven such double-page spreads left.  But 21 into 19 doesn't go.  Getting a new Passport on the road would be a hassle I'm not keen to undertake.  Better to replace it before I leave — unless ...

The joys of software

I should have expected this.  Why did it surprise me?

After copying my downloaded Lonely Planet guidebooks to my PocketPC ("the iPaq") and constructing a little HTML menu for easy access, I tried to open them.  It should have worked — the device came with a built-in "ClearVue PDF" reader, after all, which has worked acceptably up till now, and the files are vanilla PDFs.  But no, ClearVue couldn't load them.  "ClearVue PDF encountered an internal error trying to load or display the requested file."

So here I sit, patiently downloading the Adobe Reader for PocketPC version 2.0.  I had version 1.0 on a previous device, and apart from a tendency to display greek when it ran short of fonts, that worked fine.  I'm hoping that it's just a version issue and that the OEM PDF reader will go where Microsoft's minion fears to read.

There'll be a hot time in the town tonight!

Just under forty-three degrees in Melbourne most of this afternoon, and they don't expect it to fall below thirty tonight; and yet I am unconcerned — I'm headed for a triple-length summer and I can write this off to "acclimatising" ...

Spent the last couple of days working on my PocketPC.  Have decided to leave the laptop at home again, which means I need to make sure everything I may need is loaded onto my mini-me.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

A hot, lazy Saturday afternoon in Melbourne.

My last big trip in 2007 was inadequately recorded by email, camera, diary and souvenirs.  When I came to put the pieces together a year later, it was a nightmare.  So this time I will try to do a blog.

As an aid to anyone thinking of doing a long trip, I thought it might be helpful to post my experiences.  After all, I've done this before — I must have learned something.  I'll try to place my topics under appropriate subheadings to make it easier to follow.