10 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Travelling the Silk Road-Guest Post

I have a very special treat for your guys today. Delia's blog, World in Words is a new find for me and I could not be more smitten by her creatively articulated travel stories. She left her job as a politics correspondent in the UK to travel the Silk Road from Turkey to China. I mean seriously, how awesome is that?! After you read her post below on things she wished she knew before leaving for her travels, you seriously need to head over to her page because she has some of the most unique travel experiences I've ever read! Here are some of my favorites to get you started: Walking in the Pamirs, How to Survive a Sleeper Train and Darvaza Gas Craters. Oh and Horse Riding in Kyrgyzstan; because those photos are beautiful!

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I've not confessed this to many people... but at the bottom of my rucksack, underneath my medical kit, trainers and other essential items, is a Lada car window handle. And no, since setting off to travel the Silk Road across Central Asia more than three months ago, I've not needed it once. Not once. Truth be told, with it being a road less travelled, I just wasn't sure what to expect. Yes, I hoped for amazing blue tiled mosques in Uzbekistan, a bizarre dictatorship in Turkmenistan and horses on green hills in Kyrgyzstan but that's sort of where my expectations ended. Despite doing quite a bit of research online (and having a guidebook) I failed to really comprehend what I would need to take with me and just what lay in store.

The street of mausoleums, Shah-I-Zinda in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

So, without further ado I would like to dispel a few myths to help others who may be interested in travelling Central Asia:

1) You do not need to take your own car window handle (we read online that this was a MUST pack item due to old knackered cars having no window handles). Most cars have electric windows, and while many of them will not work - your Lada window wrench will sadly be no use whatsoever (it won't even open cans of tuna. Fact.) You will be better served taking a portable fan - perhaps one of those fancy pants battery operated ones that sprays water.

Matty (boyfriend and partner in travel crime) brandishing the single most useless item to travel with.

2) The taxi drivers in this corner of the world play TERRIBLE music at high volume for hours on end. The only solution to this is to bring along an aux cable so you can plug in your iPod or music of choice and take control of the party. Oh, and there's not a lot of public transport in Tajikistan, Kyrgzstan and even parts of Uzbekistan so this really is a serious concern. Otherwise you could be listening to Uzbek dance trash for hours on end like this:

Our 'shared taxi' in Uzbekistan, heading to the Tajikistan border

Or this:

Another day, another journey: My travel buddies Donagh (left) and Matty (middle) on a 12 hour journey to the Pamirs in Tajikistan

3) The toilet paper here (which doesn't actually look like loo roll, more like a bandage - the very reason I went a day without using it at all when we first got here) is incredibly scratchy. It's been christened (by us) as the Chuck Norris paper - because it doesn't take sh*t off anyone... To be honest you're unlikely to bring away enough toilet paper for your entire trip so this is just a warning - get yourself mentally prepared.

4) But while we're on the subject - the bog roll is the least of your worries. The Central Asian 'toilets' are perhaps some of the worst in the world. Of course when I say toilets I mean holes - many of which have a metal wire across them to reinforce the hole, with the unfortunate consequence of catching everything that falls their way... If you get my drift. You will find holes side by side and the locals will think nothing of sidling up besides you - or watching you and asking you where you are from while you are busy squatting. Other holes will just leave you in fear of losing a leg down them, I mean look at this: 

 

5) Wi-fi: There is wi-fi in Central Asia! And it is quite widely available we had it everywhere from the capitals to the more rural towns like Karakol in Kyrgzstan - although it is almost always painfully slow. If you need a reliable wi-fi connection on the Silk Road the best thing you can do is buy local 3G SIM cards (for about $2) and then buy a 3G package (about $10 for 1GB) which is much faster than wi-fi. We caught on to this in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and our 3G package still had loads of Internet left when we left the countries about two weeks later, despite going on the Internet a lot and uploading picture-heavy blog posts like this :)

Left to right: Me, Matty and Donagh in a remote homestay in the Pamirs, Tajikistan. I admit we had signal of no kind here.

6) What to pack: Central Asia is not as conservative as you may think. Personally, I thought I would need to be covered from ankle to wrist in many countries but it's just not the case. A long skirt and t-shirt is ideal but knee-length skirts and vest tops are also fine in many places - for more details on what to pack and a brief dress code for each country click here. 

Me sporting the most conservative outfit I took on the trip... at Kah Kaag fort in Tajikistan as the sun said its goodbyes for the day

7) Need your hair done on the Slik Road? Fret not. I braved getting my highlights done in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and admittedly I went uber-Barbie-blonde but it gave my roots the lift they needed. If you're wondering what sort of refreshments might be on offer at the salon, forget tea and coffee but think more corn on the cob. Nice touch indeed. Plus it only cost about $30. Bargain.

   

8) The food. Oh, the food. Believe everything that it is said about Central Asian food - and expect worse. It just ain't that great and is certainly not the reason for visiting this stunning corner of the world. Expect kebabs (great), lots of fatty meat, bland sauces and more fatty meat (not so great). Until you hit Kyrgyzstan and China that is, when the food suddenly takes a turn for the better. If you're vegetarian expect a diet of rice, cucumbers, tomatoes and bread. 

Matty tucks into another kebab....

9) The booze. Praise the booze. Expect to be offered vodka at 10am in the morning - this is ok. In fact just get used to drinking vodka at all hours and forget any hopes of having it with a mixer. Vodka in Central Asia is drunk neat, but make sure you have something to hand to follow it with - tomatoes work brilliantly but sprite is still my number one chaser. There is also plenty of beer in these countries - just keep an eye on the alcohol percentage as many are a tad on low side (about 3%). But the best tip I can give you is - when you get to Uzbekistan make sure this is your beer of choice, delicious:

 

10) Getting visas on the Silk Road may lead you straight to the vodka bottle. This is ok and normal. The single biggest headache on this journey will be picking up visas. The key is meticulous research - one of the best sites we found was Carivanistan - which is constantly updated with travellers most recent experiences. The situation changes every few weeks - we were denied visas to Afghanistan because the 'rules changed' in Tashkent and we had troubles getting our Turkmenistan visas in Armenia because they're not talking to Azerbaijan which was our exit port. To see where and how we picked ours up along the road click here. But fret not, you're never more than a few metres away from a shot of vodka.

   

But perhaps the best advice I can give you if you are planning to travel Central Asia is that you are in for a trip of a lifetime. From the incredible high altitude world of the Pamir Mountain range in Tajikistan to the evocative cities of Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand in Uzbekistan that conjur up images of ancient Silk Road traders; you will be enthralled almost every step of the way. It's a journey like no other. Just don't take a car window handle.

Staring into a burning gas crater in the Turkmenistan desert

Where sleeping dogs lie... A high altitude cafe at 4,300 metres on the Pamir Highway

A busy couple of days

Yesterday morning, I once again got ready to lead the “Refuge Excursion Tour”.  In the past, no one has shown up to take the tour on the days I’ve been assigned.  However, I was happily surprised to find three people show up for the excursion yesterday!  I was back in my element of imparting information about the history and purpose of Tamarac NWR.  I had a grand time telling them about how this refuge came about, and the work of the CCC Camp that was located here as the refuge was established back in 1938.

We also visited the Chippewa (Ojibwa) burial ground and spirit houses that are located on the refuge.  The holes in the burial structures are where the spirits of the deceased left the area on their four day journey.  The first day was spent traveling the prairies, then on to the plains.  The third day they spent traveling over the mountains, and on the fourth day, they entered their happy hunting grounds.  I assume that since the spirits of the dead have long ago left, the Chippewa do not maintain these burial sites.

When the white man came to inhabit the area, logging of white and red pines was king.  The harvested logs were floated down the Otter Tail River, and evidence of the Roller Dam Site is near the burial ground.  I then took them on a back road trail in hopes of spotting a wolf, but we didn’t have any luck there.

In the afternoon, I went back to Gary Lee’s Collisions Repair shop, and finally got my driver’s side door handle fixed on the toad.  What a relief it has been not to have to crawl over the seats to open the door.

The Tamarac annual Volunteer Picnic was happening for dinner yesterday.  This is a celebration of the work all of the volunteers do for the refuge.  RV resident and local volunteers are honored for their contributions to making this a welcoming refuge.  With 400 volunteer hours here, I took in quite a haul of thank you items.

Among them is this book written by Kenn Kaufman.  He is well known in birding circles for publishing his field guides to North American Birds.  I’m thinking this will be an interesting read.

But I think my favorite award is going to be this  small Leatherman Tool on a US Fish and Wildlife Service keychain.  It’s very reminiscent of a small Swiss Army Knife I once had.  Lots of little pull-out tools in the handles, and it folds up into a compact little rectangle.

This morning, it was time to do a couple of loads of laundry and hang them out.  A trip to town for groceries was also in order.  Have you ever come home from the grocery store with something in your bags that you didn’t purchase, and was possibly from the person ahead of you in line at the checkout?

Well, this was my little bonus today upon emptying my bags.  Can’t you just imagine me with red and black painted nails?  I can’t even remember the last time I used nail polish, and it certainly wasn’t black and red!  And Minnesota Twins decals?  Spare me, please…  What the heck was I going to do with this?  Then I remembered that my son Andy’s wife, Kelly, is a died in the wool Twins fan.  Aha!  I’ll be heading down to Rochester for my every other year physical at the Mayo Clinic next week, so I think I’ll surprise her with this little gift. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Letters/65

Dear Laundry, this is one of the times I miss the comforts of the good ol' US of A. Dryers are not common in Korea, and while I'm thankful to actually have one, it's a steam dryer. Which means that it takes roughly 4-5 hours for a load of laundry to completely dry. So we opt for half drying it and then hanging it up to dry. But this is when our little cat, Zeke, thinks that it's play time...or rather nap time, and climbs up on top of the drying rack to walk around on our clothes and take a nap. Dear Decisions, can't you make yourselves? I'm already just about the most indecisive person, and that's just with decisions about what to have for lunch. Dear Jeremy, it's pretty darn cute when you start unknowingly humming 'you are my sunshine'. I don't want kids yet but you're going to make a pretty cute dad one day. Far far off into the future (don't get any ideas mother-in-law). Dear Teaching, I have been told that once you've decided you're done teaching, you.are.done teaching. We have five months left in our contract and I'm hoping it will be my last. But I don't want to say too much too soon because I know all too well that God has one heck of a sense of humor. Dear South Africa, it's official! We bought our tickets to spend a whole month exploring the country this January!

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About Bonnie: I am a military kid who was born and grew up on military bases overseas in Europe.  I met the love of my life at University in the Theatre Department.  We got married, had two kids and became a military family.  After six years of living in California and Hawaii we decided to live the Expat life.  In 2011 we moved our family abraod to England where I work as a photographer, and hair & make up artist.  I love traveling and blog about my experiences as and Expat and Third Culture Kid. 

What she can't travel without: A Camera be it on my phone or my Nikon DSLR. 

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August Sponsor Giveaway!

Remember back in May how I said that anytime I traveled out of the country, I would bring back a gift for one lucky reader? It's been awhile huh? Well the day has finally come for another giveaway, and this time, not only have I brought back a little something something for you to win from our trip to Cambodia, but my lovely sponsors have also joined in the on the fun.

True Colours: 2 months of "London" ad space 

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Lost in Travels: Cambodian Wallet 

I found this wallet in a market in Phnom Penh and couldn't resist (I may or may not have picked one up for myself...and for souvenirs). It has a unique elephant design and is made from recycled concrete bags in Cambodia. How cool is that? Enter below for your chance to win this, along with gift cards, ad space and jewelry from my lovely sponsors!

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4. Please note that Lost in Travels Blog is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s).  I will make every effort to assist you in obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor, please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you. 

How do you spell ‘relief’?

With the weather guessers saying temps were going to be in the 90’s today, I set my alarm for a pre-dawn wake up so I could get out painting those posts in the cool (?) of the morning.  It was muggy and warm as I headed out to try to finish up the posts along Bruce Boulevard.

As I stopped for this photo along the way, I wondered if any color would show up in the fogginess, and it didn’t.  I didn’t change this photo to black and white in Picasa; this is what it actually looked like this morning.  Kind of eerie.  My goal was to get 20 posts painted before the temps became too oppressive, and I almost made it.

With the heavy water laden air, not many birds were moving about.  I spotted this young bald eagle perched on a dead tree waiting for things to dry out.

This is not the best picture, but I wanted to lighten it up a bit to see if I could determine the bird’s age.  I think this is one of the youngsters from this year’s hatch of bald eagles.  If you look real closely, you might see the the stripe of yellow/orange along the back edge of its mandibles (beak parts).  This area is called the cere, and is a wax-like swollen area at the base of the bill.  Many young birds have this characteristic.  So, that’s why I think this bird hatched this year. 

At one point, as I was busily painting away, staff member Gina pulled in behind me at the Egg Lake access and needed to get in.  As I approached her vehicle, my glasses fell apart and one lens popped out in my hand.  Did you ever try to fix your glasses without having a second pair to see them with?  Impossible!  Apparently the screw holding the lens in had come out.  Gina was able to give it a temporary fix by twisting a long staple through the screw hole, so I continued along my way.

I disturbed this walking stick at one of the gates I was painting.  I tried to look up what kind it was, but didn’t have any luck.

Just as I was finishing up post #19, the lens popped out of my glasses once again.  That meant I had to search around in the weeds for it with only one eye. 

After finally finding it, I decided that was it for me today.  A trip to the Wal-Mart in Detroit Lakes was on the docket for this afternoon.  They fixed it lickety split, and while there I decided to get my hairs cut.  After  a stop to get some wine, I headed home.  By this time, the temps had risen to 97*!  That’s hot for northern Minnesota.

I was more than happy to hang up my keys when I got back and enjoy the AC.  Only problem was, the refuge keys I’ve been issued were not in my pocket.  Whenever I leave the refuge I put those keys in my pocket in case I have to unlock the gate to the compound after the worker bees have gone home for the day.  Uh-oh!  I’ve never lost a set of keys I’ve been issued.  I searched the rig from top to bottom, but I was sure I had taken them with me this afternoon.  I even checked my painting pants pocket to no avail.  Could they be in the Wal-Mart or liquor store parking lot?  I was beside myself, but there seemed nothing to do about it.

I fed Emma her supper, and went outside to sit with her for a while in the 95* temperature.  As a last resort, I decided to check the car.  Viola!  There were the keys laying in the driver’s bucket seat.  Some people spell relief R-O-L-A-I-D-S, but I spell it KEYS-IN-HAND!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

The 'Venice of China'-Zhujiajiao Shanghai

We spent just enough time in Shanghai to qualify as 'visiting Shanghai'. Actually, even that's questionable. We had a ten hour layover on our way to Cambodia so we decided to try our luck with the rumored 72 hour layover visa. You see, to get into China, we usually have to fill out paper work in advance for a $200 visitor's visa. Ouch. BUT, if you have a connecting flight within 72 hours, you can get in for free. Umm...do you even have to ask? I really thought that it would take more work to get in but all we had to show was a copy of our itinerary. It was so easy, that as I heard the stamp hit our passport, I felt like we were sneaking into the country. 

We knew that with only 10 hours inside the city, we really wouldn't have as much time as we wanted. So we decided to narrow down what we wanted to do to just the Zhujiajiao region which we were told was just a short hour ride outside of the city. Well it may have taken just an hour if you didn't start from the airport and if you took the right bus (I guess that last part was our mistake. Make sure you grab the bright pink buses for the express!) But since it took us an hour from the airport to the city, then another two hours because we took the wrong bus, it ended up taking a solid three hours to reach our destination. But man, was it worth it. Even though this area is a known tourist attraction for both foreigners and Chinese, it was well worth a visit.

Called 'The Venice of China' for its sprawling canals and traditional boats floating along it, this area made you feel as though you stepped back in time. We had a blast looking through the souvenir shops and getting lost in the vast network of teensy alley ways. It's a place I really want to visit again because by the time we got there, we only had an hour and a half before we had to head right back to the airport again. It was the closest we've ever been to missing our flight because by the time we got to our gate, it was already boarding! Although I'm glad we made it on our flight to Cambodia, the side trip to Zhujiajiao was well worth the rush. 

Has anyone ever been to Shanghai? What are some must see spots because I know we'll be back!

Had a REAL blast the other day

Do you remember that annoying ditty called “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”?  Well, I’ve been singing it in my head all day.  I’ve changed the lyrics a bit, but sing along with me now:

♫ ♪ “71 Painted Posts are done,

         71 Painted Posts,

         Take one down, and pass it around,

         Only 200 more Painted Posts to go…” ♪ ♫

Of course, I’m only guessing about the 200 posts to go, it could well be more than that, but you get the idea.  With the temps rising to the 90’s this week, I find myself about wiped out by 1:00.  Then it’s time to hop in the truck, turn the AC on high, and find some other chore to do. 

In one of my former lives, I was a math teacher, and have always been plagued with counting things automatically.  Whether it’s counting how many steps up a fire tower or how many shrimp I’m peeling and deveining, my mind goes into calculator mode and tics them off.  It drives me crazy sometimes, but that’s how I know I’ve already painted exactly 71 posts.  Some have been big and fat, and some have been not so big and skinny, but they all register in the left side of my brain somehow.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about something that I experienced last week before Gypsy arrived for a visit that I didn’t get a chance to post (as in publish) about.  The US Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Manager (RM), up from Minneapolis/St. Paul, came to visit to kick off and observe the Rocket Netting Regional Training that was occurring here.  Apparently, RM’s don’t actually visit individual refuges that often, so it was a big deal.  Everything was buffed and polished, and mowed, etc. around the refuge so he would be favorably impressed.  Seems he’s visited here about four times in the last couple of years so I guess he likes this refuge.  Do you think he noticed my beautifully painted posts?  I doubt it!

I was more interested in watching the rocket netting demonstration, than worrying about the big wig. 

     We all truck pooled to an area over the hill on the banks of Flat Lake for the demonstration.

Rocket nets are often used to capture large numbers of waterfowl for banding purposes.  A long mist net is laid out with ropes attached to explosive rockets for the capture.  I’ve used finer mist nets and bow traps during my bird banding days, but never used rocket nets.

This is Wayne, one of the biologists, loading the explosives into the rocket.  Behind him is the large net.

Ideally, ducks are baited to come to the area behind the three posts to feed on corn in a concentrated area.

Everyone hides in a blind about 50 yards away before dawn.  When the ducks come to feed, the rockets are set off at the best moment.

The plan is for the net to fly over the ducks and contain them underneath so they can be captured and banded.

After the person in charge of the operation checks to be sure all rockets have gone off, and it is safe, everyone runs to the netting area to get the ducks out and processed as quickly as possible.  Many refuges in the north of the country have quotas of waterfowl they need to band each year.  It is a way of managing waterfowl numbers at an optimum number.  Hunters report the bands from birds they’ve taken, and this is what helps determine daily hunting limits on various species. It is one way of insuring that North American waterfowl do not go the way of the passenger pigeon.

I’ve always been a John Wayne movie fan, and have probably seen just about every movie he was ever in.  One of them, in the 1960’s, was “Hatari!”  Anyone else remember that?  In it, he portrayed the owner of a company in Africa that captured animals for shipment to zoos world wide.  They had a problem filling an order for monkeys, and Red Buttons came up with an idea of using a rocket net to trap a large number of them.  Watching this demonstration brought that movie to mind.  Isn’t it strange where your head goes with certain experiences?  So that was my REAL blast, and some of it was from the past…

I leave you tonight with a peek at what I hope is to come in about a month:

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy