Caravanistan

Hi Spark, We did more or less what you described, We drove Ashgabat - Darweza - Ashgabat - Mary - Turkmenabat. There is no road heading east from Darweza, if you want to head east, you'll need a 4x4 that can cope with sand and be prepared to make your way. On another note, you'll need a 4x4 to get t...

Hi Nuria, I remember reading somewhere that depending on your 'Itinerary' they may issue visas with shorter validity. So a hotel reservation for only one night might not get you a full 30 day visa. Perhaps its possible to have a booking for the first few nights in Iran and for the last few nights an...

Hi all, We (2 German guys) just succesfully applied for and recieved our russian transit visa in Dushanbe: - The Embassy is located at: 38.582656N,68.753876E (Abuali Ibn Sino 29/31) - Pay directly at the embassy in Tajik Somoni - Don't be put off by the big crowd waiting in front of the embassy, the...

Hi all, Just got our Kazakh Visas in Dushanbe. Obviously things are in a period of transition at the moment, but we wanted to be safe and get one anyway rather than be stuck at a border. Very standard procedure. - Fill out application form at embassy, hand it in together with photocopy of your passp...

Hi All, A friend and I got our GBAO permits without any hassle in Dushanbe yesterday. We applied Friday afternoon (just after their lunchbreak ended at 1pm) and picked it up on the following monday (also 1 pm - could have been earlier but we were busy). Pointers: - As far as we can tell it is valid ...

Hi Spark, A Friend and i are currently on the road and doing a similar route to you, though after Samarkand we went to Dushanbe (where we currently are). I would say that driving through Georgia is a good reflection of everything that comes after. Road conditions generally don't get worse, just poth...

Just a quick update of the information for the Turkmen embassy in Mashhad.
- The embassy is open every day except fridays AND SUNDAYS
- Just of Dah-e-Day square, the GPS co-ordinates are: 36.28393N 59.59911E

The alternative title to this topic could be "The Undiplomatic Diplomat". What follows is our (1 Austrian & 2 German guys) experience applying for the Tadjikistan visa at the embassy in Tehran. I'll try to keep it brief. :lol: Reading many reports from other embassies we hoped that in Tehran the vis...

Hi All, Just a quick update. We managed to get our Iranian Visa in Tblisi. As we had problems finding a hotel reservation which was cancelable (Most likely due to the Iranian New Year), we used the details of a friend/contact person in Iran. All we needed was: name, address, and telephone number. Ot...

Hi All, A friend and I are in Tblisi looking to get an Iranian visa, we already have our reference number. However we read here that we also need to show the consulate a hotel reservation which is where our problem begins. We went to 3 tour agencies today (including the one originally mentioned abov...