Caravanistan

I was there last August. Recieved the Chinese visa in my country without mentioning that I was going to visit the region. I had Turkish stamps and that was no problem. If I was a concertina wire manufacturer, the region would be paradise, but being a regular tourist, I cannot say I liked it. For a S...

Hi, I wouldn't say that the road between Ashgabat-Derweze is 100% bad. It is good for the first tens of kms, then it is OK, then its terrible. I have a gps log, I can check average speeds if you are interested.

You can add Konye-Urgench to Dasoguz as good.

The LOI was provided after booking a 5-day tour with Stantours. Around 1000$ if I remember correctly. The local agency was very professional and I recommend them.

The Syrian war is about to finish, in a year or so, the rebels in the Idlib pocket will be crushed, and some of the Uyghurs living there will survive and will come back to the PRC to start trouble. I guess this surge is a reaction of what they are expecting. Next year I want to go there and finish m...

I have not slept in the countryside in the Stans except for Derceve. When I was researching the trip it looked like the best spot for jihadis to attack foreigners and record some nasty but photogenic videos with the crater in the back. But then you get there and see how there are checkpoints everywh...

Wow, 50000 soms notes. I only saw a few 10000 notes, did not even knew these existed.

No registration needed for European passports that do not requiere visa. I entered the country from Uzbekistan, asked the police at the border and they told me no need to register. My inmigration card was stamped two times. Since I read here it was not needed, and the police told me so, I did not bo...

Crossed this in August: Easy but I was interrogated. The whole crossing took 45 mins. I asked the Tashkent hotel to get me a taxi to the border. I took half an hour and 40000 SOM. I arrived at Chernayevka at 10:45, and the border was madness, lots of people coming and going, but when I got to the ac...

Crossed this in August: Rated easy: I arrived at 13:30, and there was almost nobody there. The whole crossing took only 50 minutes. On the Turkmen side, first you write the exit declaration which they keep. Then they scan your bags and check the medicines again. Then you get stamped and accompanied ...

Crossed this in August: I took a cab very early from Mashad. The son of owner of Vali's Homestay was driving. It was 50$. The ride to the border is pretty scenic, there is a small pass along the way, with good views to the plains in the South and the mountains in the North. The ride was 2h 40 mins. ...