Caravanistan

Well, I shouldn't have tempted fate. The police found me and interrogated me in my hotel for an hour. Maybe fewer police checkpoints, but they're still following procedure up here.

Hello everyone I hope my info does not appear too late for you. I‘ve done this trip last year in July by motorbike. I stood overnight in Beineu which was the last possibile place to stay. Then there is a 90 km long road in rather terrible condition up to the Uzbeky border. Next place to stay in dec...

I am cycling across Northwest XJ right now and it's, in contrast to other reports from the South, actually pretty pleasant with few passport checks. I'm going to Mongolia, from Tacheng->Karamay->Altai->Bulgan. I've only had passport checked at entrances to towns, and the worsy bit was the 15km aroun...

Hello. Passing on information on how to find bike parts in Dushanbe without long shipping times, etc. I was able to obtain three high quality, large 26x2.3-2.8in tubes and a pair of 26x2.35in Schwalbe Big Apples in Dushanbe in a grand total of 26 hours for a very reasonable shipping price. This was ...

Penjikent is open for business on a bicycle. I did Samarakand to Dushanbe via Penjikent and Anzob. The border is very quiet, and I was quickly through in a half hour or so. The road from Penjikent to Dushanbe is in perfect condition through the Fann mountains, and Anzob tunnel is no longer as ridicu...

There is a hotel in Aktau with no wi-fi, tiny dirty rooms with no shower and a kind of grumpy landlady at the attached location for $8/night. I highly recommend it. In summer, you should be fine. I'd be surprised if you didn't find other travelers there during that time as well. The only complicatin...

I took the ship Professor Gul about two weeks ago with bike from Alat to Aktau. There were two boats running, even during the Azeri holiday Nowruz. I had to wait in port for 2.5 days, but it wasn't that bad with a shop, toilets, and bank/atm. Paid cash at the terminal, no calling the main office. Ju...