Caravanistan

Hi Velo, sorry to be so slow. ApriI was spent mainly in Uzbekistan, with a week or so in south/west Tajikistan. May was Azerbaijan, eastern Turkey and Georgia. There's already a lot of good advice on hiking in the first two countries on Caravanistan, Lonely Planet, Bradt and all. I don't really do h...

It’s true no Uzbek bank will touch TJ Somoni, but at least some ‘Exchange Offices’ (non-bank money changers) probably will.

For Manat read Tenge

Hi Edu, I did the same basic itinerary in April-June, broken by some time in the Caucasus and eastern Turkey (sorry, Türkiye!) Here's my observations, for whatever they're worth, following your subject headings: Clothing: 1. Take 3 t-shirts, one or two polo shirts, one regular long-sleeved shirt. Th...

I’ve seen some comment/questions about whether or not the Nakhchivan-Turkey border is open.It is. I made the crossing from Nakhchivan to Turkey Dilucu customs post on 8 May, pretty much without incident. But don’t make the mistake I made, which was to let my taxi go at the entry point to the AZ bord...

Re Nakhchivan-Turkey border. Yes, it is open. I made the crossing from Nakhchivan to Dilucu customs post on 8 May. No particular issues, except that the Turkish border cop seemed unable grasp that the Turkish E-visa is actually good for multiple entries during its 90-day validity period. I had to fl...

I crossed the border from Termiz to Ayvanj at the Gulbahor post at around 1100 on 12 April. The process generally was pretty easy on the Uzbek side, and no real problem on the Tajik side - EXCEPT. No-one there believed that an Australian (or presumably, any national of the other 50 visa-free countri...

Today I got an email that my Azerbaijan E-visa is canceled. I’m now in Georgia. Is this a new policy? Mine was cancelled yesterday too, "in accordance with Article 16 of Migration Code of Republic of Azerbaijan". AZ government has suspended issuing visas for at least 45 days, and (apparently) indef...

Hi Pam, you get one piece of checked luggage, weight 20 kg. I flew Urgench-Bukhara in a group of 10 last year, and the tour guide wangled an 'aggregate weight" of 200kg for all of us, which worked very well, with about equal numbers of overs and unders. So if you're not on your own, find a lightweig...

I'm doing this trip in a few months and have the same question. From my research so far, it looks like you can buy online from Russian Railways <https://pass.rzd.ru/main-pass/public/en> and <tutu.ru> . There's another site, too, <russiantrain.com> . So far as I can tell, all can sell valid tickets o...