Middle-aged flash packers

Executive summary: Khiva supermarket gets the thumbs down; Chernobyl Ferris wheel finds new home; people wander about carrying armloads of som and don’t get mugged; train journeys are the new cruising We had a bit of time to kill this morning before our journey to Bukhara so we took a wander to the nearest “supermarket…

Executive summary: feeling out of sorts; very long tap; the other faces of Khiva; strange and creepy museums; Khiva is beautiful at night Today we had a bit of a lie in. 7.45am. Our tummies woke us up as they were griping. Probably the water. Although we try not to drink it, and even use…

Executive Summary: Airport and plane anxiety;environmental issues; everybody wants Sum; Disneyland meets the Silk Road; Uzbekis love shoe horns too Our flight to Urgench (nearest airport to Khiva) saw us up at 5.30am. Our hotel was very laidback about what time we should set off for our flight, and when the taxi didn’t arrive when…

Our last day in Almaty was spent doing a few touristy things. We went to the green bazaar (markets are the same pretty much the world over), Kok Tobe Tower (you can’t actually go up the tower but I did have my photo taken with the Beatles) and a bit of shopping in the Dostyk…

When I say this walk was hard, I’m not joking. Do not take any notice of anything that tells you otherwise. 1600 meters of ascent and not a gentle traverse, just ludicrously steep paths. At times it felt that if you stopped, you would slide all the way back down the mountain/hill. Chuck in some…

No executive summary today Charlie – it’s too short Today we warmed up our legs by catching the cable car to the Talgar Pass and walking to the summit of Mount Shymbulak. Or Chimbulak if you’re Russian. Annoyingly the first section of cable car (you have to catch 3 to get right to the top)…

Executive summary (Charlie, please let me know when I can stop doing this.): As professional sightseers we are rubbish;Almaty is a young, cool city; not being able to read or write the lingo means we get surprising food; Kazakhstan is the world’s largest manufacturer of shoe horns. (Probably) In the grand scheme of things, today…

Executive summary: Yandex rules, we are living in Fort Knox but the surrounding area is great, the waterfalls are average but we love the people, go out to eat before you are really hungry, chocolate is very nice. After a chilly morning in Nur Sultan searching for a local sim (surprisingly difficult to come by)…

Astana or Nur Sultan. It’s all the same Inspired by TV programmes showing the various countries that make up the Silk Road, a trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan to see the highlights seemed like a good idea. We’ve had to plan everything in advance this time rather than our usual bumbling about as transportation…