A little bit over 28.000km later, we arrived back to the place where we started our trip; Tomek’s village Wojcieszyce. Almost the whole family was waiting for us, including the town's mayor. The Polish and Dutch flag were catching the wind on the garden gate and even the local TV station was present to interview us! Apparently my Polish lessons were worth the effort; they actually broadcasted my bit too! Unfortunately the link on the TVP network website no longer seems to be working, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

My family from The Netherlands arrived and we had a enormous dinner accompanied by plenty of home made vodka...Desert was the biggest surprise; a giant cake with our picture on it...Darren, Tomek's friend from San Fransisco, wrote a great little piece on our welcome weekend; check it out here.

The rest of the weekend was one big blur of great food, the best company, too much vodka and lots of hugs and laughs. We did a slide presentation at the local youth center and in the middle of all the commotion we almost forget that we still had to clear out the Pajero and stuff everything into our tiny Saxo for the last part of our journey; the way home to Utrecht.

But, before we headed to Poland, we took the scenic route though the Baltics. Vilnius was our goal. Tomek’s dad is originally from the Lithuanian capital and what a great city it is; good atmosphere, pretty buildings and we met some lovely people. We even got tempted to do a little boogie on Halloween night after sampling various local beers. Thanks Una & Ben, it was a great night and we love the plans you have for your hostel!!

We met up with Meris, a 4WD guru we met in Georgia last July. He organises 4x4 adventures and had lots of wild stories. He showed us around Vilnius and Trakaj and introduced us to some typically Lithuanian food. Thanks again Meris!

It felt good to cross the border to Poland. We took some time to drive around in the Mazury lake area before we headed to Warsaw and Wroclaw to see friends. After that the butterflies in our stomachs were fighting hard to chase away the melancholic feeling on the way back to Wojcieszyce...

We tasted ‘Kvass’ in Lithuania, a bread based lightly alcoholic drink. Looked up the recipe; kvass shall be drunk in Utrecht too.   

We hit a tree in the forest and smashed the rear light. 28.000km nothing happened, and as soon as we enter Poland...ahhh!

We managed to do a BBQ in November!! Yes it was raining and yes it was cold, but it was allll worth it!

At the time of writing, we are back in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Unpacking, rearranging and reacquainting with all these great memories in our busy minds, secretly pondering over new places to explore...

We definitely left behind Central Asia by crossing the border into Russia. The bustly bazars and sunbeams had to make way for heavy wintercoats and Soviet style truckers cafe’s. The breakfast table and chairs are no longer coming out every day. It’s all about eating our muesli as quickly as possible and drinking a cup of tea from the thermos inside the car. Hello Siberia!

We knew we had about 6000 km to drive through Russia, but it would be a waste not to visit this huge country’s great sites along the way. Tomsk was definitely worth the 400 km (!) detour for its pretty wooden houses, friendly people and its nice little cafe’s and museum. It felt like coming back to civilisation again.

After driving hundreds and hundreds of kilometers through fields and forests and some cold nights in the woods, we thought it would be a good idea to visit an ice cave in Kungur. We were the only two people who took the tour and we had the pleasure of being guided by a very old monotonously speaking lady who looked at the floor while talking to us in Russian. Of which we understood about 2%, but the Las Vegas-style lighting was pretty self explanatory. The absolute highlight of the tour was the underground lightshow accompanied by ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite. Made us chuckle.

After this happy adventure it was time for something serious; a visit to the Gulag labour camp Perm 36. It’s the only remaining camp in Russia where you can see this dark side of the Soviet Era. It held political prisoners up untill 1988. Shocking...we were already around at that time...

The ethnographic and architectural museum at Khokhlovka left a more pleasant impression. Wooden churches and houses from different historical periods have been transferred to this open air museum. The buildings reminded us a lot of the Norwegian and even Romanian churches. They even had a few raindeer in the park. It was great to see them from this close; never knew they had fluff on their antlers!

We continued to the city of Kazan, the center of Tatar culture. Here Islam meets Christianity and a giant mosque stands between the Orthodox churches of the Kremlin. After exploring the Kremlin in the late afternoon sun, we accidentally ended up in quite a fancy Georgian restaurant. With its loud music and eclectic mix of people it was just as chaotic as Georgia itself. All the girls inside were wearing the highest of heels and some Botox treatments could be spotted by the trained eye. We handed over our outdoor jackets to the cloakroom lady and walked in in our hiking boots.

Avoiding the previously tasted Georgian wines, I went for a Sambuca. This turned out to be an excellent choice, as it came with a big show. And I’m not talking about the usual coffee beans and blue flames. The barlady added her own input by letting me inhale the smoke of the burnt alcohol through a straw. After that, she added some coca cola to the Sambuca and banged the glass on the table a couple of times before she handed it over to me to drink. Ten points for presentation.

We continued further west and spent the night close to Nizhny Novgorod. We woke up overlooking the Volga river, treading over crispy grass in the frosty morning.

Next stop along the way was Suzdal with its amazing bright blue onion domes. It is such a strange feeling; we have visited almost all of the former Soviet states. And now we are heading back through the huge ‘Mother Russia’ with all its Kremlins, onion domes and Matryoshka dolls. A world away from anything we’ve seen in the former Soviet countries.

Moscow was even bigger and wealthier than we imagined it to be. We were so overwhelmed by all the luxury and abundance we just didn’t know where to start. 

Luckily we had a great guide; Ben. 

Obviously the Red Square could not be missed, nor the Kremlin. Both were really impressive with all the amazing colors and views. Ben showed us his favourite places in this huge city. The Izmaylovo market was the best, with its wooden stalls, gigantic tin figures and scruffy visitors. Thanks Ben and Zara for having us!

When we got to St Petersburg we read about the hurricane that went over Europe and was heading eastwards. By the time we reached the windy city center we could see the restless ripples on the city’s waterways. Perfect day for a museum visit. The Hermitage was as overwhelming as everyone said it would be. All the decorated rooms and great paintings...But the best part was the Siberian History department with a huge selection of artifacts from the Altai mountains. The cold and the snow in that region preserved carved horse decorations, death masks and even textiles. Impressive...

We picked up a few things driving through Russia:
- How to avoid roadside truckers cafe’s with long overdue bliny pancakes on the counter.
- How to dodge traffic police at their cleverly picked hide-outs.
- How to deal with the Russian truckers etiquette; since no such thing exists.

People do love their president here. Preferably half-naked, engaged in some sort of outdoor activity.

After exploring the western province of Mangistau in August, we now crossed the border into Eastern Kazachstan. The old Kazach capital Almaty was well worth a quick visit; we marvelled at a richly decorated orthodox church and wandered around the huge Green Bazar, browsing all the different meet counters and cheese stalls. We even found something very much resembling old Dutch cheese! 

We continued to the Charyn Canyon in the southeast of Kazachstan. We didn’t have very high expectations but it was a little paradise! The Charyn river once found its way on the plain steppes and carved out this pretty canyon. After a steep slope and manouvering under a bridge of rocks, we found a riverside BBQ space; perfect.

Once more discovering how huge Kazachstan actually is, we spent a few days in the car heading north. We felt a bit sad because we knew we would have to give the Altai mountains a miss due to lack of time. The sunshine soon made way for rain and icy cold wind. The changing weather provided some excellent photogenic scenery. Eventually, we reached the city of Semey. This place has a bit of a dubious past; it used to be a nuclear testing playground in the old Soviet days. The hot bath (yes!) water in the hotel (luxury!) looked pretty clear though.

We had to sacrifice one shock absorber on the appalingly bad roads of Kazachstan. The part of the car frame where the left back absorber had been attached, broke off. Fingers crossed for better roads in Russia...

After having a surprisingly delicious breakfast in a trucker’s cafe in Sary Tash, we headed towards the base camp of Pik Lenin. This is the second highest peak of the Pamir mountains and sits right on the Tajik and Kyrgyz border. We passed a magical mountain lake, hidden between the roling hills at the base of the range. After following the tiny curvy roads we found a perfect spot to camp, on the edge of a canyon with the snowy top of Pik Lenin in full view.

We spent a few days in Osh where we had a little reunion with Sebastian and Hamida, the German tandem couple. It was good to be able to get some fresh things at the bazar again, after these weeks in the mountains. Tajikistan had taken its toll on the car, so we looked for a place where we could get some cracks welded. We ended up at this garage / butcher place, where yaks were walking around and a pick-up full of intestines wobbled by while you heard the welding machine in the background. Interesting.

We met up with the other German couple Heike and Julian and their Mercedes van in Arslanbob, the world’s biggest walnut forest. It was so nice to be in a forest again after seeing so much dry landscape without many trees. And it was the best time to come here; harvest time! There was a little downside to our hilltop parking spot; the front breakline broke on the way there...So Tomek was trying to find a solution to plug something in the breakline so the fluid wouldn't squirt out straight away when pushing the brake pedal. This way we could disable the broken brake and still use the other three brakes. He somehow managed after numerous attempts, and we got to the bottom of the hill safely. Applause!

After eating lots of walnuts, and a stop over at the Jalal Abad mechanics to get the breakline properly fixed, we headed for Bishkek to start the Russian visa adventure. We found out we needed to get a Kyrgyz visa before we would be able to apply for a Russian one. The thing is, Europeans don’t need a Kyrgyz visa to enter the country. So the immigration office was not too pleased to make an effort to arrange a Kyrgyz visa for us. After sitting out the lunch hour, visiting many different ‘kabinets’ in the building, we managed to get hold of the ‘director’. She understood our situation and started the process. We got the Kyrgyz visa stickers in our passport and made it to the Russian embassy just before closing time. Application complete, please come and pick it up next week. Alright.

From Bishkek we drove through the Kegeti canyon, just to have an adventurous short cut to the Sang Kul lake. It was a beautiful valley with a steep climb to a 3805 meter pass just before the turn off to the main road. It looked like a pretty good road on the map. Getting to the pass involved some rock-moving and getting out of the car for serious risk assessment but we reached it without too many problems. After a few windy look-out and picture-taking moments, we descended about 100 meters when we noticed that the rest of the way down looked pretty steep, narrow, blocked or non-existent...So we had no choice but to back up to the pass on the tiny stone and gravel covered path. This involved placing rocks in front of the wheels and slowly reversing about two to three meters at a time. Eventually we managed to get back up the pass, turn the car around and drive back down again.

After a big detour back through the valley we reached Sang Kul. A lovely lake surrounded by horses, cows, sheep and lots of yurts. We were told that this would be the last week that the yurts were there, as snow would be coming soon. After a cold and very windy night, we woke up and saw signs of frost the next morning. But the sun was out and we went for a tea at one of the yurt camps. The ladies there were great and dressed us up in traditional costumes for a big laugh.

The yurts are so beautifully constructed. The women spend a lot of time embroidering and felting the so-called shyrdaks; the carpets for the floor and walls. We found a few really pretty ones in a local workshop, so a little bit of Kyrgystan  is coming home with us.

We drove back to Bishkek through the Suusamyr Valley. Partly because of the name of course, but mainly because we were told there would be some nice fishing spots alongside the Kokomeren river in that valley. No fish dinner in the end but plenty of wonderful spots next to the emerald colored river.

We went over a 2564m pass and at the bottom of it the brakes stared acting funny. We were waved down at a checkpoint, but we simply couldn’t stop and drove straight through and had to do some sort of an emergency stop at the side of the road. The guard was not amused, but when Tomek explained the brake problem, he understandingly nodded at the pass we just came from and told us the next garage would be in 20 km.  Now we were just like the locals; driving without functioning brakes...
So, the second new breakline in ten days was installed, carefully overseen by Tomek. I made it to the Russian embassy just in time for the visa pick up thanks to the marshrutka ride with Heike and Julian, thanks again guys!

After some nut and mushroom shopping at the big bazar in Bishkek, we set off to Lake Issyk Kul. This lake was created by a meteorite and apparently never freezes in winter because there is some thermal activity underneath it. So still kind of ok for swimming at the end of September.

The southern side of the lake is beautiful, with lots of little rocky beaches and the clearest water. We spotted a sign for the so-called fairy tale canyon. It revealed to be a mini Cappadocia! Fantastic.

One big wish for us was to meet an eagle hunter and to experience his skills and tradition from up close. We went to the house of Ishenbek, Kyrgystan’s most famous eagle hunter. He met us with a friendly face and excused himself that he wouldn’t be able to take us hunting the next day. The reason being he had to go to Bishkek for a talkshow for national TV. We were happy to wait another day for this exciting event.

We gathered back at his house and got into Ishenbek’s car. His eagle and dog were in the back, the eagle eagerly responding to Ishenbek’s voice with excited shrieks. We drove to meet the hunter’s apprentice; Ruslan. We got onto our horses (yes, first time in 12 years...Wieb, Ellen, you guys would be proud of us). Mine seemed to want to do nothing else than stop to eat and drink all the time, but in the end I kind of got it to go in the direction of the eagle hunters. We followed Ishenbek and Ruslan to the best places on the surrounding hills to spot foxes. Ruslan was throwing small rocks from the top to see if animals would flee. Ishenbek sat with the blindfolded eagle, waiting for the right moment to take the eyecap off, so the eagle could spot and go after the prey. We spotted about five foxes but they all ran uphill. The eagles can only hunt downwards, so we had to make sure the fox would run downhill. We followed the hunters with the heavy eagles on their arms over the narrowest paths on the steepest slopes. I was quite impressed by the courage of my horse, I would have turned round to go back a few times already if it would have been just me! At one point we found a good spot and the hunter dog spotted a fox. The eagle went straight at it and had to put up a real fight to kill the fox. We got off our horses and ran towards the scene, just in time for the final kill. The eagle started with the lungs of the fox and nibbled his way through to the intestines and the front legs. We watched him from half a meter’s distance. It was amazing to see the strength of the claws of the animal holding down the fox’s body while tearing his flesh with its sharp beak. After having witnessed nature's ways from this close, we returned to Ruslan’s house for tea with jam and picked apples from his beautiful orchard. My horse even went off in a little gallop on his way home (without me playing an active part in getting it to do that, but it was good fun!).

Check out more eagle-in-action and bloody fox pictures here!

After a good night’s sleep we headed to the Ak Suu Valley in search of the Altyn Arashan hot springs. It was a pretty rough ride through the pine forests and we got to a point where we couldn't go any further by car. We packed our towels, walked the last part and had a rewarding soak in a hot mineral bath in a small wooden shed by the river.

We headed back to Karakol to stock up at the bazar and went off to explore yet one more of Kyrgystan's valleys. It was a beautiful, and almost equally rough drive as the previous day. We camped by the bridge from where we started the steep hike up to Ala Kol lake. It had snowed there already and the snow covered mountain tops were a pretty contrast with the amazing color of the lake.

With a little bit of muscle ache, we continued up to the north side of the Issyk Kul lake to meet with our German friends Heike and Julian for a goodbye dinner. The north side of the lake felt a lot more Russian, with lots of huge holiday resorts and broken vodka bottles. Time to go and explore the real Russia, via 1600km of Kazachstan that is....

We crossed the Kazakh border close to Bishkek but somehow they refused to let the car through customs. They told us to go to another border about 20km further on, but we already had our exit stamp for Kyrgystan. After about an hour or so, the boss intervened. The guy who couldn't be bothered to clear our car got told off and we got our stamp. Hello again Kazakhstan!

We came across a cow rescue operation in the middle of a deserted valley. Two cows had fallen off a ledge and both had broken their legs. An old UAZ ambulance with seven men came to pick them up after they had been lying there for a day or so already. The men dragged the cows across to the road, squeezed them into the van and off to the slaughterhouse they went.

The Kyrgyz men do love their decorated felt hats. Especially in combination with some nice 1960s shades...

After having discovered that the border crossing east of Samarkand was closed (and had been for yeeeaaars, oops) we decided to cross at Buston. It was the easiest border crossing so far. When we got to the car search part, a bright blue eyed officer looked the car up and down and curiously asked “Do you have a shower?” After proudly showing him our bathroom options we were warmly welcomed into his great country.

It was about 38 degrees and we were in desperate need of a dip in the river before we could continue towards Dushanbe. When we got to the Tajik capital, we found our missing car part in the first shop we stopped at! A little piece of luck.

From Dushanbe, you can take two routes towards the Pamirs. Known as the northern and the southern route. We decided on the longer, but more exciting looking southern route. We passed a beautiful man-made lake at sunrise, which gave it a spectacular and fairytale like haze. A long part of the southern route follows the Panj river which forms the natural border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. It felt somehow exciting and exotic to be peeping over to the villages on the other side of the river. Would the people of the villages on both sides ever meet? Do the little boys use mirrors to sign to eachother?

There is one place where the people from both sides can cross the border. This place is called Iskashim. This town has an island in the middle of the Panj river which is a neutral zone. Every Saturday Tajiks and Afghans come here to trade goods. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit. We heard several stories why not, one of them being a cholera outbreak on the Afghan side. A reason to come back some other day, I suppose.

We spent a couple of days in Khorog and met a lot of nice people. Some of them other travellers and others people who are doing research projects or work for NGO’s. It’s amazing how many projects seem to be running here.

We met a great German couple on a self built tandem, and had some good laughs. We bumped into an Australian guy with the best dried fruits and muesli selection (thanks Phil!). We met Darek, a great Polish guy on an old Ukrainian bike (with only one city bike style handbrake - respect). And not just cycling is popular in the Pamirs, we met people in a driving house attached to a Unimog and even a couple in a campervan! It's a bit like "ter land ter zee en in de lucht"; everybody welds together their own means of transport and keeps their fingers crossed theirs will survive the rough roads.

After having done all the necessities, like ALL of our laundry, a big rest, an Indian curry and some research on internet, we left Khorog to follow the Panj river further south towards the Wakhan valley. The route was spectaculair with amazing views around every bend.  We took a very remote mountain path, which involved crossing a particularly wonky looking bridge. But the views were fantastic and it was a beautiful way to reach the Shokhdara valley. 

We stopped in a small village and had cay with a lovely family who took the opportunity to get out the musical instruments and family pictures.

We just finished our tea when their daughter came running in; 'jeep! jeep!' It was Darek, the Polish cyclist on the old bike that we bumped into a couple of days before. His bike was tied to the back of his friends car and they were heading towards the Bartang valley; a notoriously rugged valley with washed out roads and unbelievably tiny paths on steep slopes. We knew we wouldn't drive the Bartang on our own (it would be too risky) but now we found two other Polish 4WD cars to explore the valley with.

The rough roads of the Bartang valley did ruin our car a bit; the front frame broke right through and we spotted some cracks at the bottom of the front window...At one point we ended up halfway in the water (my half!) when we tried to find the washed away road in the quick flowing river. It was quite scary and at one point water got into the engine and it switched itself off. The only thing working was the annoying car alarm! Luckily the other guys managed to pull us out (and document every second of our little accident - we are still waiting for the pictures and films...will add as soon as we get them). All of our stuff got wet, but miraculously, the engine was still working. Thanks guys, for the help! 

We exited the notorious Bartang Valley and went up to Karakul lake. You always read about these spectacular green and blue colors lakes can have. And it’s all true in the case of Karakul lake. But wind was picking up and we decided to head up to the border. We crossed it in the cold dark without any problems. The next morning we woke up with a spectucular view of the Kyrgiz side of the Pamir range.

Driving through Tajikistan feels like watching the National Geographic channel out of the car window, eating pomegranates instead of popcorn...People welcome you with the most sincere smiles, waves and handschakes with the left hand over the heart. It’s a fascinating place. You would think you’re all alone in this sometimes barren landscape. But even on the most remote backroads and mountains, you find little houses. Sheep and cow herders walk for miles and miles to find the best patch of grass for their cattle. And they are always up for a chat. It feels so good that we can have a little conversation in our tiny bit of made-up Russian. 

Tomek donated his shoes to a herder. The guy put the purple Van’s on with the biggest smile on his face and walked away a new man.

We managed to drive through the Pamirs without actually driving much on the Pamir Highway itself. Who needs tarmac anyway. We picked up lots of local hitchhikers along the many side routes we took. Maximum capacity: six people. Three people in the front, two lying on the bed and one standing on the rear bumper, holding on to the roofrack extension. Good fun.

After our little water accident with the car we have to short circuit the car every time we want to start it. Funnily enough, nobody looks surprised when we do it. The radio got electrocuted, so now it comes down to singing. Which in our case is not an improvement. Other than that, all the oils need to be changed because some have water in them. So off to Osh to the next garage!

Without the Mercedes van in our rear view mirror, we continued towards Uzbekistan. Just before the border, an overpacked Lada stood by the side of the road. It had seven people inside and about 500 kilo on the roof, so no wonder the back tire burst. We helped them to change the tire and kept bumping in to them on the road to Moynaq. They were moving most of the time, so the relocation service proved adequate in the end.

Moynaq is a small town in the west of Uzbekistan. It once was a thriving port of the Aral Sea. But the Aral Sea shrunk so much in the last decades due to cotton field irrigation, that the shoreline is now 200 kilometers from the town. We watched the beached ships, the old fish cannery and the local museum with a feeling of sadness. But apparently the Uzbeks are quite happy with the gasfields they discovered where the sea once was. The joyful part of our Moynaq visit was meeting Polish Andrzej and Alicja, who have been travelling for four years and keep a very informative blog (in Polish).

We headed for Khiva, one of the three major silk road cities in Uzbekistan. We arrived at the loveliest guesthouse just before midnight and decided to go for a stroll. We zigzagged through the pink and green lit ancient city when we heard some music in the distance. We followed it all the way to a big decorated hall and were invited to join the singing and dancing families. It was a great welcome to Khiva city.

Exploring the old medressas, mosques and wooden pillars is a real treat. And Uzbekistan has such a rich fabric and pattern history, there’s just so much to discover. We visited the ‘Suzanni workshop’, partially beacause of the name of course. This workshop is a place where the local ladies embroider beautiful pillowcases, placemats and duvets. And some also weave silk carpets, which can take up to two years to finish. Every produced item has a little secret; a hidden pommegranate figure. It’s a fun game to try and discover them all.   

Bukhara felt a lot more touristy with less of a relaxed atmosphere. But it was impressive to see the medressa which is still in use by students today and to see all the miniature paintings that Bukhara is so famous for.

We left Bukhara for Samarkand, had the best chicken dinner ever and slept between the cottonfields. Samarkand is another beautiful city with amazing mosaics and tiled domes. We also had another mission though; finding a ‘pacimnik’ in the car bazar. Imagine a busy Arab style fruit and veg market, but then only selling car parts and accessories like the smelly tree-shaped refreshers and dozens of different car horns. After checking around, everybody said that Tashkent would be the place to find it.

Off we went to Tashkent. When we got to the check point just before the capital, we were told that Tashkent was closed for us that day. Everyone else simply drove through, but we were expected to head back to wherever we came from. We refused to bribe the guard and decided to sit it out right there at the gate. He got tired of us quite quickly and let us in after 15 minutes or so. Crazy business.

The car bazar in Tashkent was much bigger than the one in Samarkand. With great help from the security officer and his friend we managed to find the right stalls. But unfortunately none of them had the fitting front wheel bearing. We did manage to find a solution for the worn out front shock absorber rubbers, which was good timing considering the rocky roads of Tajikistan still ahead.

So we got some money, got the car kind of fixed, and now our next challenge was to find diesel. That’s not easy in Uzbekistan, but we were lucky to find a guy who took us to his friends house. His friend was selling diesel from his garden and was a supernice man. He invited us to stay the night, which was a great way to experience Uzbek family life.

We learnt that the border officials are quite strict on the hotel registrations, it’s not a myth. As a tourist in Uzbekistan you have to register at a hotel, some say every third night and some say every night of your entire stay. So we ended up staying in hotels and asking for extra days on our registration slips, which was fine. When the border guys spotted the matrass in the back of the car, the slips came in quite handy...

We discovered that finding diesel in Uzbekistan is a real adventure. You can not just go to a petrol station, because they save their diesel exclusively for companies and truck drivers (at a very nice rate). We, the normal people, have to find a guy who knows a guy who knows a place with another guy and get the first guy to get into our car to take us to the place. Then the chapter of price negotiation starts and we increase the amount of liters we want to buy to get a better price. Anything between 2500 and 2700 Som per liter is acceptable, but usually they start at 3000 Som. The pure joy of overlanding becomes apparent here.

We are rich!!! Oh no, we're in Uzbekistan...where the money only comes in huge piles of small bills which you can only get from an exciting black market tradesman, in full view of the rest of the town. We love it here.

Ok a little behind on schedule...we are in Kyrgystan at the moment...but Yes! We made it to Kazachstan! After three days of research, many phonecalls to ‘insiders’ (thanks again Steve)  and just hanging around the harbour area, we were able to get our hands on a golden ticket to cross the Caspian Sea on a big cargo ship. The boat left the port at about 2 AM and the crew proudly presented us to their “surprise”; a private cabin with shower! Luksus...

We arrived in Aktau in the middle of the night and waited for customs to open the next morning. After a big treasure hunt involving collecting about twelve stamps from five different locations, we were free to move into the car search area. After donating a small "souvenir" in the form of a big beer bottle, the border official opened the gate for us to explore Kazachstan.

We met Heike and Julian, who are travelling in their old German Mercedes van. After a breakfast of mini lobsters offered at our car door by the local fisherman, we were up for the challenge of heading down to Shakpak Ata; an underground mosque only reachable by tiny sandy and rocky roads. Surrounded by wandering camels and flocks of wild horses, we found our way through the windy steppes. There were quite a few resque-the-van moments which was good fun.

We camped at a beautiful little lake and survived the biggest rainstorm we experienced so far. We couldn’t easily get back out of the swampy valley the next day, so all the tools that had been left unused so far, proved very helpful. Winging, pulling, digging and sliding our way across to find the necropolis of Sultan Epe was an adventure on its own. 

East of the Caspian coastline, there are some beautiful canyons in the region of Mangistau. The further land inward you go, the more windy and sandy it gets. We thought we were in the biggest storm at the lake, but it got much and much worse on our way further east. The darkest sky pulled over and within minutes it was pouring with rain. We had to pull off the road and hide at a petrol station. We thought we were safe, but the asbestos roof came flying off and hit the car! Willem did not turn out to be so waterproof, but nobody got hurt in the end.

Bits of the road we were taking towards the Uzbek border got completely washed away, and we were holding our breath while driving through the fast flowing water. We scouted the best drivable route and The Mercedes van bravely followed. At one point it almost lost its lisence plate, which was easily solved by twisting in a new screw. But that took the attention off what had really happened; they had lost their Auspuf! (this is German for exhaust pipe – love the word!) The rocky roads didn’t do the van any good, so garage service was needed. (not Willem this time – this is his type of terrain!) We had a goodbye dinner with Heike and Julian and we set off to the Uzbek border.

Tomek suddenly developed a “lactose allergy” but I drank my first fermented camel’s milk! And I survived. Borat would be so proud.

We discovered that there are 42 types of melons. FORTY TWO! There are melons everywhere. If you wake up in the middle of the night and feel like eating melon, no problem, there will be a melon seller within a 300 meter radius. And people take great pride in finding the best one in the pile. 

Yes, we do owe you a couple of stories about Central Asia, but internet is limited and the mountains are calling...We are off to the Pamirs tomorrow, our BIG dream. All is well and after a few car bazar visits, Willem is not so bad either. More news will follow soon...

We crossed the border to Azerbaijan without many problems (except for a few marriage proposals and “I love you’s”) and stopped for a big birthday lunch. We tried to figure out which menu option was beef, chicken or lamb. The waiter simply thought that we wanted to order all of the above. The tendir chef looked so proud of his big lambchops and we were proud that we could finish most of it.

Azerbaijan is a muslim country so we were surprised to see everybody drinking tea and having lunch at this time of Ramadan. Life just seems to continue normally and the supermarkets even sell porc here. Must be the Russian influence. We actually saw more similarities with Turkey than with Georgia or Armenia. We felt at home straight away.

We visited the town of Seki, famous for its sweets. We got Tomek’s trousers fixed by the sweetest old man and his fossile sewing machine. We could hit the road again with some sweet cake and hole-less trousers.

We read about the village of Lahic, a place with lots of coppersmiths. We drove through an amazing valley, passed through the tiny cobbled streets of the town and headed up to the hills to find a nice camping spot. The farmers were just loading hey on their horses to head back home. It was a funny sight, these walking heystacks. The farmers helped to collect wood for the fire. A lot of them have served time in the army in Poland and Tomek can kind of get away with his “tjut tjut” of Russian words. It’s really nice to be able to have a small conversation and to see the eyes getting bigger and bigger when we show the map of our journey.

On our way back to the village the next day, we met Beth and Steve. The loveliest American couple who were on a weekend trip with their family. When they heard we were heading to Baku, they invited us to stay at their home there. We spent such a nice time with them and the kids which made it hard to leave Baku...Thanks again for everything and really hope to welcome you guys in Poland or The Netherlands one day!

We met lots of Mongol Rally participants in their tiny cars. In this rally you take a car (maximum 1.2L) from Europe to Mongolia in about 5-8 weeks. Then you leave the car there for people to use and fly back home. It’s great to see all their crazy cars full of stickers, bathtubs and giant teddybears on the roofs.

We had a splash in a 320 year old hamam!

We got our Uzbek visa from the funniest consul in Baku! We thanked him with a happy dance in his office. Central Asia, here we come!

Our visit to Armenia seems such a long time ago...but we have some good memories of our visit there. The border customs were not so happy to see the Azeri visa in our passports, but after some questions they let us in.

Luckily, because we wouldn’t have wanted to miss all the beautiful churches, landscapes and people. The highlights certainly being the Anapat bush camp and the Unesco monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat.

We followed a Lonely Planet tip to find this amazing place; a bush camp with tree houses right next to a waterfall in a canyon...The family of the owners were celebrating the last night of their visit there and asked us to join them for their goat stew feast. After many elaborate toasts with homemade raspberry vodka our Armenian language skills got better and better...

We followed the Debed canyon road in the north of Armenia to get to the most beautiful monasteries we have ever seen. Especially Haghpat, a monastery which is constructed against a hillside and overgrown with grass. All the buildings are characterized by lack of decoration except for the stone crosses on the walls. We met a priest there who explained that when the churches were built in the 11th and 12th century, families wanted to be a part of the process. They hired a stone carver to create a stone with crosses representing each member of the family. The stones were then used for the foundation of the church.

Our friends Ellen en Wiebke came over! We managed to squeeze both of them into the single back seat and we had a great time discovering Eastern Georgia.

After a little nap and swim at the Tblisi sea, we headed north. We spotted a Carrefour sign by the side of the road. We only realized how much we’d missed “our” cheese and sausages and all other things French/European when we walked through the aisles of Carrefour heaven...including wine sampling at 10 in the morning. We were happy to share this moment with Ellen and Wiebke who both know how to appreciate a nice glass of wine in the morning. We got all we needed for a big BBQ feast and celebrated their visit by the side of the river.

We took the militairy highway to get to the Kazbegi mountains. We arrived in the pouring rain and were forced to sample local beer accompanied by hefty mountain food served by our new friend Rudolph.

The next day we set off for the tiny village of Juta, got our sleepingbags and cantharelles and hiked to a pretty mountain lodge right at the edge of the Chaukhi valley. The mountains around were completely covered in a big cloud and we spent the cold evening in our sleepingbags, only coming out for Tomek’s wonderful pasta with cantharelles.

After a cold, cold night, we woke up to a beautiful clear view of Mount Chaukhi and the valley was getting prettier by the minute in the light of the rising sun. We de-frosted Wiebke and went for a spectacular hike. It was more than worth the rainy wait! 

Georgia has a big wine reputation, so we headed off to the vineyard area Kakheti for some tasting. But it wasn’t so easy to find something of our taste...the wines are quite acidy and after several attempts we decided a beer would be a good idea. We sat down in a restaurant where a group of friends were having a dinner party. Guitars were brought in and some of the girls started singing the most beautiful Georgian songs. Even the owner and his son sang a couple of songs, and before we knew it, tables were pushed aside and everybody got on to the dancefloor!

We stayed in the ethnographic park, right next to a restaurant. The local police officer and sheriff were having an elaborate alcohol tainted lunch and of course we had to join them. Wieb and Ellen even got them to take their guns out so the girls could pose with them for a picture. Unfortunately the Polaroid evidence was confiscated directly afterwards and the police officer in question pretended nothing ever happen when we bumped into him later in front of the police station in town...but it was a fun afternoon!

We spent our last day with the girls in Tblisi, wandering through the old town, drinking tea and having a nice dip in the Royal Sulphur Bath. After a great dinner in a courtyard garden, it was time to say goodbye at the airport...Thanks guys, it was an amazing week!! And great to have a professional photographer with you when there is so much beauty to be seen, thanks Wieb!  

Our car looked so empty without the girls, their backpacks and flying bikini’s...Time to head to the garage for some Willem-service. The guys at the Mitsubishi service said our car was too old and they wouldn’t have fitting parts for it anyway (while half of Georgia is cruising around in Pajero’s). So they directed us to a sort of dusty terrain off the main road. It appeared to be a normal garage, until we met the Russian owner Bagim who guided us through his factory. He had every machine that you could think of to make car parts from scratch. And if he didn’t have the machine to do something he wanted, he just built it by himself. He is also customizing a Volkswagen van for a big trip to Nepal, so we had lots to talk about. We stayed the night next to the garage and could even use the mechanics shower the next day (ever seen the movie “Saw”? Well, a shower room just like that).

We got a birthday eclair at Carrefour and had breakfast with the mechanics. When they found out it was my birthday, the beers and cognac came out and lots of toast were made.

We learnt that river swimming in the golden hour is the best time to spot mud monsters:

We discovered Armenians love Cantharelles and fresh herbs, and so do we !!

We are wondering how a Dutch T-shirt ended up on a Georgian cowboy?!