Kyrgistan n Chinese food........

This is a bit of an oldie of Dennis and I looking into the depths of hell that was the gas crater in Turkmenistan. It was sneakily taken by Mandy who has a very big camera and very long lens. So I'm happy to nick hers and anybody else's photos and put them on my blog - but only if I think they are up to scratch of course ha ha. Not too sure about the double chin developing there Stevie?

Along the long road that has become Uzbekistan we come across many ancient monuments built by the great sultans who had the fore site to build erm............a giant jelly mould should the poor go hungry? Hah, it was actually a very old but obviously refurbished well. Water in the desert is very valuable, so every effort was made to ensure that it was protected as the great caravans made their way to trade with the good and the great.

Me stroking a real lion at the 'Arc'. This was a huge palace built mostly of mud and straw in Bhukara. We had a really cool half day wondering around this old an ancient city with our new guide Merza (we get guides at most new countries. These guys are experts at local culture, give you a real in site to what life was like and also where to get the best beer in town too).

This was the remains of what used to be a huge mausoleum, I wish I could remember the name of this very important guy so I should take notes huh? But it was in Samerkand, another major town on the silk road and a great place to stay. The hotels we are staying in now have really raised the bar, are very comfortable and lay on some pretty cool breakfasts too.

We've now left Uzbek and have arrived in Azerbajan for two nights. We are only transiting through and the scenery is just amazing. Managed to capture this little be u tee with my little box brownie.

So the thunderstorm raged all evening and night as it happened but luckily for us, the storm was using us as a pivot and we didn't get nearly as much rain as we could have. I thought this sunset was pretty cool though as it peaked out through a gap in the clouds.

Arriving in Azerbaijan yesterday, its always a bit of a rush to find the best place to nosh, so the gang and I headed into town for Chinese (well you would wouldn't you). Typically, you have know idea what you maybe ordering, so its a bit of a guessing game when it arrives and last night was not lucky poker night for Stevie.........to say it was shite would have been an understatement and worst of all? I can still taste it this morning ugh.........

So I say a sad farewell to my tent buddy pal Paul who has had to return to old Blighty at short notice. We have shared some prickily times together and more great laughs than I can count. When you live with some one pretty much 24/7 you get to know them very well and of course they in turn get to know you. Its that bond between two people that help to make a great trip and Paul, you've helped a great deal to make mine a super one, I hope to see you back soon.

Where Am I?

Hi Peeps, so much has happened since we last got together, and where to begin? OK, first my apologies, the piccies are not in order, I'm relying on my memory and to be honest folks its crap (but hey, you new that already right)? So, lets begin shall we. I'm sat in an Internet cafe in Uzbekistan, having already traveled through Turkmenistan and Azabaijan. Jeez what a journey that was but I'll right about that a little lower down. Man its suddenly gotten very hot, dry and we have traveled through a couple of scary deserts (not the sort you eat Unky, ha). And we even camped out in one which was kinda cool and starry too.
As we traveled through Turkmenistan CJ our ever chipper guide led us to a really cool spot in the middle of nowhere, but when we arrived there was these really neat mud volcanoes burping and farting mud. So I'm sat on one that has dried up but I still managed to get a pretty dirty backside ha ha.
So now we get confused, this is a real live crater, about 60 meters across and maybe 40 deep and its in Turkmenistan where we camped in the Karakam desert (I think that's how its spelt). We arrived well after dark, probably nearer 10 pm or 6pm Blighty time in a big Russian beast of an overland people carrier, so we didn't fall through any potential holes in the earths crust. Well this beast of a crater opened up after the Ruskies were drilling for natural gas......oooops! And its been the living breathing depths of hell now for over forty years, pretty cool huh?
OK, now it gets even more confusing. We crossed the Caspian in a train carrying boat, well the giant oil carriages do, and I think there were about a dozen or so of them. Now the big red chuffers have to pull the oil tanks off in tandem to prevent the boat from tipping over. To watch these big guys pull them off and go back and re-hitch was pretty neat. The trip across the Caspian was an adventure itself as we left about lunch time and actually arrived about 04:30 in the morning after a pancake flat sea. I chose to sleep on deck, yep that's under the stars folks and what a sight that was too.
This is an outside piccy (duh) of a large mosque in Turkmenistan (how ya doing Dad, keeping up so far)? It can hold 18,000 people and we all got the chance to see inside thanks to our new best friend and guide Max. To say I was moved by the sheer beauty of the inside is an understatement. Unfortunately no piccies folks cus its not allowed so you will have to use your imagination.
So this piccy is of our very nice hotel in Uzbekistan, the entire town is a living museum and UNESCO world heritage site. Tourism is just in its infancy here, but you can still get chips and beer a plenty mmmmmm
So back to Turkmenistan and Ashkabat (my Steavy, haven't you grown ha ha). The entire city was pretty much destroyed by an earthquake last Wednesday (erm......or maybe it was a bit longer than that) and the industrious Turkeys have built from the ground up an amazing new one. Giant fountains, huge monuments and gardens abound in this surreal capital city.
A typical monument to remember a couple of old poets by, can you imagine the same for Pam Ayers he hee.
So this is the mud stuff again, burping n stuff.
This is another cool hotel now that we have hit the silk road proper, used by the old caravans. That's camels n donkeys n stuff. They slept downstairs cus they can't climb them too good haha. Providing warmth n stuff for the owners upstairs in very nice single beds. Oh this is where, the gang and I shared what we thought was a chicken between three. In fact what turned up was a sparrow (or a close cousin) so then we had chips n shish n more beer to make up for it mm mmm
Jeez, even the gang can't go too far without having a nice cup of tea. And very nice it was too...slurp, two sugars in mine please.
If you haven't seen the big old truck yet, this is me sitting on the steps, while the gang look at yet another bloody old church. This was our last day in Georgia I think. Blimey how many countries was that? Four by my total. So now we are truly in Asia proper, things are very different now and really neat too. Hugs to you all, write soon xx