We are off to Tajikistan!

On Wednesday, we walked to a less touristy part of Samarkand. It's actually a nice city. Lots of park space, and crews of people constantly cleaning and sweeping leaves, even into the evening. 

Beautiful sunny day, with a forecast high of 19C (66F). But with the sunshine, and no wind, it actually felt warmer than that.

October Expenses - Yikes!

We know that when we do a trip to an oddball country, it's always an expensive endeavor. But this most recent oddball trip, to Turkmenistan also involved the cost of getting there from Eastern Canada. 

And, although we use the $CAD for our expenses, most of the trip was priced out in $USD. And the $USD has been on a tear since July and now sits at over a three year high vs the $CAD. Not only due to $USD strength, but also $CAD weakness.

Bought some more flight tickets!

And finally, I am all caught up on the blog posts. Not having internet access while in Turkmenistan for five days meant that I was playing catch up since we got back online!

So the post you are reading now actually details what we did yesterday. And one of the things we did yesterday was some more onward travel planning.

One last walk around Bukhara, and then the train to Samarkand

It was quite hot on Monday with a high of 29C (84F). So although we didn't do too much, we decided to walk into the more modern section of town outside the tourist area. There's not really a lot to see. I think on an overall basis, we enjoyed Khiva more than Bukhara. 

Our train was departing at 4:06pm, and the train station is quite far from the central area, so we had to be back at the guest house by 2:00pm.

Second ferris wheel ride this month!

After a late breakfast on Sunday, we walked over to a big park where Ruth was looking for an old mausoleum that she had read about. Along the way, we came across an amusement park with a ferris wheel.

We always like a ride in a ferris wheel, especially when the price is reasonable! 

Surprised by the number of tourists here

Uzbekistan is having a bit of a heat wave for the next couple of days. Highs around 29C (84F) with hazy skies. Not really that humid, but it's definitely hot if you're in the sun. Supposed to be back to normal highs of 19C (66F) by Tuesday.

We set off to explore the city of Bukhara.

Long ride through the desert to Bukhara

We haven't done much in the way of planning for this "stan" countries trip. We had no idea until the last minute that we would be crossing the Turkmenistan border at Dashoguz, so our recent stay in Khiva was also last minute.

But it turned out great, and we met a wonderful local family. And if we had crossed a border further east, we would have skipped Khiva entirely because it's so remote and it would have involved backtracking. 

Last day in Khiva, Uzbekistan

On Thursday, our last day in Khiva, we returned to the old city to see some of the things we hadn't seen the day before. There's a reason that your entrance pass is good for two days... there is a lot to see.

Once again, a decent enough day with some sunshine and a little cooler high of 19C (66F).

The old city of Itchan Kala, Uzbekistan

On Wednesday, we set off to explore the old walled city of Itchan Kala. There are more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, most built in the 1700's, although the original Juma Mosque with its 112 wooden columns is one of the oldest structures.

A little cloudy and overcast, but still with a pleasant high of about 20C (68F).

First day in Uzbekistan

It's Tuesday, and we are in the small city of Khiva, population about 90,000. The attraction here is Itchan Kala, the inner walled old city that has been in existence for about 1,500 years.

Itchan Kala was the first Uzbekistan attraction protected on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Welcome to Uzbekistan, country #62 - crazy border crossing!

Most of the group departed Ashgabat in the wee hours of the morning at like 3:00am for their flight back to Istanbul. From there, they were headed to a variety of destinations, with some simply going back home to work, while others were continuing travel.

Ruth and I were the only ones planning on crossing the Turkmenistan land border, and we made arrangements with Johnny's tour operator here, Ahmet, to get us to the border.

Ashgabat at night... like Las Vegas, but without tourists!

One of the guys hired our bus to take us around to some of the other sights that weren't officially included in our tour. We had about three hours to waste, and let me tell you, it's not that difficult to waste three hours in Ashgabat.

In fact, Ruth and I could easily have spent three more days in Ashgabat alone. So much to see and do!

Flight back to Ashgabat, and the Akhal-Teke horses

Had a good sleep in Turkmenbashi, and then a short drive to Turkmenbashi Airport (KRW) where we hopped on a one hour domestic flight from KRW to Ashgabat (ASB).

On the way to the airport, we drove by a huge oil refinery. The refinery reports that its products are exported to Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Japan. 

The most beautiful place you've never heard of

One of the things that attracted us to Turkmenistan is the Yangykala Canyon. It is so little known, that even most people in Turkmenistan do not know of its existence.

Totally beautiful. And totally remote. We had to take an overnight train to the city of Turkmenbashi on the coast of the Caspian Sea, and then drive three hours inland through the desert!

Busy travel day - Turkmenistan night train!

We woke up at our group campsite near the fiery crater at about 7:00am Friday morning. Not the best sleep because some of the drivers were up late (probably drinking vodka) and they weren't very quiet about it. Oh well. It seems I must be a light sleeper because Ruth slept right through it, and only a couple of other people mentioned it. 

Lots of time to nap in the vehicle on the long ride back to Ashgabat.

The Gates of Hell

After our city tour on Thursday morning, we got on the highway heading north from Ashgabat. There are twenty of us in the group, so we had six 4WD SUV style vehicles taking us out into the desert.

While the roads in the city are well maintained, many of the main highways outside the city are not. If the locals need to go to another city in Turkmenistan, they will usually fly or take the train. But we were headed to a destination not served by rail or flight... The Gates of Hell.

Ashgabat city tour...amazing!

A lot going on, and not nearly enough time or internet access available to tell you all about it. But I am going to squeeze in a quick blog post about the Ashgabat city tour we did on Thursday morning. 

The rest of the group arrived overnight and so we saw them all as they made their way to breakfast that was served in the hotel between 8:00am and 10:00am. We had a departure time of 10:30am set so that they could at least squeeze in a couple of hours sleep because most of them arrived from Istanbul on a flight that landed here at 3:30am.

Welcome to Turkmenistan, country #61

We had to get up at 4:15am in order to walk to the airport bus stop for its 5:00am departure. We had said goodbye to Cheryl the night before so we didn't have to wake her. We packed our bags and headed out the door.

A twenty minute walk in the rain got us to the bus stop where the bus was already loading. We paid our 149 lira ($7.25 CAD, $5.34) and with very little traffic at that hour we made it to Istanbul Airport (IST) in an hour and ten minutes. Much better than the two and a half hours it took when we arrived!

Busy day touring Istanbul

We had made arrangements to meet up with Lauren, one of the girls who we will be touring Turkmenistan with. She was staying on the opposite side of the Bosphorus Straight, so Ruth and I hopped on the ferry at about 9:30am to do the 20 minute ride to the other side.

Much better weather today, with a high around 19C (66F).

Arrived in Istanbul!

It was chilly when we stepped outside our accommodation near Paris airport. Only 4C (39F)! Good thing we didn't have to wait long for our bus to the terminal.

Made our way through the terminals to our departure gate without much of a problem. Our Air France flight from Paris to Istanbul was supposed to depart at 11:20am.

Exploring Nature's Playground: Hiking and Fishing in Perfect Harmony

 Nature's playground offers a perfect harmony of hiking and fishing, allowing you to immerse yourself in the beauty of the great outdoors. Hiking trails take you on a journey through breathtaking landscapes, where you can witness the wonders of nature up close. But the adventure doesn't end with hiking alone. Fishing adds an extra layer of excitement and tranquility to our outdoor experience.

In this perfect harmony of hiking and fishing, you explore nature's wonders and embrace the serenity and peace it offers. It is a chance to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and reconnect with the simplicity and beauty of the natural world. 

Heading back to the airport!

Made our way to our Airbnb located near Paris airport. Had to buy tickets for the local bus at a cost of €2.10 ($3 CAD, $2.20 USD) each, and of course bought 4 tickets because we also need the return journey this morning. We could have walked it, but there is one section with too much traffic and it's not pedestrian friendly.

Less than a ten minute bus ride and we were getting off in the village of Roissy en France. This is the same village we stayed at in the hotel back at the end of August, so we already knew our way around.

Arrived in Paris!

A little tired, but we are here! It's almost 2:00pm here and it's a bright sunny day. Not sure what the temperature is, but it looks very nice outside. We're still at the airport as I write this because we can't get into our Airbnb for another hour, and it's only a short bus ride away.

Everything went smoothly.

And... we're off!

Writing this from Halifax Airport where we've got an all afternoon wait for our WestJet flight to Toronto.

There are only two overseas flights that go from Halifax, one goes to London, and the other one goes to Frankfurt. Everything else is stuck routing through either Montreal or Toronto. So in our case, we are flying Halifax to Toronto, then Toronto to Paris CDG.

This area is nice in the fall

Lindsey had the day off Thursday, so the three of us took Chester the dog for a walk to Little River Falls. Bit of a cloudy day, and we even had some showers during our hike but nothing too wet. Temperature has cooled off to a high of about 14C (58F).

But first, we made a stop at Luckett's Winery...