Category: Central Asia

To be honest, I always imagined Tashkent to be a hostile concrete hell. After all, according to the weather statistics, it is the hottest place on our entire trip. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. The city is much more pleasant than expected, even at temperatures above 40 degrees. There are many parks with…

When you’re travelling fast like I am on my way to Samqrqand, you spend a lot of time at borders. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Today it will be more. I’m travelling from my overnight camp near Shymkent to the Uzbek border, expecting a easy crossing from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan — two countries that don’t have…

Coming from Russia, the Kazakh border has a relaxed, Central Asian vibe. In the queue in front of me I spot number plates from pretty much every stan. When it’s my turn, I’m first led into a back room. The officer sitting there is obviously not in the mood for an interrogation and waves me…

After a short day in Belarus, I approach the Russian border at the Minsk-Moscow motorway. This is not really a border crossing, as Russia and Belarus form a state union. Citizens of both countries can travel back and forth across the border relatively unhindered. Only foreigners are waved onto the shoulder. A quick look into…

Anyone following me on Instagram has already seen the cat jump out of the bag: Our great journey in stages begins in Central Asia. For adventurers from Central Europe travelling with a vehicle, the Stans are the perfect choice: Accessible without ferry crossings or overly complex customs bureaucracy, yet a completely different world in terms…