Pictures

Ljubljana

Belgrade, Serbia

Turkish Baths, Budapest

Krakau, Poland

Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland

Croatia/Slovenia

December 7th - 

We woke up in the morning and went straight to the Tesla museum, as we didn’t make it the day before and it seemed the most interesting thing to do in Belgrade.  Tesla was considered Serbian, even though he did all of his best thinking in Colorado Springs.  When we got to the museum we were disappointed to find that the museum was being rennovated, and that only one exhibit was open.  The only consolation was that we finally met one attractive Serbian girl.

We then boarded the train to Zagreb, Croatia.  The train ride was fine, and we were met at the station by Hrvoje, a nephew of an acquaintence of my dad from work.  He was awesome and brought us straight to his uncle’s apartment.  We drank some beers and ate a little before crashing on the best bed our bodies have come in contact with in the last two years.  

December 8th - 

We woke up relaxed after a good night’s sleep.  We went out into the city determined to see all that we could.  We started in the center and proceeded to go into every church and site that we could.  Being that it was monday, we didn’t have to worry about the museums, which made our task a little easier.  After procuring train tickets to Slovenia, we went back and walked around one of the biggest parks in Eastern Europe, which took us about and hour to walk around.

We cooked dinner that night, did laundry, and hung out with Hrvoje for a couple hours and had another fabulous sleep.

December 9th - 

After dropping our stuff we walked through Ljubljana, which is a delightful European city that is surrounded by mountains with a river cutting through.  The river surrounds a hill on top of which stands a castle.  We went to the top of this castle and imagined what it would have been like to rule Slovenia.  We decided that it would have been good, but Devin disagreed.

We continued to visit churches and walk along the river.  The town is really done up for Christmas with big trees standing everywhere and a bunch of different markets.  Unfortunately, Ljubljana is really expensive for what it’s offerring.  It is due to completely switch to the Euro at the end of the year, and prices have shot up since that announcement.  

Poland/Hungary/Serbia

November 29th - 

We had the morning to ourselves and prepared for Thanksgiving dinner at Devin’s buddy Tim’s house.  Tim put out appetizers, salads, and of course, turkey.  We ate to our hearts content and laughed a bunch as TIm’s two-year-old son ran roughshod over him, his wife, and their “rules” for the house.  David speaks a hybrid Russian-English and is the cutest little kid when he is disobeying his parents.

After diner we were given a bag of M&Ms and we made our way for the bus and for Poland.  The rest of the night passed uneventfully as we rolled through the night.

November 30th - 

We then made our way to the old part of Warsaw.  It was blown to bits by the Nazis and the Russians, but after the war almost the entire area was rebuilt by the Polish according to the original plans.  The main square is indeed nice, and that part of town is really well done.  It still feels new, which isn’t really a complaint.  It just feels like something that a retirement community in Florida would try to build, admittedly much less successfully.  

December 1st - 

We caught the morning bus to Krakow, which everyone tells us is the best city in Poland.  I would say something about the Polish countryside except I slept for most of the ride.  When we arrived it was almost dark, 3:30.  The sunlight is our biggest enemy on this trip, and it’s becoming more scarce.  By the time we got out into the main part of the city it was already dark, but it was possible to see why everyone who comes to Krakau seems to like it.  There are a couple of really beautiful churches with great ceilings.  It is here that we have had our first Christmas Market, and the booths here with food have huge Polish sausages, something that we felt was lacking in Warsaw.

At night we saw a performance of Vivaldi’s four seasons, a piece that neither of us was real familiar with.  It was played by a sextet in one of the churches off the square, and even though the church was freezing, it was still an enjoyable performance.  

December 2nd - 

We got up early this morning and got on the train to Aushwitz-Birkinau.  Once we got there we wandered around town until we found a sign to point us in the right direction.  Once we got to the camp we were able to watch a video and then set out around the exhibits.  Auschwitz is actually a series of 4 camps that were strung together because the first camp proved much too small for its purposes.  We visited the first two, the second of which, Birkinau, was the biggest and killed almost 1.5 million.

December 3rd - 

We finally saw Krakau in the daylight, and it’s about what we expected.  We went over to the castle and walked around the archaeological museum a little bit.  Both were good, but we were ready to move on to our next destination.  I had a final sausage at the Christmas market before we left on a bus to Budapest.

When we got to Budapest at 10:30 the real adventure started.  Noah said that the hostel was about a 4km walk from the bus station, and that was assuming we knew which way we were going.  Because we are cheap, we decided not to take a cab into the city, and we proceeded to walk in the Hungarian night for 2 hours before we finally happened upon our quarters.

December 4th - 

After sleeping off the last night’s walking, we awoke to a gray day in Budapest.  We were nevertheless determined to see as much as we could of the city, and proceeded to walk around for the next 6 hours without rest.  We saw much of the Danube, and visited a lot of the Buda side, where the castle and old churches from the 11th-13th centuries were built.

After dinner we walked up to the baths, built by the Turks during the Ottoman rule of the city (1541 - 1686).  This turned out to be the treat of Budapest so far.  The baths are actually outside, and the steam rising off them from the reaction with the cold air made for a really nice evening.  We stayed in the huge hot tub for nearly two hours, and finished our night with a beer.  We will have another full day in Budapest tomorrow before catching a night train to Serbia.

December 5th - 

We went to the citadel, the top point of which looks out over the entire city, and it was at this point that the weather cleared enough for us to get some good photos of the city.  We also saw our share of churches and parks.  As we were searching for lunch, we happened upon a Chinese restaurant serving real American Chinese food.  What luck!  The both of us ate our fill and then we continued on to the train station just to make sure our train was coming, and finally to the opera to secure our tickets to the evening’s performance of Madame Butterfly.

At the opera house we were immediately escorted to the side entrance, which was just as well because we also did not want to be seen.  Our seats ended up being obstructed, which didn’t matter as much because we couldn’t understand the opera or the translation on the screen.  The music was great as far as our ears were concerned, and we got to see enough of the stage to know that the Madame kills herself at the end, which is the most important part.

After the opera we booked it back to the hotel and on to the train station for our connection to Belgrade, which we made without sweat.

December 6th - 

Belgrade means “White City”, although it’s unclear why it’s called so.  There might have been something white about it before the bombings of WWI, WWII, and 1999.  There’s little destruction lying about, but it is clear from some of the hasty construction that much is being rebuilt quickly.  The old castle guarding the intersection of the Danube and Sava rivers is nice to walk around, and there are some excellent Orthodox churches around the city.  There were special services held today also as the Russian Patriarch died yesterday.

Romania/Ukraine

The friendship rainbow, Kiev

Dracula's Castle, Romania

The Lavra, Kiev

Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia

November 22nd - 

We finally made it to the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, an early 20th century church comissioned by the Bulgarians in honor of the Russian saint.  We thought that we visited the church two different times yesterday, but both churches turned out to be non-Nevsky.  The church itself is huge, based on the designs of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, and we were lucky enough to watch an orthodox baptism.  We then made our way back to our hostel to dry off and get ready for our night train to Bucharest.

November 23rd - 

We arrived in Bucharest this morning and found our hostel by taking the bus in both directions and then only a couple of wrong turns.  We weren’t able to get into our rooms until 12, so we decided to go walk around the city for a while.  

Bucharest is plain.  Most of the buildings are cement and even the palace of the people, the second biggest building in the world behind the pentagon, looks bulky and out of place.  Ironically, the palace isn’t actually open to the people, and the grounds behind the building look like any old abandoned lot.  The one redeeming quality of the city is its old quarter.  It contains architecture reminiscent of most of old Europe and has more soul than the rest of the city.

After our walking tour, we went back and crashed for the afternoon.  I was tired and sick from wearing wet socks the day before, and possibly being out too long in the wind.  I spent most of the day in bed, while Noah and Devin took turns walking around and using the internet.  Tomorrow we will leave for Brasov, the heartland of Transylvania, which promises to be more interesting.

November 24th - 

We got out of Bucharest around 1 today and boarded a train up to Brasov.  The train ride was uneventful except for a bunch of Americans who were being unreasonably loud and jubilant.  We truly are the most voluable people in the world.  I can’t stand us.

We got to our hostel and went out for a walk around the city.  The old part of town is full of beautiful squares and buildings that date back to the 14th and 15th centuries.  With the snow on the ground the effect of the whole town is enhanced.  

November 25th - 

This morning we went to Bran castle, the fairytale home of Dracula.  The “real” dracula, Vlad Tepes, didn’t actually visit here, but the castle is famous for being the favorite retreat for some of the inbred royals of the Hapsburg dynasty.  We then continued to another castle/fortress built upon the hill overlooking Bran, which was much more impressive and fun to run around.

The fortress was used to protect the entire town from invasion, and offers spectacular vies of the mountains and the little town below.  It also has all sorts of fun ladders and passages that would make it an ideal place for a paintball game.  As it was, we did manage to have a snowball fight, which came out lopsided in favor of me.  Devin is ok, but lacks armstrength.  Noah needs to turn his shoulder more, his aim is awful.

November 26th - 

We finally got on our train at 4 am, and met our connection at 7:30 to Ukraine.  The passport checks have been painless and the places we have are comfortable.  Devin refuses to share his fake fanta.  The only dissapointement was that the Batman movie we were planning on watching turned out to be in French.  This cancels out the experience at Carrefour the night before in my opinion.  We will be in Kiev tomorrow morning, which will also be Thanksgiving.

November 27th - 

Kiev is more hilly than I was prepared for.  There are tons of churches, including the Lavra, the heart of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Noah and I spent the entire day in and out of different churches.  They all kind of blend together since Georgia, when we saw our first concentration of Orthodox churches.  Kiev does have a fantastic main artery and a park that runs the length of the Dnipro river, even if it does begin with the “Frienship Arch,” a mammoth steel rainbow.

For Thanksgiving we decided to make a decent meal for ourselves.  Tim invited us over for Saturday lunch with a bunch of other volunteers, so that will act as our real T-day, but we bought a chicken, rice, carrots and some apples anyway, and acquitted ourselves nicely. 

November 28th - 

We spent the day at the Chernobyl museum, which had a lot of interesting personal letters and documents, but wouldn’t be that interesting if you didn’t speak Russian.  It is weak on displays of what actually went wrong, and some of the displays are hard to see.  After that we went to the Lavra, a system of churches dug into the bank of the Dnipro and set with huge golden domes.  We went down through the “caves” where many of the saints of the Orthodox faith are buried.  To get into the cool parts, where only prayer passes are allowed, we had to take up the Orthodox way of crossing, which involves going up, down, right, left, as opposed to left right, as is the proper Lutheran way.

Noah and I then went to the circus, which was the best decision we’ve made this trip.  There were all kinds of animals, including lions, tigers, bears doing people things, salukis, porcupines, small rats, big rats, hogs and camels.  The clowns were hilarious and there were some cool tumbling acts involving innertubes, which was awesome.

Georgia - Bulgaria

A square in Sofia, Bulgaria

Istanbul, Turkey

Jason's golden fleece, Batumi, Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgia

Cappadocia, Turkey

November 14th - 

We went for a six hour walk around the new part of town, including the brand new church built overlooking the city.  It is supposed to be the largest in the region, and if size was all that the Georgians were going for then they surely succeeded.  For a modern structure it is plain, and on the inside the roofs stands bare, in stark contrast to the painted and beautiful roofs that adorn many of the churches in Tbilisi.

The highlight of the day was dinner.  Noah and I felt adventurous, and without inquiring as to what we were ordering, picked two random dishes off the menu.  Devin had salad.  Both our orders managed to be disgusting, although Noah’s took the cake for being served cold.  Both dishes were composed of pig fat and random pig parts.  The only redeeming part of my meal was that it was served in broth, which I managed to soak up with enough bread and garlic to be semi-satisfied with my order.

November 15th - 

We arrived in Batumi in the morning, and hopped onto a city bus.  Our intention was to ride into the city and check out the bus station for rides to Ankara or Istanbul, but we stayed on the bus way past the city and all the way to the border crossing with Turkey.  Since this came as a surprise, we were faced with the decision of what to do next.  Should we A: go back to town and get to the bus station like we originally planned or B: just cross the border and see where we could get to from there.  For a dilemma as complicated as this, we used the best decision making tool for a two-sided problem, a Georgian coin.

The coin landed on back to the bus station, and our fate was sealed.  We spent the entire day in Batumi, a seaport town on the Black Sea, which happened to have wireless internet on the boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day and we spent most of it on the beach, and the other couple of percents looking at the statue to Jason and the Argonauts, who are rumored to have landed at Batumi in search of the golden fleece.

November 16th -

We made it to Istanbul this morning.  Our first task was to find our hostel, which we did with no help from our cabbie.  After walking for 30 minutes to realize we had no idea where we were, we humbled ourselves into a cab and rode for about 15 minutes across town, at which point he showed us a direction and said good luck.  With our bags in tow, we walked up and down the main shopping street of Istanbul looking classy.  Devin said that I smelled, but who knows.

November 17th - 

Istanbul is the first place on our travels where we have been joined by tour groups and is an actual destination for people.  The other countries on our list don’t make anyone’s top 5 of anything, which is also why Georgia has to eat Russian borscht for the next 50 years.  The tourist factor makes everything we do feel superficial, as if anybody could do it.  This was the case in the other countries as well, and is a common complaint of serious climbers who don’t have the money to do Everest, but for three guys who spent 36 hours on a piece of tin crossing the Caspian, it’s an ego blow.

The other problem with Istanbul was that I remember it being a lot cheaper with my dad’s credit card.  We have finally hit Western prices, and it’s affecting our tours, whereas it used to only affect our diet.  Every site here charges a minimum of 10, but usually 20 Lira ($12) for entrance.  We aren’t usually paying that much to lay our heads down, let alone see stuff.  We’ll make an adjustment, but the palace and some museums that I enjoyed on my last trip here I won’t be frequenting again.

November 18th - 

We spent the entire day on the train and we smell awful.  More to the point, I smell awful.  We were in a cabin with the three of us and a father and son.  They boarded in the middle of the night after some of the smell had dissipated, but the morning brought on new monsters, and after a mid afternoon removal of the shoes, the father was forced to flee to the top bunk after a spout of coughing from hot being able to breathe correctly.  Oh well.

We got ourselves in to Goerme, Cappadocia is a region, at 7 pm, a full 12 hours later than a bus would have gotten us there, but we each saved 5 Lira, so you be the judge.  We found our hotel and made a fruitless search for food that produced bread, butter and Dortios ®. and prepared for a big day of hiking.

November 19th - 

We spent the entire day in Cappadocia today.  We started with a morning walk to a castle built into the surrounding caves.  We didn’t follow the road, but rather the straight line path, which ended up being a two-hour out of the way path.  But it was beautiful and we were dirty to start with.  We made it to the castle and Devin and Noah rewarded themselves with their first Turkish coffees of the trip, though certainly not the last.

Since we were to be taking a bus back to Istanbul at 8, we spent the rest of the day trying to see as much of the region as possible by foot.  This was frustrating only because of the massive tour buses carrying loads of Koreans by us every 5 minutes.  Are there any Koreans left in Korea?  We saw some churches that date from the 10th century and climbed around some abandoned cave houses.  It was raining in the afternoon, so we were nice and soaked when we boarded the overnight bus back to the big city.

November 20th - 

We arrived way too early to do anything in Istanbul.  Add to that the hurt from certain bus positions, and it was a perfect set up for a bad day.  Fortunately, we found a McDonald’s.  We sat for one cup of coffee, went to the bathroom and brushed our teeth, and exited ready to visit other “holy” structures that would probably take more of our money and leave us less satisfied.

The main tasks on our list were to visit the Hagia Sofia and buy socks, in no particular order.  We also had a dinner planned with a friend of mine from college, if we were able to get in touch with him.  The Hagia Sofia, a sixth century church/mosque/museum erected by Justinian, is probably one of the most beautiful and most important structures standing that is able to connect the Western world to its counterpart.  We went there first so that we could spend the rest of the day on the lookout for socks.

We met my friend Omar at 8, and he delivered a great dinner, just as he did the last time my family and I were in Istanbul.  We sat with one of his friends and ate multiple types of doner and fresh vegetables, and then washed it all down with Turkish liquor and had some great desert and Turkish coffee to finish it all off.  With this dinner and the one at Katie’s in Azerbaijan, we have been treated to two really fantastic meals that have made up for the lack of culinary satisfaction that has otherwise defined our travels.

November 21st - 

Once we had cleaned ourselves (first time in over a week) and emailed, we began our walk around Sofia.  The previous night at dinner we had heard some terrible things, but those were really unfounded, as Sofia is a really classic European town with just a dash of Soviet to remind you what could have been.  The churches, though dating sometimes to the 15th century, are mostly refurbishments of their originals, many of which were destroyed during WWI.  The big surprises of the day were the cheap pizza and the appearance of falafel, a dish which Devin was positive would be found in Turkey, but had to wait one more country.

Azerbaijan/Georgia/Armenia

Genocide Memorial, Yerevan

Sheki, Azerbaijan

Pomegranate Festival, Azerbaijan

Baku Harbor, Azerbaijan

War Memorail, Azerbaijan

November 6th -

We made it to the center of Baku around ten, and proceeded to walk for the next six hours.  We walked through the center, which is dedicated with statues of the former, first and late president of Azerbaijan, Heyder Aliyev.  Baku has a main walking area similar to Istanbul, but not as old or historic.  It has a McDonald’s.  We continued to walk through the old city, a walled fortress that was the foundation of the port.  Walking up the hill, we found a memorial for the war with Armenia, which took place after the fall of the Soviet Union.  There is a massive eternal flame that overlooks the entire city, and the grave is co-sponsored by the Turkish government.  Walking down the aisles of graves is a bit eerie, since everyone in the cemetery died in 1992.

November 7th -

Today is the Pomegranate festival in Gorchay.  Why there even is a pomegranate festival passes understanding, but the juice is good and they’re giving it out for free, so God bless the pomegranate.  A bunch of Europeans and other volunteers showed up around ten, and we proceeded down to the party on the streets.

The festival was ridiculous.  A bunch of government officials came through and gave speeches that were difficult to listen to, more so for the people who speak Azeri.  We spent most of our time being followed by schoolboys and I ended up giving autographs to them.  I signed about 15 hands before we had to move on to the next booth.

November 8th -

We woke up in the morning freezing, although our hosts made us big breakfast sandwiches, which made us feel better.  We went to see the sights of Sheki, a town snuggled in the hills and surprisingly flush with culture.  We toured an old castle, bedecked with beautiful stained glass windows, that was used by the Azeri king in the 17th century as a vacation spot and harem.  We then walked around the grounds and some of the shops, getting lunch at a local cafe.  Noah got the cheapest thing on the menu, which also happened to be the best.  How he continues to do this is beyond me.

November 9th -

The meal we enjoyed tonight thanks to our friend Kate was the best thing that has happened to us in Azerbaijan.  We were seated in a small room with only one table and a space heater.  The meal started with appetizers and a jug of homemade Azeri wine that the owner had made himself.  There was a bean pate, pickled cabbage, yoghurt spread, pickles, cheese and fresh bread. 

The second part of the meal was three consecutive meat dishes: a kebab, steaks and leg of lamb.  All were well spiced and came with fresh vegetables and herbs.  During the course of the meal we drank three of the jugs of wine, which helped us to forget about all the bread and butter that were our staples over the past two weeks of the trip.  It was truly one of the best meals I’ve had on this side of the planet.

November 10th -

We made our way to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  We were expecting to pay Uzbekistan prices to cross the border into Tbilisi, since we could only take an Azeri marshrutka to the border crossing, but the whole ordeal worked out much smoother than our previous experience.  We paid about 10 bucks for the whole thing, and crossing into Georgia proved to be the easiest crossing to date.

November 11th -

We decided that today would, in fact, be a good day to take a side trip to Armenia.  We found a taxi in the morning to take us all the way to the capital, Yerevan, for a reasonable price of about 20 bucks each.  Our driver had a gimp hand, which made some of the corners interesting, especially when he decided to light a cigarette or use his phone. 

November 12th -

Our second and last day in Yerevan, we decided to hit all of the sites.  We started at 8:30 in the morning with a walking tour that we grabbed out of a guidebook in Azerbaijan.  We saw some of the oldest churches still in existence and made it to a park that overlooks the entire city.

Yerevan is famous for its proximity to Mt. Ararat, the mountain that claims to be the landing spot of Noah’s Ark.  Whether this is true or not, Mt. Ararat frames the city spectacularly, even though it is located within modern Turkish borders.  After completing the walking tour and managing a quick bite for lunch, we headed for the museum of the Armenian genocideThe museum itself is well done, and contains sources from Germany, America, England, Armenia and many memoranda from the Turkish government that was involved in carrying out the slaughter.  It stood in stark contrast to the story given by our Turkish tour guide one year ago, and it will be interesting to read more on the subject.  The pictures alone seem to make the case.

November 13th -

We went through the entirety of Old Tbilisi today.  It is the most beautiful city in the region, with ancient castles, houses, churches and a river that cut out one bank so that half of the city sits one story above the other half.  The churches are the real prize, and we got to witness an orthodox service today, which was interesting not only for the liturgy, but also for the movement of people in and out of the church during the service. 

Tbilisi is named after the hot springs, and the name comes from the Georgian word for warm.  We went to one of the public baths, and were immediately impressed with the warm hot tub and sauna.  It was so good and relaxing that each one of us decided to go in for the massage, which was really more of a thorough rub down than actual massaging.  Either way, it was fantastic and sorely needed, as we all smelled really bad.  After getting a foreigner discount and putting on the same smelly clothes, save for the socks that I mercifully threw away, we left fresh to meet the cool evening.  We got some beers and drank them while we walked the river back towards our hotel, to get some much deserved rest.

Aktau/Baku Ferry

October 31st –

We took a marshrutka out to a cemetery in the middle of nowhere, and immediately balked at the 2800 som entry fee. We decided to walk a little, reasoning that we’d seen a couple cemeteries already, and how cool could this one really be? It was a beautiful day, and after walking for 10 minutes we found a back entrance to the cemetery and decided to use it.
Only Noah, being the good Lutheran that he is, refused to enter the cemetery from the back on account of he might get caught and have to pay. Devin and I snuck through various mausoleums very stealthily, and made our way around the complex without being noticed. On our way out we tried to convince Noah that it was the most beautiful cemetery we had ever seen, and that he absolutely must go see it, but he wasn’t biting. We sat for another two hours on the outskirts of the cemetery reading New Yorkers.

Bukhara

November 1st –

This could also be known as train day #1, as we boarded our first connection at 1, arriving at 3 am in Novoiy, a big hub for Uzbek trains. The only event of the ride was the drunk man who I came back to find occupying my seat and, more disturbingly, drinking my water. I picked a new seat, and we got to Novoiy in plenty of time for our 7 am connection back to Kazakhstan.

Aktau

November 2nd –

This is train day #2. We arrived I at 10:30 am in Beneiu, a crossroads between Atyrau and Aktau, the latter being our goal. Aktau is a port town on the Caspian Sea, where we plan to catch a ferry to Baku, Azerbaijan, as soon as humanly possible. We found a train from Beneiu to Aktau at 1, arriving at 11 in a town on the outskirts of Aktau. The ride was uneventful as we read and slept away the afternoon.

Aktau

November 3rd –

After waking up from our best sleep in days, we made our way to Aktau this morning and got our first look at the Caspian Sea. It is truly amazing that we are still in Kazakhstan and seeing such a different landscape. The whole ride in was dried seabed, as far as the eye could see in any direction, the result of the splitting of the Aral and Caspian many millennia ago.
Aktau is not as bad as I originally thought. The buildings are undeniably Soviet, but there is a nice place to walk along the shore, with a sufficient amount of Mr. Ponchik (donut) outlets to satisfy even the American soul. We had our last Kazakh beer along the shore, and tasted the Caspian (not as salty as one would imagine). I called my host mom one last time before I left the country, and before we went to bed we double checked with the port about the boat, which they said wouldn’t arrive until 7.

November 4th –

It’s election day and we’re crossing the Caspian Sea. We heard on the news last night that Obama has an 8 to 10 point lead in nationwide polls. The results should be in by the time we reach Baku, 18 hours from whenever the boat leaves port. When we woke up at 6:30 to call the port, they said that the boat arrived early, and that we should hurry down to get on. We packed up our bags, including the kitchen, where we had baked potatoes and boiled eggs for the trip, and high-tailed it out of there, catching a ride with a nice guy in a Lada right outside of our building.
We got to the port around 7:15, and met the border guard, who checked our bags and waved us through. The passport check was just as easy, as the main guard had been taught by a Peace Corps volunteer named Andy in Taldy Korgan. He stamped our pass-ports for the last time, and after about a half hour of watching “Кадестьво”, we boarded the boat.

November 5th –

The border guard in Azerbaijan congratulated us on Obama’s victory. This was nice, but it would have been more enjoyable had we not been sitting in the harbor for 8 hours waiting for other boats to unload their cargo. We spent the time watching scientific videos that were a last resort, and not eating, as we did not account for ridiculousness in our dietary budget.
Baku seems to be a nice city. We saw enough of it from a distance in the harbor to get a feel, and driving through at night it was clear that Caspian wealth has had a much bigger effect here than in Kazakhstan. Cars, buildings, and infrastructure is in better condition and the city as a whole seems to bear fewer of the scars of central planning. We’ll hold out complete judgment until tomorrow.

Uzbekistan

October 25th – After arriving in Shimkent at 5:30, we immediately found a marshrutka to Tashkent. Unbeknownst to us, but apparently to the driver who remained silent, the 500 tenge ride only took us to the border, and the incorrect one at that. There are many crossings between KZ and UZ, but only some are designated for international crossing. We were told to go to Yamalla, a town 150 km from where we were. This required a taxi, which wasn’t hard to find. Like Mario in the ghost house, potential drivers swooped in on us to offer the “best” price to the border. After some freaking out and some bargaining, we chose to get ripped off by a nice Kazakh man with an Audi. At the border we met with little trouble besides a fleeting moment in which Devin thought that his passport was stolen. In Uzbekistan we dealt with the nicest of swindlers who put us in to his ’73 Soviet relic and raced us to Tashkent, the capital.

Samarkand

October 26th – We were more productive than the day before. We were able to get money, check the price of plane tickets, check the price of bus tickets because the plane was wicked expensive, go to the national history museum, find a cafe to eat and buy some old Soviet propaganda. We also managed to go to the old part of the city, where we fell in to a grand bazaar and were able to get dinner, which included beet salad, apples, and the saltiest pickles and pickled tomatoes that two dollars could buy.

Tashkent

October 27th – This morning we made our way to Samarkand, the capital of Timerlane’s empire. Timerlane was an emperor who ruled from 1370-1405. His empire was derived from the kingdoms of Genghis Khan, and he expanded it from Western China to Turkey. He helped to spread the Muslim religion, and Samarkand is where some of his most famous commissioned buildings stand. The architectural style of the period was copied in many places outside the kingdom, including the Taj Mahal, in India.

Timerlane Historical Museum, Tashkent

October 28th – We woke up early this morning to go up in the minarets of the Registan in Samarkand. We met a guard yesterday who offered to take us up there for 3,000 som, or half the ticket price at the gate. We got there at 7 and were able to walk around all three complexes by ourselves for an hour and a half before we had to leave to allow the “regular” tourists to come and enjoy the sites.

All of our Som

October 29th – Today, being an odd day of the trip, started ominously with me leaving my two files underneath the bed of our hotel in Samarkand. This, of course, after laughing much too loudly at some Office videos that we used to kill time before our train to Bukhara. Because my Economists were in the folders, I asked Devin if I could have his Ulysses book to read on the three-hour train ride. He agreed, but predictably I left the book at my feet while departing, and forgot about it until after dinner. Devin wasn’t as angry as I would have been, as he had two years of footnotes in the margins of the book.

Tashkent's big park

October 30th – I got the Ulysses back, and my files. Even day. We spent the day in Bukhara, one of the main cities on the Silk Road. We saw castles, madrassas, fortresses, mausoleums and mosques. Bukhara has a distinctly different feel from Samarkand. The people working the bazaars are more used to tourists. They speak more English and are friendlier than the people in Samarkand. There was even a guy selling flying carpets who propositioned us in 4 languages (Russian, English, German and French).

Tashkent Metro Station

Market in Tashkent

Boulevard in Tashkent

Leaving Kazakhstan

I will be leaving Kazakhstan on October 24, 2008.  Check in here periodically for updates on my journey home to Chicago.

Sven