From the Mediterranean to the Pacific

About this blog

So far on this trip, I've traveled overland (and sea) from Turkey to South Korea, and then headed back through China to Southeast Asia. I don't really know when or where this journey will end! Since I prefer to travel without a camera (sorry), this blog contains no pictures -- but I do sometimes add links to other people's pictures when I find good ones. Here's a summary of my trip so far:

I started in Antalya, Turkey, and then traveled to Ankara via Konya. From there, I headed southeast to the Kurdish region of Turkey: Diyarbakir, Mardin, Midyat, Hasankeyf, Van, Dogubayazit. After visiting Kars and the ancient Armenian capital of Ani, I passed briefly through Georgia (stopping in Tbilisi and Telavi) before moving onward to Azerbaijan.

I rushed to see as much as possible in Azerbaijan, since it's so much trouble to get a visa that I probably won't go there again. I saw Zaqatala and Car, Sheki and Kish, Quba, Xinaliq, and Lenkoran -- also traveling via Lerik to Kalaxan and back -- before heading to Baku, where I caught a boat across the Caspian to Turkmenistan.

The boat to Turkmenbashi arrived three days late, so I had just 41 hours to cross Turkmenistan before my five-day transit visa would expire. I hired a car to drive me to Ashgabat overnight, did a little sightseeing there, and then headed onward to Mary (where I made a quick visit to the ruins of Merv) before rushing to the Uzbeki border -- which I crossed just before it closed for the day.

I headed straight to Bukhara, where I spent four enjoyable days. I'd intended to enter Uzbekistan far to the west of where I was -- visiting Nukus, Khiva, and some abandoned desert cities before heading to Bukhara -- but didn't feel like detouring back to see them now. Instead, I went to spectacular Samarkand, after which I moved on to Tashkent to get visas.

I thought I'd gotten all necessary visas before my trip, but the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan had since closed (due to some senseless violence in southern Kyrgyzstan). I considered traveling through Kazakhstan to China, but it seemed unnecessarily difficult to get a Kazakh visa in Tashkent. The other possible route went through Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan, and since the Tajiks seemed quite eager to give visas to foreign tourists, I decided to visit the more welcoming country.

After passing through Khojand and Istaravshan on the way to the capital Dushanbe, I started down the long road through the Pamir Mountains to Kyrgyzstan. The trip to Khorog took almost 24 hours, but went pretty smoothly, and I traveled onward to Murgab without any trouble. I was stuck in Murgab for three days, though, before finally getting a ride to Karakul. I was stranded again for three days, but I didn't mind so much because the lake was so pretty and I stayed with such a nice family there. On the third day, I finally found a vehicle headed toward Kyrgyzstan, but after a dispute with the driver, I left in disgust and just started walking toward the border. I walked all night, marveling at the high-altitude nighttime sky, and finally caught a ride at 6 AM the next morning to Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan.

The next morning, I hitched a ride with a Chinese trucker, and finally reached China! After spending a relaxing four days in Kashgar, I traveled along the Silk Road via Yarkand and Karghilik to Hotan. After crossing the Taklamakan Desert to Kuqa (which was on a northern branch of the Silk Road), I made a quick visit to Urumqi. From there, I continued along the Silk Road to Turpan, Dunhuang, and Jiayuguan (where I visited the western-most fortress on the Great Wall).

From Zhangye, I took a daytrip to my first Tibetan Buddhist monastery (Mati Si). I then headed south to visit some others (in areas which are still culturally Tibetan in many ways, but outside Tibet Province -- and which therefore require no official tour guides or special permits). I saw two of the six great Gelugpa monasteries -- Kumbum (near Xining) and Labrang (in Xiahe) -- and then went to Langmusi, a little village which hosts two more Tibetan monasteries.

I then visited Jiuzhaigou (an overcrowded yet spectacularly beautiful national park), before heading further south to Chengdu. After spending two and a half weeks in Chengdu -- taking Chinese lessons, sightseeing, eating lots of delicious Sichuan food, and enjoying the general ambience -- I headed via Langzhong to Xi'an, where I saw the famous terracotta warriors. I then traveled via Pingyao, Taiyuan, and Datong to Beijing, where I stayed two and a half weeks (taking more Chinese lessons and doing lots of sightseeing).

I took an overnight train up to Dandong -- just across the Yalu River from North Korea -- before traveling via ferry to Incheon, South Korea. After heading south to see Andong and Hahoe, the ancient Silla capital of Gyeongju, Daegu and Haeinsa, I went back to Seoul, where I stayed for a week. I'd really only gone to Korea because I'd been in China almost 90 days and needed to leave the country for a little while (and also because I didn't want to be in China during Golden Week) -- but I enjoyed my visit to South Korea much more than I'd expected.

After returning to China on a ferry to Qingdao, I visited Tai Shan and Qufu (Confucius' hometown), Kaifeng, and the Longmen Caves. I then headed south via Wudang Shan and Chongqing back to Chengdu, where I relaxed for a while before going to Kunming to get a Vietnamese visa.

My first stop in Vietnam was Sapa, in the mountainous region near the Chinese border where many hill tribes still try to maintain their traditional cultures. I then spent a few days in Hanoi, before heading onward to Halong Bay and Ninh Binh. Next, I traveled south to the middle part of the country -- visiting Hue, Danang, and Hoi An -- and then continued southward to Saigon.

I'm planning to visit the Mekong Delta next, before heading back north through Cambodia and Laos to Thailand! Check back later for more blog entries...