Visa, flights, border etc

Is really a lot of checking to do. Checking the transit flights, borders... whether it is opened for overland trip etc. Looks like I will not be able to go Tajikistan.

Will be transiting from Bangkok.

The plan now is to go Bangkok--> Almaty (Kazakhstan)---> Taskhent (Uzbekistan) ---> Almaty ---> Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) --> Almaty --> Bangkok

Tentative plan

My tentative plan is to go in End May so that can see the Silk and Spice festival Bukhara. Have booked my leave tentatively. Instead of a 2 month trip that I have wanted to, it will be a shorter trip around 21-day.

To Urumqi --- Uzbekistan -- Kazakhstan -- (possibly kyrgyzstan) --- Urumqi

Books

Been reading a few books on this region recently. Some interesting reads include

-- Apples are from Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
-- Out of Steppe, The Lost People of Central Asia by Daniel Metacalfe
-- The Last Secrets of the Silk Road, 4 girls follow Marco Polo across 5000 miles by Alexandra Tolstroy
-- Over the Edge by Greg Child
-- Misson Mongolia, 2 man, 1 van, no turning back by David Treanor

Actually not many books seems to be written about this region relative to other regions/countries.

Each book gives me new knowledge and insight about the region. Have a few books in line to read still.

Just 1 lesson

I rushed to the CC again thinking there is a Russian lesson. Alas, it turned out that there was only going to be 1 lesson. No wonder I thought the price was ridiculously cheap for language lesson. Thus I only learnt about 8-10 phrases from the "Russian for Travellers". Guess I will have to go to youtube or some other online resources to learnt it myself.

Russian for travellers

Chanced upon this "Russian for travellers" course when I was checking up a workshop recommended by my friend. Price was also very reasonable ($20 for 6 or 7 sessions). I did a double take when I saw the price initially. Most language courses are a couple of hundreds dollars. Thus I signed up for it. Just went for my first session over the weekend. Instructor is a Russian gal, she has a language school apparently that charges a few hundreds for beginner Russian. I think this course may be like a appetitizer for people to sign up her proper beginner course. Russian is indeed a difficult language. Even a simple hello seems hard to pronunce. My class has an informal setting, the instructor will ask us what we want to learn. The first lesson, we learn how to say Hello, Thank You, Excuse me, etc. Not much of teaching materials, you just write them in your own notebook whatever way you want as she pronunce the words we want to learn. She gives us a lot of opportunity to practice with the person next to you and the pace is relatively slow. I guess that is why the price is so reasonable. It suits me since I pick up languages slowly. Also, I just want to learn the basics for travelling. Just to learn the few phrases to hopefully get by in case I encounter situations where there is no English speakers.

Wind Valla to Central Asia

Decided to chronicle my journey to Central Asia. I have been thinking for years and am shooting for this June. Whether it is possible, I am not sure. Will see. :) Often the very first question people ask me is "Where is Central Asia?".

• Hmmm the countries with the 'stan', Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan (former Soviet Union Republics).


• Some definitions include countries like Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang in China etc.


• Broadly, Central Asia is strongly linked to the Silk Road.

Many people also ask me, "why Central Asia?". Many of time I can feel they are anticipating a very elaborate answer. Some must be disappointed by my answer. But sometimes the simplest reason can be the strongest. "Because it is there and not much is known at the moment of this region. "