Our happy Oasis family split up this week in China when we reached the final stop of our Silk Road journey in Xi’an. Since April, we’ve covered 20,363 km in our beloved Habibi and what an epic adventure. 7 countries through spectacular landscapes with a bunch of fun people = lots of fantastic memories. It…Continue reading China – Xi’an & Chengdu & Xichang & Kunming
Tag: Silk Road
China – Dunhuang & Jiayuguan & Xiakou & Chongqing
From Turpan, we drove to the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Cave complex (5th to 14th century), nestled in a gorge of the Flaming Mountains. The cave grottoes’ best murals were hacked away by German explorer Albert von Le Coq who sent them to Berlin where they were subsequently destroyed during WWII when the city was bombed.…Continue reading China – Dunhuang & Jiayuguan & Xiakou & Chongqing
Kazakhstan – Aksu Zhabagly Nature Reserve
Crossing the border from Uzbekistan into Kazakhstan (Yalama / B. Konysbayeva) was hellishly long because two members of our group (Daniel from Canada and Kevin from Ireland) had neglected to obtain their Kazakhstan visas prior to arrival. Since they had already been stamped out of Uzbekistan, they were stuck in no-man’s land because the B.…Continue reading Kazakhstan – Aksu Zhabagly Nature Reserve
Uzbekistan – Bukhara & Samarkand & Tashkent
From Khiva we made our way onward to Bukhara, an ancient oasis city on the fabled Silk Road. Bukhara is an easy city to explore on foot and we enjoyed getting lost in its back alleys while exploring its highlights (Ark Citadel, Char Minar, Samanid Mausoleum and the Kalyan minaret). After 2 days here, we…Continue reading Uzbekistan – Bukhara & Samarkand & Tashkent
Uzbekistan – Nukus & Moynaq & Khiva
Crossing the Turkmenistan border into Uzbekistan brought no relief from the relentless heat. If anything, it was kicked up a notch or two. And we still had a few more bush camps to get through…yippee!! First stop was in the town of Nukus to do a bit of money exchanging and cook group shopping. It…Continue reading Uzbekistan – Nukus & Moynaq & Khiva