I meandered my way back into the republic of Kazakhstan thanks to a clever visa free passport switch at the border (Irish for Uzbek visa, British for Kazak visa free entry). The toughest part of my Central Asian adventure was over and I’d escaped Uzbekistan. The countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgzstan were up next, both…
Read More
While backpacking in Afghanistan, I was delighted to be offered the chance of a homestay with a local family in the city of Masar e Sharif. In the years I’ve been travelling, I’ve had homestays in places like Israel, Iran, Uruguay, Nagorno Karabakh, Hungary, Tunisia and Transnistria. However Afghanistan was a whole new experience. The…
Read More
On my tour of Afghanistan, I had quite a few authentic local culinary experiences, in my homestay, at my hotel, in Haibak and in Masar e Sharif. I’ve already written about trying Mantoo in Masar e Sharif and the smoking Shisha on a Saturday night out with the lads. In Central Asia, Plov becomes part…
Read More
After the madness of the wacaday adventure in the barely known republic of Karakalpakstan, it was time to get back to some textbook Uzbekistan sightseeing and the city of Khiva was on the agenda. I wanted to stay in the Ichan Kala (“Old walled town”) which is the typical tourist option but by far the…
Read More
My final stop on my Uzbekistan overland trip was in the capital city. It was here that I finally felt at ease with the Uzbeks when I arrived in their glamorous, northern swanky hub of Tashkent. The capital seemed to like me and I liked it too. It was nice to finally find a really cool city…
Read More
This is probably the first hotel review I ever do where I won’t mention the actual name of the hotel. There are security reasons for this of course and I was there on tour with a cool company and they sorted out my accommodation. I didn’t go online and book any hotels or hostels. In…
Read More
Wow, wow, wow! That is all I can say about the wacky Republic of Karakalpakstan if you read my Wacaday report of my journey there, you’ll know this was lunacy turned on its head. This autonomous region within Uzbekistan that probably should have been its own country. To see what Karakalpakstan was all about, I…
Read More
You might have read about my stories backpacking in Barcelona in Catalonia, having crossed in from Andorra. I loved my time in this city and surprised myself by this. I expected it to be overtouristic, dear and too cliched. However, it wasn’t like that at all. I loved touring the sights, drinking in bars with…
Read More
“Let’s play mallet’s mallet” – Timmy Mallet, Wacaday (1980s). Well I thought I’d had some crazy journeys in life but this one topped them all for ridiculous wackiness. I half expected Timmy Mallet to come out and whack me on the head at any moment and shout “Wacaday” at me! This could be lunacy on…
Read More
If you’re ever backpacking in Afghanistan, make sure to get a trip to a local stadium to watch the national sport – Buzkashi! It’s the iconical backpacking in Afghanistan experience, and I had to get a visit to a Buzkashi game sorted during my time in the country! This was such an exciting experience! After crossing…
Read More