/image%2F0273494%2F20140918%2Fob_907895_dsc-3281-copy.jpg)
/image%2F0273494%2F201212%2Fob_adda3b83be8dc680694d9606db485a91_dsc-0455-2.jpg "Unimog adventures")
Top posts
-
Kyrgyzstan
Entering Kyrgyzstan was still a mountainous high altitude affair… After three different stations on the Tajik side on the pass (typically bureaucratic but friendly and no hassle) the Kyrgyz border appeared almost like a miracle… 5 minutes, small stamp...
-
The long haul westward
From the border with Russia I had about 9000 km to get back home to Germany and 2 to 2.5 weeks to do it.... The route through Ukraine was a bit too dicey for me so I planned a northern trajectory through the Baltics. On average the plan was to do 400...
-
Uzbekistan II
Now I can look back on Uzbekistan and I can say it is a really lovely place. People are openly curious, very hospitable and friendly. I felt safe everywhere, definitely more than in Iran, as I never had the impression people were suspicious about me....
-
Tajikistan: Dushanbe and the Fan mountains
The border procedure getting across into Tajikistan was quite interesting; the contrast between the two countries could not have been bigger. As organized the Uzbek side was as chaotic was Tajikistan with about 10 different stops not or badly marked,...
-
Turkey Part 2: or the way to become a "movie star"
I was heading into the Kazgkar Mountains as they are called the Switzerland of Turkey and are supposed to be a great hiking terrain. Heading up the main valley towards the highest peak only the many tourist huts, rest houses, and ugly, modern hotels reminded...
-
Turkey …. Part1: welcome to Asia
Turkey has a real border making clear that you are leaving the EC countries. Sneaking by the line of trucks there was, however, no major issue or wait. The highway is a bit rough at first but the way towards Istanbul is well used and maintained overall....
-
X ing Eastern Iran
Not much to say other than vast landscapes, amazing geology (although I am off work), dimensions I am not used to despite Omans big deserts, villages in the Dasht e Lut where people sometimes live in mud houses looking the same than probably 1000 years...
-
The high Pamirs
So i eventually made it and I am so glad... the landscapes up here are so absolutely stunning and I was completely on my own roaming around.... I will let the pictures speak here, no words can do justice and even the images don't really capture it... On...
-
Northwest Mongolia
So now I continue here with a bit of a delay as internet in Mongolia and Russia was scarce and/or so slow that uploading images was not an option.... When entering Mongolia in the far Northwest corner in the Altai mountains we actually did not get very...
-
South to UB... and back
UB is the local (traveller) slang for Ulaan Batar, the capitol of Mongolia. Inevitably every traveller ends up here sooner or later, be it for visa extensions or otherbuerocratic tasks or stocking up on food or just having a short city blast after all...
-
The northern route
Although everybody was warning us that it had rained recently and roads are muddy and rivers are high which makes the Northern route to cross Mongolia very difficult we did not intend to explore mosquito heaven (we were told) and 800 km of washboard on...
-
The Pamirs cntd...
From Murghab to the border of Kyrgyzstan. Offroading in the backcountry over 4300m passes without snow in this area of the Pamir plat Rankul lakes just could not stop taking pictures :-) subtle play of colours and light more lakes :-) further to the...
-
Uzbekistan
Have actually not written much yet on Uzbeistan....I am following the ancient silk route, read guide books for the history of it, i can't do it better...;-) I have a lot of time in the country for the route I have in mind, may be too much considering...
-
Kyrgyzstan with R
Royalty arrived in Kyrgyzstan :-). and got a tour of Issyk Kul lake and some mountains ... tripod on steroids.... actually this was the Kyrgyz-German-French graffity festival in Bishkek.. the international crew stayed in our guesthouse and we were invited...
-
The 1st try to get to the Pamirs
A lot has happened since the last entry....On the 21st I left Dushanbe to drive to Khorog, the village that is the gateway to the high Pamir's... Just at that day there was a shooting incident between police and some supposed drug smugglers, which left...
-
Russia: the Altai
We had about 4 days to cover the 1000 km form the Kazakh to the Mongolian border due to Rachael’s visa expiry date. From the border suddenly the Kazakh steppe changed into fully tended wheat fields as long as the eye could look across the Siberian plains......
-
Gateway to hell
The Karakum desert in Central Turkmenistan is one of extremes… Temperatures over the year vary from -30 C in the winter with snowfall to 60 C in summer. At least in late April it appears generally greener than the Arabian deserts… Another special part...
-
Greece, mighty old Greece
I landed in Igoumenitsa in Northern Greece, together with a few other “offroad” travelling souls I met on the ferry. Some younger, some older, with and without kids, all different objectives, the time on the ferry passed by really quickly with all the...
-
D-Day 13.04. and X-ing to Iran
Truck needs to be delivered at the port before 12h, boat leaves at 21h…lots of time to kill. Luckily met Ashley, the man that drives from Dubai back to the UK on a Ducati racebike in 1 week !!! Hanging out with him the afternoon back in Dubai getting...
-
Kazakhstan - we almost turned back...
As the the title suspects our attempt to enter Kazakhstan turned out to be one of the toughest border crossings so far.... Bureaucracy is right up there with Iran but they are by far not as friendly and helpful as the Iranians... We were at the Koray...
-
"seeing old friends" ctnd.
Crossing the Alps through Austria (as ever promiscuously selling out its soul to tourism but also still as pretty as ever) reminded me of the old kayaking days in the Lech and Inntal… the hands got almost itchy to hold a paddle again… I did hit Switzerland...
-
Towards Mahan
As last time, I plan to travel mainly on backcountry roads towards Mashad and have gone off the highway at Hajabad. I realize my good old paper map is better than all the offline GPS maps I got and end up driving on dirt tracks towards Baft through spectacular...
-
2nd try to get to Khorog
So on the 29th I took off to try my luck again... 400km of partially very bad roads with no assurance for success. Well after a lot of insisting and despite the clear message at all the checkpoints that Khorog was still closed they let me through to Rushan,...
-
Kazakhstan: the long ride North
In order to get to Mongolia we have to drive 1500+ km along the East of Kazachzstan to southern Siberia in Russia… It was a long drive on pretty annoying roads… Road conditions were sometimes ok but mostly 70 km/h was the max one could drive. A couple...
-
Final farewell’s & departure
The date of departure comes rushing closer, last food shopping and tidbits…. Ah and Rachaels birthday :-) The combined birthday farewell party at Majan beach was really nice and a good reminder of what I will be missing, thanks guys and girls !!! Departure...