Toilets and Tribulations
Some good friends once bought me a book called Toilets of the World with the inscription ‘Saw this and thought of you’ which I hope referred to the ‘of the […]
Category Archives: Central Asia
‘To the Glorious Health of Lenin’
The letters stand high on the roof of a crumbling building on the shore of Lake Issyk-Köl in Kyrgyzstan. Our Russian speaking friend translates them as roughly ‘To the Glorious […]
A Day Out in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
I have to admit I’m a bit of a fair weather skier in as much as I enjoy it, but only when conditions are good, and I get tired (and […]
Skiing in that well known resort – Karakol in Kyrgyzstan
Central Asia. Not every European’s destination of choice when looking for somewhere for a spot of skiing. The resort of Karakol is about 10km out of the town and comprises […]
The Journey from Almaty to Karakol
We toppled from the plane, through immigration (again) and out to the carousel area where our bags had miraculously appeared. Drivers hired from the Embassy, Boris and his son Alex, […]
The Rule of Threes
As I write, knowing what is coming next, I’m convinced that the rule of threes is alive and well and following us on our first 24 hours in Central Asia. […]
Disasterous In-Flight Movie
What could be the worst in-flight movie? I haven’t spent a great deal of time pondering this question, but initial thoughts spring to mind as being any of the 1970’s […]
One More Sleeps!
It’s the day before the flight, and I’m frantically trying to work out if we have everything we need. I don’t really know why I’m wasting energy thinking about it […]
And where are YOU going for Easter?
At a dinner party recently, someone asked me what we were doing for Easter. Now, this has been happening quite a lot lately, and always has me wondering why people […]
All was, indeed, in order.
I’d like to have an incredibly funny and interesting story to tell about collecting the visas; some drama I hadn’t anticipated that led to a multiple-international diplomatic incident of epic […]
Ist Alles in Ordnung?!
“Hallo” Ich habe gesagt. “Ist alles in ordnung mit mein Visum?” It’s snowing as if it were Christmas, and tomorrow is the day I drive back to Bonn to collect […]
One Down and One to Go!
Well, that seemed far too easy! I drove to Bonn, parked up, found the Consulate – which was marked with a small plaque on the wall (no flag or anything) […]
Visa… Visum… виза
I want ’em all! This week I have had telephone conversations in German with native Russian speakers about our Kazakh and Kyrgyz visas (or visum or виза depending on whether […]
Visa Minefield
In the era of Schengen and easy travel within Europe, it’s easy to forget the visa minefield involved in going anywhere slightly more adventurous. I was recommended a visa agency […]
A ‘Stan or Two?
When friends move somewhere new, the Coxon’s quite often say ‘We’ll visit you!’, and generally we do, if we can. So when Mr and Mrs F said they were moving […]
Two Nomadic Brits 