Population Tajikistan: 8 million. Average number of people per square km – 48 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand - 15).
Tajikistan is covered mostly by mountains, and therefore the main interests are remote and unspoilt villages and interesting mountain roads. The remote Wakhan valley, which is formed...
Population Uzbekistan: 32 million. Average number of people per square km – 75 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand - 15).
Uzbekistan has several major historical cities on the fabled Silk Route, in which there are numerous magnificent tiled mausoleums, mosques and madrassas (Arabic for Islamic educational institution)....
The southern and western parts of Kazakhstan have the flattest wide open spaces one can imagine...the steppes. Also of interest is the Cosmodrome, Aral Sea and historical Turkistan.
Turkistan is located in southern Kazakhstan, and the big attraction in the city is the very impressive tomb of Kozha Akhmed Yasaui, a...
Kyrgyzstan south west is mainly about the Fergana valley and the historical city Osh.
The northern and southern parts of Kyrgyzstan are separated by a very high mountain range. The passes may become impassable during winter and forms a political divide. This situation is aggravated by the large percentage of...
Population Kyrgyzstan: 6.1 million. Average number of people per square km – 31 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand - 15).
Kyrgyzstan is all about high mountains, remote stunning valleys, horses and horse products, and friendly people. A great country for travel.
The border crossing into Kyrgyzstan at the...
Population Kazakhstan: 18 million. Population density – 7 people per square km (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand - 15).
Crossing the border into north eastern Kazakhstan from Siberia near Semey was a very slow and tiring process. The officials were friendly enough, just so sloooow.
Kazakhstan is all...
If you are anything like us, then forget everything you know, or have heard about Siberia. The images that previously sprang to our minds when we thought of Siberia, were temperatures of -40 degrees C and colder, snow covered pine trees, frozen lakes and rivers, and stern Russians.
There is...
The central and north eastern parts of Mongolia has fair vegetation and the countryside becomes wetter as one travels further north from the Gobi desert. With this one finds a greater concentration of nomads and their animals. The increased wetness also led to our first experience of the Mongolian bog,...
We drove into Mongolia from China, happy as Larry, the millstone of ridiculous Chinese bureaucracy and the annoyance of having a guide 24/7 in our car has been cast off. We are free to drive where and when we please. The cherry on the top is that Mongolia is...
On the way to Xian, we stopped off at the 142m high Maiji Shan (mountain), which has sheer cliffs and into which numerous caves were carved and Buddhist sculptures had been placed. Apparently the first carvings and sculptures were made about the 4th century and worked continued for more...
