truman
Guest
More photos from the Road of Bones expedition. Part 1 photos of the expedition (london to Sochi, Russia) can be seen at
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246422
Enjoy...
Photo 16 Departing Turkey for Russia, crossing the Black Sea
The 12 hour ferry sailing, from Turkey to Russia, that took 24 hours. This is a ridiculous shambles where we “must” board the dilapidated boat no later than 5 PM knowing full well the boat does not sail until midnight. The 12 hour sailing took and agonising 17 hours before reaching Sochi, Russia. Not to e outdone in shambolic fiasco the Russians took another 6 hours to process us and let us in. Sochi is the home city of the next Winter Olympic Games; my God they need to sort the border procedures out before then.
Photo 17 Bullet hole ridden flour mill, Volgograd, Stalingrad
A city with a tragic history. The sight of the bloodiest battle in WW2 Stalingrad now houses a moving memorial to this battle and a fantastic museum. The flour mill is the only thing that remains unchanged from this battle
Photo 18 Mother Russia
This is a massive 56m statue situated on Mameav Hill were an estimated 8000 Russian soldiers died defending one lousy hill, this is a must visit when in Russia, as Bruce Springsteen sings “war, war, what is it good for”?
Photo 19 Mick and Leo
One thing Russians have always been good at is there signs and statues. This monster was bigger than the town it was announcing you were about to ride in to. The good side was that unlike France we never got lost, those useless GPS units were obsolete; bring back the old paper maps I say, (And yes I will beat everyone to the punch the GPS issues are entirely an operator fault, but some of us just aren’t born gizmo-telligent)
Photo 20 Unfortunately this wasn’t Pats first encounter with the law
Pat had been done by the police for speeding on our first ride day in Russia, not hard when the cops have speed cameras seemingly every 10ks, I had never ridden such a heavily policed road than that of the Russian Black Sea Coast. However this cop car was our favourite, have a good look it’s a wooden cut out.
Photo 21 Blue Cupolas in the Russian countryside
Riding along in the middle of nowhere we stumbled across this Russian Orthodox Church resplendent with its blue onion domed cupolas. We were excited to see these at first but these churches became common place eventually.
Photo 22 F 800 at sunset
Our first night camping was on the immense Kazakhstan Steppe, so vast that you could just about see the curvature of the earth. Camping here was brilliant and a joy to be out of the cites. The silence was stunning and when everyone went to bed it seemed that I was the last person left on earth, a great experience.
Photo 23 it’s not all hard work
Far from Borat this Kazakh beauty was the hotel receptionist in Aqtobe. Enjoy this phot as I got in a lot of trouble from my wife over it.
Photo 24 Twilight over the Steppe
Another shot at sundown over the vast silent Kazakh Steppe, if people ever ask you why you adventure ride show them this shot.
Photo 25 The incredible Registan, Samarqand, Uzbekistan
The amazing Registan at Samarqand, Uzbekistan. When Tamerlane terrorized Central Asia centuries ago he spared the lives of the artisans and created the incredible Registan amongst other antiquities. This is a rarely travelled part of the world however to ride the Silk Road is a thrill for those who give a stuff about history.
Photo 26 The leaning Kolon Minaret, Bukhara
The legend goes that when Ghengis Khan saw the Kolan Minaret as he rampaged through Central Asia he demanded it be spared from annihilation. There must be some truth behind it as it still stands today. Bukhara is synonymous with the Silk Road oasis towns, sitting around the Laubi hauz (old town square) chewing on a tough shashlik and having a cold beer under the century old trees is about as close as you can get to being back in the old days of Bukhara.
Photo 27 Locals at the Registan
Yet another shot of the Registan, Central Asia’s finest antiquity. The temperatures when we were there were well into the 40s however two weeks earlier they were in the low 50s, what we would have given for some of that European rain that follwed us for so long.
Photo 28 Riding the western Tien Shan mountains
The change in itinerary saw us ride the Western Tien Shan mountains that border southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Riding toward Almaty on one particular day saw us cross into Kyrgyzstan no less than 4 times as the un patrolled road meandered across this international border, I was convinced that my map reading skills had now deserted me along with my GPS skills
Photo 29 A millionaire at last, 1 Million Uzbek Som
I have exactly 1 million Uzbek Som the equivalent to US$ 600, this stash of notes are in 10 Som denominations, you literally need a large carry bag if intending on going out for dinner, it was hilarious.
Photo 30 Enjoying a break on the Silk Road
It was hot on the Silk Road, Damn hot, but we often cooled down at these tea house located roadside all across Uzbekistan. Particularly refreshing were the refrigerated watermelons
Photo 31 Sunset at our campsite
With the civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan we changed our itinerary and re-entered Kazakhstan and onto Almaty. From Almaty we rode across the Kazakh Steppe again heading for Russia. As the phot above shows these nights were some of the best, no photoshop here this was the natural light as we camped each evening, beautiful stuff
Stay posted for Part 3: Mongolia and the Road of Bones photos.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246422
Enjoy...
Photo 16 Departing Turkey for Russia, crossing the Black Sea
The 12 hour ferry sailing, from Turkey to Russia, that took 24 hours. This is a ridiculous shambles where we “must” board the dilapidated boat no later than 5 PM knowing full well the boat does not sail until midnight. The 12 hour sailing took and agonising 17 hours before reaching Sochi, Russia. Not to e outdone in shambolic fiasco the Russians took another 6 hours to process us and let us in. Sochi is the home city of the next Winter Olympic Games; my God they need to sort the border procedures out before then.
Photo 17 Bullet hole ridden flour mill, Volgograd, Stalingrad
A city with a tragic history. The sight of the bloodiest battle in WW2 Stalingrad now houses a moving memorial to this battle and a fantastic museum. The flour mill is the only thing that remains unchanged from this battle
Photo 18 Mother Russia
This is a massive 56m statue situated on Mameav Hill were an estimated 8000 Russian soldiers died defending one lousy hill, this is a must visit when in Russia, as Bruce Springsteen sings “war, war, what is it good for”?
Photo 19 Mick and Leo
One thing Russians have always been good at is there signs and statues. This monster was bigger than the town it was announcing you were about to ride in to. The good side was that unlike France we never got lost, those useless GPS units were obsolete; bring back the old paper maps I say, (And yes I will beat everyone to the punch the GPS issues are entirely an operator fault, but some of us just aren’t born gizmo-telligent)
Photo 20 Unfortunately this wasn’t Pats first encounter with the law
Pat had been done by the police for speeding on our first ride day in Russia, not hard when the cops have speed cameras seemingly every 10ks, I had never ridden such a heavily policed road than that of the Russian Black Sea Coast. However this cop car was our favourite, have a good look it’s a wooden cut out.
Photo 21 Blue Cupolas in the Russian countryside
Riding along in the middle of nowhere we stumbled across this Russian Orthodox Church resplendent with its blue onion domed cupolas. We were excited to see these at first but these churches became common place eventually.
Photo 22 F 800 at sunset
Our first night camping was on the immense Kazakhstan Steppe, so vast that you could just about see the curvature of the earth. Camping here was brilliant and a joy to be out of the cites. The silence was stunning and when everyone went to bed it seemed that I was the last person left on earth, a great experience.
Photo 23 it’s not all hard work
Far from Borat this Kazakh beauty was the hotel receptionist in Aqtobe. Enjoy this phot as I got in a lot of trouble from my wife over it.
Photo 24 Twilight over the Steppe
Another shot at sundown over the vast silent Kazakh Steppe, if people ever ask you why you adventure ride show them this shot.
Photo 25 The incredible Registan, Samarqand, Uzbekistan
The amazing Registan at Samarqand, Uzbekistan. When Tamerlane terrorized Central Asia centuries ago he spared the lives of the artisans and created the incredible Registan amongst other antiquities. This is a rarely travelled part of the world however to ride the Silk Road is a thrill for those who give a stuff about history.
Photo 26 The leaning Kolon Minaret, Bukhara
The legend goes that when Ghengis Khan saw the Kolan Minaret as he rampaged through Central Asia he demanded it be spared from annihilation. There must be some truth behind it as it still stands today. Bukhara is synonymous with the Silk Road oasis towns, sitting around the Laubi hauz (old town square) chewing on a tough shashlik and having a cold beer under the century old trees is about as close as you can get to being back in the old days of Bukhara.
Photo 27 Locals at the Registan
Yet another shot of the Registan, Central Asia’s finest antiquity. The temperatures when we were there were well into the 40s however two weeks earlier they were in the low 50s, what we would have given for some of that European rain that follwed us for so long.
Photo 28 Riding the western Tien Shan mountains
The change in itinerary saw us ride the Western Tien Shan mountains that border southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Riding toward Almaty on one particular day saw us cross into Kyrgyzstan no less than 4 times as the un patrolled road meandered across this international border, I was convinced that my map reading skills had now deserted me along with my GPS skills
Photo 29 A millionaire at last, 1 Million Uzbek Som
I have exactly 1 million Uzbek Som the equivalent to US$ 600, this stash of notes are in 10 Som denominations, you literally need a large carry bag if intending on going out for dinner, it was hilarious.
Photo 30 Enjoying a break on the Silk Road
It was hot on the Silk Road, Damn hot, but we often cooled down at these tea house located roadside all across Uzbekistan. Particularly refreshing were the refrigerated watermelons
Photo 31 Sunset at our campsite
With the civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan we changed our itinerary and re-entered Kazakhstan and onto Almaty. From Almaty we rode across the Kazakh Steppe again heading for Russia. As the phot above shows these nights were some of the best, no photoshop here this was the natural light as we camped each evening, beautiful stuff
Stay posted for Part 3: Mongolia and the Road of Bones photos.
