The Karakum Desert covers about 70% of Turkmenistan. Nearly all of the cities and towns are situated along the country’s periphery. Very few people live in the barren interior. There are only two highways crossing the desert and only one connecting Ashgabat to the north. Today’s post is about our drive north across Turkmenistan with … Continue reading
On Thursday morning, we drove to Old Nisa, an ancient Parthian fortress city ten miles to the northwest of our hotel, at the foothills of the Köpet Dag Mountains that separate Turkmenistan from Iran. The complex of Old Nisa, together with nearby New Nisa, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The inhabitants … Continue reading
Given the morning Wednesday to catch our breath, we repacked our bags, incorporating cleaned laundry, then lounged around the madrassa/hotel. At noon we were transported to the border crossing from Uzbekistan into Turkmenistan, Farap-Alat, another hectic immigration point. We hiked across No-Man’s-Land beyond border stations to meet our Turkmen guide, Byrat, a gregarious wheeler-dealer who … Continue reading
In my last post, I mentioned that Ismail Samani united the various Sogdian city-states of Central Asia into a single dynasty in 892 AD. Samani made the fortress city of Bukhara the capital of his family’s brief dynasty, which lasted until the end of the first millennium, that is, until 999 AD. Like Samarkand to … Continue reading
We spent Sunday night in Penjikent, a city of about 35,000, making it the tenth largest city in Tajikistan by population, a small town by American standards. In the morning, we headed out to see the nearby ruins of ancient Penjikent, a Sogdian city-state abandoned in 722 AD when the Arabs invaded. On the way … Continue reading
Sunday morning we left Samarkand and drove to the Jartepa border crossing between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. I didn’t know what to expect. When the Soviet Union invaded and took over Central Asia in the 1920s, it ostensibly drew the boundaries of the then Soviet Republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan based on ethnicity. The result … Continue reading
Inhabited since 700 BC, Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia. Arab armies captured it in 710 AD. At that time, Samarkand was a diverse religious community of Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Hindus, Manichaens, Jews and Nestorian Christians. In most cases, upon conquering territory, new Arab rulers would neither settle nor impose Islam on … Continue reading
We are ready now to ease our way back into the past. Our tour itinerary will take us first to Samarkand, one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities of Central Asia. After a brief detour into neighboring Tajikistan for a trek up into the Fann Mountains to visit the Seven Lakes, we will pick up … Continue reading
Recovered from jet lag, we met our guide and the other members of our touring group in the hotel lobby Friday morning. We were also greeted by our travel agent, Severa, who has been extremely helpful in making all our travel arrangements. I was not surprised to learn she is one of Advantour’s most senior … Continue reading
We usually plan our own journeys and travel alone, but this time we booked an arranged tour through an Uzbek travel agency, Advantour, a small group excursion they call the Essentials of the Silk Road. The tour is scheduled to begin on Friday morning, April 18. We arrived a few days early to have time … Continue reading
When the internet first became a “thing” back in the 1980s, I could sign up for any service with my username being my first and last name, like “markulmer@aol.com.” As the years have gone by, however, I’ve discovered that there are a surprising number of people that share my name. So many that when I … Continue reading
Our decision to switch our hiking days paid off. Yesterday’s cold front passed through after dropping about six inches of snow in the valley, leaving the air crisp and clear, and the termperature hovering around freezing. We drove over to the trailhead for the Hooker Valley Track, a 10 km return hike (6.2 miles, round-trip). … Continue reading
The original plan for our first full day at Aoraki/Mount Cook NP was to hike to Hooker Lake. It is from that vantage point that you have the best view of Mount Cook. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as another cold front was passing overhead that morning, enshrouding the mountains with cloud cover and … Continue reading
In 1905, my favorite U. S. President, Teddy Roosevelt, gave ten North American Elk to the then-British Colony of New Zealand (the islands became a British dominion in 1907 and an independent nation in 1947). They were released into the wild midway between Milford and Doubtful Sounds, together with an additional ten purchased by the … Continue reading
After our hike on the Milford Track, we drove back down to Te Anau to spend the night. Next morning, Wednesday, October 30, we hopped back into the car and headed for Pearl Harbor at the settlement of Manapouri to catch the ferry across the lake. That’s our boat, furthest to the right. We’re off … Continue reading
Returning to the lodge after kayaking, we learned that the forecast for the following day was rain, a disappointment since we planned to go hiking. But we were encouraged the next morning upon throwing open the curtain to see clearing skies and an early ground fog slowly climbing up the mountain, an indication of warming … Continue reading
Monday morning we were up early to go kayaking in Milford Sound with Rosco’s Milford Kayaks on their half-day, guided rentals they call the “Sunriser Classic.” We headed down to the meeting point at Deepwater Basin where the commercial fishing boats dock. They mostly haul lobster pots. There were eight couples signed up to go … Continue reading
Our first excursion in Milford Sound was to explore the entire sound by boat, an afternoon voyage with Southern Discoveries (iPhone app here). We left Freshwater Basin in the early afternoon. Just around the point from the harbor was the first of many beautiful waterfalls we would see, Bowen Falls. Here’s a view looking back … Continue reading
On Friday, we drove from Queenstown to Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest of New Zealand’s 13 national parks, encompassing 10% of the country’s land mass, the Southern Alps, and 14 fjords. Our plan was to visit two of the fjords, those accessible by vehicle: … Continue reading
In land area, New Zealand (inclusive of both islands) is about the size of the state of Colorado. Like each of our fifty states, New Zealand is divided up into administrative districts, similar to how states are carved up into counties (the exceptions being Alaska, which is divided into boroughs, and Louisiana which is split … Continue reading
Immediately upon docking in Aukland, we hopped onto the airport bus to catch our plane to Queenstown. It was a short, two-hour flight, with crystal clear skies and views of the snow-peaked mountains of New Zealand’s Southern Alps as we neared the airport. Mount Cook is in the Southern Alps. We’ll be visiting it near … Continue reading
We were aboard the cruise ship for two days in Hawaii, followed by five days at sea, then two days in French Polynesia, one each on Tahiti and Mo’orea, the subjects of my last two posts. After leaving French Polynesia, we were at sea for seven days before ultimately seeing land again, that is, the … Continue reading
It took less than two hours for the cruise ship to sail from Pape’ete to Mo’orea, accomplished as we slept. Here’s a view of Mo’orea as we approached on the morning of October 12: We dropped anchor in Opunohu Bay and were ferried ashore to the village of Papetoai. Cooks Bay is the next bay … Continue reading
There’s a Crosby, Stills & Nash song called Southern Cross that has resonated with me since it became a hit in 1982. Written by Stephen Stills, it tells the story of a physical and spiritual voyage he took from California to Tahiti. In case you don’t know, the Southern Cross is a constellation only visible … Continue reading
I’ve crossed the Atlantic three times, and I can say from experience it’s a big ocean. But it pales in comparison to the Pacific, which is twice as big, covering nearly 1/3 of the surface of the earth. On October 3, we flew from Seattle to Hawaii to board the Royal Princess for a trans-Pacific … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 