On a Saturday afternoon in mid-October, I nervously sat down on a black leather chair in a hair salon on the outskirts of Moscow and held my breath. I had been on the road for nearly two months and I was feeling like an ugly duckling in the fashion conscious capital of Russia. When my …
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Central Asia was supposed to be cheap. I was supposed to stay in yurts and with local families and eat cheap street food. The money I saved in the ‘Stans was supposed to make up for the expense of Russia and my splurges in adding Italy and Turkey …
By the time I boarded my flight out of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on September 16, I was ready to say goodbye to Central Asia. My three months in the region left me physically and mentally exhausted and all I could think about was getting back home. I struggled through difficult border crossings. I endured hot, sweaty …
In some ways, walking down the streets of Tashkent, Shymkent or Bishkek doesn’t feel all that different from a stroll through the center of any city in the United States or Europe. You pass a variety of stores, restaurants, government buildings and shopping malls. The people around you are likely headed to work or to …
Visiting countries like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan tend to take you back in time. Life in the small villages is so much simpler than our life today in the United States – but I suspect it isn’t all that different from life in much of the United States just 100-200 years ago. Extended families living within …
I was determined to ignore the signs. I can be stubborn that way. I plan something and I set my mind to do it and even when things start to go a little wrong, I want to push on. This the case with the trek I planned to take around Song Kul Lake …
