>redpill me on vacation in Central Asia I have done tons

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>>1281817
A lot of outdoors stuff and silk road history in the right places, plus just spending time in the cities is interesting for a few days since the culture is so different and it's kind of interesting see all the post soviet quirks. If your not from the u.s or are cool with a guide if your from u.k/ Canada Iran is a good add on as well with a lot of history, good food and friendly people.

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>>1281841
God I wish I had dual nationality. UK here, know I can get in Iran with a guide but being visa free on something like a German or Polish passport would be so much easier.

>>1281817
Turkmenistan may be difficult. Currently have trouble paying it's bills as Iran (I think) has stopped buying it's gas. Plus it's essentially a dictatorship.

This is their almighty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_qgIGuFtxs

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan all look like good best though. Easy to get into via Turkey or Hungary.

>British, Canadian and American citizens are required to be escorted by a government approved guide at all times. Independent travel for these citizens has been banned due to the closure of Iranian foreign missions in these countries.

Holy shit, I never knew. That's awful.

t. German passport

>>1281878
Turkmenistan probably had the least to see of all of those nations.

>>1281817
Did a research on ancient central Asia and since then I desperately want to visit. I've been wondering if going to Afghanistan would be stupid. I know someone who went there recently. Of all central Asia, it seems to me like the most interesting place of all but some regions of Afghanistan are obv at war/devastated.

If I'm not mistaken all of central asian countries are more or less dictatorships except maybe for Kazakhstan.

I just have more questions that answers everywhere I look.

>>1282009
Kazakhstan have dictator too, from all CA countries only Uzbekistan now have something like democracy.

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>>1281817
IMHO best way for vacation if you wanna visit all CA countries

>>1282014

the dream

>>1282016
I Visit Kazakhstan more then 12 years every year, and once visit Tajikistan, so you can ask me something about this countries

>>1282012
Uzbekistan is also one of the more shithole/dangerous countries in the reason.

>>1282014
While I would love to do this I would only have 9-12 says there.

>>1282020
Also Uzbekistan most corrupted country in region.

>>1282018
Are there any diplomatic complications? What's the best way to go from north america? Any cultural must-know? Things not to miss in Kazakhstan?

>>1282022
Just how much corruption would the typical tourist have to deal with? Uzbekistan seems like it has more to see than Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan but it seems much more shitty.

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>>1282023
Border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too hard for pass, they can dont pass you into Turkmenistan without any real reason, border between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan corrupted, but they dont ask lot of money.
>best way
Fly to Astana in Kazakhstan, then go south, to Balhash lake, after this go to Almaty, then go to east, pass border with Kyrgyzstan, visit Issik-Kul lake, then go to Bishkek.
At this part you cant have any problems

>>1282029

Thanks man i'm capping this. Are there some ruins still standing in CA? I've read that in Afghanistan everything was pillaged. Is there still stuff in museums or has it all been shipped to Russia and Europe?

>>1282031
Here start first problems.
From Bishkek go south, pass border with Uzbekistan, from kyrgyz they ask 1-2 dollars, from murican they can ask 10-20 dollars.Visit Fergana, then Kokand, Tashkent and then go south to Samarqand.

>ruins
In Kazakhstan you can see mazars - little buildings whose looks like houses and builded on graves.
All important ruins i write you as places which you must visit.
In Tajikistan you can find old zoroastrian temples, most of them stand in Badakhshan.

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>>1282035
forgot pic

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>>1282036
From Samarkand trough Kattaqorgon and Navoi go to Bukhara, and then go to north to Zarafshon, there live famous blacksmiths, i advise you buy uzbek knife pchak or tajik knife kord there, in other places they are dont have such good quality.And from Zarafshon go to north, visit Aral sea.

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>>1282037
From Aral Sea go to south, trough Nukus to Urgench, then visit Hiva, and then passs border with Turkmenistan, here you must pay 20-25 dollars for passing border.
Go to Dasoguz, then to Kaplankyr reserve, and then go south, visit Darvaza gas crater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater

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>>1282038
Then go to Ashhabad, and after Ashhabad go to west-south, to border with Afghinistan, and then go south to Gerat.

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>>1282040
You can plan your road in Affghnistan as you want, my advice - go from south to west and then to north.
pic related

>>1281817
Kazakhstan has cleanest prostitutes, except of course for Turkmenistan.

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>>1282042
Pass border with Tajikistan, go to Kurgan-Tyube, then to Kulyab, if you will visit this city my relative can give you home and food for few days, from Kulyab go to north to Dushanbe.

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>>1282045
From Dushanbe go to north, visit yaghnobi people, they live near Yaghnob river, i mark it on pic, then go north-west to Penjikent,here you can buy good tajiks knifes and clay toys, pots and etc.Then go back to Dushanbe and start move east to Pamir mountains.

>>1282049
Better fly from Dushanbe to Horog, and then start move at M41 road, then go back to Horog and fly home.

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>>1282051
forgot pic

Maybe later i will ask your other questions, i hope i just a little bit help you with your plans.

>>1282054

Dude that's amazing. Whenever I get time and money I'm definitely going to do exactly that. Thank you so much for taking your time.

>>1282054
you're a bro

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>>1282042
>>1282055
Just a heads up that road between Herat and Kabul isn't safe. Its taliban controlled most of the way, when I was there last year both the manager of the hotel and a local guy who we met through couch surfing repeatedly warned us about it. The bus ride between Kabul and Mazar-e-sharif is very interesting tough and well worth taking.

If you're thinking about going to Central Asia start studying Russian now thats my advice

>>1282081
Is there a particular reason why you went to Afghanistan? How important is it to know some Dari or Pashtu?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36974513

Link says tourists were attacked on this road (the one you're talking about) last year.

>>1282390
It was my mates idea. Initially he was going to teach in china and I was going to meet him there via Iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan but when heard about the trip he decided to come with and suggested Afghanistan. I thought he was crazy but then I saw the highway went from mashad to ashbagat via herat and I started doing research found out how safe it was and about the fort founded by Alexander the great. So then I added it to the trip, our Turkmen visa was rejected so we ended up flying to Kabul and caught the bus to mazar we could have gone straight to mazar but wanted to do as much by road and rail as possible. I already had the info about the roads from the internet but that was reinforced by the locals. Mazar is not as safe as it was last year so if you end up going search out some up to date info, caravanistan is good. We didn't have any dari or pashtu only English and my mate is conversational in Mandarin but we used couch surfing beforehand to have some english speaking contacts in country.

>>1282652
Im down to try but I don't feel like I'm responsible enough to handle all of that.

>>1282652
How mate, how old are you?
Seems like a pretty cool adventure, thanks for sharing

I sould like to travel to herat, does not seem that dangerous

However the roads scare me, when i was travelling in western pakistan, i had an army convoy.

Do you know if there are any armed transports between the afghan cities?

>>1282826
Afghanistan is my top choice in Central Asia, however I am way too much of a pussy to try it.

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>>1282826
Both where 25 at the time. Herat is an interesting place though it's also the poorest place I've ever seen even when compared to rural s.e Asia. If you do go and need a guide check out Behrourz on couchsufing if he is still active he is a great guy doesn't host but will show you around the city. I don't know much about armed transport between cities we just chose already secure routes and kept as low profile as possible for two white guys in Afghanistan by taking local transport without any extra security. This is me trying to blend in.

>>1283257
fuck you did a good job blending in.

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>>1283257
I see you took the "Dont get laid while traveling because life is too long for sex" line seriously

>>1283370
Yeah the beard didn't go down too well in Iran with the ladies but I didn't die in Afghanistan so it was worth the trade off

>>1283257

Honestly, you could have passed for one of the locals (minus a distinct lack of knowledge in Pashto)

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>>1282652
Did you exit through Pakistan afterwards?
I was there many years ago. Up to the Khyber etc. I would love to go back, but this time the north (like Hunza etc) Would you estimate that Pakistan is safer than Afghanistan these days? Your trip sounds like you had a desire to get beheaded. I am scared they might put a jihad on me too.

>>1283459
Nah went across the friendship bridge to Termez, Uzbekistan. No idea about Pakistan sorry, my research into safety there has not got passed drunkenly chatting with taxi drivers from there, but they insist it's safer than Afghanistan and that I should visit. I wouldn't mind doing the khyber I've heard good things from /trv/ but my next adventure will be to Bhutan since one of my former work colleagues has returned there after studying so I'll use him to get a LOI rather than having to pay the $150 a day.

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>>1283484
>drunkenly
w-wait you drank?
Isn't that, like, really forbidden?
>Termez, Uzbekistan
Do you know if the Balkh (Bactra) ruins are accessible?

Also I love my life and am not on a deathwish whatsoever. Is it worth it? Maybe now the situation in AFG has degraded from when you were there. Might be better in a couple years. Might be worse. Dammit tho I wanna go.

>>1283488
I was drunk back home after the trip chatting to the taxi drivers, but booze is around both Iran and Afghanistan if you know where to find it. Balkh seems to be acessible but leave early and get back well before dark. If you love life maybe not, I don't necessarily have a death wish but I don't care much if I live or die as long as death is swift and painless. Afg will probably get worse before it gets better every spring/summer the taliban seem to make more progress, they can reach mazar for raids pretty easily from the east now. Until they take the country back or have enough territory to force the central government into a power sharing deal it's going to be pretty unstable for the foreseeable future.

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>>1283498
That is absolutely saddening. It's not like the Taliban fighters aren't the cousins and nephews of the ones they're fighting.

Also I'm sad because the other region I was enthusiast about in after CA is Yemen but there's proxy war again in there because of SA/Iran/US imperialism. Bad luck is bad luck.

>>1283498
It is pretty amazing but it seems like the Taliban are literally winning. Makes one wonder what all this post-2001 nonsense has been all about.

>>1283257
Am I the only one who thinks he looks more like a bearded hipster, than he looks like an Afghan?

>>1283617
He looks like a compadre of John Walker Lindh just after the basement got flooded, but he seems to be melting in OK. Especially since he seems to be wearing the right clothes.

>>1283617
Haha yeah probably, I don't tan well, local clothes and a beard are the best I could do. Surprisingly people in Afghanistan take their hair very seriously and young people have really fashionable haircuts. other surprising thing is energy drinks are everywhere, the largest variety of brands I've ever seen.

>>1282014
>missing out Issyk Kul
pleb

>>1283738
see
>>1282029

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>>1283740
i've been to the green part
on the south western part there is somewhere a small lake which is salty af. More salty than dead sea. Dont know where exactly because it wasnt me who was driving

>>1283621
>other surprising thing is energy drinks are everywhere, the largest variety of brands I've ever seen.
People gotta take the edge off (or in this case put it on) someway tbqh

>>1282031
There was not much to begin with. They were nomad people. In Kyrgyzstan there is the Burana tower but its not very impressive.
Uzbekistan would be your destination for old buildings.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan dont offer much in this regard. Neither do Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as far as i know

>>1282014
What do if i don't want to enter Afghanistan?

>>1283994
Skip both afghanistan and turkmenistan and make the circle smaller

Turkmenistan is super expensive and hard to get in to

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>>1283994
Something like this

>>1282081
>The bus ride between Kabul and Mazar-e-sharif is very interesting tough and well worth taking.
Isn't Puli Khumri controled by the Taliban?

>>1284082
According to the long war it's been contested since Oct. 2016 which is after I passed through so maybe it's not as safe as it once was.

>>1281817
Uzbekistan seems like the best place because of the blue mosque and silk road cities

There are also the gates of hell

>>1284133
>There are also the gates of hell
That's Turkmenistan

>>1284007
Why is Turkmenistan super expensive?

>>1284188
Mandatory tour with guide plus expensive accommodation due to lack of tourist infrastructure, think London prices, cheap accom about $23-28us a night but most $115-130 a night, with some even higher. Fixed exchange rates leading exorbitant costs on food, drinks and possible souvenirs, it's similar to North Korea minus the minders and I can't remember if they include main meals in tours or not.
Plus the visa isn't cheap a transit visa is about $70 (paid after approval) but that has rejection rate of somewhere between 50-90% depending on who you ask and no one knows any rhyme or reason behind to rejections, so that's not an option if you want any certainty and finally tourist visas are even pricier.

>>1284275
What the fuck... What are they trying to achieve? I guess it's a dictatorship but that does not seem reasonable even so.

>>1284282
Keeping people out mostly and making as much money off the ones who do come. The former dictator renamed days of the week, months and some major cities after family members. He also built a gaint gold statue of himself that rotated to follow the sun and designed the center of the capital to have all white marble buildings . The new guy has reversed most of naming stuff now and moved the statue to a less prominent position but they are just as insular and strange as the dprk minus the military strength and media coverage.

>>1284307
The Garabogazköl looks eerie af. Just read up on Turkmenistan and it's definitely got a NK feel. It just sucks that there's whole parts of the planet where I won't ever be welcome. In fact, it's just a tiny part of central Asia that's accessible.

I went to Turkmenistan in 2015 and would highly recommend it if you can afford it.

>>1284497
gibe stories.

>>1282037
>missing Khiva

>>1286951
>this
>>1282038