As we continue on our journey with central Asia, we’re discovering that we’re not our normal upbeat selves. normally when we’re travelling as well as have our backpacks on, we’re ecstatic. however for some reason, this trip has been full of lots of highs as well as lows…and we’ve only been on the road for 48 days!
When we set off from China, we were overjoyed to lastly be back on the road. We were so pumped for our travels in Mongolia. We couldn’t wait to see the Gobi Desert as well as begin our independent, 8 day trip in the middle of nowhere. even though we had some outstanding experiences during our trip as well as the Gobi, it rained a lot. because of being chilly as well as wet, we ended up being annoyed as well as quickly irritated.
Enjoying the 5 minutes of sun before those dark clouds moved in!
All we desired was some sun in one of the sunniest locations on Earth. Is that so much to ask? In our 30 days of travel in Mongolia, we actually saw some kind of rain every day.
Then came Russia. We were rushing with Russia as well as discovered ourselves getting tired. We’d been on some looong train journeys, from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk (26 hours) as well as then from Irkutsk to Omsk (39 hours). In between those travel days, we were able to chill out on Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal. It was stunning…BUT, it rained.
Dark clouds looming on the horizon at Lake Baikal
Olkhon Island sees 300 days of pure sun every year. considering that we were going to be on the island, the travel Gods made a decision that it would rain for half the time we were there! All we kept hearing from the owners of guesthouses as well as locals was “it’s never normally like this” Urghhh! It ended up being so frustrating.
Enjoying one of two sunny days on the shores of Lake Baikal
If it wasn’t the rain, our moods were impacted by something else.
Even when we weren’t travelling as well as made a decision to stay put for a few days, we were running around doing our backpacker errands: setting up bus tickets, booking hostels, getting food for the next leg of the journey, etc. considering that barely any individual spoke English in Russia as well as parts of Mongolia, these tasks were additional daunting as well as draining.
Running around trying to organize transportation as well as tickets is no simple accomplishment in this part of the world…good luck getting on the ideal deliver without speaking English!
On top of doing our tasks for the days, we had to somehow discover time to blog about our journey. Don’t get me wrong, we like our web site as well as truly take pleasure in blogging, however we’re still trying to discover a balance between travel as well as work. It’s been tough for us to keep in touch with advertisers, stay on top of our email inbox, make videos as well as still compose material that our visitors will enjoy!
Nick discovering a long time during the day to work on the web site at our hostel
Besides all of these things that were bringing us “down” a bit during our travels, we believe the primary issue was the truth that we weren’t truly able to have any type of spontaneity, which is one of the things we like about travel. In buy to take this legendary Trans-Siberian train journey (which was awesome!), we needed to have whatever booked in development to make sure we got a seat on the train as well as likewise to ensure that we might apply for our Mongolian, Russian as well as Kazakhstan visas. This didn’t leave us with much versatility or any type of choice to stay somewhere longer if we desired to.
It took a great deal of preparation as well as planning to take the Trans Siberian Train
Even though we felt like we were moving as well fast, we discovered ourselves on a brutal 17 hour overnight bus journey from Omsk, Russia to Astana, Kazakhstan. We were so ecstatic to be in Borat’s homeland! however assumption what? It was cloudy as well as rainy for one of our only two days in the city. We couldn’t believe it…well, really at this point, we could.
Us gearing up for a 17 hour overnight bus journey from Omsk to Astana
We made the most of it, wandered around, ate some truly great food as well as saw some outstanding feats of architectural engineering, however still, we weren’t totally happy. We didn’t want to “just make the most of it” in these countries, we wished to be able to completely explore!
Enjoying a few of the remarkable design in Astana, while the sun was out
It seems silly to let a thing like weather condition dampen (pun intended) the mood of a trip, however it truly got under our skin as well as we were absolutely fed up. We were “in the very best seasons” for all the countries we went to as well as yet still had poor weather.
Between the weather, the fast-paced travel, the truth that we had to book whatever far in development (which we dislike doing), the lack of down time as well as the problem of booking any type of onward travel in these countries, we seemed to be at a low.
From Astana, we boarded/endured yet one more overnight, 21 hour train to Almaty. We were in 3rd class as well as were SO hot during the 35 degree train journey – yes, the sun made a decision to find out when we were on the train. We did, however, satisfy a truly great person who shared all his food with us as well as when we shown up in Almaty at 4:40am, he provided us a trip to our hostel (which we never would have discovered without him).
With new good friends on the train!
We had a great feeling about Almaty as soon as we shown up as well as our spirits were instantaneously lifted.
Almaty is beautiful! A large mountain variety towers above the city along the southern end as well as the whole city is on a downward slope going north. It’s a excellent location to walk around as well as is understood for its European feel, cafes as well as restaurants, tree-lined streets, markets as well as outstanding outside excursions.
Us feeling relaxed, recharged as well as delighted in Almaty!
We made a decision to put down some roots here, re-group as well as travel exactly how we’ve always took pleasure in travelling, slowly & spontaneously. Almaty would be our house for the next 7 days as well as it sure didn’t disappoint.
Have you ever had “low” days while on the road? show us below!
RUSHING with RUSSIA: AN 8 DAY ROUNDUP
ASTANA – THE DUBAI OF central ASIA
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