Train Travails

There is a twist in my proposed train journey from Shymkent to Moscow. The two bed compartment is not available on train #7. However train #5 has the coveted 2 bed compartment - with carpet no less - says a site called The Man in Seat 61. I have a choice of leaving the group as soon as I get to Tashkent, boarding the train that night, and missing the farewell party. Or staying on in Tashkent - seeing a little of the environs including the Ferghana Valley - immortalized by Robert Byron in The Road to Oxiana. That would still give me 3 1/2 days in Moscow, AND I would board the train rested after travelling The Silk Route. TTFN

Avalanches near the Turugart Pass and faint glimmer of hope for the Aral Sea

There have been a series of avalanches in the Pamir mountains. In one case 20,000 villagers in Kyrgystan near a high altitude pass with China are cut off. The cause is unusually heavy winter snows and an early spring, say dispatches from Bishkek. I have been watching the weather in Xian, Urumchi and Tashket and have noticed a marked rise in temperatures over the last ten days. hopefully the pass will be clear when we get there around April 17.
The International Fund for saving the Aral Sea and the United Nations have signed a "memorandum of understanding" in Ashgabat. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, it is in danger of completely drying up. More about this dire situation and the possible climatic disaster tomorrow

Transportation on this journey is likely to be diverse

Five weeks to Silk Road D Day

This time in five weeks I shall be at SFO to board the plane for Beijing at the start of RTW II. Last minute fever is setting in. Passports are in Washington doing the rounds. Uzbekistan this week. Crucial information (for visas) is still not forthcoming from Central Asian operators. Where exactly does the Almaty/Moscow train, which I board in Shymkent, actually cross from Kazakhstan into Russia? Much following up and a large dose of patience is needed, good training for travelling in Western China and Central Asia. On RTW I, I arrived at Udon in Thailand to catch the Tuesday plane to Changmai - only to be told - "Only one passenger (that would be me) so plane will go next Tuesday." (I did not want to spend a week at the B 52 Bomber base, was not patient and did get to Changmai that day). Hopefully all will be accomplished this time. TTFN