tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802174732092244002024-03-05T22:48:25.684-08:00Hobo Journey around AsiaWe are hitchhiking from the Czech Republic up to Mongolia (at least we hope so) and back. We are trying to use little money and only buy basic things such as visa and food (and internet). We don’t pay for hotels and transport except for boats and city transport. The trip started in November 2016 and our itinerary depends on weather, visa, dictators, drivers, and coincidence. We are not interested only in places as such, but mostly in people and in what they do and think.Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-1037639901850346332022-04-23T03:36:00.002-07:002022-05-04T07:49:19.905-07:00After the trip
Before I leave this blog on its own, there is one more
entry I’d like to write. A sort of conclusion. I’ve been thinking about it for
a while but I haven’t come up with anything smart to say. So, let’s just make
it a set of answers to a set of questions about the trip people often ask me (or
I ask myself).
Q: Was the trip worth it?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Wasn’t a year too long? Weren’t youZevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-34834586787577966002021-01-12T14:03:00.007-08:002021-05-05T11:26:51.936-07:00Many thanks to our "sponsors" People sometimes ask us if we had sponsors to support our trip. There was nobody who would give us stuff in exchange for praising their products. There were many people, though, who gave us stuff and food in exchange for nothing. We only managed to travel from Europe to Mongolia and back thanks to the generosity of all the drivers who gave us rides, all the people who let us stay in their Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-54264559395235823952021-01-10T15:34:00.005-08:002021-01-11T12:15:35.885-08:00Return to Europe: home is where you can’t be deported fromAt the entrance to Narva, the border town on the Estonian side, we walk
past the familiar blue sign with stars saying that we are entering the European
Union. It’s been almost a year since I’ve last seen this sign. Only now I
realize that our journey is almost over. It’s strange. At the same time, I feel
almost victorious: all the visa rigmarole is over. We don’t need any damn visa
anymore. We Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-67670811839707141542020-09-24T15:17:00.003-07:002020-09-24T15:23:07.161-07:00Hitchhiking through the European Russia: race against the visa clockWe keep going west, crossing the Urals. Many things in the European Russia are the same as
in Siberia, such as the service stations with banyas we love, and stolovayas
with borscht, pelmeni, buckwheat, and Putin on TV. Some things
are different, though. Just like we noticed in Yekaterinburg, there are way
more international shopping chains, motorways, and urban landscape in general. (We
also bumpZevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-36027093517877626002020-09-13T06:58:00.006-07:002020-09-24T15:21:43.729-07:00Hitchhiking the Trans-Siberian: how we traveled by trucks from the lake Baikal to EuropeA giant stone head of Lenin is growing from a block on the sidewalk. We
are walking past the statue there and back again, trying to find a store where
we can buy a map of Russia. We came to downtown Ulan-Ude to get a map and a
data SIM card. Buying a SIM was easy. Buying a map is way harder. No success at
the Post Office and a stationary store. It takes us long to find any bookstore
whatsoever. Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-90095708596346546842020-08-02T07:45:00.006-07:002020-08-13T07:22:34.784-07:00Goodbye to Mongolia, welcome to Russia: the Mongolian paradise at Khövsgöl lake, nice encounters, and a smooth crossing at Altanbulag - Kyakhta <!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-56473873539651373772020-04-23T14:19:00.000-07:002020-05-12T09:55:47.320-07:00A week in Ulaanbaatar: lost backpack, newly found friends, and the downside of vegetarian foodIf most of Mongolia is almost completely empty, it’s because all the people are in Ulaanbaatar. At least that’s what it feels when we reach the capital; it is a huge cluster of buildings and cars – especially cars. Most of the time it feels like a single big traffic jam. Apart from that, Ulaanbaatar looks like any post-Soviet city anywhere in Eurasia, except that there are yurts in the suburbs. Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-72058654938889123102020-03-27T18:02:00.002-07:002020-04-23T13:16:59.947-07:00The first impression of Mongolia: a country full of a whole lot of nothingAs we are approaching the northern border of China, the province of Inner Mongolia lets us know that it indeed has something to do with Mongolia. There is a lot of space and not so many people, signs are written not only in Chinese, but also in some kind of snake characters, and sometimes there are buildings in the shape of yurts (very kitschy and ugly, though). Some drivers even are on their wayZevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-7872363121363751592020-01-11T15:03:00.000-08:002020-01-11T15:03:27.332-08:00The further adventures of illiterate hitchhikers in China: towns of the same name, mysteries of an ancient city, and how we became vandalsThe unfamiliarity of China and of its language can’t be overcome in just a few weeks. You can get used to it, though. Eventually, you are no longer confused about being confused. While we are hitchhiking from the sacred mountain near the city of Xi’an towards the border with Mongolia, we regularly get into situations that we or the other people just don’t understand. It has become a routine for Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-14097017382427825142019-12-25T15:38:00.002-08:002019-12-27T02:54:09.878-08:00Hiking Hua Shan and Heng Shan the Chinese way: stairway to heaven and a printer on the top of a holy mountainWe spent most of the time remaining on our visa hiking holy mountains. You might be wondering why I am writing a blog post about it: hiking is a very ordinary thing, isn’t it? It is the same everywhere in the world. You just find a hill and a path, get some supplies, put on hiking boots and walk up until you’re on the summit, right? But in China, also hiking surprised us. Or, at least hiking holyZevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-54196190969456398332019-08-21T14:59:00.000-07:002019-08-25T12:56:53.269-07:00Phenomenology of China: things just happen, what the hellSqueezed in a truck, we are swallowing miles of China. We are leaving Xinjiang and heading east through the desert. I have a lot of time to think. Phenomenology (I apologize for oversimplifying) describes things in a way they appear to us, ignoring the possible true nature of the things themselves. In philosophy classes, I always struggled to understand this concept. China finally illustrated it Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-60655061552634061042019-01-12T07:04:00.000-08:002019-01-21T12:20:09.851-08:00The Uyghur region of China: curfews, checkpoints, tank barriers, and hospitality of Xinjiang people. Hitchhiking through the oppressed Muslim province
The
driver who gave us a ride–let’s call him Mansur–is
on his way back from a business meeting. Even
though he looks way younger than us, he seems to be quite a
successful businessman. He doesn’t understand very well why anybody
would deliberately hitchhike to another continent just to see what it
looks like. To
helping us,
though, he
doesn’t seem to necessarily need
understanding our Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-33428555925512269532018-11-25T08:02:00.000-08:002018-11-25T08:09:09.385-08:00Through the land of fences: crossing the border from Kazakhstan to China on foot
The
road slowly climbs down the hills and we cross Zharkent, the last
city before China. It
is July 10, 2017, the starting day of our Chinese visa. Arriving
at a specific spot on
the planet on a specific day seems to be quite a challenge while
hitchhiking, but we are now pretty
good at that.
40
km and a couple of tiny villages left. The last driver finds it funny that we
are
hitchhikers and he Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-67061368356854395542018-04-23T12:22:00.003-07:002018-09-07T16:51:37.021-07:00To the Chinese border: the passport fun and the friendly face of Kazakhstan
The summer heat is also creeping to the green Kyrgyz hills. Our Czech families are leaving back home, and it’s time to head further east. We decided to go through Kazakhstan. The Kazakh border crossing to China seems to be a bit more hitchhikers-friendly than the one from Kyrgyzstan. At least the internet wisdom seems to say so. It still will be our hardest border and I am still on pins and Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-7835442047562870362018-01-14T12:29:00.000-08:002018-05-02T05:20:17.567-07:00Our families, mountains and the perks of kidnapping peopleIn downtown Karakol, there is a big statue of a war leader. A particularly interesting thing about it is that it isn't a statue of Lenin.We call the father of Janela - my friend and relative -, and he says he would meet us in a minute. After months in the Middle East and Central Asia, we are not even surprised by the fact that he is willing to interrupt whatever he is doing only to pick us up Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-47908675781185730442017-12-23T12:17:00.000-08:002017-12-25T10:31:33.809-08:00Issyk-Kul lake, truck driver's interpreter and KGB agents
The
Issyk-Kul lake is so vast that you almost can't see the opposite
shore. There is a lot of water in it. One could kind of expect a lot
of water in a lake, but after a month in the dry steppe, I stare at
it as if I saw a mountain of gold. We can bathe as much as we want in
it, and we have hectoliters of drinking water. Our plan is to visit
my (actually Janela's) family at the eastern end of Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-10697908543985139572017-10-31T17:17:00.002-07:002017-12-25T10:22:13.250-08:00People of Kyrgyzstan #2: Metal guitarist and bandits in uniformsThe moment we meet Sasha, he has a particularly bad day. His previous boss owes him several months' salary and he doesn't seem willing to pay him anytime soon - or maybe ever. Sasha of course has no contract because that's not the way things work in Kyrgyzstan. Also, he had to give some of his last money to corrupt cops in the previous village. He didn't do anything wrong but there was no way howZevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-19388815772973143022017-10-17T17:19:00.001-07:002017-10-21T17:12:35.642-07:00People of Kyrgyzstan #1: Central-Asian volunteers and a young poetIf you come to Kyrgyzstan in early summer, it feels like a kitschy paradise: weather is way fresher than in the steppe, and there are green mountains everywhere. And again, thanks to coincidence, we meet interesting people on our very first day. And then again and again.
Stadium for the World Nomad Games
Staying in a school
We don't have to dig our way through the new country on our own Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-61344319088726633682017-10-04T16:52:00.000-07:002017-10-12T13:43:10.356-07:00Kazakhstan: 2500 Kilometers of nothing and a bit of hospitalityWhen you hitchhike in Kazakhstan, most of the time you are in the middle of nowhere. That's because there is a lot of nowhere in Kazakhstan, so it is quite easy to be in the middle of it. Sometimes, you at least drive on a road, though.
How to hitchhike on a field
When our Dutch friends with the old Land Rover leave, we stay alone in the steppe on the outskirts of Beyneu. We need to Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-62005867012472898232017-09-14T10:21:00.000-07:002017-09-14T10:21:12.355-07:00International Roadtrip through the Kazakh Steppe and Car Glass Smashed with a FistThe city of Aktau is basically in a desert. It means that between Aktau and the rest of civilization, there are several hundred kilometers of nothing. Our plan is to cross this nothing with the Land Rover crew we have met at the boat, and to separate in the next town of Beyneu. So we start discovering Kazakhstan together with the Dutch guys and the Swiss girls who also became hitchhikers for now.Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-15423739017714110772017-09-05T10:31:00.000-07:002017-09-05T10:31:33.007-07:00Hippie Camp at the Caspian Ferry Cargo PortA sad thing is that there was a sea between us and Kazakhstan. A sea is pretty bad for hitchhiking. (Even though it is possible to hitchhike boats if you are insistent.) We decided to make an exception and pay for a boat, even though it cost as much money as we usually spend in a month. However, thanks to the people we met on the boat, it was actually worth it.
Three days late for the Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-59962989639679120292017-08-15T07:54:00.000-07:002017-08-15T07:59:42.610-07:00Our Bright Career of Azeri TV ClownsI was never on TV in my life - before entering Azerbaijan. For some reason, hitchhiking around for three weeks, sleeping in shrubs next to roads and simply being foreigners made us appear in three different shows and have our dirty T-shirts and brilliant observations about the universe broadcasted by three different Azeri TV channels.
I doubt it is an accident so chances are that if you Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980217473209224400.post-41986284286467624732017-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:002017-07-21T11:18:58.159-07:00Quick and easy way to get deported from Azerbaijan (or maybe not)Story about a registration (it would make Franz Kafka jealous)
In 2017, getting a visa to Azerbaijan is surprisingly easy for a European. It just takes money and a few clicks online. We had the visa overnight and we believed that as for red tape, that was it. We couldn't be more wrong.
Visa is not the real issue. A so called registration of an address is. It's a true quest Zevlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454416452282163392noreply@blogger.com0