Monthly Archives: October 2025

Bukhara lies on the same latitude (40° N) as Beijing, Yerevan, Ankara, and Madrid (Vienna = 48° N). At the end of October, it’s warm, but the sun can still be intense, and it’s somewhat cool at night. In Beijing, … Continue reading →

The breakfast was arranged beautifully and on the other table elder Arabs took theirs seats with one woman covered up to the eyes. From time to time peered over to see who she will get food inside. But she did … Continue reading →

The night offered no opportunity for sleep, as it was less a train ride than a border crossing. After the Kazakh checkpoint, it was only a short distance to the other side, where the same procedure began. The same procedure? … Continue reading →

After a completely normal night on a train, we arrived at Arys 2. The station impressed me. There were a few people offering food to passengers and a small building with an entrance but no exit. So I had to … Continue reading →

That night, I used my thin sleeping bag again, as the blanket looked like a bedspread. I think it’s worth bringing, even if you’re a backpacker (which I currently am) trying to optimize your pack. I wasn’t sure whether to … Continue reading →

Almaty would have been another stopover to meet a friend (who is now in Italy). Ultimately, I had planned too tightly to stay there for more than one night, as I needed three trains to Bukhara instead of one, and … Continue reading →

This day is crucial for me, as this is my first trip to an unfamiliar country, and it involves a long bus journey that has been shrouded in mystery ever since I first heard about it. So I’m just hoping … Continue reading →

It was a pleasant night; my neighbors were silent. Since China has only one time zone, sunrise is at 8:30 a.m. (sunset: 7:13 p.m., compared to Burgas or Rome—at the same latitude: 7:30 a.m.–6:15 p.m.). Ben had told me that … Continue reading →

Good news for me: The arrival time was 8:55 a.m., not 8:55 p.m.! I had used amap to determine the stopovers on the way, and after 24 hours, I more and more suspected we might arrive earlier. This morning, the … Continue reading →

The first time something inside me told me it was time to get up was at 3 a.m. I attribute this partly to the fact that I seemed to have been sleeping soundly quite early. But when it’s all about … Continue reading →