What 400 days on the road taught me

Having spent more than 400 days on the road, I am finally back in the comfort of my own home in Sydney, enjoying some much needed downtime, free of worries. Hence, I have been reflecting on my journey over the past year. From meeting new friends along the way to gaining new life experiences. These are the things that I have learnt:

The Misconception that Travelling is Expensive

Of the many people and friends I talk to, this is probably the most common topic that comes up time and time again. I often come across the question  "How can you afford to travel for so long?" and "Oh you must have saved a lot?". Although YES, this is often the case, the opposite is also possible. One can explore the world on a shoestring budget.

When I first planned this adventure, I was of the same mindset. However, once I started to budget properly, I soon realised you don't need a whole lot of money. It all depends on how you choose to travel. I have learnt many things along the way from fellow travellers. In one case, I met a guy who managed to travel on a budget of USD$10 a day!

Sure, while one can spend $200 a night indulging in 5 star luxury, on the other end of the scale one can also find a hostel bed in Cambodia for USD$2 per night. In Laos, you can get your own waterfront bungalow on the Mekong for USD$4-5 a night!

My own piece of the Mekong in Southern Laos for $5 a night!

Border trouble in Turkmenistan!

My journey into Turkmenistan didn't start on a good note:

7am: Wake up and pack my bags
7.30am: Check out of guest house and breakfast
8am: Get ready to leave and head to the Nukus Uzbek-Turkmen border. Find out my bag missing from the reception! The receptionist makes a few calls and find out my bag mistakenly taken my a group of people heading to the Aral Sea! They send my bag on a taxi
9.30am: My bag finally arrived back at the hotel!
10am: Finally get to the border. After digging with my drug cabinet and checking my registration I'm out of Uzbekistan
10.20am: On the Turkmen side, meeting the customs I show them my passport and quoting my "Visa Number" for my transit visa which I picked up in Tashkent. Turkmen customs ask me "Do I have a guide waiting for me or a letter of invitation?". I told him I don't and was told I only needed to quote the visa number from the Turkmen embassy in Tashkent. He ask me to take a seat
11.30am: After waiting more than hour and some more back and forward talk, he finally issues me a transit visa. However, only gave me a 4 day transit visa instead of 5 days. :(
11.35am: After getting my visa, a thorough bag search of my contents is conducted and my laptop and hard drives are checked to make sure no "sensitive" are in my possession which took a good 30 or so minutes.
12.10pm: Thinking it was completed, I leave only to be turn back and asked to wait.
12.25pm: I go into a interrogation room to be asked more questions from my religion to questions about my links to ISIS....
1.15pm: I'm finally out of the embassy!

Although thorough, the Turkmen border control were quite pleasant to deal with and were quite helpful when I asked them questions about how to get to where I wanted to go and prices. With the lack of transport from the Nukus border on the Turkmen side, I was told I would need to walk to the nearest cross road from the border about 2km in and try hitch a ride after the cross road to Konye-Urgench.

Turkmen side of the border. Walking towards to closest crossroad.

The not so tacky Uzbekistan: Bukhara

Moving on from the Samarkand, I headed west towards Bukhara. Once a major trade centre of the the ancient silk road, Bukhara was also known as a religious centre. Today, much of the town remains preserved and one can see reminiscence of the past without the flashiness of Samarkand. I found Bukhara a much more intriguing city. While lacking the sights at the scale and beauty of Samarkand when looked at individually, the sum of it parts is what makes Bukhara a much prettier city in my opinion.

Outside Nadir Devon Begi Madrasah 

Into Uzbekistan! Mixed feelings on Samarkand!

Leaving Shymkent Kazakhstan, I hopped onto a shared taxi towards Chernayeka where I was dropped off on the main highway. Having no tenge to spare, from the main highway it was a 3km hike to the border crossing and probably one of the most chaotic border crossing I've experience Central Asia. For those trying to use this border, careful of changing money here as they are all a bunch of cheats! My advice, over the Uzbek side after leaving customs, walk 1km to the little town and try to change in a shop there and ask around there and then try to hitch a ride into town from a local as everyone seems to be a taxi driver here(taxi are bona fide arsehole here).

Border crossing from the Kazakh side.

Having spent more than 2 months surrounded by mountainous landscape, I was quite excited for some cultural and historical enrichment of the ancient Silk Road and escaping from my short and relatively expensive stay in Kazahkstan. Having read about the great Silk Road city of Samarkand, Buhkhara and Khiva, I must say I was somewhat disappointed by Samarkand to some extend, having been so heavily restored during the early 1900s by the Russians, it felt like something built in the last century as opposed to some centuries ago albeit still magnificent sites. No better example of this can be seen than Resgistan Square in Samarkand surrounded by the 3 majestic madrasahs. One is left to imagine about it's glorious original form.

While there were many sights to see, I found myself picking and choosing and being rather selective where to visit given the entrance fee of going into such places. It didn't help that Uzbekistan liked to charged foreigners five to tenfold what the locals pay.