We travelled though Xinjiang Province, which is sparcely populated, and has been under Chinese rule since the time of the early Silk Road. We awoke at 9:00 a.m. to a snow covered scene with cloud to the ground and temperatures around -5 C. Soon we were in Urumqi, a large and expanding city and a […]

It was another crisp and snow covered night when our train left Almaty. We had been able to board more than an hour before departure and, as other long distance trains left before ours, the waiting room was virtually deserted. We realised why when our empty carriages were brought into the station. There were only

Today we are based in Almaty at the centrally located Hotel Otrar. It is a modernised Soviet-era building and it is facing Panfilov Park, in fact we can see this from our room. It was -5 C with light snow when we set off to explore the Zhibek Zholy, a pedestrianised part of the city

We have travelled overnight for a good 22 hours to arrive in Almaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata, in Kazakhstan. We left Tashkent yesterday on train 369, Tashkent to Novosibirsk service, and after only 25 minutes of travelling we endured 4 hours of security and immigration checks at the Uzbek-Kazakhstan border. The dull proceedings were enlivened

We had a leisurely walk across town this morning to find the stone Earthquake Memorial. Tashkent was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1966. The memorial is very simple but poignant. On a block of basalt is the date and on another face of the cube a clock showing the time of the earthquake. The

Today we indulged in some train spotting when we went to Temir Yo’l Texnikasi Muzeyi or Railway Museum. Here we found a good collection of steam, diesel and electric locomotives dating from the 1930s to 1970s. Where the cab door was open one could climb on board. There were small locomotives for shunting and some

We moved on from Samarkand to the sprawling city of Tashkent. We left Samarkand on the 10:34 train, leaving the city shrouded in mist with a cool 5 C compared to yesterday’s 16 C. The gloom never really lifted until we reached our destination. Our train used the valleys to cross the low mountain range, known

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning heralded by birdsong. Samarkand is one of the most ancient cities of the world and a rare one as it has been fought over by three of histories greatest generals; Alexander the Great, Ghenkis Khan and Timur. The ancient part of Samarkand is situated on a hilly area

We are in a small hotel called The Malika Prime which is located in parkland overlooking the Gur-Emir-Amir Mausoleum which is the burial place of Timur, his two sons and two grandsons. It has a fluted azure dome. Close by is the statue of Amir Timur. He played a major role in forming Samarkand as

We had a last look at the old city of Khiva and managed to get to some sights that we had missed on yesterday’s visit. In particular we saw a timber and mud brick minaret by the west gate which gave us great views across the old city and along the western section of the