Category: Exploring

A day in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital

After a long day of traveling, I was finally in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. I rented a place through AirBnB. It turned out to be an apartment in a very central location in a Soviet-era building. Great experience for a two night stay. My first impression of Dushanbe was positive....

A visit to the Urgut Bazaar

About 30km outside of Samarkand lies the village of Urgut. It is know for the big bazaar, which supposedly is especially big on Sundays. After asking around for a while, I found myself in a shared taxi to Urgut and from there in a Marushtka to the bazaar. It was indeed...

Samarkand: former capital of the Timurid Empire

Samarkand would be my last stop in Uzbekistan and I was really looking forward to my visit as it is probably the best known Uzbekistani destination. After the delay on the train ride, I did not want to waste further time and left for the Registan, Samarkand’s premier landmark. Samarkand used to...

Bukhara: onwards on the Silk Road

After a very pleasant stay in Khiva, my next stop would be (as is the case with 90% of travelers in Khiva) Bukhara, one of the main cities of the Silk Road and a historical center of commerce and religion. The drive would be a long one and my hostel...

Khiva: my first stop on the Great Silk Road

After visiting the Savitsky Museum, I wasn’t keen on spending much more time in Nukus. I packed my bags and headed for the shared taxi stand to get to Urgench and then Khiva. Maybe this is the right time for a few words on the transport system in Uzbekistan. It...

The Golden Temple in Amritsar

While I really wanted to visit during my trip to India in 2008, I did not get around to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar and it has been on my travel bucket list ever since. Hence I was very happy I would finally get to see it this time....

The border closing ceremony between India and Pakistan at Wagah

For my one day stay in Amritsar, I had two things on my list – see the Golden Temple as well as the impressive border closing ceremony between the two arch-enemies India and Pakistan. Definitely ambitious for the limited amount of time I had but I figured doable. After leaving...

A Sunday afternoon stroll along the Kallang River to Bishan

The past weekends have been very sunny (and well… hot) and we used the opportunity to do some exploring in our (extended) neighborhood. We’ve walked/ran a couple of times along Kallang River. While the riverbanks haven’t been upgraded as nicely as Rochor Canal, Kallang River is much longer and wider...

A weekend in Vientiane

A few weeks ago I was playing around with Kayak, looking for cheap weekend getaways. The usual options below the SGD300 mark are Indonesia, Malaysia and maybe Thailand. This time however I was surprised that both Vientiane and Luang Prabang popped with with Lao Airlines. I ended up booking Vientiane...

Hoi An food

Who doesn’t like Vietnamese food. Famous for the tasty noodle soups, Pho, I appreciate it for being  less reliant on deep fried dishes than other South-East Asian cuisines. Apparently, Central Vietnam is renowned even within Vietnam for its cuisine and I can confirm that the food is indeed really, really...