The videos document my pilgrimage from Indonesia to the African continent by land (no airplane!). The route: 1.) Indonesia: Traveling through Sumatran Mountains and Prehistoric Sites 2.) Malaysia: Meeting with the Aborigines of the Malay Peninsula 3.) Thailand: Tracing the Southeast Asian Ancient Empires 4.) Laos: Experiencing the Lao-China Railway 5.) China: Backpacking the Tibetan Plateau to the Edge of the Silk Road 6.) Kazakhstan: First Contact with the Central Asians 7.) Uzbekistan: Pilgrimage in the Land of the Timurids 8.) Tajikistan: Lost in the Fenn Mountains 9.) Afghanistan: Visiting Afghanistan after the Taliban Takeover 10.) Iran: Surrounded by the Ancient Civilization of Persia 11.) UAE: Short Transit in Futuristic Cities 12.) Saudi Arabia: Pilgrimage in the Holy Land of the Muslims 13.) Jordan: Catching a Glimpse of Jerusalem 14.) Egypt: Ending in the Land of Pharaohs
Curated by: Bang Jago (174 videos)
On the 97th day I crossed the border from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, a landlocked country surrounded by five other landlocked countries. Uzbekistan is the opposite of Indonesia that's surrounded by seas and oceans. From Shymkent I passed through the grasslands for 100 km to Zhibek Zholy, the border post. At Kazakhstan immigration I was interviewed for quite a long time. My cellphone was checked and I was asked many questions ranging from family, work, to religion. I did everything with ease and a smile until it ended with a fist bump between me and the immigration officer. My passport finally got a Kazakhstan exit stamp. With this experience, I became increasingly grateful for my experience of crossing the China-Kazakhstan border smoothly. It is said that usually the process/level of complexity is more severe and takes much longer. The next hurdle was entering Uzbekistan. I was a little worried because I was bringing items that supposedly shouldn't be brought into Uzbekistan (please Google it). This time the officer took my passport for quite a long time. An hour later the officer returned to the desk and stamped my passport. Hopefully my passport has not been modified. How could I not be a little paranoid. After I changed to my Uzbekistan SIM card, all my accounts were logged out of my cellphone. Some need to resubmit verification to relog-in. I only looked at the bright side. From immigration, there was a bus that took me directly to the city center of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan which is also the largest city in Central Asia. Hostels here prefer to be paid in USD. Luckily they also accept Kazakhstan Tenge at the middle exchange rate. It seems that people here still did not believe in their own currency (som) which has experienced extreme devaluation. It is said that the 10,000 note was only issued 5 years ago as the largest denomination to respond to inflation. Now the 200,000 denomination is the largest. Nowadays, Uzbekistan is on the right track and the economy has stabilized. The plan is that for the next week I will stay in Tashkent to process my visa. If there is something interesting I will continue telling my story again. ___ Sumatra Stage 1 Route (DONE!): Jakarta - Bandar Lampung - Baturaja - Lahat - Pagar Alam - Bengkulu - Lebong Tandai - Kerinci - Jambi - Kuala Tungkal - Batam - Johor Bahru ASEAN Mainland Stage 2 Route (DONE!): Johor Bahru - Kuala Tahan - Kota Bharu - Su-Ngai Kolok - Nakhon Si Thammarat - Chaiya - Nakhon Pathom - Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima - Phimai - Nong Khai - Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang - Chiang Rai - Chiang Mai - Pai - Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Boten - Kunming, China China Stage 3 Route (DONE!): Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La - Shambala - Litang - Chengdu - Leshan - Chengdu - Xi'an - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi - Almaty, Kazakhstan Stage 4 Central Asia Route: Almaty - Shymkent - Tashkent - Nukus - Muynak - Turtkul - Khiva - Bukhara - Samarkand - Tashkent - Khujand - Fann Mountains - Dushanbe - Kunduz, Afghanistan *Follow my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/obeysianipar/) for direct messages **Message me for sponsorship --- Music Credits: And Awaken - Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.