Yearly Archives: 2016
our bar
So the snow had eventually followed me all the way to Shymkent: I stayed in and compiled some of the footage from Turkistan into a short clip: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube No anti-flicker and no effects. Enough work as it was. Then I […]
Olympic Wedding Games
Today I looked around in Shymkent for a while: One thing is clear by now – Kazakh people really love weddings: If there was something like an international competition of weddings, say the Olympic Wedding Games of some sort, I am sure Kazakhstan would be taking home more than one trophy. And maybe even all […]
davay!
Saw the Caboose today: It had been a month since I had left her. “Come on, let’s go, dude”, she said. Or maybe she even said: “davay!” But I wasn’t ready to go just yet. This was because my visa for Uzbekistan was only valid after December 10th. But it was also because I felt […]
those who like golden things
When I woke up, my head hurt. There had been a lot of noise in the hotel during the night, and with “noise” I mean the kind of noise sex workers make when they want their clients to get it over with. It was depressing. I left the hotel and pulled the Caboose through some […]
king of the hill
I had to leave early in the morning, because it was going to be a long way today. So I left the house of the friendly Azeri family at around eight: Walked past a little shop: And then I was out on the highway again: It turned out to be hills all day. Just up […]
outshot
The morning was sunny and the sky was blue: As I was leaving Turar Ryskulov, I walked past this gentleman preparing a huge pot of plov: And it took me a while until I understood that it was for a restaurant he was about to inaugurate: He asked me if I wanted to stay, but […]
soul fooomnomnomnom
I had bought some vodka the night before: And some pickles to go along with the V: Then I went about switching the inner tube on my tire: And I found the evil-doer that had stabbed it: Cursed be thee, evil-doer! Then I wandered around town: Had dinner in this place called “Soul Food”, a […]
autumn to a pool
Woke up in Zoe’s living room: It had been a warm night under the Mecca poster next to the oven: Zoe was in a great mood, and so was I: We hung out for a while, having tea and talking about the ways of the world, then at around noon I finally got on my […]
super heroes
In the morning the dude who had told me the way to the hotel showed up: His name was Yerig. It was snowing outside, and I didn’t really feel like walking: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube So I stayed in and took some selfies […]
hole in the sky
When I woke up, the pilgrims had already left. So I said good-bye to Katya and her husband, the owners of the pilgrim guesthouse: Then I left the village that was called Aisha Bibi after the mausoleum: One time I saw a single dog on the road: I still wonder where it was going. Another […]
killing fun with pilgrims
Left Taraz and my perfect hotel today. And what do you know, the city actually seemed a bit bigger now that I was walking through it. There was a burger place: A church: A mosque: And an amusement park: The snow had all but disappeared, and it felt like autumn again: When I passed the […]
hehe, tomatoes
Stayed in. Had a bunch of tomatoes: Watched some Beavis & Butt-head cartoons. Made a video about why the DJI Osmo sucks: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Living the good life.
a border run and a donkey vehicle
I was in Kazakhstan on the 15-day visa-free program. And my 15 days were about to run out. So I hopped into a cab and went to the border at Grodikovo: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Luckily, it was very close to Taraz: When […]
Chanel
Had the best hotel room ever. Well, it wasn’t exactly a room. It was more like an apartment: An apartment with a bedroom: …and another bedroom: …and an awesome hot shower: And for some reason the place was less expensive than the regular hotel that I had looked up before. Oh, and it had the […]
looming loo
The sky was strange this morning: Approaching. Looming. Foreboding. Made for an interesting time-lapse though: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube (I wish I could turn this into an ever-looping gif.) There was not much to see besides the clouds: One time a sign that […]
octopi
Woke up in my room and saw the light shining through the window: Suddenly everything felt a little less spooky than before. The dead dog was still there though. I was told that the necessary “tools” to remove his body were missing. I had breakfast with Hamzat, a Russian of Chechen origin: Really cool guy. […]
sleep, God’s creature, sleep
Got going in the early morning: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube I was looking at white mountains in the distance: And at a snowy expanse at my side: At one point, I ran into Chalymzhan, who was driving a herd of sheep next to […]
from the suite to the white line
At some point I realized that I was actually staying in what was a suite in this Soviet-style guesthouse. I had a giant bathroom: A room with some couches: And a bedroom: It was easy to imagine a Communist Party bigwig some thirty or forty years ago staying here, enjoying the amenities of the suite. […]
WTF snow?!
When I woke up, I was able to feel the physical dimensions of my skull. So I decided to stay put. After a while I went out and played with some dogs outside: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Felt better after that. Then I […]
just say no
The time-lapse thingy from the night before turned out okay: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube I got on the road at around eight, and I took a shadow selfie when I did: …which was later outdone by a bunch of people on social media. […]