Continue reading Travel then and now: Travel to the USSR and GDR

Travel then and now: Travel to the USSR and GDR originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Corruption: The world's 10 worst countries

Continue reading Ten most corrupt countries of the world

Ten most corrupt countries of the world originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AirBaltic expands, spruces up originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Cycling the Silk Road

Cycling the Silk Road originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ship graveyards from around the world originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Travel Read: 100 Places Every Woman Should Go

Travel Read: 100 Places Every Woman Should Go originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Like so many expats, Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi moved abroad right out of college. But since that time, he's had about the most atypical expat experience you can imagine.

He played baseball in Uzbekistan for their national team, and was kicked out of the country by the KGB for criticizing the government in an AP piece he wrote. He moved to Mongolia and become the leading rebounder in the Mongolian Basketball League, where he was nicknamed the "Mongolian Rodman." He then lived in Russia for ten years, where he helped found the deviously entertaining expat rag, the eXile, a bi-weekly which specializes in spewing vitriol at the deserving, and-- take note-- it is not for the faint of heart.

Personally, I've read almost everything he's written for the last ten years, and what I love as much as anything are his descriptions of his life abroad. Realistic verging on depressing, Taibbi discusses the highs-- in every sense of the word-- as well as the lows, of life as an expatriate:

"The expatriate mentality is a tough thing to explain easily. Any affluent or even middle-class American who renounces the good life of sushi delivery and 50-channel cable television to relocate permanently to some third-world hole usually has to be motivated by a highly destructive personality defect. Either that, or something about home creates psychological demons that in turn create the urge for radical escape.

"I'd moved overseas straight out of college and been a classic expatriate ever since. I had all the symptoms: periodic unsuccessful attempts to repatriate, a tendency to try to make grandiose foreign adventures compensate for a total inability to accumulate money; bad teeth; unhealthy personal relationships, etc. I'd been aware for years that my passion for uprooting and completely changing my lifestyle and even my career was like a drug addiction-- not only did I get off on it, but I needed to do it fairly regularly just to keep from getting the shakes."

Continue reading Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi on life as an expat

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi on life as an expat originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Uzbekistan

Location: Telling you it's north of Turkmenistan is probably not very helpful. Check the map.

Capital: Tashkent

In a nutshell: The most populous country in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is perenially cited by international watchdog groups as having one of the world's worst human rights records. Long-time president Islom Karimov has been "victorious" in several dubious elections, in which he has garnered around 90% of the vote. According to Wikipedia, in 2000, "The sole opposition candidate, Abdulhasiz Jalalov, admitted that he entered the race only to make it seem democratic and he voted for Karimov." Hmm, I'll admit something about that does sound fishy... Cotton and natural gas are lucrative industries in Uzbekistan; still, most of the population remains poor.

How you know it: Led the league in human rights abuses two of the last three years.

Interesting factoid: It is one of two "double-landlocked" countries in the world, meaning every country bordering it is also landlocked. Liechtenstein is the other, trivia buffs.

Make sure to check out: Though getting a visa to Uzbekistan is no picnic, the country is worth a visit particularly for those ancient cities along the Silk Road. Take a look especially at the 2,750-year-old city of Samarkand, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

More from this series: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan.

Keeping the 'Stans Straight, part 5: Uzbekistan originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There is nothing quite like a Russian outdoor market.

Imagine a place where produce and goods from the largest country in the world come together in a bounty of pleasure. Throw in tastiness from the former soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucuses, and you've got a veritable cornucopia of mouth-watering, eye-popping goods which make Moscow markets some of the very best in the world.

I've spent hours wandering through their spectacular array of eye candy, marveling over Siberian tomatoes, uzbek melons, dried fruit from Kazakhstan, hard cheese from Georgia, honey from Azerbaijan, and more. Man, it's unfathomable how people ever went hungry in the former Soviet Union!

While most of these markets do not appear in your typical Moscow guidebook, they are most definitely worth a visit if you have the time. Just wandering around will give you a feeling for the breadth of the former USSR and the myriad of cultures and regional dishes spread throughout.

The Moscow Times has recently published a great article detailing Moscow's very best outdoor markets and what one can expect when visiting. If you've got any type of palate whatsoever, reading through their description of goods for sale will make your mouth water up. As it did mine. Mmmm...

Moscow's best outdoor markets originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kazakhstan Replacing Cyrillic Alphabet with Latin One originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just two decades after celebrating its 2500 year anniversary, the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan has just celebrated its 2750th birthday. Since the celebrations marking two and a half millenia, archaeologists have now discovered texts which show that the trading city on the Silk Route is actually older than previously thought.

The most recent birthday of the ancient capital of the empire of Tamerlane was celebrated in the imposing but beautiful square called the Registan. Local boy made good, Uzbek President Islam Karimov claimed "This is a city which you see once and dream to see again."

Maybe that's the case, but as security police lined the Registan, the good people of Samarkand were largely removed from the events celebrating their historic home.

News and pic via the BBC.

Happy Birthday to Samarkand...Again originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I'm a big fan of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and over the years have loved strolling through the official website to check out possible places to visit.

In the past, the website only had a handful of photographs to give you an idea of what to expect from a location. But now, they are moving with the times.

WorldHeritageTour.org has set up a few dozen Quicktime panographics where visitors can look up, look down, and spin around 360 degrees. Very cool! It really gives you a sense of what it is like to actually stand in front of an exotic location so very far away.

Click here to check out a world map of the locations they have shot so far. I particularly liked the ruins of Afghanistan, the Sphinx in Egypt, and lovely Samarkand.

According to the website, they've only completed 19 percent of "all 830 registered sites." The site currently functions as a nonprofit, so if you like what you see and want to help them complete their job, be sure to make a donation.

Awesome UNESCO Panos originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Word for the Travel Wise (12/10/06) originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Word for the Travel Wise (09/03/06) originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 03 Sep 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Amsterdam
• Ireland
• Costa Rica
• India
• Vietnam

• Middle East & Northern Africa
• The Mediterranean Coast
• The United States
• Latin America & the Caribbean
• States of the former U.S.S.R.
  

SmarterTravel: Best & Worst Travel Destinations for Women originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the pantheon of truly bloodthirsty leaders, the name Tamerlane hardly strikes recognition in the western world (indeed, as I'm typing this on Microsoft Word, the spell-check dictionary fails to recognize the name). Yet, historians claim this sadistic warlord was responsible for an incredible 17 million deaths as his nomadic warriors hacked and decapitated their way through much of the Central Asia in the late 14th century. His calling card was a gigantic pyramid made from the heads of those whose town he just sacked.

Like all great conquerors, Tamerlane built some rather impressive cities thanks to the loot his army returned home to Uzbekistan with. Fortunately, much of this legacy still remains standing today, waiting to woo the few tourists who venture this far off the beaten path.

Although travel through this region is not the easiest in the world, following in the footsteps of Tamerlane offers some very fascinating rewards. Samarkand, for example, was Tamerlane's capital. Just check out the blue tile work in the above photo! This place really blew me away when I first visited. It's hundreds of years old and still as awe-inspiring and mesmerizing as when it was first built.

Red Corner: Tamerlane's Uzbek Legacy originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 16 Jul 2006 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Central Asia Refresher originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 16 Jun 2006 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spare a moment for the fisherman of the Aral Sea.

50 years ago they pulled 50,000 tons of fish out of this body of water annually. Today, the water is all but gone and the fish replaced with camels.

Located mostly in Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once one of our planet's largest bodies of water--until, that is, the Soviets started dabbling with Mother Nature. In the 1960s they began tapping into the rivers that fed the Aral and diverting their waters eastward to grow cotton in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. These were not natural cotton growing regions; they were mostly desert. But the Soviet decided to force the issue nonetheless.

Over the next 30 years, the sea shrank to half its size, causing the salinity of its waters to increase to the point where fish could no longer survive. By the 1970s they had all died off. Flounders--which thrive in high salinity--were eventually introduced to the waters, but this wasn't enough. So much of the sea had disappeared that one can stand on old docks and see nothing but sand, camels, and ships marooned in the desert. In fact, many young people who live in Aral City, once a thriving fishing town on the shoreline, have never even seen the ocean it has receded so far away.

I tried visiting about ten years ago to check it out for myself, but every Uzbek I met told me how the region was rife with disease and airborne toxins blowing through the desert.

Although the Aral Sea catastrophe is truly one of mankind's greatest ecological disasters, there is now a slim sliver of hope. The LA Times is reporting that a new dam has recently been built on the Kazak side. It has raised the water level and fishermen are starting to dream again. But a dream it will remain. There are no plans or money to increase the dam to a size which would return the waters to the levels they once were. The Aral Sea will remain dead and lifeless for many years to come and the bizarre sight of fishing vessels buried in sand dunes will continue to amaze.

Red Corner: The Aral Sea(less) originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 24 May 2006 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Word for the Travel Wise (05/07/06) originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 07 May 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Until just recently, Central Asia had all but disappeared from the world's consciousness. Swallowed up by the Soviet Union in the early part of the 20th century, places like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan simply vanished anonymously from the world stage.

After gaining their independence towards the end of the century and struggling through a period of economic hardship, however, the 'Stans of the former USSR are back in the spotlight thanks to oil deposits and large Muslim populations.

Back in the spotlight, you ask? When was a place like Kazakhstan ever in the spotlight?

Central Asia was actually a major center of conflict and interest in the 19th century as Russia and Britain fought over the region in a long running series of affairs known as the Great Game. While this conflict has mostly been forgotten by the modern world, one amazing author has struggled to keep it alive through a series of commanding books that are some of the finest historical reads you'll ever come across. Author Peter Hopkirk has written a handful of novels dealing with the Great Game which are now, according to The Telegraph (UK), being re-released due to increased interest in the region.

Hopkirk's finest work, appropriately titled The Great Game, is such an amazing read involving spies, espionage, and double-agents that it is almost impossible to accept the fact that everything mentioned is true. If you're planning on traveling through the region, be sure to read it; Hopkirk referenced nearly ever place I visited in Uzbekistan. If you become a fan, and you will, you can move on to Foreign Devils on the Silk Road and Trespassers on the Roof of the World-two books whose alluring titles should whet your appetite for more.

Red Corner: Peter Hopkirk's Central Asia comes Alive originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.