Category: Asia by Land
Sojourn to Nissa
Yesterday we got in the 4×4 and took an off road expeditionary tour of Nissa,which was once a Parthian capital in the 3rd century BC....
Central Asian Money Habits
One of the strangest, and most frustrating things about traveling in Central Asia has been the double standards related to costs. As...
Visiting the Gates of Hell, Darvaza Turkmenistan
Dante readers beware, the “Gates of Hell” are very real. They are located in the middle of a vast, uninhabitable desert (not...
Nohur The Last Call to Prayer
The small and relatively untouched village of Nohur rests in an unmarked valley of the Kopet Dag Mountains, which make up the border of...
Statistics from Shanghai to Ashgabat
Originally, the trip was planned as a Shanghai to Ashgabat adventure. Well, we have an announcement to make—we have decided to keep on...
Driving Through the Mountains of Uzbekistan
We left mid morning for the lake, in Tashkent province, about an hour and a half north-east of the capital. The drive was peaceful and from...
Funding the Escape
Naturally, some of you are wondering how we can afford to be unemployed and yet pay for train tickets all over the continent. Here is how I...
The Longest, Most Corrupt Train in Central Asia
After sleeping in the Almaty-1 train station we boarded our first Kazakh train at 5:12am bound for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The train arrived...
Doing the Math
The Statistics Are In 7 Cities 4 Trains 3 Countries 2 Buses 2 broken backpacks 1 Car $ 464 USD Per person (3,175 RMB)* 11,896 miles...
The Beatles are Huge in Kazakhstan
We arrived in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, at 6:00am after 36 hours on the train. We immediately realized how screwed we were...
Packing for Several Months on the Road
Top Five Things I Wish We’d Brought • More carabineers. So far, carabineers and rope have been two of the most useful items in my pack....
Kashgar to Urumqi: The World’s Longest Backtrack
Having decided months ago to avoid going through Kyrgyzstan because of reported troubles foreigners were having at the Chinese-Kyrgyz...
The Hostel Reviews
The Best and the Worst – so far. Here are a list of the best places along the route and their contact information, we highly recommend...
Getting a visa for Kazakhstan from China
We applied for Kazakh transit visas and found the process amazingly easy (perhaps because we are comparing it to the process of getting an...
Cycling for Adventure Travel
As every good adventurer knows, a good companion makes all the difference. At AbandonTheCube we revere those who have gone before us and...
A Visa-Related Snag
Having completed all the necessary paperwork, acquired mini photos of myself and located my passport I set off to the Uzbek consulate in...
Leg Cramps at 2000m
In the morning we set off again to find the complete opposite of the previous day’s hike. The paths were congested with people and...
Yellow Mountain Fever
We returned today from a four day trip to HuangShan, Yellow Mountain, in Anhui province, China. Nine Dragon Waterfall On Friday the 13th we...
Taking the train on Friday the 13th
Today we’re heading to HuangShan, yellow mountain, in Anhui province. This is the most famous of the five sacred mountains of China,...
International Visas
As the trip planning progresses I find myself at the stage of applying for international visas, a process wrought with vagueness and...
The Problem of the Borders
In planning the trip from Shanghai to Ashgabat, I’m encountering some chatter online about difficulties previous travelers have faced...
Shanghai to Ashgabat, the Plan
As many of you know, I was laid off from my financial job on New Year’s Eve (classy timing). But this upsetting twist has been an...
How Much Would it Cost to Travel for a Year?
How much would it cost to travel in Asia for a year? This thought crossed my mind today as I was sitting in my office. Like being back...
Whats That Floating in the Pot?
We recently moved into a new apartment because there were “health issues” with our last place. Walking around the Shanghai...
Shurii Castle and Kokousai Street
Abandon the Cube explores Okinawa Island and the wonders it holds.
