Sirocco Overland 2013 Expedition: UK - Vladivostok (Siberia) Adventure

[Dan Grec]

Wow, absolutely stunning photos.

I showed them to my girlfriend and she said "Is that Land Rover a time machine or what?".

Please keep posting, I'm riveted!

Thanks,
-Dan

 

[mervifwdc]

Stunning photography my friend! Keep on rolling!

 

[Scott Brady]

Absolutely first-class work. This place looks incredible.

 

[grimbo]

I'm loving this trip and your imagery, I think it's the fact you've tackled it during the winter which has added the extra sense of adventure

 

[Sirocco]

Stunning photography my friend! Keep on rolling!

Thanks Merv, that means a lot to me coming from you

Absolutely first-class work. This place looks incredible.

Its a pretty cool place. I think you would love Georgia Scott, very welcoming place with little to no hassle and some great mountain roads. Fly-Drive?

I'm loving this trip and your imagery, I think it's the fact you've tackled it during the winter which has added the extra sense of adventure

To cover the distance and see some of the world we needed to be out all seasons. I don't think we thought about it too much as we camp at home all year around. We have missed out on many things in Europe though by it being winter, but like you say it does add to some of the photos!

We crossed over into Russia yesterday and all is going well. We should be in Kazakhstan in about 5-6 days depending on what we do about a spare part. I need a new viscous fan unit (its been welded for now) either sent out or sent from Moscow but its 7 days. Not sure quite what to do yet. We will figure it out.

Keep you all updated soon.

G

 

[Gren_T]

Hi Both, great blog I love the aurora photos.
regards
Gren

 

[Sirocco]

To quickly update you we are in Khiva on the old silk road in Uzbekistan.

We passed through Western Kazakhstan in 4 days on some truly horrible roads. The Rus-Kaz border was not a problem but the Kaz-Uzb border took 7 hours of waiting and that was after moving up the queue by a long way by being 'tourists'. Locals had been there for 2 nights! We spent the 1st night camped 30km from the border and then we drove 100km along desert tracks to the southern shoreline of the Aral Sea where we camped the 2nd night. We saw many snakes and a desert fox but no people. Carrying 150L of diesel and 70L of water from Kazakhstan did us well for the duration as there was nowhere to get fuel for 100km to the border (kaz) and over 300km on the Uzbek side.

We are now in Central Asia and there is no turning back!

We decided to get a shipment sent from the UK to Dushanbe in Tajikistan which will have the viscous fan and a few other parts (along with tea bags) which we hope to pick up by the end of the month.

I have a lot of great photos to post when Facebook and the dial-up connection here lets me.

G

 

[Sirocco]

A photo album on Western Russia can be found here on our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.645905928768514.1073741836.161256027233509/

Western Kazakhstan album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.645953048763802.1073741837.161256027233509&type=3

 

[Scott Brady]

Its a pretty cool place. I think you would love Georgia Scott, very welcoming place with little to no hassle and some great mountain roads. Fly-Drive?

I need to go back. We mainly explored the Black Sea coast and Tbilisi before driving into Azerbaijan. I remember the people being super friendly.

 

[Sirocco]

I remember the people being super friendly.

They are worlds apart in this region of the world. So much so it almost makes you sceptical

Photos from Uzbekistan (So far) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.646011738757933.1073741838.161256027233509&type=1

and a short review on the Meindl Desert Boot: http://siroccoverland.com/blog/

G

 

[Steve UK]

and a short review on the Meindl Desert Boot: http://siroccoverland.com/blog/

G

Fantastic pictures and reports, thanks for the boot review too. Just bought a pair this week for a short trip to Africa.

Cheers, take care.

Steve

 

[Sirocco]

Fantastic pictures and reports, thanks for the boot review too. Just bought a pair this week for a short trip to Africa.

Cheers, take care.

Steve

Should be good for Africa Steve as long as it is not too hot. I'm finding that wearing some open footwear in towns and then the boots driving and on long road days is a good combination.

G

 

[Wainiha]

Beautiful pictures.

 

[Sirocco]

Beautiful pictures.

Thanks


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So now seems like a good time to tell you what I have spent most of my time doing.

I have been fighting with the Uzbekistan internet for the last 2 weeks in developing the website. It has taken me approximately 20 hours through 3 historical cities (Khiva/Bukhara/Samakand) to put together a gallery and a way of purchasing prints direct from us for you to print in whatever format you require (A3, A1, Canvas, post card etc) this way we can (hopefully) do it on the road and are not complicating things by adding a print service. Its more work for the customer but I just dont know how we could do it internationality from the road.

So here you go: http://siroccoverland.com/online-photo-shop/ :wings:

simple quick unique and cheap

Hope everyone is enjoying EXPO 2013

 

[Sirocco]

Sorry for the delay guys. Internet is not so great in Central Asia!

So some photos are in order I guess. I seem to be missing Uzbekistan so will start with those 1st: