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The
Oriental Caravan's
Postcard from
Tokyo to London
September 2007
Click on any image to see it
enlarged |
All images copyright
© Phil Colley Photography |
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Happy man |
Some of the going in China got
rough... |
Uighur girl,
Urumqi |
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Somewhere along
the Gansu corridor |
Cyclist, Hami |
Arrival in Zhengzhou |
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Young boy, Hami |
Commuting home, Hami |
Young man, Zhangye |
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Road-side stop, near Xian |
Chinese settler in Urumqi, |
Traffic jam, near Xian |
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Girl, Zhangye |
Happy man in situ |
Passing through the Great Wall of China, Gansu |
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Chinese chess, Zhangye |
Camouflaged
cyclist, Hami |
Kazakh yurts near Lake Sairam, |
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Sunset precedes a hellish night time drive to Almaty,
Kazakhstan
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Uzbeki driver, Uzbekistan |
The road to Samarqand... |
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Registan Square, Samarqand |
Samarqand |
Courtyard of Kalan Mosque, Bukhara |
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Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar in
Merv (Mary)
- once the largest city in the world, Turkmenistan |
Merv |
Negotiating bovine traffic, Merv |
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Bizarre architecture in a bizarre city, Ashgabat. |
One of many gold statues of megalomaniac Sapurat Niyazov (aka
Turkmenbashi), recently deceased President of Turkmenistan.
Learn
more... |
A giant 'book' statue of Niyazov's strange political
testament, the Rukhnama, Compulsory, though not exactly compulsive,
reading for Turkmenis the book opens up
periodically to play a video of the ex-President's life. Study of the book
comprises a third of the country's education system. Available to read
online
here... |
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The Niyazov Olympic Stadium awaiting the day... |
Niyazov's successor - Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov |
Changing money on the black market, Ashgabat |
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Phil's birthday celebrated in Ashgabat |
Beautiful baby poster, 'Russian Bazaar', Ashgabat |
Camel's pose one of the main road hazards in Turkmenistan -
particularly after sunset when they lie down on the still warm tarmac to
sleep |
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Car and tractor |
Guitar at sunrise, awaiting the Caspian ferry at
Turkmenbashi port |
After a long, dusty night sleeping under a car cover in a
flowerbed we finally board the ferry, which also takes oil freight
trains |
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Caspian water snake |
On board the ferry
across the caspian |
Sunset over the
Caspian |
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Azerbaijan's
former President Heydar Aliyev with de rigueur dictator's moustache.
Now succeeded by his son, Ilham. |
Azeri pastures |
Old houses, Tbilisi, Georgia |
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Tobacco drying, Samsun |
Down on the duck farm with some muck-spreading friends in Samsun |
Turkey's beautiful Black Sea coast |
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Tower
block, Belgrade, Serbia |
Presque la... France |
Bulletin board, Ivanic Grad, Croatia |
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Roads already
travelled... Our arrival in Paris coincided, coincidentally, with the
arrival of the 2007 Peking to Paris Vintage Car Rally almost 10 years to the
day since
Phil's participation in the same event |
About
to board the ferry across the Channnel. |
Time for a quick
cup of tea with LIz. And then home... |
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That's all for now.
Wishing you a safe
and happy autumn.
With best wishes,
from Phil
and all aboard
The Oriental Caravan
28/09/07 |
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Trips for 2008...
Japan - the Land of the Rising Sun
Japan - the Narrow Road to the Deep North
Japan - in the Footsteps of Pilgrims
dates and prices
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