Brief description of our trip.
The silk road was a trade route used by caravans to trade silk since the 1st century.
Now in the 21st century, we decided, father and son, to follow the same route once more!
We do not have a camel or a compass. Be we do have backpacks and a GPS. Together we will travel through the magnificent fairy chimney in Cappadoce and cross the world's largest lake, the Caspian sea. Zigzag in between the silence of the endless deserts and the overwhelming mountains of the Stans. Explore China through the splendid Xinjiang and Gansu provinces making a possible side track through the inner Mongolia. Finally we will reach our final destination Xi'an, facing a thousand of terracotta soldiers. Our journey will consist in using public transportation, excluding the plane. Each equipped with a 10 kg bag pack, this 3 months long trip, will begin in what was once the most glorious city of oriental Europe : Constantinople, Istanbul!
Now in the 21st century, we decided, father and son, to follow the same route once more!
We do not have a camel or a compass. Be we do have backpacks and a GPS. Together we will travel through the magnificent fairy chimney in Cappadoce and cross the world's largest lake, the Caspian sea. Zigzag in between the silence of the endless deserts and the overwhelming mountains of the Stans. Explore China through the splendid Xinjiang and Gansu provinces making a possible side track through the inner Mongolia. Finally we will reach our final destination Xi'an, facing a thousand of terracotta soldiers. Our journey will consist in using public transportation, excluding the plane. Each equipped with a 10 kg bag pack, this 3 months long trip, will begin in what was once the most glorious city of oriental Europe : Constantinople, Istanbul!
posted by Kim at
13:56
16 Comments:
Coucou c'est M...!
Gaetan,
Wish You and son all the best and may God shower you with good fortune along the journey, good health and above all Good Luck. You are brave enough to retrace these tracks, which we could only contemplate in our dreams.
I've been to Istanbul and was in Xian 3 months ago but not in between. Bon Voyage...
Ar Hamdan
Wow Gaëtan ... sounds like a fantastic trip with many adventures and discoveries along the way. A wonderful way for father and son to bond. Good luck and all the best.
Peggy
Mon cher Gaetan,
Il fallait y penser, quel beau projet, quelle magnifique aventure, le pere et le fils quelle belle equipe.
Vos amis sont maintenant impatients de pouvoir commencer a suivre ce magnifique periple. J’espere déjà trouver des maintenant, sur le site les details sur les preparations necessaires a un tel projet. Preparation physique peut etre, et moral aussi, les cartes. Les moyens de transport envisages, les medicaments a prevoir, etc...
L’evocation d’Istambul déjà inspire a l’historien autodidacte que je suis, Byzance, Constantinople, cette « route de la soie ». Route caravaniere ouverte entre la Chine et l’Europe il y a 23 siecles de cela….. Route ou tant de connaissances transitairent dans les deux sens, entre les pays du levant et ceux du ponant.
Sois assure que ton fils et toi-meme avez tous deux, notre sincere soutien moral.
Bien amicalement,
Patrick FERRAT
C'est agréable de nous faire partager ces moments de poésie que vous allez vivre.
Good trip
Amicalement
Clency Henriette
Dear Gaetan,
I`m impressed of your courage! I wish you and your son good luck on your unbelievable and unforgettable journey. Also I`m looking to forward to your massages and photos!
Igor Pidorvan.
Ukraine.
Selamat jalan les aventuriers !
Que les parfums de l'Orient vous portent vers des trésors de rencontres au caravansérail de la découverte.
Take good care
Elise
PS : don't forget the photo of the café along the Bosphore ;)
En ce 12 Avril tous mes voeux de bon anniversaire au papa et excellent début du rêve oriental - Paola Lib
Enjoy ! We are looking forward to all the pictures along the way. See you in July... Donald
our thoughts are with you, especially today as you are starting your wonderful journey.
Can't wait to see pics and hear about your adventure
love
Patty & Mam
De tout coeur avec vous,sommes impatients d'avoir les premieres nouvelles, afin nous aussi, de commencer a vivre l'aventure avec vous ,a notre maniere.
Looking forward hearing from you soon
Bon vent.
patrick FERRAT
As the blog seems is meeting some unexpected problems in Turkey, Gaetan and Kim have asked me to forward this comment as an account of their arrival in Istanbul....
Sunday 17 April 11
05H00 on a Sunday morning is tough. 8 kg each for 90 days is harder but is the minimum we have managed to squash in our back packs. This trip is finally starting and yet it seems totally unreal. We have been talking about it for years and today is the first day of this dream of many years. Being driven by Ved, our Mauritian Paris driver in his Mercedes seems contradictory to the spirit of the trip.
Paris – Istanbul on Turkish airlines.
Monday 18 April 11
Café Palatium after dinner with all the pseudo-explorers like us sipping çay or Turkish orta coffee or smoking narguile water pipes seated on kilims. Great pasha feeling in western imagination resting away from the Grand Bazaar animation:
je sais que le contact entre vous et Francoise et Geof.SUMMERS a ete etabli.
Votre route passant par Ankara, je souhaite que comme cela semble avoir ete prevu, que vous vous soyez rencontre un moment a cette occasion.
Bonne journee.
Patrick F.
From Kim and Gaetan (continued...)
Monday 18 April 11
Visiting Topkapi under the rain is not the best time. We did not catch the view on the Bosphorus to measure the power of the Ottoman empire. We spent time in the harem which I visited for the first time. A place of conspiracy among women struggling for power. A place where hundreds of women were kept in opulent captivity.
Grand Bazar has lost its luster since 1461 when one could imagine the convergence of all the Silk routes selling mainly silk and wool. What remains are the tough negotiating merchants selling anything from gold to shoes. We bought after a lot of bargaining a pair of shoes each, to start properly the long route and especially to keep our feet in the driest manner. Tea vendors still run through the bazaar with the tiny apple tea cups balancing on their moving trays.
We discovered a small Bufe (sort of a self service restaurant) where one points at various dishes which are served at your table which we shared with the locals. The local authentic feeling was greater that the food taste.
The rainy cold weather discouraged us from the Bosphorus boat trip and visited the Basilica cistern instead. Wonderful Vth century underground water storage to feed the whole of Constantinople. Romans were great architects. When I think in Mauritius, we are not able to repair a broken pipe properly.
We did not managed to drink the coffee offered by Elise but we had çay instead with some ultra-sweet baklava.
We met Deniz Incedayi at the new Turkish Chamber of architects headquarters and had dinner with her and Cevat Erder Past President of ICCROM , lecturer at Princeton nearly 80 y and yet fully critical of the Turkish government. Vivid spirit sharing his views about Turkey, laicité and politics, University scandal. Oriental hospitality starts here. It starts with the time they gave you and the way you receive it. She took the time from her overbooked schedule. She has always been known by all of us in UIA council as discreet but to the point . An unbelievable variety of mezze keep coming until we say stop and then comes the main course. Dessert was a must we could not refuse. Kim tried raki for the first time.
Tuesday 19 April 11 Istanbul-Ankara
8kg!! We included everything from the 2 t-shirts, 3 pairs of socks and boxer shorts, the medical travel kit, rolled away pillow, silk sheets with their waterproof outer sleeve, head lamps with batteries, notebook, travel guides and maps, mobile phone, pc, camera, clothes drying rope.
The great thing about having only a pair of everything is that dressing up every day is an easy choice. It’s all about warm or light. We have been surprised till now by the 11° C of Istanbul so we are in warm clothes every day. The other side is that we have a lot of daily washing.
The hotel room had hot water, heating and even an LCD TV screen. We have been lucky till now.
Watching a French movie in Turkish with Jean Reno on the bus to Ankara. Great bus with reclining seats , stewards serving tea and wifi! The Esendlir Otogar bus terminal is huge like an airport with departure kerbs, shopping mall (Carrefour) and hundreds of buses leaving to all places including Bulgaristan and Yunanistan. I must look up these destinations on the map. It took us over 45 minutes to drive out of the 15 million population city through the Europe/Asia bridge. We should be reaching Ankara after 6 hours ie around 17H00. Several stops are scheduled where the young women go out from the bus for a cigarette accompanied with the burka’ed mother. Simit vendors rush to us.
Seems like you are still in relative luxury so far...! LCD and wifi! Enjoying your insights re. culture around.
Hi Gaetan and Kim
Reading with interest and marvel at your trip so far. Brought back memories of our family Istambul holiday in 1998,Topkapi, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Bosphorus etc but it pales into insignificance compared to your expedition along the silk route all the way to Xian. My mum, upon hearing of your trip, asked me why did I not join you as we did so many things together as teenagers. "At 55", I replied, "I like the little comforts of life!" Gaetan, je te salue bien bas, and I wish you and Kim a fantastic trip. Will watch out regularly on your blog. God's speed my friend.
Oomar
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