Welcome to the Central Asia branch!

Welcome to the Thorn Tree's Central Asia branch.

We hope you find plenty of useful information about travelling to Central Asia here. It is highly recommended that new users check out the Central Asia FAQ thread before posting a new thread as you may find many of the answers you seek there. It also contains helpful information about how to search the forum, advice for how to post your questions, and obsolete information was deleted as recently as July 2008! If you are a returning user or know the 'stans like the back of your hand, please help us keep the FAQ thread up-to-date by adding important information which is absent, or pointing out information which is no longer being represented accurately.

Choosing a country to post to:

When you make a post and choose a country from the drop down menu, your pos... more »

Migrating to a new server

Hi all,

The whole of lonelyplanet.com, including Thorn Tree, is changing hosting providers in the following days. While this change takes place, Thorn Tree and the Lonely Planet website will be unavailable for a short period of time. We will communicate the exact time nearer the date. This migration will hopefully be a matter of hours but we have a lot of Thorntree content to move! We will do everything we can to cause minimal disruption to users. You will be able to chart the progress of the work while the site is down through our Twitter account.

Thanks,

Zabba

Getting a Turkmenistan Visa in Dubai

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has had experience applying for a Turkmenistan visa in Dubai. I'll be there in late August and was told that I should apply there since travel in Turkmenistan during October is limited and I'd be going to other countries with a consulate too late. I'll have the LOI already but couldn't find anyone's experiences with the consulate in Dubai. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Internet Cafe, Almaty

Hello,

Can anyone tell me where I might find the closest internet cafe to the United State Embassy in Almaty?

The embassy is at 97 Zholdasbekov Street

Thank you

Taraz - worth a visit?

I'm trying to decide a rough itinerary around north Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan. We arrive and depart from Bishkek, and I want to see Turkestan as a must do. Now I'm trying to figure where else is worth seeing. I've heard that Taraz is worth a visit but can't find much about what to do there. Interested in hiking (with a 7yo) and architecture and culture.
thanks

Edited by: loopydog

Independent travel with own vehicle in Uzbekistan

We are 2 adults traveling from Turkey through Iran then through the Stans ( about September )to Kashgar.We have been told 3 things:
1. we need a guide with us in the car in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan 2. Also that we need to make bookings for places foe every night in advance and we cannot just drive and then decide when we arrive in the town or city 3. We need signed slips from each place when we get to the border.
Please can some one help who would know if this is correct, all 3 facts? Thank you to all .

need urgent advice about registration in uzbekistan

Hello everyone,

I'm about to leave Uzbekistan tomorrow after staying here 2 weeks.
I am now in Tashkent for a day and will miss the registration slip for the day because I'm staying with a friend here.

I have registration slips for all other 12 days.

Does anyone knows if there might be a problem leaving the country if I'm missing just 1 registration slip for my last night here?

I will go to tajikistan from here from the border that everyone says is generly hassel free (khujand).

I need your urgent advise to know if to go sleep in an hotel or if it's ok to just miss one registration slip.

Thanks a lot!!!!
dana -and i dont have internet to much so if u can writ to my maill it will be great
kulambnyzonot@gmail.com
tenx a lot

Pamir Highway & Wakhan - August

I am looking at traveling to Tajikistan at the end of August and have started looking for jeep hire for the following route:

Khorog
Roshtqala
Ishkashim
Namadut
Darshai
Zumudg
Yamchun
Yamg
Vrang
Zong
Langar
Murghab
Osh

This route is not set in stone and would take 7 - 9 days to complete the journey.

Obviously such a trip is very expensive by myself so I am interested in hearing from anyone who is planning to travel to the region around this time.

Please email me at adam_cockayne@hotmail.com if you would like more detail and chat more.

Adam.

Kyrgizstan in augost

hey there,

im gonna be in kyrgizstan from augost to september (flexible).

im looking for partners to travel with...

gonna do mostly 4-7 days treks.

im 24, and would love to travel with nice people, no matter their gender or age.

contact me on my email - nimigor@gmail.com

thanks

C.A.T. Travel (or C.A.T. Tourism) Company in Bishkek

Carlson Wagonlit in Kyrgyzstan mentioned about the above company when we asked them for a quote for our tailor-made trip (a group of 5-6 people) to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan planned in July 2013.

CW said they did not provide trips for this two countries.

Did anyone has any experience using the above company?

Appreciate if you could share it here, in a little bit detail, whether good or bad.

Thanks !

Alan