We’ve been living in China for seven months now, and the travel bug has bitten us again. We need to get moving and explore new places. Some people can stick to working all year and enjoy short two-week vacations. Some even find two weeks too long! But for us, staying put for more than a couple of months is tough. The world is always out there, calling us to start exploring again. This time, we’re planning an epic trip that’s totally off the beaten path. Things might change in the next five months before we start our journey, but here’s the plan so far.
On July 22, we’ll finish our contract teaching English in Yangzhou, China. After a couple of days packing and shipping stuff home, we’ll head up to Beijing. From there, we’ll take the Trans-Mongolian Railway to Ulaanbaatar. We’ll then go on a three- to five-day trip into the Gobi Desert. Next, we’ll head to Tsetserleg to start a true Mongolian expedition. We plan to trek for about 10 days, following 185 kilometers of the Chuluut River up to Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (White Lake), fishing and camping along the way. This area isn’t frequented by many tourists, so we look forward to blazing our own trail! We’ll probably get a GPS unit to avoid getting lost, although the river is hard to stray from. From there, we want to visit Mongolia’s main attraction: Khövsgöl Nuur, where we’ll start another journey on horseback, tracing the stunning lake’s shoreline.
After spending a week or so around the lake, we’ll travel through Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railway to visit the old Russian towns of Omsk, Tomsk, and Tobolsk. We’ll only spend about a week in Russia because we’ll be making our way through Central Asia’s “Stan Countries.”
Next, we’ll enter Kazakhstan to do some more trekking and visit the new modern capital, Astana. Then we’ll head into Kyrgyzstan for more epic hikes and treks, both on foot and on horseback. I’ve pre-ordered a fly rod and reel here in China, so I’m really looking forward to fishing in these countries and hopefully catching a Taimen!
From Kyrgyzstan, we’ll cross a 4000-meter high pass into Tajikistan, where we plan to do some long alpine treks around the famous Pamir mountains. After Tajikistan, we’ll fly to Uzbekistan to check out the intricate Central Asian architecture in three intriguing cities: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.
From Uzbekistan, we’ll travel through Turkmenistan on a transit visa and then into Iran, where we’ll spend about a month before flying back to Canada for Christmas.
We love finding our way off the beaten path, and this trip will take us to some of the least touristic places on the planet! We’re super excited and invite our followers to join us on this journey. Along the way, we’ll be posting blogs and videos, along with tips and information on how you can do the same trip on a budget. This is sure to be an epic, independent, outdoor adventure, and we can’t wait to share the experience with YOU!