Overlanding as the New RV'ing

fulltimedaniel wrote:
"I tell you what, why don't you overland to Kazakhstan and then write back about it."

I would love to. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen any time soon. I did plan this trip once a long time ago, back in the eighties and again in the early 2000's by motorcycle. But Cancer and other things intervened before I could make it a reality.

The Silk Road route is a true adventure taking you through Uzbekistan (where you find Samarkand), Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and others. I know people who have done it and it was the best of their round-the-world Overlanding trip according to them.

And this area is definitely NOT the Middle East. It is Central Asia. Part of what we call the Middle east lies firmly in Asia the rest in Africa. The people that live their don;t use that term...

And about Asia. Yes there are west Asia, CENTRAL ASIA (where Kazakhstan is) and SE Asia and East Asia and South Asia...all are Asia. Most of those distinctions only exist in the west. But what makes you think Mongolia is "More Asian" than Uzbekistan? I think you tread very close to racial stereotyping here.

And toedtoes with all due respect to you, if you are going to lecture me about geography the least you could do is get it right.

I never said one was MORE Asian than the other. Talk about misinterpreting...

Whether it's West or Central is not the point - yes, I misspoke, I don't always remember exactly where each country is in conjunction to that distinction off the top of my head.

However, the point I was making is that there is a difference between the western/central part of Asia and the eastern part of Asia. Traveling through most places is a lot different than traveling on the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a very ancient and established route. It's like following the King's Highway or the Amber Road. Comparing traveling across an ancient trade route is a lot different than traveling the Americas. Our ancient routes are simply foot trails. They were not built up for centuries and centuries like Europe, Asia and Africa. There was no major trade route that goes from Alaska through South America. That path has been built in pieces over the course of a couple centuries as Europeans invaded the Americas. Before that, there was some movement and trading but not to the extent that the Europeans did with Asia. And that is why I mentioned places like Cambodia and Mongolia. They had trails more like ours. For instance the Khmer Highway - it is mostly covered in jungle now. You can't drive it through from one end to the other like you can the Silk Road or the Amber Road.