The Great Roadway Bazaar

CRJeepin

Observer
Congratulations on an excellent adventure! Thanks for sharing it with us, especially the gritty details. Spent 2 days reading 30+ pages and look forward to checking out your website for some photos as well.

edit-- meant to ask, what guide book(s) do you recommend for the 'Stans and points east?
 
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c.nordstrom

World Traveller Extraordinaire
Lonely Planet produces guides for Central Asia and Mongolia. I would recommend both of these. The Central Asian guidebook is out of date, but full of useful information. The Central Asia 5th Edition will be published in October of 2010, so I would wait for this guidebook. This region has changed a lot since the 4th Edition was published.

The Mongolia guide book is a bit more recent. We found the information to be a bit more current then the Central Asia guidebook.

The Trans-Siberian Handbook by Bryn Thomas is by far the best book available for those with an interest in train travel. I recommend ignoring the LP TS guide. It covers the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Siberian, and Trans-Manchurian routes.
 

c.nordstrom

World Traveller Extraordinaire
Current location: Warsaw. Vilnius was really great city. It's small, really interesting, and lots of fun. The weather was a bit ****, however. The entire old town is a UNESCO heritage site, so you can imagine how beautiful it is.

There are tons of cool bars and restaurants sprinkled throughout the old town. I stayed at an amazing hostel close to the town hall, Jimmy Jumps house. It's brand-new and pretty nice, but the other guests really made it worth while. 9 of us ended up going out Thursday and Friday nights.

I took a night coach to Warsaw. It wasn't as luxurious as my coach to Riga, but it was comfortable enough (I actually slept!). As I write this, it's 10 AM and I'm sitting in my hostel. I'll most likely go sight-seeing, then finish checking in here.

I highly, highly recommend the Baltic countries as a destination. Riga and Vilnius were both incredibly fun. I didn't stop in Tallinn on this trip, but I enjoyed it when visiting several years ago. Travel between the three cities is quite easy and comfortable. They are also compact and easily walked. I am absolutely heading back sometime in the future - each country has plenty more to see outside of the capitals.
 

RMP&O

Expedition Leader
Very enjoyable trip report! Thanks for taking the time to put this out there for us to enjoy!
 

c.nordstrom

World Traveller Extraordinaire
Warsaw was ok. The old town was nice enough, but there isn't a ton to do during the week. I've heard the clubbing is pretty nice on the weekends though.

I arrived in Prague last Tuesday and was supposed to leave on Thursday. It's currently Monday night and I will actually be deparing this lovely city tomorrow. It's been a great week and the extended stay was absolutely the right thing to do. I had forgotten how great this city is and I'm already planning my return.

Tomorrow I'm off to Cesky Krumlov, a picturesque medievil town that used to be inhabited by Germans. After WWII, all German speakers were exiled and the town fell into disrepair. Since indepence, the town has been restored and is quite beautiful.

After that, it's off to Austria.
 

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