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This has easily been one of the coolest threads I've read on the forum and it makes me wish I could visit a few of these places just to see the landscape and try the food. But I don't have the language skills needed to do such a thing, so living vicariously through these photos will have to be the next best thing.Statutory Ape posted:i meant procedurally how do i give him plat, idk how to do that to somebody elses account I think you just buy Gift Certificates but I don't know if you can specify the account you want to apply it to at checkout or if you have to email the person the code
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May 16, 2020 17:56
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KakerMix posted:If they went and bought something sensible like buy a Hilux or a Land Cruiser then this thread would just be "look at the countryside wow" and there would be no drama or flair. The fact that they bought a Lada and used it to drive where it would have been common enough in 1981 gives the whole experience a vibrancy, much like the red paint on the thing. yeah that’s it. we were like local celebrities in every village. all the old men thought the car was the most hilarious thing they’d ever seen so we met loads of cool people. Everyone wanted to help and show us things
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May 16, 2020 17:58
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FPzero posted:This has easily been one of the coolest threads I've read on the forum and it makes me wish I could visit a few of these places just to see the landscape and try the food. But I don't have the language skills needed to do such a thing, so living vicariously through these photos will have to be the next best thing. im glad you liked it. If you have the time and money I would really recommend visiting a few of these places. The people are great and friendly and you’ll definitely have a good time. Central Asia can be a little challenging at times but the Caucasus are super chill and everyone should do a few weeks in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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May 16, 2020 18:05
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Amazing thread, thanks for posting OP.
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May 16, 2020 18:19
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FPzero posted:This has easily been one of the coolest threads I've read on the forum and it makes me wish I could visit a few of these places just to see the landscape and try the food. But I don't have the language skills needed to do such a thing, so living vicariously through these photos will have to be the next best thing. KakerMix posted:If they went and bought something sensible like buy a Hilux or a Land Cruiser then this thread would just be "look at the countryside wow" and there would be no drama or flair. The fact that they bought a Lada and used it to drive where it would have been common enough in 1981 gives the whole experience a vibrancy, much like the red paint on the thing. 
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May 16, 2020 18:34
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mobby_6kl posted:If anything, the mods made it too sensible for the trip. It really should've been as close to stock to 80s Niva as possible I don't think a donkey will make it the whole trip though
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May 16, 2020 18:38
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mobby_6kl posted:Get a russian-speaking friend/partner. You could also get a local guide there but IMO its' much better if it's someone close to you and not someone you're paying to entertain you I can see why you might think this but I assure you the mods did not help and in many way made the car much worse
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May 16, 2020 18:43
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Awesome trip, great thread. That being said, this:RideTheSpiral posted:I did nothing myself. I don’t know anything about cars. Is the thing you posted which I found the most foreign. Glad you made it, and hope you figure out what to do with your odd 4x4.
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May 16, 2020 19:04
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RideTheSpiral posted:central asia is full of odd things. Like this for example. Who thought it was a good idea to build this giant watermelon shaped tea house in the middle of nowhere. Although having said there I was gasping for a tea when I saw the sign and was very disappointed to find it abandoned I had to look this thing up because it's so bizarre. Apparently it opened in 2015 (christened by the President of Tajikistan himself as the National Tea House) to commemorate the city of Hisor's 3000th anniversary. It looks like it was built in the 70s and abandoned for decades, not less than five years. Amazing pictures!
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May 16, 2020 20:38
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COMPAGNIE TOMMY posted:I had to look this thing up because it's so bizarre. Apparently it opened in 2015 (christened by the President of Tajikistan himself as the National Tea House) to commemorate the city of Hisor's 3000th anniversary. It looks like it was built in the 70s and abandoned for decades, not less than five years. Amazing pictures! nice! I had no idea of the back story
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May 16, 2020 20:47
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I thought it was gonna be a blimp museum.
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May 16, 2020 20:51
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i like how in every picture theres either something spewing out of it, or you are working on it
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May 17, 2020 00:16
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mobby_6kl posted:But yeah this is a really cool trip and I'm pretty jealous. Central Asia and Caucasus are very interesting areas with some great people (and some not so great people). My grandfather was born in a village in Karabakh so I've been thinking of maybe doing the Mongol rally and going through there. Seems like this is out of question for now but maybe it's just the right time to start preparing. I'm planning a trip back to the Caucasus with a friend who got sent to Tbilisi and Baku for a few days with work and while I wanna go to Karabakh I dunno how easy it'll be to convince her to go to somewhere that's technically a warzone.
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May 17, 2020 00:27
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Someone has likely posted this but you did more than try op
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May 17, 2020 00:33
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RideTheSpiral posted:I don’t know anything about cars. The best part of all
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May 18, 2020 01:04
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well OP has a point, i cant think of a single person in any part of the automotive industry that would do this
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May 18, 2020 01:12
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I love it because I don’t know poo poo about cars either but always liked the idea of doing something like that. A friend had wanted me to do the mongol rally with him almost 15 years ago and I always wish we had done it but he had a kid instead.
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May 18, 2020 01:58
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Snowy posted:I love it because I don’t know poo poo about cars either but always liked the idea of doing something like that. A friend had wanted me to do the mongol rally with him almost 15 years ago and I always wish we had done it but he had a kid instead. it’s a good way to learn how to fix a car! And driving an old car is quite a nice experience because you have to do all all the little checks and top ups and take care of it so it doesn’t blow up.
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May 18, 2020 14:19
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Not sure i've ever seen so much stanning in one thread.
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May 19, 2020 16:23
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Wistful of Dollars posted:Not sure i've ever seen so much stanning in one thread. only Pakistan left for a clean sweep!
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May 19, 2020 17:21
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Two random Qs (sorry if you already answered): - How did you work out the Turkmenistani visa? How long did it take? - Did you consider Iran/Mashhad and through to Istanbul from the Iran-Turkey border?
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May 22, 2020 04:07
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guidoanselmi posted:Two random Qs (sorry if you already answered): the Turkmenistan visa was a real pain. i went to the embassy in london 3 times and had to loads of paperwork and all they give is a 5 day transit visa on arrival. It took 3 months to get the visa confirmation and a second trip to an embassy in bishkek to follow up. That was the only bit of preplanning I did. and yes going via iran would have been the dream. unfortunately british people have very restricted access to iran. We we planing to go the Turkish route but ran out of time and figured going via the Black Sea could save a few days.
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May 22, 2020 09:33
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Hey, nice thread! I'm going to throw some of my own Afghanistan pics in here if you don't mind OP. I only got to see little bits of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan but they seemed to be really nice. I spent a few years in Afghanistan, and in 2007 I got to spend the year driving around the north to check on what was happening with US aid money. (Conclusion: Some good things but also a lot of corruption.) I have a lot of pictures, although my camera broke at one point so I couldn't see what I was actually taking pictures of. Here are some interesting ones, I believe most of them were taken on the same day:  Afghan National Army (ANA), I'm guessing these guys are recruits because I don't see any weapons.  Mine clearance in-progress. If you see a red marker next to a white marker, stay on the side of the white marker if you value your limbs. There are flags here but usually they just paint rocks.  Soviet BMPs that didn't quite make it. I saw a LOT of Soviet vehicles here. The locals pick them clean for scrap metal and then leave the husks to rot. It felt like going to a US Civil War battlefield and seeing horse skeletons on the ground.  Off with his head!  The locals got a little creative with the armored vehicle skeletons.  Afghan sheep butts. You're welcome.  A river ferry!  Not a bad view.  This is a "jingle truck". They are extremely common in South Asia and some of them are super impressive.  Mountain pass north of Kabul. Our brakes failed and we got stuck here for 14 hours. Then our tow truck's brakes also failed and we had to purposefully crash into a wall to avoid going over a cliff. It got even worse from there, this was a really bad day but I got some of my best pictures before everything went to poo poo.  This is what a DShK round looks like, 12.7mm.  Poster at an Afghan police station. I'm not sure what it means and I'm pretty sure none of the officers there knew how to read.  Our Navy Corpsman. My team was mostly Army but we had a couple Navy guys there. Our cook was actually a submariner, I still have no idea WTF he was doing there. It got cold that winter. REALLY cold, -30 degrees F where I was at. It was miserable.  The Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif.  Some kids out in the middle of nowhere.  One last picture, this is from 2011 about 10 miles from the Pakistan border. According to our interpreter the locals referred to these mountains as the "Gates of Jihad" since it was a big smuggling route. When we pulled up to the base of the mountain, I told somebody "hey, that doesn't look so bad". Then we started climbing it and I remembered the base of the mountain was already at 8,000 feet. It seriously kicked my rear end. I try to avoid climbing mountains these days.
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May 22, 2020 15:30
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bees everywhere posted:Hey, nice thread! I'm going to throw some of my own Afghanistan pics in here if you don't mind OP. I only got to see little bits of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan but they seemed to be really nice. I spent a few years in Afghanistan, and in 2007 I got to spend the year driving around the north to check on what was happening with US aid money. (Conclusion: Some good things but also a lot of corruption.) nice photos. I love the old afghan/soviet war stuff. on the uzbek/afghan border there was a battle in some ancient ruins with ak47 shells everywhere. also mess tins from the soldiers hiding inside the ruins  
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May 22, 2020 15:47
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RideTheSpiral posted:nice photos. I love the old afghan/soviet war stuff. on the uzbek/afghan border there was a battle in some ancient ruins with ak47 shells everywhere. also mess tins from the soldiers hiding inside the ruins Man I really wish I took more pictures now. That's awesome. Bonus pics for you, this was few miles outside of Mazar-e Sharif. I believe it's a MiG, you can see what looks to be a Soviet or communist Afghan decal on the bottom of the one remaining wing there.  
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May 22, 2020 16:27
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bees everywhere posted:
 this rules
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May 22, 2020 16:29
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Stuck for 24hr... Thread deserves more views. Thanks op!
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May 22, 2020 19:07
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sick plane
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May 22, 2020 19:57
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bees everywhere posted:Man I really wish I took more pictures now. That's awesome. It's a MiG 15. They first built them in 1949, and some are still in service in North Korea.
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May 22, 2020 20:29
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bees everywhere posted:Our cook was actually a submariner, I still have no idea WTF he was doing there. was he a really weird dude named fred
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May 22, 2020 22:06
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I reckon that big bullet looks more like a 14.5mm, either way, really great pics, makes me want to go and do an adventure now.
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May 22, 2020 23:00
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^^ Yeah it's been a while, I could be wrong, if it's 14.5mm then I would say that's a more interesting picture than I thought.shovelbum posted:was he a really weird dude named fred I don't remember his name anymore, he was a pretty good dude actually. I should specify the first 7 pictures were actually taken by someone else in that convoy, he had a lot of good ones. He is also a goon so if he's seeing this then he should post some more.
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May 23, 2020 03:37
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I love threads like this.
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May 23, 2020 03:45
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