Ireland to Mongolia

On the road from Ireland to Mongolia we’ll pass through many enclaves, kingdoms, outcrops, and settlements not to mention the countries below. Here’s a brief low down on what they’re like and some pros and cons. Route subject to change.

Ireland - A democratic republic with a population of about 4 million. The road infrastructure here is still under construction. Some members of the present government have been accused of corruption.

England - Great roads but might be busy with traffic. Back to visit fun London.

France – A hot president with a hot wife.

Germany – Havent heard much from these lads in a while. Don’t know what they’re up to.

Austria – Went to Vienna once. Lovely city pity about the people staring at us all the time.

Slovenia – Went on holiday here. Very, very beautiful country. Great outdoors and cheapness.

Croatia – Heard great things about Croatia. Went to Zagreb for a day once but it was nothing much.

Serbia – I hope this place is safe to go through. Not sure if its on our route though.

Bulgaria – Lots of people go skiing here.

Turkey – Whoah lots of things…older women finding younger Turkish men for husbands, sun holidays, scary bits, lovely bits, Turkish delight. Believe they mostly want to become part of Europe. Alot of great history, Ottoman Empire, whirling dervishes. I would say their roads are good quality as they’re pretty old and big.

Iran – Now things start to get more interesting. Its an Islamic country. It has an amazing history with ancient sites found dating back to the 4th millenium BC! Kind of scared and kind of excited. Chris DeBurgh is popular in Iran. We may drop his name at the border entry point.

Turkmenistan – It declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A right included in their society is the right to rest. Nice. Slightly smaller than Spain in size. They speak Turkmen here. There are 18,000 kilometers of paved roads. They had a colourful former President nicknamed Turkmenbasy. He banned ballet and opera in 2001. 2004 he prohibited newsreaders from wearing makeup. All hospitals outside the capital were shut the reason being that those outside it could come there for help. The Turkmen words for the month of April and bread were changed to his late mother’s name. While he was at it he named January after himself.

Uzbekistan – It says its a democracy but its called by others, ‘an authoritarian state with limited civil rights’. There are arbitrary arrests with human rights abuses. The average Summer temperature is 40°. Road infrastructure is getting worse. Air and water quality is pretty bad.

Kazakhstan – Its pulling up its socks. Diverse landscape. Road networks…mmmm?

Russia – Scary. We enter Russia to make it back down into Western Mongolia.

Mongolia – Least densely populated country in the world. With a population of about 3 million. Biggest religion is Tibetan Buddhism. There is 1,724 km of paved roads. And its where we’re headed! Yippee!