New Review: Off-Roading and Off The Beaten Path In The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)
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Mention Qatar, UAE, Oman, KSA, Bahrain and Kuwait to anyone, and they will likely say there is little to do there. Shopping malls, skyscrapers, indoor theme parks and maybe a fort will come to mind. Excuses will include I am chicken, it is too hot, or I am not adventurous. Visiting such typical sites will mean you have little else to do.
I am known for my adventurous spirit and have little fear when travelling, especially when in a car. -10 or +40 I will still drive or walk for a few kilometres, and I’ll be the only person on the road or pavements. Atlas Obscura is my go-to app to find unusual things to do and in the GCC many locations are deserts or ghost towns. Like the very cool and allegedly haunted: Buried Village of Al Madam of Sharjah.
The photos in this article are from Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
What about my car?
Many of these places are based on dirt tracks, rocky deserts or full-blown sand dune deserts. Either an average car will suffice, something entry level like a Mitsubishi Outlander AWD, or Toyota Prado, Suzuki Jimny, Mitsubishi Pajero or Montero Sport will be needed.
What about preparation for off the grid trips?
Many folk will think I will be out of phone coverage and in the remote deserts of Qatar the signal is still strong. Of course, take water, food, a full tank of fuel & jerry cans and a car pump to inflate/deflate your car tyres. Tyre pressure should vary depending on what you will be driving on and a good place to see suggestions for PSI depending on the scenario is https://skippaoffroad.com/suzuki-jimny-tyre-pressures/. In some desert start points there are men who inflate/deflate tyres at start and end of the trip to sand dunes.
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New Country Review: Romania
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Romania to most people means some poverty & corruption, a strong communist state till 1989, it joined the EU lately and of course “Dracula’s castle” (Bran Castle). The only name people may be able to name from Romania is Mr. (Nicolae) Ceaușescu - general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party who was executed along with his wife Elena in 1989 by firing squad and the fairly middle-class graves can be visited in Bucharest to this day. Romania is quite low on people’s holiday list which is quite sad as it was an epic trip.
As you will know by now, I love less travelled places and especially ex-communist places, and Romania ticks both boxes. Romania has lots to see and in seven days I managed to do a good chunk but it was not enough, and some sites like Peleș Castle are closed on certain days of the week so I missed that. Romania came before Moldova & Transnistria so was somewhat a one-way trip as I exited and flew back from Chisinau, Moldova after crossing the Romania-Moldova border by foot (or bus really).
The plan was standard, do a lot of research, write down a plan focused on an end destination (Iași, pronounced Yash), fly into Bucharest, hire a car (VW Polo or Gulf automatic), pre-book Bucharest hotel, book other hotels as I go along, drop the car off in Iași and cross the land border in my case.
Top Gear with the old crew of course did air an episode in 2009 which mainly covered the spectacular Transfăgărășan Highway which I do most of.
Seven days was not enough to do all of the sites and some would wonder how I did so much in seven days… I drive a lot, wake up early and get to the hotel location late. On the topic of driving. Back in 2017 the roads were poor, not quite as bad as Albanian roads but really bad compared to the rest of Europe. Imagine insane potholes or 100m when the road has been shaved off for “repair”. The drivers were a bit rough but again not as bad as Tunisian or Albanian drivers. Traffic was badish in the capital and barely any traffic outside of Bucharest. Do watch out for horse & carts, chickens, dogs, cats, cows, goats on smaller roads!
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New Country Review “Transnistria” - The Mostly Unrecognized Country No One Has Heard About
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Also known as “Pridnestrovie” and “Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic”. Very few people have heard of ^ or know where it is. Some may confuse it as part of Transylvania in Romania which sounds a tad similar. You are not a million miles away – around 500kms to the east. So where is it? De jure it is part of Moldova and de facto an independent state. It is named after the Dniester River which also flows into Moldova and Ukraine. The capital city is Tiraspol.
Still, I have no idea what you are talking about. It is a break away territory and was founded in the early 1990s. Like most break away nations in Europe – it is connected to the USSR. Think of the Republic of Abkhazia and Republic of South Ossetia – which is legally in Georgia but administered differently. Moldova was of course part of the USSR and there was a war which lasted for 1.75 years from 1990 till 1992. These days Russian peacekeepers are still there – hundreds or maybe even over one thousand.
Transnistria as well as Belarus is still the only two places in Europe which still feel like the USSR never quite fell! If you like Soviet or communist architecture like moi, it is a great place to visit. Russian is the main language, and it has a local rouble currency. ATMs and money changers are around as is an official tourist information office which talks about the place as being harmonious. Restaurants and shops are plentiful, and not pricey.
What about visas? Since it has very very little recognition you cannot go to an embassy of Transnistria abroad and get a visa. You just turn up to the border, in my case Moldova/ Transnistria and you get an Israeli style paper insert. Back when I visited by public bus in 2017 & 2021 you were given entry for 24 hours, but I believe now it can be longer than this.
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