Fellow Travelers

Wolfgang and Irmi.

We have met more fellow travelers here in Uzbekistan than anywhere else on our journey.Its been fun meeting so many interesting people,especially these two ,Wolfgang and Irmi ….Carol and Renate,[2 intrepid english ladies ],fellow cyclists Bernado and Marchella…[Italian…”very good”],Beny andLena [yet more Swiss],the French trio Terence,Ludovic and Joel [who are engaged on a fantastical trekking/cycling/horse riding journey from Marseille to Mongolia],and jill and janos who helped us with Russian visa complications.

Especially exciting for us was meeting up again with Davide and Latiecia [swiss],and Gregoire and Arnua [ the Belgian brothers]who we had last seen months ago in Syria and Turkey. We are sorry to report that away from our influence [they call us their cycling “parents” ,that’s how old we are to these ‘youngsters’],they seem to have taken so many trains we are worried that they will have forgotten how to ride their bikes.

Happy travels everyone and thanks for all the shared help.

These boys were our escort into Jizzaz… The two standing to attention had built up their own bikes from old road bike frames – resprayed cool bars and straight laced wheels… quite a surprise. Anyway they met us on the road , asked the usual “ at kuda” where are you from and with our “ochen plocka” Ruskie we told them “hotel”. We were then led to the “Hotel Uzbekistan” ….once a great hotel…. An interesting experience, our first encounter with russian type administration.. Scary woman on the front desk.. scary woman giving out the keys from a small room on the corridor of our 3^rd floor room… scary woman offering a massage…an evening meal to remember.. sausage or eggs!! And the worst plumbing we have ever seen anywhere! Oh and breakfast in “Our Cupboard” did they mean restaurant?

Beny and Lena are VERY excited about their new wheel.

After a hard day sitting mostly outside various embassies in Tashkent [namely the Chinese,Russian,Kazak,Tajik,kyrkiz embassies] the evenings are spent back at the b.n. b swapping embassy stories,scaring newcomers,and winding each other up.Very European .

Well…. As you travel you sometimes get problems with your back.. and lucky for us.. Danielle ,an Aussie that can do acupuncture! Instant cure, amazing!!! You were right Phil.

Creatures of the Desert

Jon has been experimenting with various styles of desert headware..Luckily I have not.

I was looking for the Lawrence of Arabia look.... I think it worked quite well.. Any thoughts?

This wee fellow was NOT pleased to meet us…..look at his tail go.

Some german cyclists met a HUGE monitor lizard in the desert , but we just saw loads of smaller ones. Lizards really enjoy a good fight with each other. They would rather get run over by trucks than give up an ongoing battle….I had trouble breaking them up and chasing them off the road……Could they not see I am 500times bigger than them .!

Raggamuffins..Life is very tough for people who live in the small “railway “towns right out in the desert….but you can still be stylish.!

Bukhara and Samarkand

One of the fortresses in the desert… built from clay and bricks and about 2000 yrs old.They are truly beautiful and nobody goes there..!!

Cherries are in season, cost almost nothing [though "nothing" is still a fat wadge of notes ] and are sold on the side of the road everywhere on the way from Bukhara to Samarkand.You can see how lovely Uzbek people are .

When you ask for rice here……. They ask "how much do you want? One kilo? Half kilo?". Well it would be stupid to ask for a kilo……so here you have it…..half a kilo of rice…two meals for us! [ This was an experiment for us where we tried asking in Russian for something other than "yayitsa"..eggs…as the day before we had 3eggs each 3 times..an 18 egg day !.Is too much rice "plov"better than too many eggs ?]Even Jon was a bit intimidated by the size of this meal .

Bukhara and Samarkand are two amazing cities. The architecture just astounds you! This is part of the Registon building in Samarkand, Nic is with Bernardo and Marchello, we were going to cycle to Tashkent with them.

Just another of tiresome buildings that you have to drag yourselves out to see!

Uzbekistan The Desert Continues

As you will know from the last blog…. We spent about 4 hours in Nukus looking for the internet! Well here in Turtkul are the two guys that not only let us use their internet café for free ,but they also made sure we had a day we will remember for ever. After taking us out for a meal,of freshly fried catfish and salad,all washed down with vodka ![it’s the right drink for the climate they say….good for you in the desert !],they drove us out to a couple of the amazing old clay fortresses that most tourists never even know about,and on the way back we all swum in one of the big irrigation canals….gorgeously refreshing.[more so than vodka I thought ]. What great guys

What a find in the middle of the desert!!! A truck must have lost some of its load…. Strawberries!!! We had a pick through them and had them for breakfast stewed with buck wheat. Lovely.! We have become real desert scroungers…particularly of partly used water bottles.Its quite reassuring to know that you can collect enough extra water from all the plastic bottles that people chuck out of their cars with completely finishing them [sometimes even ….yes ,honestly…half full!] that you can wash in the evening or cook with it….you could definitely prevent ever running out of water.

Just before we set off into the desert again, a truck driver warned us that it would be difficult to cross… no water… 400km!! we assured him that we would be ok and loaded up with another 10 liters of water (20 in all) then what do we see but the biggest expanse of water we have seen since the Caspian sea.. This is the Tuyamuyun reservoir,part of the Amu-Darya river that used to reach the Aral Sea.The irrigation system along this whole river is obviously very ancient and complex,but it supports a dramatically lush intensive agriculture that enables people to live along its banks.

We stopped for a break at a monument on the side of the road ( there was a bit of shade there) when 2 bedford rascal minibuses came by… loaded with local women and their drivers. They were so nice wanting us to be in their pictures and asking all about our trip, family and our life. They left giving us water, bread and cucumbers, lovely lovely people.

There they go!!!!

Yet more desert

Its spring...... There are baby tortoises, snakes,horses, camels etc everywhere.. Ahhhh The Desert is so beautifull in the mornings and evenings. Camping has been fantastic. (but to carry 10 litres of water a day is quite hard)

Road side money transactions!!! This is with Sergey and his mate, two Ukranian Bikers off to do the Pamir highway.. We didnt get money at the border (Jon's stupid idea.. "theres bound to be banks at the next town") not!!!! so there you go... 20 dollars gets you the biggest wadge of Uzbek money. We all felt like millionaires

Its just too hot here! Even in early May its over 30 degrees in the day. (lunch time break) The road is so rough in sections that nic is reminded that she needs a new bra!

Uktam and Elbek, two students learning English who had a bit of a laugh on our bikes.. They with Sheroli and Temur tried for hours to get internet for us in Nukus. Thanks Thanks Thanks. (even if it was doomed to failure)

Jon at a typical Chai Xana.. road side cafe, where you meet truckers on a long haul from the Ukraine to Afghanistan etc. So far we can only order tea and eggs. (very good though!) thats because our Russian is still ochen plocka!

We have been really enjoying our journey through Uzbek.. even if it has been very hard and hot and we have been frustrated by our attempts to get internet access. We are now in Tortkal and will have to stay here one night. We have found out that we should have stayed in hotels each night and have a record of it.. If you are found without..... well big fine and sent home!! (we hope to get round it) but we have found a very nice and helpfull internet cafe here so at least some of may get some e mails before we are deported?

Kazakhstan and Bust!

The main road from Aktau to Uzbek is so bad that the trucks dont actually use it!! There are at least 3 parallel dirt roads weaving around on either side of the main dirt road? Take your pick.
Here are 2 trucks and a herd of horses racing each other. The dust clouds are amazing.

This is Jon after a hard evenings cooking.. It looks like fosilised snow but its salty chalk!! It makes great camping sites.

Tek care! Camels ont' road

In western Kazakhstan there are more Camels than sheep more horses than cows and more tortoises than people.

Nic trying out another form of transpot (better suited to the landscape) He didnt want to have a ride on our bikes though?

This landscape is HUGE!!!!!!!