Yum!!
Trail food at its best



Wash and go
Jon didnt see the snake swimming in the water! There is no point washing clothes seperately when you can do it all at the same time..


Very expensive Russian visa.
When the girl at the embassy said the price we could feel the blood drain down . "What " we said. " How much ?" .."Each ? "..."Are you sure ?"..."Can you write it down ,please ?". Well,we did'nt have enough. Nor could we change our minds as we had already paid a fortune for the letter of invitation and express delivery by D.H.L. ....we had to go away and get more dollars.
So, we would just like it known that if you are ,for example, Swiss ,or french , then you can get a Russian business visa in Tashkent for 86 U.S D . If you are British ,it is ....[hold on to your seats ]..364 U.S.D ...EACH !!!!
We have psychologically just about recovered now,and are very determined to enjoy ourselves greatly there !


The route to Almaty
We are now 1000km north of Almaty heading for Russia then Western Mongolia..



The longest Blencathra in the world
Who wants to run up and down all the ridges then?



Sunrise in Kazakhstan.



Salty stripes
If you can see Jons back is zebra striped with white dried salt stripes. Lovely!!



Nic's eyes.
After some bizarre "visual ' disturbances I took medical advice and had a proper check up. No worries...good to go for the next 50 years. ! The best bit was not the MRI brain scan [ though its nice to see I have got one ...],but meeting Dr Bobomurod, who was the nicest,kindest most reassuring doctors you'd ever come across ,and someone we'd like to meet again one day. This trip is keeping my eyes on their stalks.



Kazakhstan
The flowers out here are just beautiful



How to stay cool.
Its quite hot out here. Any opportunity to get wet is worth taking.. dry again in 10 mins



Distances from Tashkent
I think we have done most of these except for Tehran.



Chai and yaitsas.
We still havn't managed to order much more than chai and yaitsas, but at least we can ask for milk with our chai now. (chai s molokom)



Cafe people.
This is Shanara. She is as lovely as she looks, and of course wouldn't let us pay for our eggs and chai.

Mosquitoes..

Jon's death ray glare only seems to attract even more mosquetoes



Bike repair..
After 20000km things start to wear out!! This is the first rack repair.. but.. also a new pedal wheel rim and tyre for Jon. For Nic... new Grips frame weld and another chain. Our clothes are a lot worse.