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.