Socialising at breakfast Finally, the altitude has started to have an effect on me, with a bad night sleep.  I probably had only 2h of dozing.  Apart from that, I didn’t have any other issues. It was a very social atmosphere at breakfast, like at dinner last night.  Two Spanish guys whom we had run […]

Nasty surprise With such luxurious ensuite, of course, I slept through the night without needing it.  [Edit: in later parts of the trip, I go multiple through the nights when it is an outhouse!] We had been given a leisurely departure of 0900 today.  Upon settling the bill, the Germans were presented with a nasty […]

Roadworks and landslide We had been given a choice of starting at 0400 today or 0700.  The earlier time was to avoid road works and Altynbek, the driver, didn’t seem to offer an in-between option.  So, we chose the later departure, as 0400 is obscene! With delays settling up the bill at the homestay, we […]

Yesterday Dushanbe isn’t exactly loaded with sights apart from museums.  In this heat, I didn’t feel like wandering around repeating exterior visits to various governmental buildings or white elephants. I did walk around the Rudaki Ave area and beyond, quite early around 0800 to explore and try get rid of about USD5 of UZS.  If […]

Above:  You could say these four men are having a good time in bed. Samarkand to border Today, I start my 2400 km overland adventure from Samarkand in Uzbekistan to Hotan in Xinjiang, China.   Today’s portion is a relatively solo border crossing from Samarkand to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. After a good breakfast at 0900, I took […]