Night cycling, toilet seats and other surprises

December 12, 2015 ~ Baerbel and Johan ~ 2 Comments

30 September – 8 October, 2015 – After four days in Samarkand of which Johan spent almost two days in bed with a severe diarrhoea it was time to move on for the 270km- distance to Bukhara, another well-preserved Silk Road town. The first day passed uneventful on good and undulating roads, through a boring cotton field landscape and in the afternoon against the wind. The first night we stayed at a huge house with an Uzbek family and for the first time we successfully refused sweets and bread. And for the first time there was a bathroom – basic, but we could wash ourselves and go to sleep clean. The second day begun uneventful. At a monument we met a funny Korean guy who works for Korean Air at the huge International Airport we just passed. He walked with a golf club to protect himself from chasing dogs in the villages. We had a very funny conversation and could have talked much longer but we had to move on as it was already getting late and we had to look for a place to sleep.

Johan was getting concerned about being on the wrong road as he couldn't find Buxoro (which is Bukhara) on his map! — Johan was getting concerned about being on the wrong road as he couldn’t find Buxoro (which is Bukhara) on his map!

When the Korean asked where we would sleep at night when there are no hotels Johan replied that we would look for a nice house and ask if we could pitch our tent in their garden. The Korean's answer: "How can you find nice house, they all look the same?" — When the Korean asked where we would sleep at night when there are no hotels Johan replied that we would look for a nice house and ask if we could pitch our tent in their garden. The Korean’s answer: “How can you find nice house, they all look the same?”

Which turned out to become a challenge. We dismissed the luxury 4-star-hotel on the way because we didn’t want to pay 60$. If we had had the second sight we would have just stayed and made use of a luxury stay. But we continued instead and stopped at a brand-new village to try to find a camp spot. We asked a few people but all refused and sent us away. One woman belonging to the local police asked 50$ to stay at her home but we also dismissed this ‘friendly’ offer and moved on to the next village. A few questions and a few more refusals later, one family finally invited us in. We showed them our instant noodle soup as we didn’t want them to cook for us – this time the place looked rather poor – and for the first time the whole family would join us for dinner. We of course would get our noodle soup but also had to eat their food – cabbage with saussages. All evening neighbours and more family members would pass by to say hello and at around 8pm we could go to sleep. About an hour later there was a knock on the door, our host came in repeating several times: “Palatka, you go, go!” Someone must have told the police about us and our hosts were getting into trouble. We quickly packed up our stuff and cycled in our pyjamas into the dark back to the very busy main highway. There was no way to pitch our palatka (tent) in the fields around us, that we knew from when we arrived here. We though remembered a small platform next to the highway and a house where we now wanted to ask to pitch our tent. As we couldn’t see anything, we cycled slowly on the shoulder against the traffic and reached that place after a few hundred meters that felt like kilometres. Unfortunately we were directly refused and couldn’t convince them to let us pitch the tent anywhere near the house. Instead, they sent us back to the expensive hotel. Grudgingly we moved to the right side of the road and cycled another five kilometres back to the hotel through the eerie darkness to where we’ve been a few hours ago, checked into a very nice, clean and luxury room with a soft bed, white bed sheets, soft pillows, and a perfectly working bathroom with white towels, a real shower, a sink and a Western-style toilet and still went to bed dirty at around 10:30pm. The shower had to wait until the next morning.

Given our blackmarket exchange rate we only had to pay 30$ for our hotel room including breakfast, as the hotel used the official exchange rate. After a long shower we raided the breakfast buffet. In fact Johan ate so much, that the toilet seat broke into 100 pieces when he sat on it later. Back in our room we also noticed that there wasn’t neither electricity nor water anymore – we once again had to use our headlights and drinking water for brushing our teeth. At the check-out I told the receptionist about the problems and all she replied was “Yes”. When I said that she didn’t even tell us about these issues, she again replied with “Yes”. Johan then told me that she doesn’t speak English and I gave up complaining. Five minutes later she approached us asking in perfect English for 25.000 Sum (5$) for the broken toilet seat! If it comes to getting money people suddenly know how to communicate. After a short discussion we left without paying the fine and reached Bukhara around lunch time. The following day was Johan’s birthday which we spent sightseeing in Central Asia’s holiest city with buildings spanning a thousand years of history. As per our travel guide Bukhara is one of the best places for a glimpse of pre-Russian Turkestan.

Beautiful remainder of the Soviet architecture

While we were having a short coffee break this family stepped out of their car, sat next to us to take pictures. The boy was nicely dressed up in a velvet suit.

And we reached another important Silk Road city

Bukhara impressions:

A beautiful and - in the early morning only - peaceful square — One of the few surviving hauz (ponds) in Bukhara created in the 16th and 17th century which was in the past the principal source of water but also notorious for spreading disease.

P1230246 — Counting money takes a while in Uzbekistan – even if it’s not much

The same restaurant's cooks and kitchen - according to our travel guide the best place in town — The same restaurant’s cooks and kitchen – according to our travel guide the best place in town

DSCF1432 — At the gate of the Bukhara fortress Ark

The massive walls of the Bukhara fortress Ark — The massive walls of the Ark

Working at our 12-Dollars-per-night-including-breakfast guesthouse

Knowing that it would be unlikely for us to return to Uzbekistan we took a taxi to Khiva, 600km North of Bukhara. The Silk Road town is famous for its slave caravans, barbaric cruelty, terrible desert journeys and steppes infested with wild tribesmen. The town itself is like an open air museum with well preserved minarettes, medressas, mosques and boring museums and feels a bit like stepping into another era, if it wasn’t for the many tourist shops and cafés mainly catering for groups. We met Christian from France again and decided to have dinner together. We had met him first in Samarkand, he has been travelling through Central Asia from France with his 4WD car and was now on his way back home on more or less the same route as we were. Earlier that day we had made a reservation at the best restaurant in town and thought it wouldn’t be a problem to dine with one more person. We could not have been more wrong. It took us 15 minutes to convince the waiter that we would either eat all together or not at all at this place. We were almost about to leave when they finally agreed and angrily put a third chair at our table. After weeks of Laghman (noodle soup), Plov (fried rice) and Manty (dumplings filled with meat) we happily ordered hamburgers. Our mouths were watering by the thought of yummy juicy hamburgers American style. The bigger was our disappointment: two meat patties with some rice and mashed potatoes decorated with a leave of lettuce. We were bemused about our own naivity but enjoyed a nice evening with Christian. To our surpise we got a free dessert from the kitchen – maybe they understood that their earlier reaction wasn’t appropriate.

Khiva impressions:

Looking for the right outfit 🙂

DSCF2149 — The beautiful unfinished minaret which was supposed to become the highest minaret ever to be able to see Bukhara

The next day we continued sightseeing in the morning and got annoyed by the poor service culture once more. We entered a café and the first question they asked us was “do you belong to a group?” Our usual answer, “Yes, we do, we are a group of two and sometimes even our group is too big!” didn’t amuse the waiters and we could see their disappointment. We got seated but nobody served us, despite us desperately trying to order coffee until finally a group arrived who got served immediately. Normally we would have left but as this was a place where Wifi reception was good and I had work-related emails to be sent we endured and stayed. We spent the afternoon in the taxi back to Bukhara to reunite with our bikes.

It was once more time to leave the country as our Turkmen transit visas started on 9 October. With only five days to cross the country we wanted to make sure to pass the border as early as possible. We now had two days for the 100 km to get to the border and we only left Bukhara in the early afternoon, cycled until 5pm and pitched our tent in an apple orchard. That night we noticed that our matresses were deflating and by midnight we were both laying on the hard ground. Not a very good prospect as we had to cross the desert in Turkmenistan and would have to camp the coming days with no possibilities to repair the matresses. After a bad-night’s sleep we woke shattered and bad tempered as on top we were facing headwinds. By midday the wind was becoming a sand storm, the air was completely yellow and sandy, our sight very limited and the atmosphere eerie. We struggled to get to the border on time even though we had only a distance of around 60km to cover. But this time our delay turned to our favour as the customs officers wanted to go home and hardly checked our luggage and within 20 minutes we were officially checked out of Uzbekistan.

We had a lot of nice experiences and a few bad ones in Uzbekistan. Despite opening up for foreign tourism, the country is still a harshly governed police state. Nonetheless we felt genuinely welcome by people be it through their greetings when we cycled through villages, their gold-teethed smiles, their tea invitations, their children running or cycling happily with us, by those who invited us to stay at their homes and who shared their meals with us and of course by those who gave us fruit or bread when we cycled past. We were deeply impressed by the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva with their fabulous architecture, positively surprised by the beautiful landscapes up until Samarkand and less impressed by the landscapes as from Samarkand dominated by vast deserts and cotton plantations. Dating back to Russian times – at least that’s what we assumed – the state administers itself to death. Our passport was stacked with little hotel slips, neatly filled in by the hotel managers, stamped and signed and when Johan got money from a bank he had to sign endless papers that were handed from one person to another, before they would retrieve the dollars.

Nacht-Radeln, Klobrillen und andere Überraschungen

December 12, 2015 ~ Baerbel and Johan ~ Leave a comment

30. September – 8. Oktober 2015 – Nach vier Tagen in Samarkand, von denen Johan fast die Hälfte der Zeit im Bett beziehungsweise auf der Toilette mit schlimmem Durchfall verbracht hat, machten wir uns wieder auf den Weg in die 270km entfernte Stadt Bukara, ein weiteres Highlight auf der Seidenstraße. Am ersten Tag passierte nicht wirklich viel, wir fuhren auf guten und leicht hügeligen Straßen an Baumwollfeldern entlang und am Nachmittag gegen den Wind. Wir übernachteten bei einer usbekischen Familie in einem riesigen Haus und zum ersten Mal gelang es uns, Brot und Süßigkeiten abzulehnen. Und zum ersten Mal gab es sogar ein Badezimmer – die Ausstattung war zwar sehr einfach, aber immerhin konnten wir uns waschen und sauber ins Bett gehen. Auch der zweite Tag begann unspannend. Die einzige Abwechslung war die Begegnung mit einem lustigen Südkoreaner, der am Internationalen Flughafen arbeitete, an dem wir gerade vorbeiradelten. Er war mit einem Golfschläger unterwegs, um die Hunde in den Dörfern abzuwehren. Wir hatten eine sehr lustige Unterhaltung und hätten ewig weiterreden können, mussten aber leider weiter, da es für uns an der Zeit war, uns um einen Schlafplatz zu kümmern.

Die Suche nach einem Schlafplatz stellte sich allerdings als etwas schwieriger heraus als erwartet. Das 4-Sterne-Luxushotel, wo Zimmer 60 Dollar kosten, ließen wir links liegen. Könnten wir hellsehen, wären wir geblieben und hätten den Rest des Tages in Luxus gebadet. Anstelle fuhren wir weiter und hielten an einem Neubaudorf, um einen Zeltplatz zu finden. Leider schickten uns alle weiter außer einer älteren Frau, die bei der Polizei arbeitete und uns ein Zimmer in ihrem Haus für 50 Dollar anbot. Dieses allzu großzügige Angebot lehnten wir ab und fuhren ins nächste Dorf. Viele Fragen und fast ebenso viel Kopfschütteln später, lud uns eine Familie zu sich ein. Der Hausfrau übergaben wir unsere Tütensuppen, da wir nicht wollten, dass sie für uns kocht, da dieses Haus etwas ärmer aussah, und zum ersten Mal setzte sich die ganze Familie mit uns zum Essen an den Tisch. Wir bekamen auch unsere Nudelsuppe, mussten danach aber weiter mit der Familie essen. Dieses Mal gab es Kohl mit Würstchen. Im Laufe des Abends schaute der Rest der Familie und alle Nachbarn vorbei, um uns zu bestaunen und gegen 20 Uhr durften wir uns schlafen legen. In etwa eine Stunde später klopfte es plötzlich an der Tür, unser Gastgeber kam ins Zimmer und schrie aufgeregt: “Palatka, you go, go!”. Irgendjemand musste uns bei der Polizei verraten haben und die Familie bekam Schwierigkeiten. So schnell es ging packten wir unsere Siebensachen und radelten in unseren Schlafanzügen so schnell es ging in die Nacht in Richtung Schnellstraße. Unmöglich hätten wir unser Palatka (Zelt) hier in den Feldern aufschlagen können, das wussten wir vom Nachmittag. Wir erinnerten uns aber an eine kleine überdachte Plattform neben dem Schnellweg und da wollten wir hin. Da es wirklich stockdunkel war und wir absolut nichts sehen konnten, mussten wir mehrere Hundert Meter auf dem Standstreifen entgegen der Fahrtrichtung radeln. Leider ließ uns der Besitzer auch hier nicht zelten, da half kein Bitten und Betteln. Sie schickten uns zurück ins Hotel. Genervt schoben wir unsere Räder auf die richtige Fahrbahnseite und radelten die fünf Kilometer zurück zum Hotel durch die unheimliche Dunkelheit. Wir bekamen ein sehr schönes, sauberes und luxuriöses Zimmer mit weichen Betten, weißen Bettlaken, weichen Kissen und einem funktionierenden Badezimmer mit weißen Handtüchern, einer richtigen Dusche, einem Waschbecken und einem Klo, wie wir es gewohnt sind. Trotzdem gingen wir ungeduscht gegen 22:30 Uhr schlafen, das konnte bis zum nächsten Morgen warten.

Zu unserer großen Freude konnten wir unser Hotelzimmer in usbekischen Sum bezahlen und so zahlten wir aufgrund unserer sehr guten Tauschkurses nur 30 Dollar. Nach einer ausgiebigen Dusche plünderten wir das Frühstücksbuffet. Johan aß in der Tat so viel, dass später die Klobrille in Tausend Teile zerbrach. Und nicht nur das, nach dem Frühstück hatten wir plötzlich weder Strom noch Wasser und wir mussten uns die Zähne wieder einmal bei Stirnlampenlicht und mit unserem eigenen Wasser putzen. Beim Auschecken beschwerte ich mich und die Rezeptionistin beantwortete alle meiner Kommentare nur mit “Yes”. Johan meinte dann nur, dass sie kein Wort Englisch spräche und ich gab schließlich auf. Fünf Minuten später kam sie plötzlich auf uns zugerannt und forderte in perfektem Englisch 25.000 Sum (5$) von uns für die kaputte Klobrille. Wenn’s um’s Geldeintreiben geht, klappt es auf einmal mit dem Englischen. Nach einer kurzen Diskussion machten wir uns dann auf den Weg, ohne zu bezahlen. Gegen Mittag erreichten wir dann Bukara. Johans Geburtstag verbrachten wir in Zentralasiens heiligster Stadt mit Gebäuden, die auf eine 1000-jährige Geschichte zurückblicken. Laut Reiseführer ist die Stadt auch eine der Besten, um eine Vorstellung vom vorrussischen Turkestan zu bekommen.

Eindrücke von Bukara:

Da wir nicht davon ausgingen, irgendwann in naher Zukunft nach Usbekistan zurückzukehren, fuhren wir mit dem Taxi in das 600km entfernte Kiva im Norden Bukaras. Diese Stadt an der Seidenstraße ist berühmt-berüchtigt für ihre Sklavenkaravanen, barbarischen Grausamkeiten, schrecklichen Wüstenreisen und Steppen, die von wilden Stammesangehörigen heimgesucht werden. Für uns war die Stadt wie ein Freilichtmuseum mit gut erhaltenen Minaretten, Medressen, Moscheen und langweiligen Museen und wir kamen uns ein bisschen vor, als wären wir in ein anderes Jahrhundert eingetaucht, wenn da nicht die vielen Souvenirläden und Cafes gewesen wären. Hier haben wir auch Christian aus Frankreich wiedergetroffen und verabredeten uns zum Abendessen. Er ist mit seinem Geländewagen von Frankreich aus bis Zentralasien gefahren und war nun mehr oder weniger auf derselben Route unterwegs wie wir. Am Vormittag hatten wir einen Tisch im besten Restaurant am Platz gebucht und dachten, dass es sicherlich kein Problem sei, zu dritt aufzutauchen. Wir sollten uns täuschen. Es dauerte geschlagene 15 Minuten, bis der Kellner schließlich nachgab und verärgert einen dritten Stuhl an unseren Tisch stellte. Nach Wochen kulinarischer Entbehrungen und der Einnahme von Laghman (Nudelsuppe), Plov (gebratener Reis) und Manty (mit Fleisch gefüllte Knödel) bestellten wir Hamburger. Schon beim Gedanken daran lief uns das Wasser im Mund zusammen. Umso größer war unsere Enttäuschung als unsere Teller ankamen, auf denen je zwei Frikadellen, Reis, Kartoffelpüree und ein Salatblatt lagen. Schmunzelnd über unsere eigene Naivität verbrachten wir einen netten Abend mit Christian. Und zu unser aller Überraschung bekamen wir ein Dessert auf’s Haus – wahrscheinlich wurde dem Personal bewusst, dass sie sich nicht wirklich korrekt verhalten hatten.

Eindrücke von Kiva:

Johan sucht nach dem richtigen Outfit 🙂

Am nächsten Morgen schlenderten wir noch ein wenig durch die Stadt und ärgerten uns ein weiteres Mal über die nicht vorhandene Service-Kultur. Wir gingen in ein Cafe und die erste Frage, die uns entgegensprang war: “Gehören Sie zu einer Gruppe?”. Unsere übliche Antwort “Ja, unsere Gruppe besteht aus genau zwei Personen und selbst diese Gruppe ist manchmal zu groß,” fand der Kellner nicht wirklich lustig. Ganz im Gegenteil: Die Enttäuschung stand ihm ins Gesicht geschrieben. Wir durften uns an einen Tisch setzen, wurden aber nicht bedient, obwohl wir mehrfach versuchten, Kaffee zu bestellen. Eine Gruppe, die kurz nach uns ankam, wurde sofort bedient. Normalerweise wären wir spätestens jetzt aufgestanden und gegangen, aber da es hier die einzig funktionierende WLan-Verbindung kam, rissen wir uns zusammen und blieben, denn ich musste noch dringend ein Paar wichtige E-Mails verschicken. Den Nachmittag verbrachten wir dann wieder im Taxi auf dem langen Rückweg nach Bukara, um uns wieder zu unseren Rädern zu gesellen.

Und wieder war es an der Zeit, ein Land zu verlassen, da unser Transitvisum für Turkmenistan ab dem 9. Oktober gültig war. Mit nur fünf Tagen Zeit, um das Land zu durchqueren wollten wir sichergehen, dass wir die Grenze so früh wie möglich passieren. Wir hatten zwei Tage Zeit, um die 100km entfernte Grenze zu erreichen und verließen Bukara am frühen Nachmittag, radelten bis 17 Uhr und zelteten unter Apfelbäumen. Leider stellten wir in dieser Nacht fest, dass unsere Matratzen leckten und gegen Mitternacht lagen wir auf dem harten Boden. Das waren keine guten Aussichten, denn wir mussten in Turkmenistan die Wüste durchqueren und würden die nächsten Tage zelten ohne die Gelegenheit zu haben, die Matratzen zu reparieren. Nach einer wirklich schlechten Nacht fuhren wir am nächsten Morgen schlecht gelaunt los. Denn zu allem Unglück kam auch noch Gegenwind dazu. Gegen Mittag wurde der Gegenwind zu einem Sandsturm, die Luft war komplett gelb und sandig, unsere Sicht sehr begrenzt und die ganze Atmosphäre irgendwie unheimlich. Wir kämpften hart gegen den Wind, um rechtzeitig an der Grenze anzukommen, obwohl wir nur eine Distanz von 60 km überwinden mussten. Zehn Minuten vor Schließung der Grenze kamen wir an, was für uns eindeutig vorteilhaft war, denn die Grenzbeamten hatten keine Lust auf Überstunden und so blieben unsere Taschen geschlossen und innerhalb von 20 Minuten waren wir offiziell aus Usbekistan ausgereist.

Wir hatten viele schöne und wenige schlechte Erfahrungen in Usbekistan. Obwohl sich das Land langsam für den Tourismus öffnet, ist es noch immer ein streng geführter Polizeistaat. Trotzdem fühlten wir uns willkommen, sei es durch die zahlreichen Begrüßungen, wenn wir durch die Dörfer radelten, ein Lächeln mit blitzend goldenen Zähnen, die vielen Einladungen zum Tee, Kinder, die uns kreischend hinterherliefen oder -radelten, die vielen Menschen, die uns zu sich nach Hause einluden und Mahlzeiten mit uns teilten oder die uns beim Vorbeiradeln Obst oder Brot schenkten. Die Städte Samarkand, Bukara und Kiva haben uns mit ihrer sagenhaften Architektur stark beeindruckt. Wir waren positiv überrascht von den tollen Landschaften bis Samarkand, was danach kam, war dann leider eher langweilig, da die Landschaft von Baumwollfeldern und wenig beeindruckenden Wüstenlandschaften dominiert wird. Der Staat selber verwaltet sich fast zu Tode, wir gehen davon aus, dass dies noch aus alter Sowjetzeit herrührt. Unsere Pässe waren voll mit kleinen Hotelzettelchen, die von den Hotelmanagern penibel ausgefüllt, bestempelt und unterschrieben waren. Als Johan bei einer Bank Geld abhob, musste er zahllose Papierfetzen unterschreiben, die von einem Bankangestellten zum anderen gereicht wurden, bevor er endlich seine Dollars bekam.

The 3Ms – Medressas, Mosques and Mausoleums

December 10, 2015 ~ Baerbel and Johan ~ Leave a comment

Fast facts Uzbekistan:

The region’s cradle of culture for more than 2 millennia and proud home to a spellbinding arsenal of architecture and ancient cities
Hospitality is an essential element of daily life, which we experienced every day in the non-tourism-spoilt countryside
The country is famous for plov (fried rice), which we could hardly get – cooking time is about 2 hours and usually needs to be pre-ordered
Population: around 30 million people
Neighbouring countries: Kazakhstan (North), Kyrgysztan and Tajikistan (East), Afghanistan (South), Turkmenistan (West)

Hier muss noch was rein — Distance: 395 km (2,012km in total)

20 – 29 September, 2015 – After almost 70km of easy cycling we reached the border at 1pm, changed some money at a really bad rate and got three huge piles of banknotes or 500,000 Sum, worth around 80 EUR. From now on we would carry our money in plastic bags as our wallets couldn’t bear so many bills. We made it easily through Tajik customs after our passports had been registered or checked at three different checkpoints and then arrived at the Uzbek border. We knew things would become more difficult now. We had thoroughly counted all our money in advance because we had to declare every penny. As there was only space for three different currencies on the form I almost panicked: I still had 0.20 Tajik Somoni (0.03 EUR) in my wallet and Johan received from our Australian Soccer friends Omani Real. We heard stories from other travellers who had to pay huge fines for not having declared their cents! Once we had filled in our forms the real inspection would begin: the customs officers made us open our panniers and emptied all of them. We had to start our computers and cameras so they could look at our pictures and everything else that’s on there. Johan had to give them a copy of a photo taken from an aluminium factory – the Uzbeks now officially appointed him as a spy. They were also very interested in the books we are reading! About 1.5 hours later we could continue our journey on slightly undulating roads. All we saw to our left and right were cotton, vegetable and fruit fields and small stalls selling grapes and apples.

More cotton harvesting...handy filling for our little self-made mascots — More cotton harvesting…handy filling for our little self-made mascots

Talking about harvesting...this is a slightly different harvest — Talking about harvesting…this is a slightly different harvest

Market en route to Samarkand — Market on our way to Samarkand

As it was difficult to find a spot for wild camping without being seen – there were people everywhere and we felt a bit like being back in India: each time we stopped within a few minutes we were surrounded by a crowd – we asked at people’s houses if we could pitch out tent in their garden or on their field. Without hesitating they invited us into their house, prepared tea, bread and sweets for us and gave us a room to sleep. Sometimes we could cook our own food but still had to eat their bread and cookies. We slept on the ground on thin mattresses that were piled meter-high in their living rooms, always ready to serve fellow travelers.

Our first homestay - they insisted on getting our phone number even though they wouldn't speak a single word English! — Our first homestay – they insisted on getting our phone number even though they wouldn’t speak a single word English!

This lady is selling home-made cakes and Nescafe - a cyclist's heaven! — This lady is selling home-made cakes and Nescafe – a cyclist’s heaven!

When I came back from grocery shopping, Johan was surrounded by this crowd!

Our absolute favorite afternoon snack on a hot summerday – I am talking about the watermelon!

Sunflower oil - the staple oil in Uzbekistan — Sunflower oil – much used in Uzbekistan

On our third day travelling through now mountainous countryside we passed a police checkpoint at around 3pm. The police officer asked for our hotel slips and as we had none he made clear to us that we had to register at a hotel tonight. You need to know that it is mandatory in Uzbekistan to register at hotels at least every third day otherwise you’ll get into serious trouble at the border once leaving the country. Before this checkpoint we weren’t really worried about the registration and as this had been a tough day with a lot of climbing and headwinds we had planned to look for a camp spot or homestay once more. The distance to the next hotel was still around 50km. With a continuously undulating road and very strong headwinds we knew we would never make it to the town before nightfall and decided to hitch a ride. The first truck driver immediately stopped – but he was from Iran and his truck sealed – no way we could have squeezed our bikes in his cabin. Then another truck stopped and three men stepped out. After we made ourselves understood they had a huge discussion amongst themselves. As far as we understood there was another police checkpoint in about 35km and one of them wanted to take us and the other one didn’t, given the risk with the police. People in Uzbekistan also aren’t allowed to invite foreigners into their homes, let alone give them a lift. Ten minutes later our bikes were loaded into the truck and we were sitting next to them on a soft blanket trying to sit stable and at times jumping up a meter given the many potholes and the fact that the driver might have forgotten about his fragile freight. About an hour later we arrived a few hundred meters before the checkpoint, unloaded and repacked our bikes, thanked the driver and cycled the remaining 15km to the hotel.

On our way to our first longer stop at Samarkand we had to cross a few unexpected passes, often struggling with headwinds and bad roads that looked as if a cow had shat asphalt. We met lovely people who sweetened our days with fruit and other goodies. We also met a few not so nice people: At a restaurant where they tried to screw us by asking far too much money for what we had. In the end we paid one third less than they asked for and we were quite upset as they had tried to ask extra money for napkins next to the 10% service fee.

The surprisingly mountainous countryside

After almost two months on the road through amazing landscapes we were now looking forward to some sightseeing of ancient towns featuring old Islamic architecture. Our first planned stop was Shakhrisabz, Timur’s hometown who in the 14^th century turned the town into an extended family monument. Timur is considered the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe. All that is left of his monuments is a gigantic 38m-high gate covered with gorgeous unrestored, filigree-like mosaics. Unfortunately most of the old town had been broken down for renovation at the time we visited and we continued our journey to Samarkand the same day.

A sand storm thankfully not affecting us - the wind was this time in our back and blew us to — A sand storm thankfully not affecting us – the wind was this time in our back and blew us to Shakhrisabz

DSCF0091 — The massive remainder of the palace gate in Shakhrisabz, I am the little pink spot on the right

We entered Samarkand from a part that most likely no tourist will ever get to see. Several times I checked our online map to make sure we are entering the town and not going to some small villages. The road into town was non-existing, dusty, pebbly and pot-holed, just one big disaster. Small shops and houses lined the road and we felt sorry for the people having to live here. Only two kilometers before we reached the center the streets would improve.

P1230145 — At the foot of the last pass before Samarkand

DSCF0148 — Fruit sellers at the top of the mountain

DSCF0153 — Jaws was here as well (remember the James Bond movies ‘The spy who loved me’ or ‘Moonraker’?)

P1230159 — 2,000km right before Samarkand

DSCF0165 — The good thing about few furniture: if you are moving, everything fits in one car 🙂

Samarkand is a key Silk Road City and already Alexander the Great who took the town in 329 BC said: “Everything I have heard about Marakanda is true, except that it’s more beautiful than I ever imagined.” We really liked Samarkand despite knowing that most of the monuments have been restored by the Soviets and only few original parts remained. And while some parts of the town felt a little like Disneyland with its clean alleys, souvenir shops and cafés, these gigantic medressas, mosques and mausoleums made quite an impression on us knowing they belong to the world’s oldest preserved buildings.

Samarkand impressions: