Above:  Lake Karakol and the mountains in the background. Long break at Murghab We departed Alichur at 0900 headed towards Murghab, hometown of Altynbek, our driver.  It is where we rejoin the M41 Pamir Highway, and also the largest town on the highway. The scenery had changed from desert to grassland in parts.  And the […]

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 […]