BORDER RUN
Finally, a border crossing where everythng goes to plan!!
We had a great rest day in Mary and took in the impressive ruins at Merv as well as the enormous market out of town and the smaller regional museum. Then it was back on the bikes and back in the heat although tail winds made the going a little easier for the first couple of days.
The roads are still flat and the policmen were still sitting on our tails but the desert eases in the eastern half of the country and there was some greenery to help us on our way.
Cotton and grapes are the main crops here and we were able to stop and chat with the local pickers. There are also melons upon melons upon melons and Al has perfected his trick of balancing the biggest water melons on his bike and rides into camp each night fully loaded (although he did lose a couple in he beginning!)
We said goodbye to Turkmenistan after two more bush camps and cycled from Turkmenabat to the border incident free. There was the usual red tape but everyone passed through no problem - even Miles and the van had it relatively easy - only 4 hours of form filling!
The wind gods were against us however and the strongest headwind of the tour so far meant it was a real battle into Bukhara but it was worth it! lots of beer was flowing on our first night in Uzbekistan as now it feels like we are starting to make good progress - 4 countries down, 4 to go.
It was also time to say goodbye to Paul (me) as I have headed up to Tashkent to carry on researching my next edition of Silk Roads. So no more Mr Cheeky's tours or T-shirts I'm afraid but Ben will continue the blogs from now on.
The tour has been amazing and all the obstacles just add to the memories -
thanks guys and I hope to see everyone again very very soon
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Posted September 06, 2008 by Paul Wilson
Turkmenistan | Uzbekistan |
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