Registan at Dusk Samarqand

This trip for me has a couple of highlights both in terms of landscapes and landmarks; the Cappadoccia, the Pamirs and Tien Shan. Damascus, Esphahan and Samarqand. They so far have lived upto their name. So after a couple of days in Bukhara, a sleepy town with numerous madrassas and mosques I had even higher hopes for Samarqand; a city which has long filled my imagination with images of blue domes and huge bazaars. Don’t believe the hype. I arrived to find a perfectly pleasant tourist town, but one that was made to look like a museum. It had the blue domes and the big bazaars but also had pristine grass lawns and tailored flower beds, a world away from what I imagine it was like when it was the flourishing centre of the central Asian trade. It was certainly worth seeing, especially after so many years of yearning but Bukhara was definitely the quietly more real old Silk Road town of Uzbekistan.

'Secondary Road' (Julien Nivol)

I split from Ania and Robb in Bukhara to give ourselves a break from 3 full-on months together and arranged to meet up again in a couple of weeks in Dushanbe, Tadjikistan. Having spent three brilliant days in Bukhara, I started to miss the bike and took a smaller road through some of the few mountains Uzbekistan has to offer for Samarqand. As I cycled away from Bukhara, higher and higher I relaxed more and more. The people and the landscape began to change, as usual, the people in the country were at first more reserved but then when they accepted me they welcomed me with amazing warmth and generosity. It was still pretty desert like but as I climbed the temperature cooled and I even had to sleep one night with blanket. However after two days in these lofty regions I returned to sea level to find the climate had changed. Humidity and green plants were the order of the day. I hadn’t realised how much dusty yellow strains your eyes and suddenly I felt my eyes relax as they feasted on the lush green trees and plants that lined the road. I arrived in Samarqand having ridden a bit too hard and fast but reinvigorated and fresh.

Samarqand didn’t dampen my mood, it was just a little disappointment and so after another couple of days catching up with some good food, bicycle chatter and watching Howard Webb ruin Holland’d chances in the World Cup Final I set out for Tashkent. Since arriving in Central Asia the number of cyclists has increased dramatically. This is probably because there are fewer roads and so as a result I keep on bumping into the same people. Its lovely, you share stories, spare parts, make friendships and then ride on knowing that you will probably bump into them again further on down the road. After discussing my route to Tashkent with a French couple, Julien and Stephanie, we decided to ride together, again through the mountains taking secondary roads. This turned out to be a bit of a gamble, the road turned into a mixture of dusty, loose rock and sticky asphalt all which slowed us considerably. After 3 days hard cycling we hitched a ride in an army jeep and head back to the main road only to be shocked again by the humidity and temperature. It was 33 degrees at 7am and 49 degrees at 12pm! It was nicer to cycle and get some breeze than to sleep and sweat in the midday heat. It was lovely to cycle with a couple again and to have some company but they head for Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan so I leave them in Tashkent and I head south for Tadjikistan and some serious mountains, the Pamirs.

Inquisitive eyes

Julien tackling another rubble road

Uphill (Julien Nivol)

Char Minor Bukhara

Driving Sheep (Julien Nivol)