Tag: silk road

Kyrgyzstan: Meeting the willy snatcher and wearing strange hats (02/10/15-26/10/15)

Nov 10, 2015

Between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan there’s a long 20km of no-man’s-land. Unsuprisingly there’s not much going on in there but one family, it turned out, had a tea house right in the middle. It was getting late in the day when I exited Tajikistan and I was over the moon to find some civilisation. After struggling … More Kyrgyzstan: Meeting the willy snatcher and wearing strange hats (02/10/15-26/10/15)

Tajikistan Part 2: The Pamir Highway (22/09/15-01/07/15 Khorog to Kyrgyzstan)

Oct 30, 2015

From Khorog you have a couple of choices regarding which road to take. The main Pamir Highway (M41) leads up into the mountains, while a southern route continues to follow the Afghan border as the Wakhan corridor narrows. Recently there was only one choice, as the M41 was closed due to big landslides a couple … More Tajikistan Part 2: The Pamir Highway (22/09/15-01/07/15 Khorog to Kyrgyzstan)

Tajikistan Part 1: Cycling the Afghan border (08/09/15-21/09/15 Uzbekistan to Khorog)

Oct 22, 2015

During the hour long search at the Uzbek border the guard felt the need to make a little small talk with me. ‘Did you hear about the killings in Dushanbe a few days ago’. ‘Err, no?’. ‘Yes – many terrorists in Tajikistan’. I thought she was just gloating about how much better Uzbekistan is (those … More Tajikistan Part 1: Cycling the Afghan border (08/09/15-21/09/15 Uzbekistan to Khorog)

Uzbekistan Part 2: Bukhara to the Tajikistan Border (03/09/15-08/09/15)

Oct 5, 2015

I got off the night train and walked straight to the Tajikistan consulate. I was there an hour before ‘opening time’ (not that that means anything to them) and already there was a huge crowd outside – they’d been closed Monday & Tuesday due to the Uzbek Independence Day so it was no surprise that … More Uzbekistan Part 2: Bukhara to the Tajikistan Border (03/09/15-08/09/15)

Uzbekistan Part 1: The Silk Road by Train (18/08/15-01/09/15)

Sep 10, 2015

I normally start these blogs with a screenshot of my cycling route for the relevant dates. Not much point in that on this occasion – I’ve cycled about 100km during my first fortnight in this country thanks to Tajikistan pissing me about as much as possible. So, if you’re only interested in bicycle blogging – … More Uzbekistan Part 1: The Silk Road by Train (18/08/15-01/09/15)

Turkmenistan: The Desert Dash (14/08/15-18/08/15)

Sep 1, 2015

After my thorough questioning by the Iranian border staff, I cycled over to Turkmenistan. They didn’t seem to care that (having now switched back to my UK passport), it looked like I’d just magically arrived at the border with not a single other stamp in my passport. They had many more important things to do… Like … More Turkmenistan: The Desert Dash (14/08/15-18/08/15)