Samarkand, Uzbekistan

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  Samarkand, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Saturday, September 6, 2008

DAY 89 "Sand Sand Sand...." - Mary to Bushcamp" (136km)
Our travels through the Karakum desert continues, this morning we had such a blast and managed to do 30km an hour. Happy to be feeling stronger again and my legs felt they could handle a fast days riding. They are building new highways throughout Turkmenistan and occassionaly we were bledded with some nice smooth tarmac. After lunch we hoped to continue this pace however the wind turned on us and sand was thrown into the mix as well. Loads of trucks carrying sand went past us leaving a trail of sand which was blown into our faces and lots of other uncomfortable places...Eyes and mouth were full as well, but I guess we have to expect that when cycling through the desert. Tough riding however and I slowly was running out of water, there supposed to be a water stop at 120km but this wasn't the case, luckily Graeme came to resque and gave me a litre of his water..Just before I got to camp I met the van which went back to give us all water..

more dromedaries

. a little late don't you think. We camped next to a police check again but tonight was pure desert and had to sat up my tent in the dunes. Within seconds my tent was full of sand of course, but the view was stunning and was fantasizing about finding the ocean behind the dunes!! For the rest of the afternoon we all tried to find some shade and sleep and read books and waited for dinner... As soon as dinner was served I hopped into my tent, the temperature luckily had cooled down, but there was a heap of noise around my tent. Not wanting to go out and see what was crawling around the tent I decided to turn off my head torch which possibly was attracting the creatures around me. I later found out that there were a lot of dung beetles around me, beetles who find some pooh, roll it into a ball and then move it to their nest to then lay eggs in it which will be able to feed of the dung...So I guess my tent was a nice place to hide their dung balls!! Trina woke up in the morning to find a small scorpion under her tent...mmm
 
DAY 90 "More desert and headwinds... (129.5km)
The whole day long we had headwinds, it was not fair and made you go so slowly... The terrain today was sandy with dunes everywhere and the occasional hill. Tough going, also for the mind as all you could see was one road and desert all around you. Not sure if I could do this kind of cycling for a long time, not sure how you could keep sane

nadir medrasa

! After 100km we were stopped by the police for no real reason, they just wanted us to wait....after 20 minutes they let us go again??? Just before we got to camp we saw a bus full of German tourists. Hadn't seen tourists for a while now so it was a nice surprise to see them here just\ outside of Turkmenabat before the Uzbekistan border.
 
DAY 91 " Border crossing and desert winds" - Bushcamp to Buhkara (135km)
Today was expected to be a long day as we had to cross the border to Uzbekistan and we all know how long it can take and cycle 135kms in total. The headwind hadn't died down, on the contrary, it had increased power. At the border we had to wait for it to open and at 9am we made our way across to customs. After fighting of the locals, who don't know how to queue, it didn't take too long. We then had to walk to the Uzbek border and were in no-men's land for around 600 meters. At the Uzbek border it took around two hours, o all in all 2,5 hours to cross...not too bad at all. It was now 11.30am and needed to cycle another 100km's to get to Bukhara. It took forever as the headwind made us slow down so much that our speedometers showed 13km an hour!! Too depressing to look at, we stopped every 20 kms for a coke or some other sort of drink, to  keep ourselves going. I don't think I have drank so much coke in my life, they should consider sponsoring cycle expeditions

kalon minaret, bukhara (tallest minaret)

. A few local kids joined us on their bikes and cycled with us for 5 kms, waving proudly at thewir friends. We finally made it in around 6pm...felt like I had done 6 spin classes in a row. It was Paul's last night so we had to go out ...argh...and had a bitr at the Lyabi house, a place built around a pool in 1620 which had two restaurants. During the day you will find Uzbek men sipping tea and playing chess under the centuries old mulberry trees.. Off to be around 11pm, exhausted!!!
 
DAY 92 - a rest day in Bukhara, enjoying the amazing sights of this, once being the holiest city in Central Asia.
 
DAY 93 " Not having much fun" - Bukhara to Bushcamp (148km)
The wind now needs to bigger off, pardon my swearing but today was just ridiculous. We left Bukhara where it was nice and cool, since we have arrived in Uzbekistan you can feel the difference in temperature, but the wind was still blowing a gale!! And as soon as we were out of tonight was straight in your face again. Ten of us decided to cycle in a group to find some relieve and protection from the wind. We initially swapped every 3km but this was too tough so we changed it to 1,5kms...By lunchtime I was exhausted and still needed to cycle 70km in this wind...So I ate two nutella sandwiches instead to make myself feel better, it sort of helped I guess but as soon as we started to peddle again we were all exhausted. We changed into two lines and rotated this way, to be able to give the people on the right more protection by the left lane breaking the wind. It was definitely a better way to do it and it also gave you something to do as you now had a companion next to you to chat to... Felt almost like speed dating as you chatted for 3 minutes before the person on the right moved up...def effective and quite a laugh

kalon mosquee, bukhara

. The Uzbeks kept us entertained as well following us with their bikes and cars. When we got to camp, I had another baby wipe shower and ate a great dinner created by our chef miles...Pitched my tent in a field with cows...grass camping this time, however the inside of my tent still looked like a desert. I should make an effort in cleaning my tent and empty the bucket of sand that seems to have come with me...not tonight though, sounds like a good job for my next restday...maybe!
 
DAY 94 " Uzbekistan be nice" - Camp to Samarkand (118km)
And another windy day...I know it is indeed becoming a rather boring story and today was probably one of the first days on the trip that I didn't feel like hoping on that bike. Motivation was hard to find/. Graeme had taken off and we didn't see him the whole day, he actually took a wrong turn and cycled around 20 km extra...can easily happen as you have your head down a lot during the day. This morning it was pretty cool and for the first time since I can't remember, prob Germany, we had to wear a wind jacket ... amazing how a week ago we cycled in 53 degree heat and now we were wearing a jacket. The day was long, but we had to get there, there was no two ways about it, or I should have opted the train option....probably would have been smart. Lots of kids around, the girls have to wear these French maid looking outfits, very cute.. overall the women seem to dress more here, more so than I have seen for a while and the stiletto's with extra lace to wrap around the ankle to the knee seems to be the fashion statement here. Also cycled past a man on a bike who carried live chickens in his shopping bag...chicken shaslik for lunch I suppose. funny sight however. Rolling hills entertained us for the remainder of the afternoon till we got to our hotel in Samarkand...which looked like a porn palace from the outside and gold and red carpet on the inside. I found out later that it indeed used to be a bordello of some sort!!!!

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mir i arab medrasa, bukhara	Shah i Zinda, Samarkand	Shah i Zinda continues, Samarkand	Sher dor medressa (lion)
Registan	uzbek man resting under mulberry tree	Uzbek men in Shah i zinda	Divanbegi Medrassa, Bukhara
70 kilo luggage	covered bazaar, bukhara	cu ddly dromedaries

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