Hello ... Since the last blog post I have crossed three more countries,
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. I managed to get my Turkmenistan transit
visa on time but they only issued me with three days instead of the requested and
standard five. Oh well, I have heard of this happening before and even of people
being rejected so I was just glad to get my passport back on time and with the
visa. I then spent the afternoon riding to the border and managed to exit
Tajikistan with about an hour to spare. Crossing from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan
was far from smooth but with just about keeping my patience I got across.
Since I did my last blog I still had quite a bit of time in
Tajikistan. I went on a short excursion to see some more of the Pamir Mountains
and then made my way to Dushanbe. It’s all in the Tajikistan part two video below...
Tajikistan - Part Two
I had a fair amount of time to get to the Turkmenistan
border so could take things easy in Uzbekistan, catch up with some things I had
to do and see the sights ... err, well lots of desert actually. I’m glad I had
a few days in the ancient Silk Road city of Bukhara as I really liked it there
even though it was very touristy. I re-met up with Julian and Elie, who I had
been bumping into on and off since Kyrgyzstan. It was good to have company
camping in the barren desert with giant hairy spiders, so thanks guys.
Uzbekistan
After that it was on to Turkmenistan. The problem was that
it wasn't really three days. The border didn't open till nine and it took three hours to
get across. Combine that with the fact that the Iranian border shuts at 16:00
and it leaves 51 hours to cycle the 480-520k (route dependent, the shorter
route was on a ‘bad’ road), which is a bit tight after stopping to eat and sleep. I was determined to do it and would have rode
through the night if need be. As it turned out, it was quite comfortable. I even took
the last day easy and I made it with a few hours to spare. It was quite an interesting
country from what little I saw and even though I was stopped by the police a
lot, they were always respectful and polite (unlike other places).
Turkmenistan - Desert Time Trial ... Tightrope!
So finally after a few months in Central Asia it was into
the Middle East and Iran. All cycle tourists have nothing but praise about Iran mainly due to the
great hospitality you receive from the people there. So I was quite intrigued
to see what it would be like and yes the people were very friendly (bar one). I
got given lots of nuts, grapes and water which were welcomed. Tehran had the
craziest traffic ever without a shadow of doubt. Bishkek was definitely the
most dangerous but Tehran was just crazy! I pretty much nailed it across Iran
and rode 2067 km in 12 days. It was good to be on perfect roads after most of central
Asia. This is what a ‘silk’ road should be like.
The Islamic Republic of Iran
So now I am out of a so called ‘axis of evil’ country and in
Turkey. I had to take a week of to finish some none trip related things, which
was also one of my reasons for cycling Iran so quickly. I have got that done and in
the meantime the seasons have started to change. I had a day of storms
yesterday and combine that with a cold coming on and I am not feeling too good
today. So it was an enforced rest day which has enabled me to catch up on my much
neglected blog. Tomorrow is another day so I hope I feel better. It seems a
long time since I was in the cycle-eat-sleep trip routine and I'm missing it.
