Marching About

Sunrise over the lake, where I woke up in Panjakent After Panjakent, it started to get steep. I climbed 60 miles, as the road began to offer me extra steep grades as I rode into the mountains. So far, this was the most stunning ride of the tour, visually. The cliffs rose up over the river valley as I got deeper into the mountains, the temperature was also not so incredibly hot in the middle of the day.   A man in traditional clothes who was painting a fence I stopped at a village to eat some somsa and found a place on the side of the road in the shade to take a nap. It probably wasn’t the most appropriate place, as I woke 20 minutes later to a bunch of little kids admiring my bike and staring at me. All testing out their “Hello” like broken records all vying for a reaction. I was a bit groggy, and also a bit annoyed. They couldn’t say anything else and none of them spoke Russian. I put on some sunscreen and kept riding. Climbing higher into the mountains along the Zarafshon riv...

  I took off from Samarqand, a little sad to leave such a magical city, but my final leg of the trip was waiting for me. I had a relatively short ride today, only 40 miles. On the way, I passed the first bike tourer I had seen this entire trip, he had ridden from his hometown in China and was also headed to Dushanbe - we rode a few minutes together, but he was much slower than me and also spoke almost no English, so we said goodbye.   First bike tourer I ran into the entire trip I rode on to the Tajikistan border. Although I would rate this border quite low on the sketchiness scale - it also scored rather low on thoroughness.     Man riding close to the border wearing a traditional Uzbek/Tajik hat The Uzbek side of the border was typical - my passport and visa were scrutinized, checked several times and I got my stamp.   I walked over to the Tajik side and passed several windows, some had people in them but waved me through, others were closed. I couldn’t...

 I slept in, determined to get some rest. I ate some baklava and cherries that I had purchased the day before and adjusted some things on my bike - pumped up the tires, lubed the chain, sorted some things in my bags. When I tried to use the washing machine in the apartment, it appeared to be broken. I thought that there might be some kind of trick to using it and I wrote the Airbnb owner. But no, it was broken. As I started to begrudgingly handwash my clothes (admittedly, it's only two outfits), he texted me that he would arrive soon with a brand new washer. So I waited around for that, he came with some handymen, removed the old washer and installed a new one on the spot, this was a bit of a step up from camping.   Looking through the bazar to Bibi Khanoum in the back I put up my clothes to wash and went to the Siob bazar. This is a large open-air market in the center of Samarqand. It's a huge open market, with some traditional elements, delicious tried fruits and nuts and so...

  Samarqand is by far the most tourist-oriented place I've been on this trip. It seems pretty wild to me that I just rode through the desert of Uzbekistan and somehow happened upon this ancient capital city. Amir Temur, a central figure in ancient Uzbekistan is represented all over the city, and his mark, and the mark of the Temurid period that he started, is indelible. Amur Temur's burial site and mausoleum He believed that he was the heir apparent to the Mongolian Empire, and in the late 1300's he ran a brutal military/genocidal campaign to try and regain some of the previously-held Mongolian territory. This resulted in a large land area, covering the lucrative silk road trade routes from China, and west through modern-day Turkmenistan. Samarqand was the capital. The region itself is marked by incredibly intricate mosaic structures, whose construction were overseen by his wife. I put together a program, that I only managed to partially complete in the two days, but enough...

 I was exhausted getting up in the morning after the long ride the day before. But I wanted to get to Samarqand, where I was planning to rest for a couple of days - so that alone was motivation enough to get over the hills which started early in the ride. Morning sunrise in the middle of the hills It was already in the upper 90’s by 7:00 and my legs were feeling tired. I had only gone 20 miles but I left Jizzax before the town had woken up, so I needed to put some calories in me. I already knew I would struggle to start again, the last couple of days of riding had been fairly intense - I was between fatigue and needing to avoid the increasing heat. I drank an energy drink and had some eggs and sausage. Once I got to the top of the climb - another 20 miles, it was a merciful 20 mile descent into Samarqand (with one last kicker before the town).  A typical breakfast “zavtrak” of eggs and various types of sausages. But finally, I was there. I rented an Airbnb directly in the cent...

 This was a day to just grind out the miles, persevere and endure the heat.  I woke up at the crack of dawn, thinking I would get out before everyone was awake. To my surprise, the whole family was up to have breakfast together at 4:30 and see me off. The early morning heat was already close to 90 degrees. I also had a bit of extra mileage to go, since I hadn’t gotten as far the previous day. 85 miles would be a challenge.  Riding into the Jizzax precinct I managed to push and cruise along and get to about 65 miles before the searing heat cut me off. I was miles from anywhere and pulled into a gas station. There were no services at the station, just a couple of pumps, but no store. While I was studying the map and figuring out where I could spend the afternoon in some shade, the gas station owner came out from behind a gate with a couple of his children.  One of Oybek’s children as I rode into the gas station. He dropped a piece of paper he was holding to admire my b...

 The heat in Tashkent was intense, but I was warned that it would only get worse as I went south. I left before 5AM and rode about 50 miles until 9:30AM. The sun was shining overhead and even at this time, the heat was getting very intense, it was probably over 95 degrees this early in the morning. I figured it was alright and I could see the town and lay low and ride another 10-20 miles in the evening. I wandered around the market, which was very crowded, where did all these people come from? After that, I slowly rolled around the main drag in town looking for a suitable restaurant - there were many restaurants that appeared to only have outdoor seating, but I was looking for one with air conditioning. I found one and was ushered inside. One of the famous Uzbek foods in this area is Somsa - a kind of flakey dough stuffed with meat and onions. I ordered a couple of these as well as an order of plov, which, in Uzbekistan is known by the local term, “osh.” A sign listing all of the p...

My sample size for restaurants is relatively small, so I don’t know if what I have experienced in restaurants is uniquely Uzbek, or if it’s all over Central Asia. Everything is a la carte, you are expected to order a main dish, salad and bread.  And the servers will hover over you indefinitely until you place your order. Maybe it’s because my Russian is very bad, but even when I tell them to give me a moment, they will stand with their legs basically touching the table, poised to take my order. Sometimes it takes me a bit to peruse the menu because I read Russian like a 3rd grader, sounding out the words to get the meaning. Even if I ask them to come back, they will just stand there. In multiple places I have read the menu for at least several minutes with the waiter standing there, while other guests come into the restaurant, they do not leave until I order. And then, it can be difficult to get their attention, they simply will not come back. Sometimes, I will get up to leave and ...

 I had planned an extra day in Tashkent so that I would have time to explore the city. The city is large and the center is very modern. Apparently, the city was more or less destroyed in 1966 after a terrible earthquake struck in the center of the city and destroyed most of it. The rebuilt city is very modern, with grand avenues and many high-rise apartment buildings in the classic Uzbek decorative style. The earthquake monument I took my bike around to visit some historical sites, I had compiled a list from online sources as well as couchsurfer recommendations and made a little route for myself. Amir Temur square Abdulla Murodxo Mosque Hazrati Imam Complex Chorsu bazar Seoul Moon Street Museum of applied arts Metro stations Tashkent TV Tower This route revealed a much older part of the city than the modern high rises. Unfortunately, most of the writing was in Uzbek, so I missed out on a lot of the context. I was also not allowed into the mosque, as I was wearing shorts. But wearin...