Back into the mountains after our rest in Dushanbe, heading onto the Pamir Highway. orgasmic scenery. Celebrated my birthday with a bottle of Tajikistan cognac, could just cram into bags and great value at 4 pounds. We spied an ideal camping site on the other river bank, that rare occasion when there was a bridge across the huge river we've been following. The previous night we'd camped on the lawn of a tea-house, having fantastic home made beer, a barrel cooled by stream water and pulled by foot pump. Fantastic cool down swims the end of hard days ride, also washes the clothes. More...

Clearing customs from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan was fast and simple, and we were soon off in search of local currency, food and drink. The first night we camped on the edge of a farmers field, it wasn't easy find a spot soft enough to drive tent pegs in, I actually half propped my tent up with rocks, and windy too (not baked beans), slept well! Then a couple of days, riding huge v-shaped gorges, a river for company, thrashing noisily as we followed it's course up hill. There we did an overnight stay on the floor of a mud hut for the princely sum of 3US dollars for the 2 of us. The noise and sight of the gushing river was staggering, had the owners left the valley maybe they'd find the silence strange. Fantastic spot. More...

Bit soon after my last blog but what the heck - the internet connection speed for some reason is awesome (ie average for Europeans). Just arrived back in Samarkand from our visa shopping spree in Tashkent, so called international regional travel hub and good fun too. Steve has decided to have a holiday and so is leaving our bike quest and flying out to Thailand - on the way back to New Zealand, good luck, has been good cycling together. It's Keith and I now, setting of into the Himalayas on Sunday. More...

We've left our bikes in Samarkand and came to Tashkent for visas and all I can say is don't come here if you want to relax. The city is huge, you can't use the metro, as the police target tourists here, and there are no taxis, as we know them. Instead, you try to hail every passing car, and one of the locals will act as your taxi for a price. Its annoying to have to bargain for everything. We are capitalists, we are rich, so we pay more.... uh - more like, we won't come back nor will we recommend the place. More...

Now in Uzbekistan after crossing Turkmenistan the last 7 days.

Uzbekistan, currently in Bukhara, wow, great food and facilities, and the first tourists we seen since leaving Istanbul. Fabulous architecture, ancient buildings that have survived the ages. This is the most fabulous place since Istanbul 9 weeks ago, good food drink nice places to sit, friendly locals, winding old streets in the old town where we are staying. Although the internet is terribly slow here, cannot read my email but can update this blog. More...

Leaving Iran was easy enough, Turkmenistan took a couple of hours form filling, showing the passport every 2 foot, x-raying our bags, declaring all our gear and dollars. And it's off to find a beer, we all sit down in the midday sun (36c) and enjoy our first beer in 4 weeks, with a nice hot desert bike ride ahead. Police check point was fine, the only shade within 20km, not too much hassle. More...