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The crossing to Uzbekistan involved one of the most thorough inspections we have experienced. There was a full physical search of the Troopy which involved removing all belongings, searching all fixed items, and careful crosschecking of all paperwork which was carried out by several friendly border officers. One thing which is usually difficult to communicate at borders is when we’re requested to bring all bags in for searching, we don’t have any! We’ve came to the realisation that simply taking and showing the officials the back of the Troopy helps get the message across. The guards explained that there is a drug problem between Tajikistan/Uzbekistan which gave cause for their sampling of all our herbs and spices, and giving the Troopy a fuel tank endoscopy!
With the formalities out of the way we were on our way to the Samarkand. Before doing anything though we had a little more work to do on the Troopy. Heading to Panjakent the previous day we had heard a noise coming from the rear diff so at our restaurant camp spot we took both the rear wheels off to check the brake pads, they were worn pretty badly!The Troopy runs ‘pretty’(very) heavy and all the mountainous roads had taken their toll. Thankfully we carry spares so changing them out wasn’t so much a problem, it was more finding somewhere suitable in the fading daylight. We decided to look up a mechanic and after finding one with good reviews we made a beeline. To our surprise the workshop was owned by a young Uzbek man called Oscar who had not long returned from working in Sydney for the last 12 years. He quickly organised one of his trades to have the replacement pads put in and, seeing as it was 5pm on a Saturday, we decided to shout him a beer. Oscar showed us to one of his favourite local restaurants and treated us to some delicious local Uzbek cuisine - a lot of Uzbek cuisine, so much so we nearly went into a food coma! The hospitality of Central Asia continued and Oscar obliged to be our guide the following day and show us around the city, most notably to the markets (unfortunately our camera died so no footage) and the Registan.
The Registan is a combination of mosaic tile covered Madrasahs framing a central square which was the heart of the ancient city. Built in stages over a period of 200 years it was used as a public square where locals gathered to hear announcements, see parades, and executions. The three buildings (Madrasahs) were used for studies, science, prayer, and as a residential college. Over the 2700 years Samarakand has been inhabited it has been ruled by Persians, Greeks, Turks, Mongols, Chinese and Russians. This combined with its strategic position on the silk road made it a crossroads of cultures and in 2001 it was recognised and placed on the UNESCO world heritage list for that exact reason.
After staying the night camped out the back of Oscar’s workshop we packed up and begun to head north. The end goal was to get to Nukus in the far North West of which there is a crossing to Turkmenistan. Contrasting to Tajikistan the roads here are straight and long, and the landscape is dramatic in a very different way. Once on the outskirts of the city the lush greenery began to reside and the topography dropped to near flat. Before long that’s all there was and as far as the eye could see was desert. The landscape coupled with the temps in the early 40s (degC), we were taken back to our time touring the Australian outback. The weather fluctuations here are significant through the year ranging from -25degC to 45degC. The roads appeared to cop the brunt of it being cracked and potholed, the further we pushed north though it appeared progress was being made with the installation of a huge concrete dual carriage way.
We drove until close to dark before finding a track off the highway and made our way into the dunes to a nice quiet desert camp. We awoke the next morning to find we weren’t the only ones out our remote desert camp!…….
Thanks for watching!
Jolie and Mark
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