The border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan closes for lunch. They put a lock and officials go for lunch and siesta. I decided to go to the river for a swim and a wash. To enter Uzbekistan you have to do a medical check up in a 3 by 3m room, a doctor (I think) is having a nap.
On the table there are three glass bottles with non sterilized pads. He writes down my personal data on a book and he asks me, I think, for my sexual health. To tell him I have not been practising much lately, I bend my finger. The man thinks I have problems with my saddle. Some minutes spent to clarify the misunderstanding. Then I realize that either I stretch my finger or I will spend the whole day there.
The policeman gives me some papers, in Russian, to fill in. He gives me info little by little, I understand nothing. But it seems his salary does not cover clarifications. I have to fill in two forms, there is no copying machine in this country.
This country is famous for cotton monoculture, with many irrigation channels built during the Soviet times and which resulted in a dry Aral Sea. Silk is also important and Bukhara and Samarkanda are the two main cities linked to silk.
Both cities have beautiful buildings built hundreds of years ago and that have survived to many earthquakes.
Registan outstands in Samarkanda, a group of buildings in a square, the so-called Madrasas. Not even Jenghiz Khan demolished them. If you bribe a policeman, for a couple of euros you can get to the top of the towers. At night there is a light and sound show. With a beer, and for just a dollar, it does not look that bad.
Bukhara is quieter and less touristic than Samarkanda. In the middle of the square there is a swimming pool where carts used to get to back in 1620. Right now there are cafes for tourists, but the main tower built in 1127 has not opened a restaurant at the top, not yet. When it was built it was the highest building in Central Asia: 47m high and 10m deep. For 900 years it has not needed any renovation work. When I get to Tashkent I will get the parcel with spare parts for Koga. I will then play my cards to get the visas, with a fake hotel and flight booking, China seems to be the best option. Then, Tibet will be risky: you have to have many guts to cross it in
winter. But I have already learnt to live with challenges, even to need them.
On my way, day 1346, Peace and Well Being, the Biciclown.
