Samarkand to Dushanbe

24th May to 5th June 2015 Kirsty was always very proud of her attendance record at her former place of work. In the 14 years she was there the number of days off that she took due to sickness could be counted on one hand. One of those was partly my fault after taking her …

Nukus to Samarkand

It’s compulsory for any blog about a journey to Samarkand to include this poem, so here it is: We travel not for trafficking alone;By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:For lust of knowing what should not be knownWe take the Golden Road to Samarkand. By James Elroy Flecker. Full version here. From Nukus we …

Aktau to Nukus

To our left the view is 90% sky with the ground so flat you could set a spirit level on it. There’s nothing but sand and small shrubs stretching out to the horizon. Looking to the right it’s a mirror image. Up ahead the tarmac is arrow straight but there’s supposed to be a slight …

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