Kazak SWAT team

En route to our border crossing we stopped for fuel at what passes for a petrol station here. As I walked across the forecourt I could hear an alarm sounding and then saw a white Lada car screech onto the station just missing me as it swerved to a halt. AS hotch potch of men jumped out wearing steel helmets, flack jackets and carrying machine guns. It was obviously a false alarm as the shop guard also carried a pump action shotgun!!
Having regained our composure, we camped nearby and were visited by locals amazed by these strange people.
We pass into Kyrkyzstan next and then into China. That is going to be even stranger if that is possible. We are having a great time on the Great Silk Route.

Kazakhstan

The border from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan was the usual long haul from these previous Soviet states. A new twist at this one was a whole body scanner! Having got through to the Kazak side we waited for hours for the truck to pass through. We were in an area like the third world, a shanty town in blistering heat that made a couple of our ladies wobble a bit. We met our Russian speaking guide Vladimeer. Unfortunately, his English is not so hot. For the next two nights we camp in Vladimeers garden/zoo. His gogs, neighbours dogs, chickens, horses etc all of whome compete to be the loudest at 5am.
We go for atrek into the national park in this country that is as large as western Europe. Our trek takes down deep into a gorge to a river where we cool down in the cold glacial water. The trek up is very demanding and we are glad to see the truck and have lunch. One of our group came running to say a man had collapsed half way down the gorge so a couple of us ran down to his aid and found a swedish man collapsed with heat exhaustion. Having revived him a ranger arrivedand carted him off on his horse. We struggled back up to the top. We had one more bush camp night before heading off towards the border with Kyrgyzstan.

Plov

If I had to think of one word to sum up the food in Uzbekistan it would be Plov. Plov is greasy rice with what appears to be bits of lamb in it  and so bland you need lots of beer to wash it down. My heart sinks when the waiter tells you what they have and it always starts with"we have plov". On one of our mamoth drives through the desert to get to Samarkand we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant that had a function on and actualy looked quite nice. We asked for Tandoori and expected something similar to the UK. What we got was plates of cold fatty bits of lamb. The toilet was the foulest hovel known to man that I could not start to describe.
We arrived in Samarkand at a very nice hotel with marble floors and good rooms. The temperature stays in the 40's so we hunt shade most of the time and drink loads of water. Samarkand is quite spectacular with its ancient palaces and we leave tomorow for Tashkent.
Our Guide is the Uzbek Dell boy who appears to be in to everything. He changes our money and as the rate is 2500 to the dollar, changing 200 dollars involves carrying a shopping bag full of 1000 cum notes.
Hoping to watch England play France in the football tonight. You never know we might win.

Bad news

We are in Khiva. A great 2500 year old walled city in Uzbekistan. Our hotel is an old madrasa set around a courtyard and is lovely. The heat is extreme well up in the 40,s. QWe have heard today that China have closed the border into Tibet. We are going to have to miss Tibet, Nepal and India. Instead we will go through China to the great wall, terracota army and pandas etc until we hit Laos. We will now also go to Borneo. Will update as we get more information.
We head further into Uzbekistan heading towards Samarkand and Tashkent.

Asgabat continued

As I was saying, we had to close our balcony doors and in some cases ladies just barged in and took washing off the balconies! There are police everywhere, a very odd place.  In the morning we headed North through more desert for the border and escape. Getting out was also not easy and yet again we had to wait and then wait. We had our lunch in no-mans land before getting into Uzbekistan. Oh yes, in Turkmenistan there is no WiFi, no mobile connection and the rooms are bugged.

Ice cold in Ashgabat

How do you get in to Turkmenistan? I can tell you, with great difficulty. You get a mini bus driver to take you to the Embassy but he insists on going to where it used to be so iot takes an hour and a half to find down a back alley in the heat. You wait  outside for some hours while something happens inside and then you leave while your crew try and pay and get the visas. You wait all day while you try and get passage on the mystery freighter that may or may not sail.  About 9pm you walk to the port and wait on the roadway by the customs post and imagine that a boat has docked. When you realise that the boat is not here you get in a sleeping bag and wait.  About 4am a boat arrives and you play games with customs, stand here, stand there etc. When you get on the boat expecting hell you find it is actually OK and set sail. We arrived off the coast of Turkmenistan at about 7pm where we dropped anchor and got in to port at 2pm the next day!!
Turkmenistan is a desert and a police state so no suprise with customs.  Stand in 40 degree heat until a door opens and you are beckoned in by a soldier. Go to a window and get given your passport, take to another window get pieces of paper, go to first window again get stuff done, go to room and get swabbed for something.  Go through a scanner and empty all your belongings for examination and then wait hours for the truck. I can,t explain the toilets you would not believe me.  Having escaped the port with our minder we drive into the dese wh we are stopped by  the Police and told we missed a piece of paper which is brought to us.
The next day we have to register our existence which takes another 2 hours. We drive through the desert to Ashgabat. This is either 1984 or North Korea. There is an 11pm curfew and we are woken at 6.20 am as the president is driving past and