Uzbekistan

Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells
When shadow pass gigantic on the sand,
And softly through the silence beat the bells,
Along the golden road to Samarkand
(James Elroy Fletcher op the silk road)

We actually need 5 days to recover in bukhara. We visit the old town, which looks like nothing has changed since the old silk road time. there's no traffic, everywhere we find buildings with beautiful turquoise domes and minarettes from which the prisoners used to be thrown off in order of the emir.

We take 3 days to cycle to Samarkand. there's plenty of shade due to the trees along the road. Great after the heat of turkmenistan. there are white farms on the side of the road with blue doors leading to the patio's. Grandpa is sitting in front of the house where the cows are tight-up at the trees. We take over a lot of donkeys and their loads. On the other hand we are taken over by a lot of colorful Lada's. The road really looks golden every now and then because of the wheetfields on both sides. Also peoples' teeth are gold plated.

In contrast to Iran we see plenty of beautiful, proud women, dressed in colourful dresses (and with a golden smile). We enjoy cycling without time pressure and we take lots of breaks. We easily quaff 1.5 liters of cola or eat a whole watermelon in no-time.

In Samarkand we find a wonderful guesthouse where we meet more travellers. Seven bikes are parked in the courtyard, together with to motor bikes. We exchange stories and have great fun
about all bizar adventures, even our own suffering in Turkmenistan generates laughter after a few beers.

This city is remarkable as well, with many beautiful Madrassahs (Islamic Schools), Mausolea and Mosques. We start getting used to these enormous ancient buildings and we find it hard to understand why all this is so unknown at home.

the only drawback we discover in Uzbekistan is the food. Finding a meal without fatty meat is hardly possible and all available vegetables at the market are ignored in restaurants. It makes us long back for our mother's food.

We are preparing ourselves for the most longed for stretch of our journey: Tadjikistan and the Pamir Highway.