After finishing the Pamir Highway, I have to admit that cycling through Uzbekistan had me a bit bummed.
Like non-alcoholic beer or de-caffeinated coffee, Uzbekistan seemed to have all the bitter aspects of cycling with none of the buzz. On the Pamir Highway I was rewarded for my efforts by incredible views, raging rivers, beautiful weather, grandiose mountains, etc etc. In Uz, though, it’s hot, flat, and there’s no water. I’ll just have to learn to appreciate the little pleasures in life, like:
The second day in Uzbekistan we got invited to a wedding! At 7am! Check out my cool sash. They even gave us money ($1 each) in addition to feeding us a hardy breakfast.
The breakfast smorgasbord.
The coital chamber.
That’s the groom on the right. The bride was nowhere to be found. We were told this was the “man’s” wedding, and that the woman’s wedding would be held later in the day. How do they get married if they’re not together?
I was asked to give a speech, and I did, congratulating the bride and groom on their marriage. Not a single person understood a word I said, but who cares, I’m a white guy at their wedding! English is auspicious!
Here we are with the family that hosted us the night before the wedding. Thanks!
Nice lady let us camp under her apricot trees, pilfer onions and potatoes from the piles she had laying around outside, and even brought us a big plate of meat for dinner!
Here’s the campsite, right next to her field and cows. I’m hammocking for the night.
Here we are heading over the last little blip of mountains before it’s flat flat flat all the way to the Caspian Sea.
And a selfie with some locals as we crest the last hill in Central Asia. Mountains, done!
Another great campsite, in another farmer’s apricot grove.
The only trouble was getting in and out. We had to heave our steeds over this mud brick wall and then through a stream to get to the grove. I thought we were being pretty sneaky, but when we entered, the farmer was there checking on his trees. What did he do when he saw that three foreigners had egregiously tresspassed on his property? He shook the branches of his apricot trees and offered their droppings to us, then told us to camp anywhere. Later that night his mom brought about ten small children by to stare at us.
It was this day that I found out, as we were heaving our loads over the wall, that H&E are carrying about half as much stuff as me. How did I get so much stuff? Is it the board game I’m carrying that’s weighing me down, or the frisbee?
Two adorable little girls riding an equally adorable little donkey. Did I mention that this is super adorable?
Train panorama. it’s all glitchy cuz it was moving when I shot the pano.
Below: Some more camping spots! This is one great thing about Central Asia that didn’t vanish in Uzbekistan. You can camp anywhere and it’s really pleasant and nobody bothers you. In the shot below we camped next to the Amu Darya River, which is the one that (used to ) flows into the Aral Sea. It was clean and clear, and lukewarm like bathwater, so of course we went swimming!
Aside from the partiers on the beach all night, Lake Todakol near Bukhara was another great camping and swimming spot, and beach-goers just kept giving me free food and booze! Score!
Why do I keep taking photos of cute children? I must want to have a baby or something.
Emese with a mule!
The used parts market in Khiva.
In Khiva, the three of us decided to go all out and drink TWO whole beers each, an amount of alcohol that would surely get us totally wasted. So for $5 we bought six totally decent Uzbek beers and split them. The blonde one near the middle, I believe pronounced Rujskaya, was deemed the best.
But our Hungarian beer judge was already to far gone to be reliable in her judgements. Seriously, if you ever want to be a cheap drunk, just start cycling a hundred kilometers every day. After our two beers each, we just kind of collapsed at the table for a few hours before stumbling back into the dormitory where we were staying.
Have you ever seen a baby preying mantis before? I didn’t think so. Thank me later.
One of our many reprieves from the hot hot, blazing ball of fire that scorches this part of our planet every single day.
Hannah and Emese were runnining out of time on their Uzbek visas, and they’re also not stupid enough to cycle through the completely empty desert of western Uz, so it was in Khiva that we parted ways, them heading off to find a train that would take them to Kazakhstan, and me beginning the arduous week-long trek across the Karakalpakstan Desert and into an almost equally deserted part of Kazakhstan. I’ll miss you guys! See you in Aktau!
Like non-alcoholic beer or de-caffeinated coffee, Uzbekistan seemed to have all the bitter aspects of cycling with none of the buzz. On the Pamir Highway I was rewarded for my efforts by incredible views, raging rivers, beautiful weather, grandiose mountains, etc etc. In Uz, though, it’s hot, flat, and there’s no water. I’ll just have to learn to appreciate the little pleasures in life, like:
Above: Last(ish) day in Dushanbe before leaving Vero (fourth from left)’s house for Uzbekistan.
The first little pleasure was getting to cycle with these two ladies, Hannah (UK) and Emese (Hungary). Finishing the Pamir Highway just a couple days after me, we became quick friends and since we were going in the same direction at the same time, we decided to head off together. They proved to be great company and saved me from what would otherwise have surely been a lot of being hot and bored alone.
The breakfast smorgasbord.
The coital chamber.
That’s the groom on the right. The bride was nowhere to be found. We were told this was the “man’s” wedding, and that the woman’s wedding would be held later in the day. How do they get married if they’re not together?
I was asked to give a speech, and I did, congratulating the bride and groom on their marriage. Not a single person understood a word I said, but who cares, I’m a white guy at their wedding! English is auspicious!
Here we are with the family that hosted us the night before the wedding. Thanks!
Nice lady let us camp under her apricot trees, pilfer onions and potatoes from the piles she had laying around outside, and even brought us a big plate of meat for dinner!
Here’s the campsite, right next to her field and cows. I’m hammocking for the night.
Here we are heading over the last little blip of mountains before it’s flat flat flat all the way to the Caspian Sea.
And a selfie with some locals as we crest the last hill in Central Asia. Mountains, done!
Another great campsite, in another farmer’s apricot grove.
The only trouble was getting in and out. We had to heave our steeds over this mud brick wall and then through a stream to get to the grove. I thought we were being pretty sneaky, but when we entered, the farmer was there checking on his trees. What did he do when he saw that three foreigners had egregiously tresspassed on his property? He shook the branches of his apricot trees and offered their droppings to us, then told us to camp anywhere. Later that night his mom brought about ten small children by to stare at us.
It was this day that I found out, as we were heaving our loads over the wall, that H&E are carrying about half as much stuff as me. How did I get so much stuff? Is it the board game I’m carrying that’s weighing me down, or the frisbee?
The ladies in front of a Chaikhana, or tea house with a local lady.
This man was adamant that the girls take a photo with him in front of his painting. Afterwards he led me by the arm across the street to the print-shop, where he paid for it to be printed. It turns out that this is a painting of one of his ancestors wrestling a tiger.
Below: Cool things seen on the road.
Does anyone know what this is? It’s some kind of flower, and it looks like it’s being pollinated by these creepy black and white bees!
A boy and his donkeys.
Water boys. These kids were sitting in the shade selling locally bottled mineral water on the side of the road. We stopped for a bit and commandeered their shade. The water tasted kinda gross.
Check out the sweeeeet boxer engine on this old Ural motorcycle, along with the sidecar.
Those are stacks of rock-hard cheese balls that this woman is selling. I bought a few and tried to incorporate them into my cooking. I tried to boil them; nothing happened. I tried to bite off chunks, but I thought I might break a tooth. They’re so salty, maybe I should just suck on them?
Train panorama. it’s all glitchy cuz it was moving when I shot the pano.
Below: Some more camping spots! This is one great thing about Central Asia that didn’t vanish in Uzbekistan. You can camp anywhere and it’s really pleasant and nobody bothers you. In the shot below we camped next to the Amu Darya River, which is the one that (used to ) flows into the Aral Sea. It was clean and clear, and lukewarm like bathwater, so of course we went swimming!
Aside from the partiers on the beach all night, Lake Todakol near Bukhara was another great camping and swimming spot, and beach-goers just kept giving me free food and booze! Score!
Why do I keep taking photos of cute children? I must want to have a baby or something.
Emese with a mule!
The used parts market in Khiva.
In Khiva, the three of us decided to go all out and drink TWO whole beers each, an amount of alcohol that would surely get us totally wasted. So for $5 we bought six totally decent Uzbek beers and split them. The blonde one near the middle, I believe pronounced Rujskaya, was deemed the best.
But our Hungarian beer judge was already to far gone to be reliable in her judgements. Seriously, if you ever want to be a cheap drunk, just start cycling a hundred kilometers every day. After our two beers each, we just kind of collapsed at the table for a few hours before stumbling back into the dormitory where we were staying.
Have you ever seen a baby preying mantis before? I didn’t think so. Thank me later.
One of our many reprieves from the hot hot, blazing ball of fire that scorches this part of our planet every single day.
Hannah and Emese were runnining out of time on their Uzbek visas, and they’re also not stupid enough to cycle through the completely empty desert of western Uz, so it was in Khiva that we parted ways, them heading off to find a train that would take them to Kazakhstan, and me beginning the arduous week-long trek across the Karakalpakstan Desert and into an almost equally deserted part of Kazakhstan. I’ll miss you guys! See you in Aktau!
