That's another fine stan you've got me into

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I have visited a Central Asian embassy for the last time. You have no idea how relieved I am, although this last one was relatively easy.

So, Tajik visa in hand, I set off on the 12 hour drive to Osh, in the south of Kyrgyzstan, in a shared taxi. I managed to get the front seat, which was great as I'd read much about the majestic scenery. I was not disappointed - the views were stunningly dramatic, rather like the driving.

In fact the driving was more than that. It was terrifying. I have very few photos of the journey because it's hard to keep the camera steady when you're going round a corner at mach 4 with your eyes closed.

The screeching tyres I got used to eventually, and in most cases we at least managed to keep to the side of the road the driver intended to drive on. The problem was that this wasn't always the side of the road that we should have been on, which was especially alarming going round blind bends, of which there were plenty.

I'm drawing the line at this one. The other crap drivers have at least only left insufficient margin of error for things they could see. This one was driving with blind faith that there was nothing coming the other way, and on several occasions if he'd been wrong I'd be in hospital now.

So that's the last public shared taxi I'm catching. I'll have to figure out a less suicidal way of getting from A to B.

Incidentally, I'll be in remote mountains for the next week or two, so won't be posting.

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