It was a Tour de France moment, minus the speed. Cycling out of Murgab, it felt special for a while, as locals yelled and whistled to grab my attention. Kids running along the bike cheering, but that was for a reason. I was told earlier in the week that I was the first backpacker of the season. Here for 5 days I would be 320km from the nearest tourist and that tourist was riding on a bike. With its scenery ranging from Mars to Pluto it was a spectacularly remote feeling. The sound of silence was only broken by the occasional [View Full Entry]

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(There are two parts to this first part is for avid readers and people considering travelling here. The second is if you are in a hurry.) PART 1 - So I’m on the TV show the Amazing Race and the challenge is to get through the ex-soviets red tape before Navrus (New Year). These are my instructions - and this is what happened: First up you have to arrive at the airport without a VISA and hope the information you received is correct and you can get your VISA at the airport. Once at the airport you will need to convince [View Full Entry]

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