Ashgabat to Tashkent

We left Ashgabat behind having met up with some new passengers, three Australians, two American and two Dutch and headed off into the desert having first visited one of the largest markets in Central Asia, where you can buy anything from carpets to camels (We didn’t buy either). We visited both areas, the carpets were gorgeous and the camels were very smelly and noisy - but then I would too if I knew what fate was ahead of me!
The desert was unrelenting - a huge sand dune desert which just went on and on and we spent two days driving through it. The temperature was 50° in the truck with all the windows open. The breeze blowing in was like a hot hairdryer blowing in your face and it was all quite uncomfortable. We set up camp in a quiet spot not on sand dunes and at dusk we were taken to visit a huge gas crater about 140m across which has been alight since the 1950s having been started by accident when drilling for gas. It was quite a spectacle
We had a second night in the desert with the added excitement of the truck getting stuck in soft sand twice and eventually having to be pulled out by two trucks. It was relentlessly hot but were able to swim in a nearby river. Unfortunately the river was quite muddy and we came out dirtier than we went in! The following day we crossed the border into Uzbekistan with a certain amount of relief. I think the general agreement was that Turkmenistan wouldn’t be on our top one hundred holiday destinations, 80% is desert and the heat is overwhelming.
Uzbekistan is still very hot and the temperatures have regularly been 40ish. Our first destination was Khiva which is a beautiful old walled Silk Road town with muted clay brick walls and beautiful green and blue mosaics on the domes and minarets. From there we headed for Bukhara another Silk Road town which was even more beautiful than Khiva. We spent a couple of days there soaking up the atmosphere and visiting the colourful bazaars and mosques. We ate in some fabulous places, the most memorable being in a Medrassa where they had laid on a feast for us. The following day we were on our way again into the wilderness to spend a night in a yurt camp. It was great fun. We arrived in the middle of a sand storm which lasted for a few hours after which time the sky cleared and revealed a wonderful starry night without any light pollution (except for our head torches) The local people who run the camp laid on a magnificent meal for us all with sherry (yes, sherry!) and vodka flowing in equal amounts all evening - I could get a liking for this life! Camels were organised for the following morning to take whoever wanted one to go into the desert - we were of course first on the camels - quite uncomfortable but a memorable experience!
The unbelievably beautiful Samarkand was next on our stopping off points - It is jaw-droppingly beautiful with the massive majestic Registan Square with towering minarets and fluted domes. It really does defy description and photos could never do it proper justice - a place to come back to. We were stunned (wow x 10). We think it may even have surpassed Esfahan in Iran. There is an avenue of Mausoleums which sounds really dull but in fact it must be one of the most stunning sights in Central Asia. Just a narrow street of blue and green and gold mosaic covered buildings with wonderful domes and tiled interiors - I can’t really describe it properly. Again a lot of great food, there is a lot of lamb, chicken and mostly kebabs! We visited a wonderful Silk Carpet Weaving factory - all fair trade and very well run - sorry kids, but we bought one! Look upon it as an investment rather than spending yet more of your inheritance!
We are now in Tashkent which is the capital of Uzbekistan and we are leaving some passengers behind and picking up more and on this next leg of the journey there will be 20 on the truck which makes it pretty well full up.
The dynamics of the truck changed when we picked up the last new passengers in Ashgabat and Khiva. We now have two “alpha males” which made for some interesting journeys as they fought for supremacy! We have also had two lovely English girls who have adopted us and call me Aunty Marge and James is either “young James” or “pops”. We’ve had great fun with them and have spent quite a lot of time in their company. Unfortunately one of them (Helen) flies home tomorrow but we have a date to drink some champagne in Dorset on our return - her mum lives in Christchurch. We have also had a Michael Jackson tribute day on the truck (well until everybody got fed up with the music after about three hours!)
We are leaving Uzbekistan and going into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan on Monday which will be totally different to the flat desert landscapes which we have had for the past fortnight but we have loved Uzbekistan and it is definitely somewhere we would come back to and would recommend.
We believe internet connections could become a bit difficult from here so you may not have to put up with my ramblings so often but I’ll try to do another one in a couple of weeks. Hope all is well at home. I understand you are also having a hot summer.

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