No sooner are we over the border and into Tajikistan than we are off route again - yes I know, we should have learnt our lesson by now. This time the expedition was successful and at Hissar, only 5km off-route, we find the gateway of an 18th century fortress. Why was this worth the effort? because it appears on the back of the 20 Somani note. We have a whole days R&R in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Its a strange place which seems to consist of one main street with a few grand pre-soviet buildings interspersed with drab concrete buildings and lots and lots of parks. The guide book describes “pastel coloured buildings and tree lined cafes”, that conjurers up a totally different image to what I found. It seems too small and quite to ... read more

The drive from Khiva to Bukhara is mostly across the Kyzylkum desert and in places the desert is taking over the road and we have to weave our way between pile of sand. The other excitement is the rickety pontoon bridge we have to cross. In places the metal plates are no longer attached to each other and there are some steep changes in level. Anyway we survive and arrive in Bukhara only we seem to be on the wrong road. We can see the right road, its just the other side of the blockade. There's no way round the blockage but there is the ancient domed bazaar that connects the 2 roads. The police men are telling us we have to go back but the locals are all waving us through the bazaar so through ... read more

Turkmenistan is a strange little country in so many ways. From the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi we head to the capital Ashgabat then spend 2 days driving across the Karakum desert to the Uzbekistan border. Ashgabat is all grand white marble buildings topped with golden domes Presidential Palaces surrounded by rose gardens and manicured walkways. Wide avenues lined with white marble public buildings with names out of 1984; The Ministry of Fairness, the Arch of Neutrality. Its all very ostentatious and impressive. But its also very sterile and unreal, where are the people? The everyday people going about their everyday lives? There is just nobody around. The only place we see any life is in the Russian market where there are local smiley faces selling all sorts of things. Its the cleanest, neatest, tidiest market ... read more

For the whole of our 48 hours in Azerbaijan the country is hidden under one enormous rain cloud. As we ride up to the Georgia-Azerbaijan border its raining and we are made to queue at the barrier just sitting on our bikes in the pouring rain being slowly called forward two at a time to be stamped out of Georgia. At least getting into Azerbaijan we are allowed to sit in the warm customs office with the 4 officials; one to fill out a short form for each foreign vehicle, take 5 Euro of its owner then sit around, one to take a few grubby note off the occasional local driver and then sit around, one to play computer games and one with an enormous pile of passports and V5s in front of him very, very, ... read more

When we leave Cappadocia for eastern Turkey there's a definite feel that you have left tourist Turkey. The roads suddenly deteriorate and the villages start to become more rustic. We are still in the land of men sitting around drinking chay or playing OK which is sort of like gin rummy with dominoes. They don't seem particularly bothered when we roll up and join them for tea, in fact they go out of their way to bring extra chairs and include us in their circle. The mayor of one village explains that they are all farmers and once they have tended to their beasts in the morning and set them free to graze theirs nothing left to do until evening which is why they sit drinking tea. There are several mountain ranges in eastern Turkey and ... read more