Finally, a decent chance to sleep in peace. I spend most of the morning in bed, much to the dismay of the cleaning lady wandering about in the corridor outside. I'm up and about around noon and after picking up my laundry I decide to take a closer look on Dili. Of course as soon as I step into the sweltering mid day heat I am reminded that my lazyness will force me to endure the hottest segment of the day. I walk the two blocks north to reach the seaside and the Farol lighthouse and enjoy the view. Atauro Island beckons in the distance, and a small container vessel is holding outside the Dili port. It may be a hot day, but the salty sea breeze is refreshing, and it is a day suited for ... read more

Early morning again, and this time I finally manage to oversleep and thus have to hurry outside to the car. Soon we are on the way to Maliana. The main road follows the coast, snaking around ridges and mountains and offering some great views. The hills and mountains are dry and dusty, their colours mainly orange and brown, scattered with pale trees. There is a good lookout point not far from Dili from where you can occasionally see dolphins play in the shallows beneath. Some parts of the road was constructed by the Japanese during the occupation years and is generally in good condition although it can easily inspire to motion sickness. The route is mainly travelled by larger buses, some mikrolets and the occasional car. Except of course for when the road passes through one ... read more

There's something about morning flights. Specifically, there's the feeling of anguish as you go to bed the night before wondering if you will doze off and sleep through the buzz of the alarm clock. And having to get up at five sure adds to the tension. All is well though, I check out in good order and after a nervous short wait in the street manage to flag down a taxi. Today's haul is a mere four hours, and it feels good knowing they will be spent in the hands of a respectable airline, even though the added comfort comes at the price of being far from exotic. The wide body is mainly filled with western tourists, and upon landing at Ngurah Rai we are herded into two lots, those qualifying for a Visa on Arrival, ... read more

The last day in Nukus, and today's task is simply to head back for Tashkent. Rustam sends us off at the airport at noon and it feels like I was here only yesterday. We are on time, and so are the other passengers but there is no plane. Not to worry though, soon the familiar silhouette of an Anotnov An-24 graces the tarmac and we can be on our way to Yuzhny Airport without further delay. The evening is spent riding around Tashkent with Otabek looking for an open money exchange office after having got refunded some 100 USD bills that are seemingly impossible to cash in. It all works out in the end and after having done some late night shopping we say our goodbyes and I return to the hotel to start reading up ... read more

Picking up the pieces from last night we're quite happy to return to Nukus. We load up the car but before leaving we head downtown to the local Aral Sea museum, since the caretakers have opened it especially for us. It is a small hall with various regional memorabilia, paintings of fishermen, models of fishing vessels made by school children, photographs from the old canning factories, stuffed animals from the region and so on. Paging through a binder with old photographs I suddenly come across a photograph that captures my interest. It depicts some ships and a special tractor with a crane that I recognize from one of the photos I originally found on the Internet months ago. On this photo the tractor can be seen with around ten grounded vessel in the desert and I ... read more