Samarkand to Dushanbe

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We made it! Final destination Tajikistan. No more borders!

We arrived in Samarkand around midday with the hope of seeing all of the sights in a day so we could catch up with lost time earlie and leave for Tajik the next day. Despite the intense heat, we managed just that and had a very busy afternoon. We learned all about the history of Uzbekistans rulers, the good and the not so good, and visited all of their long standing monuments/mosques/medressas. Topped with a bustling bazaar it was a great experience. We had an evening meal at a fancy place called "Platan" and just about scraped enough money to pay for it after realising we had each not brought out as much money as we thought we had. Easily done when you take a big wodge of cash and it's not worth much. One note is about 20p.

Our accommodation was a small hotel/homestay right in the middle of old city that looked great when we first got there. It was a really scenic place, just not the cleanest :/ we met some other travellers doing a similar route and shared stories/advice of the road ahead.

We got up early the next morning so that we could make the trip to Dushanbe in good time. The drive was amazing, the scenery was spectacular and the sun was setting over the mountains as we reached the border. The border itself was one of the easiest. A car search on the Uzbek side and a quick form filling out on the Tajik side. Then it was just a short easy drive to Dushanbe. Finding a hotel was surprisingly a bit of a challenge, but we got there eventually.

We're going to set off towards the Pamirs today to start the drive we've all been waiting for! It is unlikely I'll be able to contact people and update the blog so don't worry about us if you don't hear anything.

Love to all

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