Sorry no photos, the internet here in Bishkek is very slow and I couldn't use the laptop. It's a shame we had some beauties! What a difference a border crossing can make. After leaving Tashkent we spent a day driving through the beautiful and fertile Fergana Valley, quite a contrast to some of the desert type countryside we have seen and then on to the Kyrgyzstan border. From Minarets to mountains in a couple of days - no more majestic cities with tiled mosaic mosques, the cities are quite run down and Russian influenced with the exception of Karakol on a lake which is a faded Russian Spa town which has the most beautiful wooden Russian Orthodox Church and wooden Chinese mosque. The scenery is totally different, with snow capped mountains, deep fertile gorges and very
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