Having cycled pretty much from one side of Central Asia to the other I thought I would write a post with some hopefully useful and possibly interesting information on the region. The areas within the area I have experience of include Western Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, South Central Kazakhstan and far northern Kyrgyzstan. Sections: Sights Roads Drivers…
I rode out of Tashkent on wide Soviet built boulevards passing the city’s TV Tower as I went; bearing due north for the Kazakh Uzbek border at Jipek Joli about thirty kilometres away. Reaching the border I was expecting a repeat of the waiting and frustration I’d experienced when entering Uzbekistan from Kazakhstan in the…
Leaving Samarkand I had prepared myself for some tough riding, similar to the ride I had experienced arriving into that city. As ever on this trip, things did not turn out as I had expected and instead I was treated to three days of relatively easy riding on flat, smooth roads with very little ice. …
Bukhara I was pretty happy to be in Bukhara, although I hadn’t been camping in the desert I still hadn’t slept anywhere with a shower for three days. Getting cleaned up felt great even more so as I made myself wait until I had cleaned off some serious mud from my bike. Bukhara was a…
Nukus Riding into Nukus I made straight for the hotel I’d picked from the Lonely Planet: the Jipek Joli. It was a bit more than my budget but there wasn’t much choice in Nukus and I wanted somewhere nice after another few days in the desert. I was also going to spend a rest day…
Leaving Beyneu I was both sad and happy to see the back of it; sad because it had at least had warmth, clean toilets and electricity and happy because it didn’t have much else to recommend it apart from the three things I just mentioned. I was also quite nervous about my knee failing again…
Riding ROUND 