My ‘pappa’ Jan disappears to the ‘Hindu Kush’ all the time. As a little girl, and as a big girl, I hear my ‘mamma’ Gail call after him, ‘Are you off to the ‘Hindu Kush’, Jan?’ He slips out the backdoor, and he stays, out there, for hours. He is in the garden! Here, he covers a compost heap, reinforces a terrace, builds a little dog-proof fence and spans a shade cloth. He catches water, leads it along a little furrow and lets [...]
We ride deep inside a valley. It holds the Pyanj River that separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan. I know we said we would go no where near Afghanistan. BUT! THE TRUCKERS TOLD US TO! ‘The shorter, northern route that leapfrogs the border with Afghanistan is an ‘avoid at all costs’, ‘total catastrophic’, ‘road of rot’.’ ‘The longer, southern route that hugs the border with Afghanistan is better.’ It’s a longer route but Josephine (Harry’s bike) behaves well as long as we empty her ‘catheter’ every [...]
They say you have to fight through some bad days to earn the good ones. And this day would turn out to be one of those that would best be forgotten. We left early from Khujand for Dushambe, the capital ofTajikistan. The locals warned us it was going to be a long day with two mountain passes and bad tracks. Little did we know…. Obtaining fuel is a regular problem and when you do see a source, you grab it with open arms, [...]
The Aral Sea was once the fourth biggest inland sea in the world. With abundant fish resources, and a busy shipping trade, the Sea provided a healthy livelihood for several hundred thousand people. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union undertook a major water diversion project from this sea to the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The region’s two major rivers, fed from snowmelt and precipitation in faraway mountains, were used to transform the desert into fields for cotton and other crops. [...]
Most of Uzbekistan seems to be working the fields. Water is led from the Amu Darya river in big and small channels to grow crops. These are the only lucky donkeys we see in Uzbekistan! Motorbikes also work the fields. We see endless cotton fields .... the main cause for the drying-up of the Aral Sea. Can you spot the guy fast asleep on the seat of his bike! And this guy [...]
“All the world’s a Stage, And all the men and women merely ‘Puppets’; They have their Exits and their Entrances …” 'almost' (Shakespeare) We are UZBEK men and women! And the blood of the world’s great empires course through our veins. We are the sum of their parts, sweep after sweep of history. Our stage is along the Amu Darya, a strong flow of river that separates Central Asia’s two huge deserts. We host the electrifying crossroads between China, India, Persia and Egypt, [...]
The ferry spits out, on the top side of the Caspian Sea, 5 bikes and 5 people. It is the Israeli Odette, the Italian duo Diego and Stefano and Harry & I. We now need to join the main road network that stretches across Asia at Beyneu. Ugh! There is a 500 kilometer stretch between us. Our trucker friends tell us the last 350 km are a ‘catastrophe’! Our motley crew sets off. And it is a long and slow road across the [...]
We have to cross the Caspian Sea. The political mix of countries makes it impossible to go around by road. We plan to cross the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan, but this becomes impossible for visa reasons (see Harry’s story ‘suckers for punishment’). We consider our options, pull-off a 5 day transit visa for Kazakhstan and set off to cross the Caspian Sea to Aktau. We smack, face-first, into a brick wall. Behind it hides a rigid SYSTEM of closed doors, little barred windows, [...]
The Georgian capital of Tbilisi spreads itself along the banks of the Mtkvari River and is hemmed in on all sides by dramatic hills and distant mountains. From a design perspective it is defensively brilliant and remarkably attractive. The cities left bank is mainly built on a sheer cliff that overlooks the old town, peppered with ancient churches, the Narikala fortress (dating from the 4th centaury), hidden squares and sulphur baths. Relaxed with a distinctive European feel, its hard to imagine that along [...]
Kindness startles us in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Every time we stop, our wheels or our legs, ordinary people wrap us up in extra-ordinary kindness! Why! We can’t figure it out. The Black and Caspian Seas wedge these two tiny countries together. Three great world powers; Russian, Turkey and Iran crush them from the north and the south. Occasionally they manage to pop out and go it alone. Then autocrats, and their cronies, press down from above and make national wealth disappear behind thin strips [...]
