Uzbeki Sun 4

In The Lap Of Luxury

I really didn't expect this, so that makes it so much better.

I'm sitting on a comfy bed, I've just had a long scrubby shower, I've washed my cycling clothes (well, as best I could given their state), and while I rest here with my back against some soft pillows the cook at this hotel is whipping me up some vegetarian fare.

How bloody lucky am I?

So, it was one heck of a day.

Again.

You know, I've said it before, but I'm just gonna say it again. When you're on the road like this, you can never predict what's gonna happen.

After a decent sleep I hit the road this morning and it was immediately steep up, just like most of yesterday. It takes a bit of time for the legs to warm up to that sort of thing. There was another 600m of elevation to gain before the top of the pass.

The switchbacks ahead look pretty daunting don't they.

A few clicks up the road I passed a long line of army trucks, and noticed another line of them heading up a side road, including tanks and armoured vehicles.

I passed them all, and then, to my complete surprise, discovered that I was heading straight for some long dark tunnels. I rode to the entrance, and an army guy motioned to me that I wasn't allowed in with my bicycle, and I'd have to go back down a few hundred metres, and take the old road, that climbs right over the top.

Oh well, you get that.

The trouble was, the side road was the one the military vehicles were going up, and an army officer down the bottom explained to me that I couldn't go up there for at least an hour and a half because they were doing military exercises up there, and told me not to worry when I heard loud explosions.

Of course I didn't even consider taking any pics of the military, that'd be dumb around here.

Ok, well what to do then? I was instructed to go back down further, below the first line of military vehicles, and I sat for a while in the shade of a warehouse.

Of course, people immediately came to see who this strange guy was.

I chatted with two young boys for awhile, with very useful translations like these

When I asked one of the boys who the other one was, he said

Eventually a lovely guy called Abdullah came and said hello, and invited me up to his little guest house/resort, to wait it out while the army was playing its little war games and practising how to attack and kill people.

Little did I know that his place was miles up the hill. As we headed up there, massive bomb explosions from the military exercises echoed through the valley. I got the weirdest sense of how loud and scary a real war must be. And that's without the actual real terror bit.

I followed Abdullah up, to the trippiest and dodgiest little resort park ever. He had these little half-built A-framed rooms that looked super dodgy, and also had, of all things, an incredible hill slide.

He ordered his son to slide down so I could see how it worked. It was super fast.

There was also the weirdest sculpture ever, of an arm shooting out of the earth, which, of course, we climbed, even though it looked incredibly dodgy to me. The whole structure was some kind of fibreglass concoction built around a flimsy rio frame, which is the metal they put in concrete to give it stability.

The hand platform was supported by what looked to me to be the thinnest rusty steel post in the history of skinny Poles.

The whole structure honestly looked as if it could come down at any time. And to add more nail biting to my already uncomfortable feeling up there, two of Abdullah's teenage sons saw us up there, and decided to run up and join us.

The view from the top.

I could hardly look.

The very thin walls of the death tower.

Well, I'm alive to tell the tale, so I guess it didn't collapse.

But it will one day, you can bet your bottom som.

I couldn't resist getting back down via the rainbow slide. Halfway down I spun around somehow and ended up going backwards, which was scary and fun at the same time.

Eventually the explosions stopped and the army cleared out, so I strolled back down the hill to my bike, and then rode up to the pass on this side road, which was actually quite a reasonable tarmac road, with virtually no traffic whatsoever. It was really beautiful up there, with magnificent views, and the most beautiful silence.

More tunnels in the distance.

Snow fences at the top of the valleys

It was a tough steep climb though, and eventually I made it to Qamchiq Pass, at a height of about 2300m.

It was a long long cruise down, although it wasn't down all the way.

The scenery was pretty spectacular at times.

Landslides

When I hit the highway again I fitted some new brake pads, for the descent. My back brakes were starting to sound scrapey.

I stopped at an eating house, and they served pretty much one thing.

You've gotta be kidding. Now this is getting ridiculous.

Old bridge

Stunning rock formations all over the place.

Suddenly the weirdest thing happened, completely unexpectedly.

These strange drops of water started falling out of the sky.

Because I hadn't experienced this phenomenon for such a long time, it took me a while to realise what was happening.

It was actually raining!

Yes! I couldn't believe it. After this blistering hot weather, cool raindrops were falling from the heavens.

Hallelujah!

It lasted about 30 seconds.

Bummer.

Better than nothing though.

These guys were trotting along the highway, and skedaddled just before I reached them.

The trippiest restaurant entrance ever. Don't ask me what the young couple is doing by the teapot. I turned away, I wanted to give them a bit of privacy.

They dammed the Ohangaron River

Not a good place for two calves to hang out

Looking back

This girl was a bit unsure about me, but eventually trusted me enough to pass by

"Protecting Nature Is Protecting Us. It Is Our Duty."

Hear hear.

This is the main hallway of my hotel. Pretty flashy huh, especially compared to where I've been lately. But, as usual, my room was nothing like the lobby.

To The Capital

Well, now I'm only one long day's ride from Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent.

Awesome! Another city to get excited about, and to explore.

My plan is to check out the city for a couple of days, and get some serious resting done, after all this hill climbing leg killing rubbish.

Then I wanna head to one of the most famous Silk Road cities of them all - the ancient and glorious city of Samarkand.

I've always wanted to see the famous mosques and medressas there, the photos of them are well known iconic images of Central Asia.

I've noticed that the Silk Road appears to be rather long❤️

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