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Hi Everyone,
First internet cafe in a while - and i've travelled from Ashgabat in Turkmenistan to Mary, Merv and then Turkmenabat. I crossed the border to Uzbekistan yesterday and popped into Bukhara quickly before pushing onto Samarkand where i am today and then this afternoon up to Tashkent (the capital). I have only a 3 day transit visa here - hence the rush!
Its been an amazing journey along the silk road and Bukhara and Samarkand have been amazing. So much history! and the ancient buildings and mosques that are still standing are quite incredible!
Another highlight has been crossing the immense deserts to get from city to city. In Turkmenistan a 1 dollar shared taxi took me 350 km across pure desert to Mary, from where i took a taxi to check out the ancient city of Merv (where the city's inhabitants were massacred by one of the Khan's and every single one of the 1,300,000 were killed).
From there it was massive expanses of cotton fields into Bukhara. A small very old and relaxing town in Uzbekistan. The people here were very friendly and i've met a lot on the way into Samarkand as well. The centre of the city, the Registan is an immense combination of 3 mosques roughly 30 metres high and spectacular to see. If you can get here its worth it!!
This morning have been having a sniff around and bribed a policeman to climb a minaret for a great view of the city. Not too hot as i head a little north now. Its been mid 40's for a while!
I'll leave the pictures do the talking now! Some cool ones for a hike i did hear Mashhad in Iran!
Thanks for reading this!
John
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