Day: April 10, 2006

The last kilometers in Turkmenistan took us across the city of Turkmenabat (With its 243,000 inhabitants, it’s the second most important city in the country after the capital.) As we left the city we went over the floating bridge which was built during the Soviet period and which links the two banks of the Amou Daria River.  There was a toll for vehicles.  We said good-bye to Bakhtiyar, our guide, who has a such an abundance of historical and cultural information about his country and from whom we learned so much, and Oraz, our jovial chauffeur who was always in such a good mood.  We spent 6 very pleasant days in their company.

Serge ran the last 20 kilometers to the border alone with his rucksack.  We always leave a safety margin so Serge won’t have to stop.  In spite of the hour and thirty minutes we waited at the Turkmen border post (Customs was having its lunch break), it took us only 3H30 to get into Uzbekistan, where our local guide and chauffeur were waiting for us.  Serge joined us when the formalities were almost completed. Our timing was perfect, what a relief!

Our first impressions in Uzbekistan: fields, land under cultivation, rice fields, goats, cows and most important of all, smiles and curiosity on the part of the population.  For those of you who wish to open your atlas to follow us, we are headed for Bukhara and then the mythical city of Samarkand.

Even if the date’s not right, because we always have a time lag getting the log updated, best wishes for a Happy Birthday on Tuesday, April 11th to Anna  (Jean-Marc’s wife and Benji’s mother).  Our best wishes are with you as you blow out your candles (see photos).