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Bye bye Osh

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It’s time to move again. The route we are taking to Khujand takes us along the Uzbekistan border before crossing into Tajikistan (for which we need visas in advance). It is an odd route. It is  not shown on most maps and it passes within little islands of Uzbekistan that are totally within Krygistan. We have to fight with the GPS in order to take the right route. 

We now find ourselves following in the ancient footsteps of old Silk Road traders - namely Charlie and Janet Russel of the North Shore in Auckland! They have done the same route. I must quickly add however  they are not ancient - they are younger than us! And by ancient footsteps I really mean tyre tracks of two years ago!  I am sure however that Janet was carrying a pice of silk or even some perfume from the East to at least Italy if not London.

Our journey continues. After a while we leave the lush Fergana Valley with its rough road and crowds of people and cars.




Watch out Cromwell (a town in NZ with a giant fruit on its outskirts).


And suddenly the green stops, arid is the colour of  the day, the heavy traffic disappears and the road improves 





The traffic policeman gave me a friendly wave back - no trumped up speeding charges here!



After an “ average” border crossing, it is off to Khujand in Tajikistan. I thought it would be just an ordinary small transit city. Far ,far from it. The city centre was delightful with almost a Greco - Roman note to it.

And...





Plus the old fort that is now a very good museum 



The guide at the museum explains that here in Khujand there is a Persian  influence coming through and even Alexander the Great got as  Far East as here  here in about 300BC presumably after he had pillaged the city of Persepolis in modern day Iran. This means that  “ Dick the even Greater”  has now crossed the path of Alexander the Great in a number of places. You can see the Persian influence in the museum murals 



And we finish the day in a nice central hotel with the inspiring words of Omar Kayyan on the wall of the restaurant. I used to use some of the Kayyan quotes in the Clipboard newsletter that went into our cereal boxes 



Tomorrow it is in to the hills ( read high mountains ) and down to Dushanbe - the capital of Tajikistan.





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