Day 147 (Uzbekistan): Samarkand - Jizzax (what a messy day)

daily distance: 113km
total distance: 9325km
riding time: 9h

My body wanted to stay in Samarkand and I could have stayed without any problems, but visa issues are waiting and I got an invite for a wedding in Tashkent later this month. All of this meant that I thought I should move along. I am choosing a long detour (don’t ask why) as opposed to simply heading into Tajikistan from here. This way I may also get around the impending border closure that the Uzbek government may be having in mind. Or so I heard. It’s independence day on September 1, and for some this is a good reason to close a border. What a bunch of !@#$. I am sorry, this makes no sense to me.

At any rate, I set out and things were good for 20km out of the entire day. The rest was … wind. An angry, feisty, nasty wind. My stomach wasn’t happy either. I had to stop all over. I schlepped myself into Jizzax more than anything else.

What made the day special though was the reception at the friends of Islam. He is organizing most of the trip it seems and has friends all over the place (and if not, he asks friends of friends it seems). They were extremely kind and generous and we had a great time after I had come back from the dead. Thanks so much!!!