ing but it did give us the opportunity
of seeing how people live in outlying
regions.
items I had purchased a Nelson-Rigg
bag that suited the shape of the af-
ter-market Acerbis tank and a Nel-
son-Rigg dry bag to keep some gear
close and handy. This doubled as air-
line carry-on with my helmet fitting
snugly.
A rain suit from the same manufac-
turer was ultimately left with Andre
from Silk Off-Road as getting anything
similar in their region was difficult to
find and expensive. His request made
UZBEKISTAN
We were at the border crossing at
Mayskiy early in the day but it was 7
hours in a zoo! There was not even a
drink of water available or any half-
way decent toilet facility, simply one
filthy squat. What a relief it was to fi-
nally start to ride again and this saw
us getting to our accommodation in
Tashkent after dark whilst avoiding
dogs intent on causing us some grief.
They failed!
All other border crossings were ef-
ficient and quite speedy considering
that we were not only getting our-
selves through but also bikes regis-
tered in another country.
We were glad to have Andre along
as he has a way of smoothing over offi-
cials and keeping some progress hap-
pening.
Arriving in Samarkand was a spe-
cial feeling. This is a gorgeous city
with a lot to offer as were most of the
larger towns and cities along the route
but this article simply cannot cover
the attributes of them all.
The Bibi-Khanym Mosque is one
of the most important monuments of
Samarkand. We were in awe of the
workmanship when considering what
was left of this 15th century building
by the middle of the 20th century. One
can only marvel at the restoration.
With a day being off the bikes and
as tourists in this wonderful city we
had a chance to spend another night
me realise just how spoilt we are for in the great little hotel that Silk found
choices in all motorcycling equip- for us hidden down a narrow alley,
ment in most western countries.
great bike parking and walking dis-
The next morning we left Almaty tance to some special places.
during peak hour traffic. Andre, Ma-
rio and Mikkell (photographer) from
TAJIKSTAN & KYRGYZSTAN
Silk-Off-Road followed in their twin
Leaving the bitumen and riding
cab utility (Pick-up truck).
through small villages to reach our
Two day’s riding covering 800km Fann Mountains camp spot for the
with an overnight stop in the 2000 year night was fabulous. This is what we
old city of Taraz to get to true adven- had come for. People on, and lead-
ture riding was pleasant but not excit- ing, donkeys after going up to the high
TRAVERSE 75