Today I discovered where some of the population hang out

The joy of having a 5 day transit visa rather than a tourist visa to Turkmenistan is that I am free to travel in the country without a guide and driver.

My visit to the Turkmenistan embassy in Tashkent was a great success.

I have spent the last few days in the Fergana valley, an area squeezed into the east of Uzbekistan next to the Kyrgyzstan border

I travelled from Bukhara to Samarkand by local bus passing field after field of cotton plant

Today is the first day back at school for many students in Uzbekistan

I am staying with a family in the old town of Khiva.

This weekend I travelled the golden road to Samarkand from Tashkent.

Another border was crossed today

Today is the end of Ramadam

I returned to a wonderful warm welcome at the Guest House in Penjikent after spending nearly three weeks trekking in the Fann Mountains.

Everyone is talking about the incident that occurred in Khorog

To visit the stunning, remote Wakhan valley has been a dream of mine for a long time.

This will definitely be a birthday to remember!

I managed to climb up and over the 4731m pass