Leaving Tashkent was a mission, 3 lane city centre roads turned into 6 or 7 lane grand prix starts from the traffic light. The Lada and Daewoo drivers vying for the lead position, whilst trying to take photos of us using their camera phones. Needless to say it was a dangerous place to ride a motorcycle.
Soon we were out of Taskent and buzzing along through miles and miles of cotton fields. Cruising speed was 80kph - after several people had been stopped for speeding the previous day - with various results some bargaining down the fines, and others calling the bluff of the 'officer' dishing out the 'fine'.
After 200 miles we had been stopped 5 times at various police checkpoints - sometimes passport details were logged, othertimes, the officers were just interested in who we were, and what we were doing. It was getting a little tiresome tho'.
Soon we were up into the mountain, and through a heavily militiarised zone - armed solidiers on the entrance and exit to the various crumbling tunnels through the mountains.
Heavy snow must fall in this region during the winter, as there was evidence of avalanche barriers; the temperature was dropping as we climbed, from 42 at the low level, to around 25 at 2000m. I zipped my jacked up for the first time in about 2 weeks!
All to soon we were approaching the Krygystan border, so we had an attempt to rid our selves of the last 48000 Som - petrol was the easiest option, and even that was a challenge with the over enthusiastic pump attendants.
The border crossing was a relative joy ! 30 minutes or so to fill in customs declaration forms, get our passports stamped, and vehicle export details logged. Then it was into Krygystan - a quick passport stamp, and that was it! Fantastic, getting into Krygystan is akin to getting into Europe !!
Only 10km from the border and we entered Osh - our stop for the night.
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