The start of the Silk Route (Uzbekistan)

Today was going to be another long crossing of the Karkum desert - 300 miles. The initial part including some rather precarious barge river crossings;

We stopped at the edge of the desert to cram our tanks with fuel - luckily there were locals available to hand pump fuel for us;

The fuel station had a rather delightful toilet (I'll spare you the inside photo - although it will be on flickr...);


Then it is was onto the desert crossing;

You can imagine the delight we had when came across one of several police checkpoints, where, in 42degC heat, we had to have our documents examined, and have photos taken, and chat with the friendly police;


We stopped at a small group of buildings - the first we had seen across 160 miles of desert for a coke and some food;

But decided against having food;


Soon we arrived at Bhukara, our second town on the silk route - a similar architecture to Khiva, but a little more lived in, and touristy;