London to Everest PART TWO
Crossing into Uzbekistan, it immediately felt more open, the people more welcoming and engaging than the at times stifling Turkmenistan. Currency exchange in Uzbekistan was fun with approximately 10,000 Som to the pound. The bill for one team meal (admittedly, we are a big team of riders) came to a hefty 3.5 million Som, (about £350), paid for with a very large block of new Uzbek notes.
We rode through Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, spending a day in each. These progressively larger and more significant cities along the ancient Silk Route all had an impressive range of mosques and madrasahs. Their construction appeared to have been as much about establishing the position and legacy of wealthy noblemen as it was about homage to Allah and the Islamic religion. In Khiva, three of us rode off to find a jet wash to clean our bikes, and found a place run by a local family. They also ran a restaurant, and treated us to a wonderful spread of local foods whilst our motorcycles
