Turkmeninstan - Uzbekistan.

Deserttime 

The time in Turkmenistan can be resumed in the 2 following pictures.

For Turkmenistan as a cyclist you can get a transit visa, which allows you to be in the country for 5 days. 

The shortest way to cross is a  +- 480km.
But it's hot.
Very hot. And there is headwind all the time and the roads are mostly bad. 

This post is a post for cyclists who plan to do the same thing.

Turkmenin woman are dressed beautifully!!!

- exchange money: Turkmenistan has also black market rate with dolars. half june we changed 1 dolar for 18 manat. Official rate was 1/3.5 dolar

- Crossing the border from Sharahs, you can follow the main road or follow a 30km shortcut on P9. I have the impression most cyclist take the P9, but the road is bad, like really bad. I think you are at least as fast if you would stay on the main road. Only after 50km there are some houses on the P9 where you can get water, but you should filter it. My friends drank it unfiltered and got very sick.

- speaking about water, I only bought water in Turkmenistan, people say tapwater is OK but the taste is very bad. 

- The main road until Mary and Bayramaly is ok, after that it gets worse again until Turkmenabat. 

 - In between Bayramaly and Turkmenabat there are enough villages and roadcafés to get food/water supplies. Basically in every 'village' along that railway you could ask for water. 

- Just before the border in Faraps there are toilets AND you can take a shower for free. Perfect to cool down. Be at the border BEFORE 6 PM!!   Officialy it's open until 8pm but they can start closing down from 6pm.

I finally found some snow after all the heat!!

Uzbekistan: 

- No black market dolar rate. Oficial rate in june 2019 was 8500 Uzbek Som for  1 dolar. 

- In Uzbekistan you should 'register' yourself in a hotel every 3 nights. There should be possibilities to register online also but I just went to hostels so I dont know about that. 

- I didn't bike a lot in Uzbekistan, it was incredibly hot and I was sick. So I spent some days in Bukhara and then went for a hike in the mountains around Samarkand. Bukhara is definitely the more beautifull town, worth to take a few days rest. But very hot. 

- If you cycle to Samarkand the lakes east of Bukhara are a good place to stop and have a swim.

- The border control into Tadjikistan by Samarkand was the easiest I've ever had on this trip

Forget about the thermos. This is THE trick: 1 or 2 socks over your bottle and keep it wet. It doesn't only keep your water cool, it cools it down even more!!