Today was a day of travel from Kyrgyzstan to Tajikistan via TWO border crossings. With the border between these 2 countries currently closed due to political tensions we had to do a detour via Uzbekistan.

An early start saw us reach the first border at Dustlick before 8 am but it was still busy. We were greeted with gravel and dust but our trusty guides assisted us through the first checkpoint. Has to say farewell to our gorgeous student guide. This has been her first time out of her home country and she only went about 200 metres!! It was every man/woman for themselves as we lugged suitcases about 300 metres in the 38-degree heat. I got pushed over by one ignorant local man but our guide came to my rescue and helped me the rest of the way to the next checkpoint.

We then crossed into Uzbekistan and got on a bus to drive to the next border crossing. Our escort could not speak any English so thanks to Google Translate I was able to find out that this was going to take about FOUR hours. The monotonous countryside was all we saw.

We then reached Andarkhon and our second border crossing for the day from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan. Once through Uzbek passport control, it was a matter of lugging our suitcases about 400 metres through no man's land into the Tajik passport control. I don't think my passport has ever been scrutinised by so many people in one day!! Finally, we were met by our guide Dilovar (call me Dee) and headed into the small city of Khujand.

It was one hell of a hike but we were now in Tajikistan. A little bit of information about this country......Ninety-three percent of Tajikistan's territory is mountainous, and the mountain glaciers are the source of its rivers. Tajikistan is an earthquake-prone area. The republic is bounded by China in the east, Afghanistan to the south, and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the west and north. The central Asian Republic also includes the Gorno-Badakh Shan Autonomous region. The Tajiks, whose language is nearly identical to Persian, were part of the ancient Persian Empire that was ruled by Darius I and later conquered by Alexander the Great (333 B.C.). In the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs conquered the region and brought Islam. The Tajiks were successively ruled by Uzbeks and then Afghans until claimed by Russia in the 1860s. In 1924, Tajikistan was consolidated into a newly formed Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was administratively part of the Uzbek SSR until the Tajik ASSR gained full-fledged republic status in 1929. Tajikistan declared its independence from Russia in 1991. Water is the main resource of Tajikistan, which it trades to its downstream neighbour Uzbekistan so it can irrigate its cotton cash crops. The Tajikistan way of life is simple, and the country's mountain scenery is stunning. Somewhat of a mecca for hikers and mountain climbers, its Fann Mountains rise over 5000 metres and protect pristine azure-coloured lakes.

Who would have thought I would be in 3 countries in one day?