After an overnight train from Samarkand, the following morning we arrived in the dusty border town of Termez, located on a headland facing Afghanistan. After saying goodbye to Edwin, our Dutch companion who was headed into Afghanistan itself, we headed to the hotel to drop our bags before heading back onto the coach for our tour of the border city. Termez, sitting right next to the failed state of Afghanistan naturally had a large buffer zone separating itself...

After a relatively quick drive of just 5 hours from Bukhara, where we debated what is and what is not a country for a "visited countries" list, we arrived in the historic Silk Road city of Samarkand - one of the real highlights of the tour. After checking in at the hotel we headed to a fancy restaurant for a meal in our tour guide's home city. Upon arrival we found that a local wedding reception was taking place downstairs and so from the balcony next to our tab...

After a long 8 hour drive from Khiva eventually we arrived in the centre of Bukhara in the evening. Quickly dropping our bits off at the hotel, we headed to the restaurant for a meal consisting of the usual suspects - soup, kebab meat and bread, and a cheer of "Oldik" (a toast and not a scream for something else) before enjoying a quick night time tour of the city. The following morning after a comfy night's sleep and some breakfast we headed into the city - st...

Waking up after a night's sleep in an actual bed for the first time in four days was a really refreshing experience. After grabbing breakfast, the group (including our last companion who had not been granted a visa for Turkmenistan, and therefore joined us in Khiva) headed off for a walking tour of the Itchan Kala - the Old City. Although relatively small, it was brimming with activity and therefore it was a nice place to soak up the Silk Road. We began by star...