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 from it's neighbour. However at certain points the buffer was narrowed for historic attractions. This included our first sight - the Al Khakim At Termizi Mausoleum, dedicated to an ancient religious leader. This was just metres from the riverbank, and thus less than half a kilometre from Afghanistan itself. Not that you'd know, as it was surrounded by a bund on all sides.

Our next sight was the Fayaz Tepa - an ancient Buddhist temple. From the grounds of the complex you could see the border fence and watchtowers in all directions; whilst on the way back to the city for lunch we could briefly see Afghanistan itself across the Amu Darya river.

After having lunch, we spotted an Afghan diplomatic car, and so Christine put her scarf around her face - pretending for a moment we had left liberal Uzbekistan and entered the Islamic world.

We then boarded the coach again and made our way to the Kyrk-Kyz Palace before going to the Sultan Saodat Ensemble for our last sight in the city.

We then had the afternoon free, which gave me an opportunity to rest and repack my suitcase before our final dinner in Uzbekistan - with it also being Simon's birthday, we had a special cake and concluded our five days in the country before continuing our tour into Tajikistan in the morning.