A hitching hiking break

Four months, 8500km, and four border refusals later,
I needed a little time away from Cindy,...

After bumping into Stevo, a jolly Austrian who was hitchhiking through Asia, I quickly accepted his invite to hitch up into the Tajik fan mountains and walk until we either found something worth walking for or got lost.

The Ups and Downs of Tajikistan

Me and the guys head in completely opposite directions,
 so I can get a taste for Tajikistan...The plan was to meet back up and just over 10 days in Kyrgyzstan. But we all know what Central Asia thinks of plans...

This trip has had its fair dish up of breathtaking beauty,..
of heart wrenching generosity...of euphoric happiness and of sitting back in unbelievable awe as the building blocks of life pile down and land in perfect unison,....
"Everything always works out" I say...

But sometimes...
Apparently....
When you make "plans" in Central Asia...
You get this....

You just never know whats gona happen

Traveling creates a readily open minded attitude to embrace almost every situation.
As time passes you begin to become accustomed to events that would have
 otherwise thrown you back on ass in shock and awe.
 Mysterious moments full of strange and wonderful synergy bring you
 closer to believing that everything will always work out and the spontaneity
 of life never catches you off guard.

And then there are times when you just look around puzzled,
 quietly chuckling to yourself as you ask

 " What the f**k?"

20 - On to silk cities

This trip was never really intended to be about sightseeing,..
But, in Uzbekistan there is pretty much only one main road running through the whole country.
This same road has been used for thousands of years, and all along this road still
stand some of the most beautiful and best preserved silk cities anywhere on the ancient
 silk road running from China to Europe.

So of course we got our Aladdin pants on, and spent a good few days, jumping rooftops,
climbing mud walls,and just admiring the two and a half thousand year old
mud buildings that still stand to this day!