Where Are We?

Started early and ate a good breakfast not knowing what the day would be like with such a long distance to travel (from Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) through Kazakhstan.)

First border! closed ... no customs ... backtracked to another border 75km away. Leaving Uzbekistan was hard and complicated ... and time consuming ... entering Kazakhstan was relatively straight forward ... from the get go, Kazakhstan felt like a more relaxed, streamlined country ... total time at the border, 3 hours.

It is amazing how fast the landscape, scenery, people, and architecture change when you cross a border ... Turkmenistan, a desert ... Uzbekistan, an oasis of green ... Kazakhstan (so far), open, rolling steppes, with snow capped mountains in the distance! The architecture also changed ... most roofs are metal.

This is definitely Genghis Khan territory ... you can see the Mongolian heritage everywhere in the way people look. Looks like Russian is now more widespread ... street signs, billboards, consumer products. Also, it looks like a more open and relaxed country ... almost no police anywhere ... no speed limit or traffic enforcement ... Mercedes, BMWs, Toyotas, Audis, VWs everywhere ... and we are not as huge a novelty as we used to be ... now we are just a small novelty.

Because of the border delays, we aborted trying to get to Bishkek today and decided to stay in Taraz, Kazakhstan ... actually, a nice, well kept, little town on the steppes. We went for a walk on the park before dinner and on to bed.

Tomorrow, we cross into Kyrgyzstan ...