It had been a bit cooler up here. An older guy and 4
young teenagers came up on donkeys and John said they were taken by
surprise. The old guy chatted to john for a while. They are going up
the hill to cut grass. We spent time on our laptops then I walked
down photographing flowers. There are some beautiful ones around at
the moment.
Back
onto the main road and the one we were on a few days ago. We took the
new freeway that bypassed Guza and put us on the road to Tashkent.
At
Shahrisab we stopped at the city center which was a huge park with
trees flowers and paving. It also had the makings of several
fountains but none were working or had water.
We
entered a few mausoleums, including one underground.. A lovely space
with only one other foreign tourist. It was still around 40℃ even late
in the afternoon.
Now
out to the Kitob Davlat geologik reserve.
A
long slow bumpy road. The last section through a small narrow village.
We gave way to a digger coming out and that was a relief because he
was bigger and heavier than us. I saw a van with the parks logo on it
and stopped. The driver got out all friendly and excited and told us
how to get there. Up the road 2km’s and across the bridge.
We
baulked at the bridge till the guys told john that it was drilling
pipes (5.5inch and very strong). Once he recognized them we were good
to go, they had looked just like water pipe.
We
camped on the edge of the river for the night, declining the offer of
the parks “house accommodation”. Amazingly we have internet here.
The
valley has been full of donkeys! When we drive late we catch all the
workers and animals coming home, Donkey covered in grass with or
without a rider as well. Such beasts of burden…
224km
224km