Let's see what's ahead. They are checking our luggage properly. I am really scared.
May Allah protect us. Thank you. Assalam Alekum and Good Morning Everyone. From Seven Lakes, Fann Mountains, Tajikistan.
It was almost dark when we reached here yesterday. It was very difficult for me to set up my tent. After that, we comfortably spent the night here.
The weather was very good. It was quite cold. But because I have good equipment, I can comfortably set up my tent even if the temperature goes down to minus 5 or minus 10 degrees. I know that as I move towards Mongolia, the temperature will drop significantly in the beginning of autumn. So, it is very important to have good equipment. But the problem is that I lost the air in my sleeping mat.
There is a puncture in it. But I am not wasting my time in finding that puncture. We will go to the hotel and check the reason for the puncture. If we find the puncture, we will repair it. Because we will need it for camping.
The plan for now is to have a light breakfast here. And cook something. After that, we will leave for Samarkand. The border is not very far from here.
But I will tell you in due course of time. Because I don't have internet connection here. So, I will tell you as soon as I get online. It is not very far from here. So, we will leave here comfortably. We don't have to hurry.
I have some breakfast items with me. We will prepare them, have tea, and pack our luggage. Then we will get going. So, today's breakfast will be instant coffee with milk. I have powdered milk. We will also have muesli.
I have added some nuts to it. We will enjoy it. We have some fruits with us as well. So, I think it's gonna be a great breakfast. Look at that. I still need to pack my tent.
We have a visitor sitting beside our tent; a dog. He is relaxing in the shade of our tent. I have no other option but to remove my tent and resume my journey. I have to disturb this poor guy.
We can't do anything else. Let's go ahead and start packing the tent. Who knows the dog may get our message and leave.
We are ready to leave. We have packed everything. We have not left anything. We have picked all our garbage. So that this place stays clean.
People have thrown a lot of garbage here. Bismillah... In the name of Allah. Prayer for the journey May Allah bless us with a good day. Our border crossing today is a bit nerve-wracking. Uzbekistan does not allow drones.
That's why we have hidden the drone. Don't know how good a job I've done. Let's see. If we get caught, we will tell them to keep it.
We will pick it up when we return. Rest is our luck. Or, I can try and give it to someone in the upcoming village Panjakent. But let's see.
First we have to leave this beautiful place behind. I woke up rather relaxed. Took my time to pack everything up. And enjoyed the place.
The next couple of hours are gonna be along these beautiful lakes. It's fun to camp in such weather. You wake up to a mildly sunny morning. You pack your tent comfortably. If it's wet at night, let it dry. Otherwise, it gets very tough.
Especially if it's very cold. It gets freezing. You don't want to unpack your tent. You don't feel like doing it. And your hands are frozen.
The views are even more beautiful from here. You can see the entire valley down there. That's the 6th Lake. The 7th is not too far from the 6th. If you don't get lost.
Amazing! The water is amazing. I don't want to slip on them. Because the drone that I have hidden there.
If the motorcycle slips, the drone will get broken. That's why we need to be careful. The kids are swimming in the water. They are very brave.
The water is pretty cold. I am so happy. Camping in the morning. And riding through such scenery.
It's amazing. If you don't want to do wild camping, this is a camp site. You can camp here. Someone told me about this place. You just need to pay 1 or 2 dollars. But there is a toilet here.
However, there you have to be in nature. I liked this place too. The lake is right in front of me. You can see the blue water. Yesterday it was turquoise.
Today it's blue. Probably because of the sunlight. It's an amazing scene.
And a lot of backpackers and tourists come here. They stop here and stay in this village. Because there are more guest houses here. And it has a beautiful lake as well.
There were also a lot of guest houses back there, though. We are passing through such a beautiful nature and we will reach one of the most beautiful cities at night. Traveling from nature to the city in one vlog. Won't that be amazing? The color of the water is still so beautiful. When I woke up early in the morning, before sunrise, the color was not that beautiful then. Because there was no light and it looked dull.
But as soon as the sun began to shine, it was amazing. Amazing I think these lakes look more beautiful in the first half of the day. The second time was also good.
But we have the perfect light right now. Check this out. It's so blue. I don't think I have ever seen lakes with such blue water.
Turquoise is very common but this is something else. It's amazing. These lakes are every bit worth our visit and camping. It was fun.
We have just entered Panjakhant. I think this is a relatively big city. At least according to the map.
Or if I compare it with the previous city. There wasn't any notable city back there except Dushanbe. Why the navigation is taking me from small roads. We need to stay on the main road. This is the Panjakent market.
I can see a historical building in front of me. I think this is a market. Most of the markets in Central Asia have similar entrance. I have seen this in pictures. As I have never been to Central Asia.
This is the first time. It's a relaxing city. Women are selling fruits and vegetables in the market.
It's a mix. I can see men as well. This is a new area.
There's a cafe over there. Let's park the motorcycle here. We'll try to sit where we can keep an eye.
We have our food and we are going to try something different in this tour. This is Mantu. You can also get it in Pakistan from Quetta.
It's very famous in India. It's also available in Nepal. I saw it here. Let's try it out. We have got Tajik bread with it.
We have also got water and tea. I think it's more than enough. We will have enough energy to easily cross the border of Uzbekistan. We will get good food in Samarkand tonight. It's really good. The meat quality in Afghanistan was really good.
It's really good here as well. So, after having good food, tea and water. Now we are leaving for the border. I have booked a hotel here in Samarkand.
We have to ride for a total of 65 km from here to the hotel. The border is about 20 km from here. So we are not too far from the border. Let's hope that our border crossing is quick and smooth. And that we reach Samarkand safely.
It's getting hotter here as we are leaving the mountains. We could be in a university area. We have reached the Tajikistan tea place.
It's a tea place. It's a beautiful place. We have passed two or three interesting places so far. There's another one ahead as well. Bye Bye Panchakent.
We have reached the border. It's really fun to have such a ride. I mean you don't ride for a long time. Just a couple of hours or so.
We had a 2 hour ride in the morning. I guess even less than 2 hours. It took us 1.5 to 2 hours. It took us 20 to 25 minutes to reach Panjakent from the main road. And it's still 20 to 25 minutes. These are all shared taxis.
In case someone wants to travel to the city... Because this border is used by many locals. This border over there is the Uzbek one. And this is the Tajik. The Uzbek one is over there. I think this is the track for motorcycles.
No. The border is over there. I thought... oh this is a cafe. It will open soon. We will go to the customs.
Assalam Alekum. Now we are in the border. Taxi drivers are not allowed to cross the border.
There is a cafe though. It's a good thing that there is something here. I don't know where we need to go now.
Let's go to them and see what they say. Cars are also crossing from here. Locals use this border a lot. That's why it's a bit crowded.
Lets park here and complete all the formalities. Immigration Customs? We have cleared the Uzbekistan side. They have cleared us to go.
Please open the barrier or do we need to go from the side? This is the parking lot. We can get through the trucks. They have put an exit stamp on the passport. They have kept the document they gave me for entry. It's here. We will see what procedure is followed when we enter again.
I am afraid of the Uzbekistan side. Only because of the drone. I hope they don't find it. Better if they don't ask me. I don't want to fly it anyway.
In Uzbekistan I mean. But I had no place to keep it. I had to make a video of the lakes. Let's hope for the best. It looks like a weird border crossing. I have never seen anything like this.
Let's stop in front of the gate. Our passport was checked here. Customs has entered the motorcycle in their system. They have charged me $2. I didn't have a dollar. So I have paid them in Tajik money.
20 Som. Almost $2. Let's see what's next. They are checking everything properly.
I am really scared. May Allah protect us. Thank you. They are checking everything very thoroughly. Let's see what they do. He is asking me to come ahead.
Don't wanna stand in the sun. We will finally enter Uzbekistan now. Let's see what he says.
Thank you. So, officially... welcome to... Tajikistan. I am welcoming you in Tajikistan because I am lost. Actually I should be welcoming you in Uzbekistan.
I am still getting a signal on my Tajikistan SIM card. I wanted to enter the hotel address. The border crossing was very intense. I was really scared. When they started checking everything, I thought that they will either keep the drone here, or they will break it. It was written everywhere that you should not be importing drones.
I am sure that I am not flying it anywhere in the city. Because they are very strict. But I wanted it so I kept it with me. It will just stay in our luggage. They checked my luggage. It wasn't very thorough though.
They checked a few things and then said it's okay. But it's true that they name certain items and ask you if you have them. I have a German passport. I have a visa entry stamp on it. I don't have a visa.
They didn't charge me anything. Only $2 that I paid at the entry. I didn't pay anything on the Tajikistan side either. So, I paid $2 for today's border crossing. We will leave from here and Insha Allah, we will reach our hotel in Samarkand in an hour. The route is straight ahead.
We don't have to turn here and there. I forgot to tell you one thing. This is the third country and third border crossing of this tour. We have to go back to Tajikistan.
From here or from some other border. But let me tell you, neither Uzbekistan, Tajikistan nor Afghanistan are Carnet countries. So, you don't need a Carnet for motorcycle to come here. To get the road permit in Afghanistan, they asked to see my carnet. But they didn't use that Carnet anywhere later.
They didn't even see it in Tajikistan. And neither in Uzbekistan. I thought to clarify this for you. It is relatively easy to travel with a motorcycle or car in these countries. Even if you don't have a Carnet.
The most favorite car here is this one. I am telling you, I can see a few on the road right now. We must have crossed 50 cars in 5 minutes. This is the most common thing here.
The major difference is that the cars have changed. There are more cars now. You can see one car ahead of me.
One car is here and one is behind it. One is over there. The road condition is quite tough here.
If we are on longer rides, it's not gonna be easy. I think the desert is in this direction. That's our first building. Wow! What an amazing view of the building from here.
Look at this. You won't find such buildings anywhere else in the world. We will explore this area in a while.
They have also built a park here. One can comfortably roam around here. There are restaurants, cafes, souvenirs for tourists. There is a theater here.
We have to turn from here. It is a very clean and neat city. The outskirts looked a bit rough but take a look at this place.
There is a shopping mall here. The mall is right in front of our hotel. I can get a SIM card from here. I can get the money from the ATM or get it exchanged. We will have to park here. Let's see how safe it is.
We have checked in at the hotel. I was so tired after checking in. I took some rest. The hotel has its own parking. But where I parked before is their restaurant. It is a good thing that we got a safe parking right in front of the hotel.
Let me give you a room tour. This is the entrance. I have kept all my stuff in the wardrobe. They have a TV, coffee, tea and other things here.
The room is quite spacious. There is a comfortable seat here. We have a very clean and beautiful bed here.
There is an AC here because we need it. There are chairs here as well. Let me show you the washroom. Here it is. It is shining and very clean. I just took a shower here to get fresh.
The name of this hotel is Platan. It is close to the main tourist attractions. Almost in a radius of 1 km while I searched on booking.com I paid $36 for a day I think it is reasonable Prices were starting from $20 to $50 So I am thinking about taking a stroll. Might as well get a SIM card. We'll eat something and see if there is anything interesting.
Otherwise we will spend the whole day tomorrow to see Samarkand. We got a SIM card from here. There are many companies named Beeline.
When I entered the shopping mall, I saw this and bought it from them. I am told their service is good. They have offered me a $4 SIM card plus 20 GB. Because there are different tariffs here. It is different for locals and a little expensive for tourists. So I think 20 GB is more than enough for the time we spent here.
We have also exchanged some dollars in local currency. Here is a bill of 10,000. Because in one dollar, there are 12,655 local. The exchange guy gave me a few less. But the guy was working in the street so I let him have it.
This is their 10,000 note. It has some pottery on it. There is a coin as well. And on the back side I think this is Khiva. It is written.
Khiva's Itchan Fort. And here we have a 5,000 note. Behind it you can see a picture of Samarkand. And here we have 50,000. I am not sure what's on the back of this one. I am not able to understand what is written.
And there is some sort of pottery on it. So we have got big bucks here. Hope they will be enough for the next few days.
I am at the restaurant of the same hotel I am staying in. Because I have heard a lot of good things about this restaurant. A lot of people have written about it on the internet. And this is also a reason to stay here. So we are starting from the starter. We have got the famous Palatine Salad.
It has chicken, paprika and cheese. And there is Pita bread I saw Pita written over it. But this bread is very crispy. So let's try. They are onions in it as well.
I hope it will be good. Because we have heard a lot about Uzbekistan food. I have seen a lot of videos about Uzbekistan food. Bismillah It is really delicious. Sometimes you feel obliged to compliment a dish.
But this is not like that. I think our main course is yet to come. So we will try the Uzbekistan food as much as we can.
It is a pleasure to travel like this. Where you get such good food after a whole day of travel. So we have got our second dish. You can't see it right now. Let me move the camera. Take a look.
And it has lamb with vegetables. You can see how delicious it looks. It will be good to eat.
Because our first dish was also very good. Now I am wondering Do people eat it with foil or take it out with foil? But anyway, we have found a way to eat it. Do people eat it with the foil on or you put it on the plate? Is it normal to eat like that? It's normal I thought it's better to ask.
Don't wanna look stupid. Bismillah It was very hot It was very difficult to... But it tastes really good. I think I will become a fan of Uzbek food. It is very tender and well cooked. And we paid $12 for this . It is a little expensive as it is a mainly tourist place. So the prices will be a little high.
Compared to local areas. Anyway, we will try to show you Samarkand in the next vlog. There are many other cities. Especially Bukhara and Hewa. Which I am planning to visit. But that's all for today.
Remember me in your prayers. Like, subscribe and share, please. See you in the next vlog. Allah Hafiz
2024-10-13 07:26