WE'RE IN BARNAUL, HEADING TO MONGOL BORDER TOMORROW; SHOULD ARRIVE THURS/FRI 

FOR FULL BLOG SEE: HTTP://WWW.GOBI-AMBULANCE.ORG.UK 

Location: Barnaul, Russia (Altai Mountain Region)
Speed: 0 MPH
Status: Day off

We always seem to get to large cities in the dark which makes finding a hotel interesting! In our usual manner we rolled into Tashkent, Uzbekistan after a few days in Bukhara at night.

As we drove down the road we asked a few taxis whom seem disinterested in what we wanted. Eventually we caught the attention of someone at traffic lights and they offered to take us to a good hotel. We followed the car until it stopped, the driver got out and ran across the road for directions (even she was lost!) this caused a car to skid and nearly hit her! She got back in and two minutes later we pulled into a hotel car park. We thanked the friendly local and started negotiations for rooms. It was 02:30 and we all went to sleep.

In the morning we talked about routes over breakfast. The decision was made to skip Kyrgyzstan as the border was going to a long wait and we'd only be in the country for a day and a half so it seemed better use of time to get into Kazakhstan and Russia earlier than planned.

Decision made we spent three nights in Tashkent, relaxing and taking car of some minor mechanical bits. There was even time to go to the local Aqua-Park which consisted of a few flumes and a wav pool. It was right next to Tashkent Land which was an ex-Soviet theme park, we didn't go but it looked fun!

Leaving Tashkent with fond memories of the hotel staff who looked after us well. We aimed for the border which was just outside Tashkent...[Read More]