23-Apr-2005 -- From Karshi, four of us set off for a meeting at G’allaorol on Friday morning. Although still April, the temperatures are already in the 30’s and the new style Russian jeep shows its unreliability by locking up the windows – Why do they bother with electric windows? After a sweltering ride and a good meeting and lunch, two of us left for Tashkent for the weekend while I looked forward to a little side trip to the CP. This was not to be: the jeep was giving problems with the fuel pump and the driver decided we should not risk the extra miles and a late arrival back. Never mind, it was the weekend so I decided to bale out at Samarkand (not a bad place to stay a night anyway) and see what could be done the next day. The next morning I hired a local taxi – a 25 year old Volga with a substantially older driver. After messing about filling up with LPG we set off and arrived at the point with no difficulty. A paved road leads directly from Pay’arik to within 1000 metres of the point. We then drove along some rough tracks to reach the spot. Our first attempt left us the wrong side of an irrigation channel and we had to back-track to the beginning. The CP lies just next to a bank on land that had recently been flooded but no crop was growing.

Just above the point are a series of small reservoirs. On the bank the driver saw a wild turkey and made a grab for it. In a flurry of feathers it escaped and took to the water. Turkeys are not normally water birds but needs must!

Having managed this point rather easily and having the rest of the weekend available I decided to try for another point 40N 66E. This lies 85 km to the west along the silk road.