Early departure from Samarkand towards Tajikistan and Pandjakent. The road is fairly passable on the Uzbek side.
The Tajik mountains become impressive as you approach. In the background, the Pamir with its high snow-capped peaks.
Crossing the border is fairly quick. Pedestrians and bicycles pass through quickly, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for the cars and lorries that are temporarily blocked.
We visit the remains of a pre-Age bronze village.
Once I arrived in Padjakent, I had to sort out a few things, starting with some Tajik money. A distribank refuses to work for me several times... and I end up remembering that following a few problems I had blocked withdrawals abroad. Then I forgot. I need to unblock, but to unblock you need wifi 😕 I end up finding some in a pizzeria where the waiter shares his iphone connection with me... Everything’s sorted. Then we find a hotel, poor value for money, but it’ll do...
Then we went to see the Zeravshan river which irrigates the whole valley as far as Samarkand and Bukhara.
In the evening, the streets and the park are literally packed with people walking around with their children. We’ll learn that today is Children’s Day. Perhaps because it’s the start of the school holidays ? We’re not sure...