We are now well and truly in the Kyzylkum desert. Heading west with our driver who looks part Turkish as he holds his thick bushy moustache on his rugged face. The desert journey is nearly 8 hours and broken by very few events. The passing of a Yurt with camels and sheep and their shepherd in attendance I rather disappointing as the image on celluloid would have made an interesting composure. The drifting sands slowed Valentino down to a snail’s pace as the danger on a road like this if you stop you may not get going again.
Picnic was too civil to call a picnic as we stopped in this roadside Teahouse with only a few houses around. Admittedly it was in sight of the Amu Darya River often known as the Oxus. Fried fish and cold meats were of the order as well as apple juice which Tim decided to wear. The facilities were an image and had a few of us in stitches. Raised on a platform the brick structure had a hole in the concrete floor. Unfortunately the light had access through the underside and you were met with what I can only call a plasticine model of a mountain rising two to three feet and the core almost topping the concrete hole. Much effort and waste has gone into this over the years. Interestingly, there was not one single fly or bug. I suppose the desert just will not let them survive. Further on after stopping to see the river and the scale of its tributaries we arrive at the border of Turkmenistan. This is a simple convenient crossing of the river at two dams and cuts out a couple of hundred kilometres. The guards seem nonplus but they do seem to be fitted out by the Australian Army Tailors. Reaching Khiva by about 6pm, I realise just how perfect this ancient city is and why it is a World Heritage site as nominated by Unesco. Within the walls of about 3 square kilometres are the 18th and 19th Century buildings of the Khans at the time. Again like so many other parts of Central Asia many conquerors have laid siege and raised the city to the ground. Pestering by kids selling has not been something I have noticed but the little brats outside our hotel would not even let us get off the bus without bothering us with some naff trinket. The hotel Lolita is most definitely 2*!