May 17 The mountains beckoned again

These mountains are just stunning. I got a stiff neck from swiveling back and forward gaping at the view.

And we headed to the Ugam-Chatkal National Park just an hour out of Tashkent in the mountains the tallest of which is ~3,200m. They are part of the western Tianshan mountains. Here we took a cable car to the top of one of the mountains - 2.5km took about half hour - the ride was just a tad unsettling as they were rather minimal in design, but the view was magnificent.

Now you know how brave we are! If you zoom in you’ll see a thin metal rod which just swings around over your lap. No lock! It was a tad ‘exhilarating’ to say the least.

We flew high over Matble creek - a very long way below us.

We wandered for a while looking at birds and flowers and the many bushes with strips of cloth recently tied into them - harks back to a Shamanic and Zoroastrian past not so far from the surfaces for many.

Almost every bush had scraps of rag tied to it; similar to what we saw on the hills around the shore of Kake Baiksl, Siberia in 2016. Shamanism is still part of the under culture here and there with touches of Zoroastrianism. All around were wild flowers of many different colours and on the Hill sides varieties of juniper and yes they use them in the making of alcohol.  Small world!

Amazing dinner and floor show of traditional dances thanks to Sundowners Overland. Thank you.

Our visit to Tashkent ended with a dinner and performance of Uzbek dancing.

On to Samarkand ......

We travel not for trafficking alone

By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned

For lust of knowing what should not be known

We make the Golden journey to Samarkand

Extract from: Golden journey to Samarkand

By poet James E Flecker