Cycling the Silk Road

[Rob B]

I did part of the Silk Road last Summer: Iran (entering from Turkey), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Regarding Turkmenistan: The shortest route from the Uzbek border to the Iranian border (Farap to Sarakhs) is 470 km long, not 550 km. It's tough to cycle the route in five days, but it's possible.

When we entered from Iran, we lost about half a day for the border crossing, most of it on the Turkmen side. It's not that the border was incredibly busy, but they like to keep you waiting. We also spent one morning exploring the ruins of Merv (very much worth it) and we still would have made the crossing within the five days. What stopped us in the end was stupid accident on the last day, which landed me in a hospital in Turkmenabat.

Awesome, that's really good to know! And I'll be sure to check out the ruins! If you have any other recommended sites/towns to see, please let me know!

 

[Justiffa]

You guys really have been to places and seen so much.... I am green with envy, really.

Just wish I had just a tad of the determination & will that u all hv in spades. how wonderful to just up and go chase my dreams without having to consider other parties in the meantime i'll just keep on reading your adventures and see the world thru your eyes, tq for sharing

 

[Rob B]

Does anyone know much about the drinking water along the countries of the Silk Road? Is the tap water ok?

 

[Brains]

Does anyone know much about the drinking water along the countries of the Silk Road? Is the tap water ok?

Who cares ?
http://www.watertogo.eu/
is the solution

 

[Rob B]

Who cares ?
http://www.watertogo.eu/
is the solution

Good. Thanks for that Brains.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Just face the fact you will get the squiggles at some stage, the cleanest of establishment can be the source of the worse infections.

 

[Rob B]

Just face the fact you will get the squiggles at some stage, the cleanest of establishment can be the source of the worse infections.

haha very true! We will be carrying a water purifier but was just wondering how that old Soviet piping was, I imagine it's pretty decent, I guess time will tell!