Rising to Samarqand

Bukhara is a true desert oasis and the land to the east of it is used for cotton and gas production. East of Qarshi the terrain gently rises towards Shakhrisabz. While we have been moving fairly constantly at 250-400 m altitude since the Caspian Sea, at over 500 m the scenery suddenly changes much more friendly: grain fields, nucleated villages, spring flowers, slightly more moderate temperatures, the view of the Pamir foothill mountains, streams with cold (and presumably clean) water and simply more people. People, well: tens of times a day we hear people shouting Atkuda vyi? (Where are you from?) and of course they are impressed by answers such as Finland, the Netherlands, even New Zealand. They also appreciate the fact that we have come cyclingwise all they way from Greece but they are noticably less impressed by the fact that we want to go to China. Another indicator that we're getting closer to our destination.
Shakrisabz is one of the four tourist highlights of Uzbekistan, home to Amir Timur, conqueror and despot of a large central Asian empire in the 14th century.

Elevations between Shakhrisabz and Samarqand

From Shakhrisabz to Samarqand the Kashkhardarya valley takes up to about 1700 before entering the plain of Samarqand which is at about 800 m altitude.
Unfortunately I skipped the sightseeing in Shakhrisabz because since my food poisoning incident on May 1 I have had very little food intake and therefore I am running on my last energy reserves. Three rest days in Samarqand hopefuly will help me to get my stomach working again.

Inside a cotton pile

Hisor mountain range, part of the Pamir-Altai system

GPS track and photos of the route Mubarek-Qarshi-Shakhrisabz-Samarqand: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25325