Map meeting

Map meetings are part of the daily routine on our tour. Normally held early in the morning (the earliest on record so far at 5.30 am) to describe route, possible sights and meeting point(s), we can also have them in the evening to allow for more flexibility the following morning. Some people really are early birds, others prefer to sleep a little longer and spend more time on breakfast etc.
Yesterday's route would have been a really easy and straight one, but that is when things can go wrong terribly easily. Four of us (including me, the geographer) got out the wrong exit cycling out of Djizzak in the direction of Tashkent - and noticed only after 17 km! Well, with a detour of appr. 25 km we made it well in time to the meeting point, but sometimes orientation is really difficult when there is no (or little) signposting even along the main roads. Asking local people does not always help either. Occasionally two people (locals) get into an argument about the right way and very frequently we get contradicting information about the distances (32 km? No, 15!). And often people are not able to locate themselves on the map, do not know the name of the nearest town etc.
Anyway, a proper map and some language skill (including the skill to communicate with gestures) indispenible, but sometimes compass and GPS prove their usefullness.

Today is day 86, half time between Olympia and Beijing

GPS track and phtos Djizzak to Bekobod, including our little detour: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25302