Retracing steps back to Central Asia…
“It was a long day, a rickety bus to the border from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a shared taxi, a walk over the shiny and virtually deserted border crossing to Uzbekistan. This can be a delicate border crossing, due to past political altercations meaning you will be thoroughly searched. I was welcomed and given a sprig of mint by one of the border guards but was this a trick? My phone and camera containing 3000 photos were checked for ‘indecent’ images, every picture one by one, by three different security guards (this is standard procedure!). Then every item in my bag. My sketchbook was of particular interest and some questioning, but thankfully it didn’t end in an enforced visit to the police office as it had in the high Pamirs, where they seemed to be particularly suspicious of artist’s, particularly one as threatening looking as me! Found a grumpy taxi driver who conceded to take me the long dusty journey to Samarkand, other people getting in and getting out the whole way. Arrived to the Silk Road city and jewel in the crown, Samarakand that I had long heard talk of and will never forget.”
