20th stage "Kungrad, Uzbekistan"

Today's stage was, without exaggeration, the most strenuous so far. Since I wanted to enter Uzbekistan today and knew that the border formalities would take some time, I set off at around 7:15 a.m. I had about 420 km ahead of me, 200 km of which were on the worst road I've ever encountered. It all started off quite harmlessly. The 80 km or so from Beyneu to the border were very pleasant. The road was very good and the temperatures were still very pleasant. There wasn't much going on at the border, only three trucks were waiting there and I sat down first (motorcyclists have right of way). However, the border was still closed to cars. When we finally got going, everything went quite smoothly, but it took a lot of time. The officials had obviously not yet found their working rhythm. Entering Uzbekistan was similarly smooth, but here too it took a while until all the formalities were completed. The officials on both sides were correct and very nice. The condition of the roads suddenly went from very good to abysmal. To defend the Uzbeks, I must say that they are currently building a completely new road. Then the misery here should end. But even bad roads have their advantages. The reserve light only started to light up after 414km. A new record with a consumption of around 3.3 litres/100km. Shortly after the border, I was immediately besieged by money changers and people who wanted to sell the obligatory vehicle liability insurance. Then there were also SIM card providers. Of course, everything at inflated prices if you didn't negotiate firmly. With a bit of negotiating skill, a lot could be achieved, so that in the end everyone was happy (win-win as the Chinese say).😀

I finally arrived in Kungrad around 7:30 p.m. The first hotel I went to was unfortunately already fully booked. But it worked on the second attempt.

After that, all I had to do was shower, eat and go to sleep. But first I had to update the blog. The pictures will be up tomorrow. Unfortunately, my phone's camera wasn't able to capture the beautiful street lighting in a way that was even halfway acceptable.