Khujand. Day 20
Today was another transit day. So pretty straightforward, which is good. I suppose. As we left Dushanbe we were taken to the Navruz Palace. This is a new building and not an actual palace. But it’s very fancy, in an over-the-top kind of way (that we might be coming to appreciate). It’s used for weddings and big meetings and they’re very proud of it. Then we headed north, through several ranges of mountains. Our eventual destination was Khujand. All of these are significant historical places on the silk route. But on the way we stopped a couple of times to take in the view, some restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch, and Istaravshan to visit the market. The mountains started off low and rocky. A bit like the Australian landscape it is parched and scrubby. Then it got higher and more rocky with bare rubble-strewn slopes. Eventually we were driving along a deep ravine, sometimes switchbacking up to a tunnel pass. There are also lengths enclosed like a tunnel to protect...