We travel not for trafficking alone:
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand.
James Elroy Flecker, The Golden Road to Samarkand
A fascinating 13 day journey on the Silk Road beginning in Tashkent then west to the desolate and bleak landscapes of Nukus and Karakalpakstan and then Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and back to Tashkent
I was overwhelmed with the friendliness of the people
Far From the Madding Crowd 