03.04.10:

So where to next? The plan is on Monday to head off towards Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Three of the hardest countries in the world to visit and visit safely and I’m planning to step in all three in just one day. Impossible? Nah. Just takes a bit of planning, that’s all.  So the bulk of today was spent using the treacle-slow free wi-fi in the Blinoff café sussing out my next few moves, checking on the security situations and pulling anything I could off the usual suspects – bulletin boards, thorntree, all that kind of jazz.

Later on I was joined by Rafael’s mate Oybek and his rather fetching ladyfriend Alla, along with Younne and Cloe from last night. After stuffing our faces full of cheap but yummy food, we set off into the night to go to the ‘Can You Imagine?’ night at the VM Bar – a live Uzbek band doing British Rock n’ Roll from the 50s to now. Absolutely awesome. Although they didn’t know Day Tripper. Bah.

There was the ubiquitous over-friendly Russians (what is it with Russians – cold as hell when sober, annoying as hell when drunk!), the Uzbeks were dancing on the tables and the beers were marvellously cheap. Rafael came along after a wedding he’d been attending, (already having had one too many) and the night sort of took its own direction after that. I remember dancing and waking up with a headache. All in all, a pretty neat little Saturday night.