An introduction.

Hello,

So I thought I'd write a blog about my travels this summer. I'm flying out on the 22rd June, and will be arriving in Tashkent, capital city of Uzbekistan - one of only two countries in the world which is doubly landlocked - at 3am on the 23th June. Bonus points if you can name the other country in the world where you need to cross two borders before reaching coastline.

Hopefully my sister, who is currently working for an NGO in Kyrgyzstan (maybe the hardest country in the world to spell?) will pick me up from the airport, otherwise I will have a somewhat interesting first experience of Central Asia.

My plan is a week in Uzbekistan, followed by a week and a bit in Kyrgyzstan, both with my sister. Following that I intend on crossing the Kyrgyz/Chinese border via the Tougart pass into Kashgar. From then on I'll travel along the ancient silk route all the way to Beijing where my girlfriend Rosa will be flying out to meet me. We'll then have a month together kicking about China checking out the pandas and suchlike before flying home communist style on Aeroflots finest airbus on 23rd August.

Keep an eye on this blog to check up on whether I'm still alive or whether I have finally succumbed to death at the hands of a gang of islamic militants/one armed bandits/shepherds.