We had a rare treat today; really good road. Not long after getting underway this morning the road transformed from broken down tarmac to nice new concrete and more over it continued for much of the days drive. Apparently a German company has been contracted to build a modern concrete 4-lane divided roadway. So far only 2 of the 4 lanes are open but never the less those two lanes were drivers heaven. Just to remind ourseves that it is possible we had a brief burst of travel at 110 km/h (70 mph).

At the town of Turtkul we departed from the main westerward highway the E40 and headed north towards some old towns/forts called qala that Nina had read about in our guide book. At the entrance to Turtkul we picked up 100 liters of fuel at 3000 soms /liter and then wound our way through the main street of the town which as is common was also the market and bus station and then we were out into the countryside. To our surprise the desert gave way to well irrigated cotton and corn fields. Cotton picking season seems to be getting started as today for the first time we saw significant numbers of people out in the fields picking the white stuff and even saw piles of harvested cotton.

The first of the qalas was called Guldursun qala - today it is simply a large rectangular area surrounded by a mud brick wall. The surface of the wall has been damaged by rain and weathering so that the bricks that compose the wall are only visible in a few spots. This qala is in the middle of a small rural town and the locals have taken over some of the enclosed area for farming.

Ayaz qala was number two on our list to visit and thankfully it was marked on our GPS map or we would not have found it. A 30 km drive took us through another town called Boston, along very narrow rural lanes, past cotton fields and extensive irrigation canals. Eventually we saw in the distance some large structures sitting on the only hill top for miles. Sure enough eventually the road turned towards the hill top ruins.


There are three separate ruins at Ayaz qala two of which sit on hill tops. Nearby there is a yurt camp for those that need accomodation. From the end of the sealed road a rough track leads up to a rough parking lot just below the walls of the ruin on the tallest hill. We parked there and went exploring. The qala is in poor condition and nature seems to be reclaiming the area despite some limited efforts by people to do repairs. The location is fabulous. Situated on the only hill for miles one is given a great view of the flat land of western Uzbekistan (or Khorezm province as we would later learn).

Inside the walls we met a group of young people armed with camera equipment who appeared to be making a movie; later (through mime and very little English) we would discover they were making an MTV style film clip.

We spent the night in this parking lot with a fabulous view of the stars.