Adam's Top 5

During a rather heated conversation in Kazakhstan, my boyfriend told me that he thinks i have left a lot of the good bits of our adventure out of the blog.



I accept that i have in some part done this, mainly so that we have something new to tell you all when we get home that you haven't already read about on here, However in an effort to satisfy Adam's need to share here folows a list of what i believe are some choice moments so far...



I'll call it Adam's Top 5.

• When we crossed the border from Kazakhstan towards Uzbekistan it was fairly late in the afternoon. it took us nearly 2 hours to get through, all the usual hassles of passport control, filling out customs declarations and having the car searched. But we finally got through the gate and we're getting our documents to hand to pass through the next gate into the Uzbek side. we noticed that the TIR lorry had pulled up and the guys in a local van next to us had hoped out and started to cook their dinner on a gas burner. Odd. Anyway we turned our engine off as is customary when waiting for the border official to let you through and we waited. and waited. and waited. 45 minutes passed when we noticed some lights going of on the uzbek side. Maybe they're going for their dinner. Then we noticed the cleaning lady come in to one of the offices. Then the guards slowly drifting off. then more lights went out. It took us about 2 hours to accept that the uzbek side had shut for the day, and that we were going to be sleeping in no-mans land between two border gates, with about a dozen other stranded people.

• After a pleasant stay at Amelia's Guest House in Bukhara, Uzbekistan - we were getting ready to depart which means that most mornings Ads has a quick check round Treacle, make sure she's ok, wheels haven't fallen of etc etc and also a cursory check under the bonnet. Though not always. But good job he did coz on the morning there was a little kitten snuggled in with the engine! wouldn't fancy scraping that mess off!!

• Seems a lot happened to us in Uzbekistan, and here's another one... We had ben enjoying a few days relaxing and taking in the sights of Khiva right in the north of the country, when adam mentioned that he had been feeling a bit unwell. Travellers tummy we assumed, and went out to a cafe for dinner. mmm Meat kebabs and a couple of beers. I was babbling away to him and he was looking distracted (nothing unusual there!) but when the lady came back he declined another drink. Strange i thought. Then as happens quite frequently, there was a power cut.... During which Adam got up and said he had to find a toilet and rather urgently. i just thought that the ice cold beer had gone through him a bit quick, but then i could see from the traumatised look on his face that something else may be the matter. He dashed off towards the counter and was ponted through the back past the kitchen, where a young lad was tending the kebabs in the dark, to the "Restaurant Toilet" ... Oh Dear. I am sure you can appreciate that in the "Stans not all places have yet moved on to install the the modern Sit Down flush toilet, and this was no exception. A squatter toilet in the dark, with an upset tummy and i am told, no T.P either, just a bottle of water.... :oS We got back to our hotel and had to stay on an extra night because poor Ads was so poorly, throwing up 3 times in the night, all of which i slept through and - look away now if easily traumatised - passing water like a fountian out of his ass 10 or more times, we lost count. So not travelers tummy after all but the dreaded Giardia - a parasite found in untrated water, goodness only knows how he picked it up but it was pretty distresing for the big man. Ens result though was that he lost about half a stone so i think he was happy !!

• Before we left we spent a lot of time downloading music to put on our ipod so that we would have a good range of stuf to listen to whilst we were away. Some of you may remeber that Ads spent considerable time downloading (illeagally) every Now that's what i call Music ever released. About 2 weeks ago we felt like having a bit of an 80's session and scrolled through the ipod to choose something appropriate. it was at that point we noticed something was a little awry. The majority of my music is on there, however not a single one of the 70 - yes thats right 70 Now thats what i call music albums are on there. Something to do with where we stored them on the desktop means that none of them are on there. also some of the other dance music albums that Adam spent hours downloading have turned out to have been mislabled on the net and we now have an ipod full of such Indie treats as The Guillimots, Killers, Ace of Base - Bleugh!

• Finally, for those of you who know Adam well, will know his absolute and total Hatred of Tea. Well when we were up in the mountains in Kyrgzstan, spedning time at the Yurt with Ianora every meal seemed to be accompanied by a mahoosive pot of tea. thankfully though they drink in in thimble sized cups and she always had a pot of sugar on the table, so adam put a spoon of sugar in had a tiny slurp and then refused any further drinks. I on the other hand adore tea and so every time she said "Drink Tea" i was happy to oblige. And she said it a lot. After we awoke the next morning adam once again had the upset tummy and had rushed off to the little house, 3 walled squatter for his morning ablutions. Our host became concerned after his 3rd visit down there in half an hour, and once the small talk had dried up between her and i, she looked at me questioningly and said "Toilet?", i laughed and said yes. At which pointed she ushered me out of the hut so i could go check on him. I found him sat on a rock down by the "toilet" and he assured me that it was jsut a bit of an upset tummy but that he may have to go again at any moment. It was at that point we saw our host marching toward us. She asked adam if he wanted a drink, he refused - i think liquids were the last thing he needed but she dragged us back to the yurt and once we were sat inside told Adam that the only way to remedy him was with tea. 3 to 5 cups of tea. He actually whimpered. I managed to stifle my giggles until she poured him a huge cup and when he went to put sugar in she said no, no and shoved over the pot of jam. he was to drink these tea's with a heaped spoonful of jam in them. at this point i made my excuses and left the yurt, tears of laughter streaming down my face. when i managed to return our host had gone off to brew yet more tea, and adam flopped in a little heap and begged me in a tiny voice not to let the lady drown him in any more tea. :oD !!!