For those who are feeling adventurous I can wholeheartedly recommend Kyrgyzstan. Compared to Tajikistan there was a lot less logistics involved. No visas, no extra permits, no military checkpoints, nothing like that. Flights are cheap with both Turkish and Aeroflot. I paid about €300. No extra charge for the bike. You could basically bike straight from the airport out in the wilderness. Hotels, food, transport, well pretty much everything's cheap. People can be a bit reserved, but they always seemed happy to help out with our weird requests. You can pretty much put your tent up anywhere. Water is everywhere, pouring down the mountains. Only thing I'd stay away from are the bigger roads, they are in a bad state and there was some seriously dodgy driving going on.
Thanks for all the kind words!
For those who are feeling adventurous I can wholeheartedly recommend Kyrgyzstan. Compared to Tajikistan there was a lot less logistics involved. No visas, no extra permits, no military checkpoints, nothing like that. Flights are cheap with both Turkish and Aeroflot. I paid about €300. No extra charge for the bike. You could basically bike straight from the airport out in the wilderness. Hotels, food, transport, well pretty much everything's cheap. People can be a bit reserved, but they always seemed happy to help out with our weird requests. You can pretty much put your tent up anywhere. Water is everywhere, pouring down the mountains. Only thing I'd stay away from are the bigger roads, they are in a bad state and there was some seriously dodgy driving going on.
Sneak peek from day 4: