…via Boston. The day started with a visit to Kushoniyon Bazar, a immense 2km long area with shops from building materials to car parts. I have never seen anything like that before. At the gate I was asked what I was looking for and sent to road 11 for a balon (tire in Russian).

To mount the tire I was sent to another road, yet another section had all kinds of auto parts shops. Separate shops for each part, e.g..one for wheel bearings

another for V belts

After the car and weather related delays of the last few days we wanted to catch up with our plan today, but plans are there to be changed, so we spent another few hours in a garage. The replacement coolant tank I bought two days ago turned out to be a cheap Chinese one which could not hold the pressure. Unfortunately this only became obvious uphill at higher speed today. Luckily we found a brilliant mechanic near the town of Boston, who knew of a wrecked Hyundai Starex with a compatible coolant tank.

In the afternoon we were on the road again to the South. After crossing some nice mountains

we arrived on some kind of plateau with the biggest cereal field I have ever seen, one single crop for tens of kilometers on both sides of the road.

We spend the night in Kulob, which looks like the Las Vegas of Tajikistan. Huge brightly lit kitchy monuments, most of them dedicated to the current or to former presidents of the country, amusement parks, a zoo (kind of) and a fairy tale fort are just a few of the attractions.