“Do you have a drone? Or Tramal?”, the border officials asked looking at us closely. We had both of these forbidden items with us: a drone and pain medication. Without directly answering we started sorting our documents and handed them over to the officers. Thankfully they didn’t open our panniers and bags. The only one interested in our luggage was a dog thoroughly sniffing everything probably looking for drugs.

On our first stop shortly after the border a man in an old car stopped next to us. After exchanging our Turkmen Manat to Uzbek Com he invited us to his house. The whole family including grandparents, parents and four children were living together in only one room. Eating, sleeping and cooking all took place there. Upon seeing their house, we instantly felt bad at negotiating such a good exchange rate for us. The multi-layer-plate on the table was filled with different kinds of sweets. Apparently, they put everything they had for us on their table. Although we didn`t speak any Russian we were able to communicate basic topics and understood that he was normally a taxi driver but often exchanged money from people entering Uzbekistan from Tajikistan.