Soles of a Nomad

A landslide blocks the road. Flies swarm a mountain village. A museum curator hands me a thousand-year-old jar and tells me to pretend to drink milk from it. These are just a few moments from our nine-day journey along the Pamir Highway, one of the world’s most remote and unforgettable road trips across the mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Getting from Samarkand to Dushanbe overland isn’t the most obvious travel route in Central Asia—but it turns out to be surprisingly doable. Here’s exactly how we made the journey: Yandex ride to the border, money exchange chaos, an unexpectedly fair-priced driver, a mildly stressful border crossing, and a beautiful mountain drive into Tajikistan.

Everything you need to know about taking the overnight train from Tashkent to Khiva: comfort, cabins, sleep, and whether it’s worth it.