Read Part 1 of A German in Tajikistan here.

Summer 2012

Hans walked west along the north bank of the Syr Darya, the river running through the centre of Khujand. A sliver of moon fought for visibility with the cloud in front of it. Midnight was but a few minutes away.

Follow the Syr Darya long enough and you’d eventually reach the Kazakh part of the Aral Sea. His brief research on Central Asia...