Nov 11, 2025 – 5.00am
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Kate Leeming has just returned from five months cycling through The Stans. The Australian adventurer faced Taliban checkpoints in Afghanistan, was forced to race through the secretive nation of Turkmenistan in 45-degree heat, and gasped in thin air while pedalling over the stony mountain passes of the Hindu Kush.
But when asked about the single scariest thing in her 9000-kilometre quest, the Melbournian doesn’t hesitate. “The traffic!” She mentions two types. The first carries on with no regard for the safety of those on two wheels, particularly in the rush of big cities (cycling through Tashkent in the rain is to be avoided, she advises). The second is just as disconcerting.
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