Your movements, day by day. Where you go, what you do, where the Ministry has seen fit to house you. Flight details, times and numbers are withheld by design — you need only know the direction. Proceed.
Depart by air for Istanbul, first staging post for BEAR, QUILL, FOX and FALCON. Cross the frontier quietly; the expedition is not yet officially under way, which is precisely how the Ministry prefers it.
Continue by air to Astana, the steppe capital of glass and ambition — Norman Foster's pyramid included. A guide bearing your name will collect you; the rest of the day is unsupervised, a lapse to be enjoyed while it lasts. Quarters are a standard twin, bed-and-breakfast — adequate cover for persons of no fixed importance.
Fly south to Kyzl-Orda, then continue by road to the closed cosmodrome city of Baikonur. Bring cash — sanctions have severed the cards and networks, so the Ministry deals only in paper. Lodging is a plain twin, economy class; more than a wrecker deserves.
Spend the day among the rockets: Gagarin's Start, from where the first man left the planet, the derelict Buran shuttle, and the dynamic testing stand. Wear closed shoes — the ground is uneven and full of history. Quarters unchanged.
If the launch is confirmed, watch a rocket leave the cosmodrome; otherwise the Municipal Museum, the International Space School and a turn about the city. The Ministry notes that space waits for no schedule. Same lodging as before.
Retrace the route to Kyzl-Orda and fly north to Astana. A transit day; keep your papers close and your questions fewer. Back to a standard twin on the river — grander than you have earned this week.
Explore the capital: the Old Centre, the Bayterek observation tower, the Palace of Peace and the Khan Shatyr. A private cooking class follows — you will make beshbarmak, the national dish, and lunch is your reward. The Ministry regards competence in local cookery as operational camouflage; master it and blend in.
First, the ALZHIR memorial outside the city — a former women's camp of the Stalin years; observe in silence. Then return to Astana and board the overnight train east to Semipalatinsk, two berths, sleeper class. Rest on the rails; there are no soft beds tonight.
On arrival, drive to the Polygon — the old Semipalatinsk test site: the atomic lake, the boreholes, the command point and the ICBM launcher. There are no facilities out there; carry your own food and water, and wear closed shoes. Lodging in Kurchatov is a bare twin, room only — the Ministry provides walls and little else.
Breakfast at the workers' canteen — local, basic, character-building. See the sites of Kurchatov: the old KGB office, Kurchatov's statue, the tokamak from a distance, then drive back to Semipalatinsk. Tonight's twin comes with breakfast; consider it a promotion.
Morning at leisure — the Art Museum, if you missed it, or a turn about town. Then fly to Almaty, the old capital under the Zaisky Ala-Too mountains. Quarters: a standard twin in a Soviet-era pile; blend into the woodwork.
A full day in the city: Panfilov Park and the nailless Zenkov Cathedral, the Green Bazaar, then up the chairlifts above the Medeo rink for the mountain view. Same lodging as last night. Walk much; report little.
A long day east by road, crossing into Kyrgyzstan, with a stop at Charyn Canyon to walk among the eroded rock. On to Karakol, apple town on the shore of Issyk-Kul, the lake too stubborn to freeze. Lodging is a Comfort-class twin — more than adequate for those under assessment.
Morning in Karakol: the nail-free Dungan Mosque, the Holy Trinity Church, the local craft shop. Then drive the south shore of Issyk-Kul, past the Gagarin statues at Barskoon and the coloured rocks of Skazka Canyon, to a yurt camp. Tonight you sleep in felt with a private bathroom — luxury by nomad standards, austerity by yours.
This morning, an eagle-hunting demonstration and a lesson in raising a yurt — old skills, still working. Then drive west along the lake and up into the hills to Chon-Kemin. A guesthouse twin awaits; humble, private, and quite enough for a family of wreckers.
Watch kok-buru — horsemen wrestling a carcass toward a goal — and ride out yourself if you dare. The afternoon is free: you are permitted to do nothing, a rare and closely-monitored privilege. Recover; tomorrow you move.
Drive to Bishkek, stopping at the Burana Tower, a lone Silk Road minaret near Tokmok. The capital is low, flat and gridded, ringed by snow peaks. Tonight, a standard twin; enjoy the plumbing while it lasts.
A brief tour of Bishkek first: the Manas monument, the Lenin statue, Ala-Too Square and the changing of the guard. Then the long drive back across the Kyrgyz–Kazakh frontier to Almaty; allow for the border and its patience. Same Soviet-era twin as before — a familiar cell.
Morning at leisure; check out on time. Then fly to Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan in the Hissor Valley. Quarters here rise to a comfortable twin — the Ministry is watching to see whether comfort makes you careless.
A day in the capital: Soviet-era mosaics, the Somoni Monument, a lift up Istiklol Tower, and the great reclining Buddha in the antiquities museum. Time permitting, Hissor Fort outside the city. Same lodging; rest well before the mountains.
Drive up into the hills to Khoja Ob Garm, a seven-storey Brutalist sanatorium and a relic of the Soviet past. The day is yours for its treatments — mineral, thermal, and faintly radioactive. Full board in a plain twin; submit to the waters and let the Ministry monitor your recovery.
A five-hour drive down to Khujand, one of Central Asia's oldest cities on the Syr-Darya. Afternoon among its sites: the Muslihiddin mosque, the Panjshanbe Market, a cable car across the river to the Lenin statue and the Chernobyl memorial. Tonight, a river-view twin with a balcony — the Ministry's idea of generosity; do not grow used to it.
Drive to the Uzbek border at Oibek, meet your new guide, and continue to Tashkent. Afternoon sightseeing: the Museum of Applied Arts, the Centre for Islamic Civilisation, and a ride through the Soviet-built Metro. A standard twin holds you for two nights; keep your head down.
Drive out to the Sun Institute — a Soviet solar furnace, one of only two on earth. Back in the city: the Chorsu bazaar and the top of the Tashkent TV Tower, tallest in Central Asia. Same lodging; a quiet night is an order, not a suggestion.
Take the fast train to Samarkand, fabled crossroads of the Silk Road. On arrival, the Registan — three madrasas around a square once used for decrees and executions alike — and Tamerlane's tomb at the Gur Emir. Dinner is at a local house and lodging a boutique twin; eat what you are given and blend in.
Morning in Samarkand: Ulugh Beg's observatory and the Shah-i-Zinda avenue of tombs. Afternoon, drive to Bukhara — holiest city of Central Asia and a square on the board of the old Great Game. Tonight, a guesthouse twin; modest quarters for players in a long game.
Explore Bukhara: the two-thousand-year Ark fortress, the Kalyan Mosque and minaret that halted Genghis Khan, and a scatter of madrasas and mausolea. Late tonight, board the night train north to Nukus, two berths. Your room holds for a late checkout — a small mercy from the Ministry.
See the Savitsky Museum — the largest hoard of Russian avant-garde art outside St Petersburg, hidden here in the desert — then the Mizdakhan necropolis, said to hold the tomb of Adam, and a Soviet mosaic in town. Rooms are ready on arrival: a standard twin with breakfast, adequate for those under review.
Drive early to Muynak, a harbour town without a sea — walk among the stranded ships and the ruined fish factory. Then out across the Ustyurt Plateau, past salt lakes and tortoise burrows, to the shrinking Aral shore. Two nights in a cabin, full board; the sea has abandoned this place, and so, nearly, has everyone else.
A full day on the escarpment above the vanished sea, driving toward Cape Aktumsyk past ancient graveyards etched with old symbols. The rock may yield seashells and shark teeth; the sea keeps retreating regardless. Picnic lunch and dinner; same cabin.
Drive back to Nukus, stopping at Komsomolsk — a village losing its people, its school shut, its grain silo empty. On arrival, the remainder of the day is yours to do nothing with. A standard twin with breakfast; recover quietly.
A four-hour drive to Khiva, the desert oasis that outlived the Silk Road. Explore the Ichan Qala — the walled old town, an open-air museum of minarets, madrasas and working craftsmen. Tonight, a standard twin; the walls here are six metres thick, yours rather less.
Cross into Turkmenistan at first light, meet your Turkmen guide, and visit the medieval monuments of Konya-Urgench — mausolea and the tallest old minaret in Central Asia. The country runs on cash and clean, undamaged notes alone; carry dollars accordingly. A standard twin in Dashoguz tonight.
Six hours across the desert on broken roads to the Darvaza gas crater — the 'Door to Hell', burning since Soviet engineers lit it and were proved wrong. Camp in a yurt at the edge and keep well back from the unstable rim. No showers out here — this is the deep desert, and the Ministry offers no comfort it cannot carry.
Drive on to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan's capital of white marble and hydrocarbon ambition. The rest of the day is yours to recover after the desert — a rare and monitored idleness. Lodging rises to a standard twin for four nights; do not mistake marble for freedom.
See the Carpet Museum, then a private stud farm of the famed Akhal-Teke horses — tea on arrival, lunch at the farm. Continue to Geok Tepe and its great mosque. Same quarters; a full stomach is no excuse for a loose tongue.
The vast Tolkuchka bazaar this morning — everything from livestock to cars, bought, sold and bartered. Afternoon among the city's marble monuments: the Arch of Neutrality, the Palace of Happiness, the Independence tower. Same lodging; observe the spectacle, comment on none of it.
The National History Museum and its 327,000 objects, then Old Nisa, the ruined Parthian fortress outside the city. An evening tour to see Ashgabat lit up — it is, admittedly, a sight. Last of four nights in the same twin.
Depart by air for Istanbul; on arrival, your time is your own. The expedition's eastern leg is complete — the Ministry releases you, provisionally. No quarters assigned tonight; make your own.
A free day in Istanbul, own arrangements. No orders, no guide, no observation — enjoy the anomaly. You have earned the quiet.
Make your own way to the airport and fly home to London. The operation is concluded; debrief among yourselves. The Ministry thanks BEAR, QUILL, FOX and FALCON for their cooperation and will be in touch.