Khiva to Tashkent - 15 Sep to 22 Sep

15th September 2008

Summary: bus to Bukhara

Ventured outside the walls to the bank to change money while A+M investigated the bus situation to Bukhara. Largest note here is again approx. 70c, although USD is unofficially accepted some larger transactions such as hotels and long taxi rides. G had to return home to recuperate while I updated the blog. The bus was extremely hot with no AC, just fans blowing hot air, and no openable windows. The passengers were predominantly local males and some stripped down to their underwear. Got to watch Russian movies, Uzbek pop music and a Cantonese movie dubbed into Russian, with lots of semi-clad women which the locals were paying close attention to. Part-way through the trip a guy came down the aisle to collect the fares in a plastic bag, as each passenger handed over a sizeable wad of cash ($13 or 18 notes each). Forgot to mention that toilets are getting more and more feral (still not as bad as China, and just the rural ones, in town it's fine). I ran screaming, coughing and spluttering from one in rural Turkmenistan. On the (single) pit-stop on the bus ride we decided to wizz in the bushes in the median strip, based on the stench within a few metres of the official lavatories. Taxi drivers surrounded us as we got off the bus, and after much shouting Anna negotiated a good rate to the hotel, except the cab driver couldn't find it, even after calling the hotel and asking lots of passers-by, shouting across G as he was in the passengers seat. Eventually the hotel owner came and found us parked in a dark alley nearby. More drama inside the hotel. We were ushered into the gorgeous courtyard and then the husband and wife owners started shouting at each other in one of the rooms. Eventually the wife came out looking distinctly hassled and explained that they had not received our phone message. In any case we were happy to settle for a quad room and relocate the next day so not sure what all the fuss was about. She was very sweet but exhausted, gibbering incessantly in Russian, apologising and complaining about her husband while serving us supper and showing us around our room and their collection of antiques (the house is 130 yrs old, and apparently originally owned by a Jewish family). Meanwhile her husband pretty much ignored us and was reclined on a mattress watching a Genesis DVD with a German guest. It was a very surreal evening.

Practicalities: 13:30-21:00 bus from Khiva to Bukhara (we were told it would arrive between 6-8pm), stayed at Akhbar House, sharing a quad room with A+M.

Food: honeydew, Russian biscuits, our first handmade noodles and soup at the pit-stop - yum, light supper courtesy of the hotel of bread, tomatoes and vegetarian comcas. Imodium and gastrolyte for G.

16th September 2008

Summary: Bukhara

More dramas in the morning with changing rooms, laundry etc, and we realised that the previous night's commotion was actually the norm. The lady called a guy to change money for us. He came in with a sack full of cash which we counted in the courtyard. Went out to the train station where A helped us buy tickets to Tashkent. G had to retire again. I went out for a walk on my own and was immediately accosted by a drunk but friendly Russian guy who wanted to talk politics with me - Bill Clinton (did he mean George Bush?) and Iraq was plakhoi (bad) while Obama was harasho (good). I was saved by the hotel lady who happened to be walking past. Went for a walk with G around Lyabi-Hauz - the central plaza with a pool surrounded by plastic camels. Admired the facades of some medressas and mosques. Chatted with A+M back in the hotel courtyard, who taught us how to identify Swiss travellers - they dress for practicality rather than style, and are (overly) conscious of the environment and health. Our own observations are that they avoid Nestle products at all costs. Went out to dinner next to the pool at Lyabi-Hauz with cats and ducks wandering underneath the day-beds we were seated on. Did a survey of water prices at various shops, with M screaming, "you're ripping me off!", at one of them, but to no avail.

Food: yummy breakfast at the hotel - yoghurt drink, peach compote, sweet bread, fried eggs (similar brekkie at the previous hotel), more russian biscuits for lunch. handmade noodle soup for dinner.

17th September 2008

Summary: Bad day in Bukhara

Our bad day in Bukhara started with a shouting match between the hotel owners at around 6am. At 7am G went out to give them a death stare, despite my protests as we were leaving anyway and I didn't want to take the risk of getting hurt. The shouting subsided for a few minutes, then we got a knock on the door - our washing was delivered and we were invited out for breakfast. We declined, and the shouting resumed shortly afterwards. Over breakfast, M+A were unapologetically told that they had to check out as other guests were arriving, even though they had booked a further two nights. This resolved their dilemma of whether they should continue to put up with the chaos. We were all told we could use the rooms until the afternoon, and that they would store our luggage until our evening train ride. As we were checking out we felt it was our duty to express our concerns. A told them politely that the house was lovely but the service was not so good, mentioning the sceaming and not honouring their booking. Akhbar got really angry and started ranting (this was all in Russian btw, but we could understand most of it from the tone and gestures) about us getting upset over a small little scandal (the morning argument) and that tourists were always coming in and taking photos and not paying any money etc etc etc. He then evicted us all immediately, refusing to even mind our bags. M quickly found a nice B+B nearby, and we put our bags in their room. Went to find a teahouse to recuperate. Walked out of a touristy place wanting to charge us $1.80 each for tea, and found a local place where we paid 7c. Ironically it cost 14c to use the public toilet. Tried to buy some bananas but they seemed extortionate at 70c each, walked away in digust. Found a gorgeous minaret, the Kalon (great) minaret. 850 years old and still in great condition with little preservation required. Apparently even Jenghis Khan was so impressed he ordered it not to be destroyed. It was positioned between a mosque and medressa, both with lovely blue tiled facades. The next incident was at the Ark, a small walled town, now mostly ruined with a few museums. We were told that the exhibitions were closed and it was a relatively expensive site so we asked for a discount. They gave us a 10% discount which we assumed was fair, but once inside we found there was absolutely nothing else to see aside from the exhibitions. The ruins were literally piles of dirt, bricks and plastic water bottles. After a short exploration in disbelief that we'd paid to see a rubbish tip we stormed back to the ticket office. Very good timing as M+A had just come in and paid. They immediately got a full refund and we eventually got a partial refund after a lot more shouting. Next we tried to visit the old gaol but it was also closed. Bumped into M+A again and sat down to have lunch. Saw a local with a banana and A ran up to her to check the price. Surprisingly we were not being ripped off, so G went back to buy some. Chatted to some locals. We discovered our Uzbek names are Zhora and Jamilla. Aside from the oriental faces and noodle soups, a further sign that we are getting closer to China is that the locals are spitting, although not as professionally as the Chinese, it's more like a dribble. Bumped into Jeremy who had just arrived and went for another tea with him. Went online again for an ongoing discussion with an agent about our Chinese visa applications. This has been a growing concern during our trip. Prior to leaving London the visa rules were very strict due to the Olympics - hotel and flight bookings are required which we do not have. We were hoping they would be relaxed by now but not so, hence the need to skip through to Tashkent, bypassing Samarkand (we will return) to visit the Chinese embassy. Said our farewells to M+A at the hotel and headed out to the train station for our overnight train, which looked very much like the overnight trains we had caught through Russia (comfortable!).

Practicalities: 19:20-06:00 train from Bukhara to Tashkent.

Food: G is on a bread, banana and black tea diet to get his tummy back into order. I am on the same diet out of sympathy.

18th September 2008

Summary: 70% good, 30% bad day in Tashkent

Had a reasonable night's sleep on the train, with an annoying wake up call 1 hr prior to arrival. Caught the metro to a B+B where they kept telling us "5 min" for our room to be ready. After over 1 hr (they did serve us breakfast) we decided to just leave our bags and head out to the travel agent who we had been discussing our Chinese visa application with. They were very helpful in terms of information but were unfortunately unable to do anything for us. Spent the next 2-3 hours wandering around town looking for internet access to try and prepare our visa application ourselves. First place had a sign saying "Internet" and had a room full of computers, but the bored-looking man minding the room said they had no internet and he didn't know where we could find any. This was one of many similar interactions we've had with locals, we will not be remembering the Uzbeks for their hospitality (although there has been the odd exception). The next place was closed, and the next place was the main internet centre in town, which frustratingly was about to close for the day (it was midday). Started to worry our lousy excuse for not making it to China would be that there was no internet in Tashkent. Finally found another with helpful staff and had a very productive 1.5 hours booking hotels. Amazingly there was also a Uzbekistan Airways ticket office next door with another friendly and helpful guy who could not speak English but called through to head office where an English speaker helped translate our request for an airline booking. At the end of the afternoon we had a very plausible documented itinerary for our China visit so we were feeling happy and optimistic. Splashed out on a night at the opera ($2 each, fancy Russian ice cream - $3). Saw Tosca in Russian, so couldn't understand what was going on, but it was a fun experience all the same. The theatre was ornately decorated, built by Japanese POWs. It would not have looked out of place in a Western country. Back at the hotel we decided we could not stay there another night - it was dirty, virtually a dorm as there was no lock on the door and we had to walk past other sleeping guests to the shared bathroom (fine if we were paying dorm prices but we weren't), there was no water pressure or hot water, and could not control the air-conditioning so spent the night shivering. The conviviality of the owner, as described in LP, consisted of constantly offering us beer, vodka or drugs, which did not make up for the poor amenities. Yet another LP "our pick" which we were less than impressed with.

Practicalities: B+B Ali Tour, room 4 

Food: more bread, bananas, tea. Dinner of bibimbap at a Korean restaurant (lots of ethnic Koreans here for some reason).

19th September 2008

Summary: frustrating day in Tashkent

Early morning walk to the Chinese embassy. We were looking forward to at least having more certainty about the rest of our trip - currently we're not sure if we'll be in Kashgar (China), Kyrgyzstan or Darwin next weekend. Waited for 1 hour for it to open, before discovering it was not opening at all due to an exhibition. Note that it's normal opening hours are already a pitiful 3 mornings a week. Very annoyed, we stomped off to the Kyrgyz embassy, who were open but closed in the afternoon so could not issue us a same day visa. There were no earlier train options to Samarkand so we then spent 3 hours looking for a new hotel, finally finding a better though much pricier option. Had a painful conversation with the Home Office (back in UK) regarding my citizenhip application. Long and frustrating story which I will not go into but I had to re-sign and date a form and fax it to the British Embassy in Tashkent (of course they would not let me fax it directly to them in UK, that just wouldn't be acceptable). Enough ranting, another little cultural anecdote for you - in supermarkets in Tashkent they have sweets in the till whch they give as change for amounts less than 100 som (7c). We are wondering if we can also pay in sweets. We also handed over 100 som for a photocopy which cost 50 som, the lady offered to give us two photocopies as she didn't have change, but we told her just to keep it. After over two months of relentless hot weather the overnight temperature is now plummetting. Just a few nights ago we were dining outside comfortably in t-shirts, now it is nippy even while wearing a jacket. It is still quite hot during the day in the sunshine although definitely easing off.

Practicalities: Orzu Hotel, room 21, paid by credit card, great to be using plastic again!

Food: beef stroganoff, lamb shashlik. Went to a great (slightly below average by western standards) Italian restaurant for dinner - lentil soup (similar to our London flatmate's), fettucine amatriciana and spaghetti with tomato and basil. G had local wine. Good news - G's tummy is much better and his back pain is virtually gone!

20th September 2008

Summary: Samarkand

We were intercepted by a representative from the LP hotel pick for Samarkand. Having been unhappy with the previous two picks we were wary but he seemed friendly, helped us buy our return tickets, and offered us a lift to the hotel, so we decided it wouldn't hurt to have a look. Turned out to be third time lucky - there was a lovely courtyard full of flowers and fruit trees (mulberry and quince - from which they made jam which they served for breakfast), simple but nice room, and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. Headed straight out to the Registan - 3 grand medressas arranged around a large square with spectacular domes and tilework. Bumped into Jeremy at an internet cafe who told us that he, M+A were all staying at the same hotel as us. After a nap we explored Timur's mausoleum (another grand turquoise dome) and went for a walk through the park. The hotel arranged dinner at a nearby home which 14 of us (including all of Team Turkmenistan, a group of young German guys, and two other Aussies) attended. Had a nice night exchanging travel stories and coincidentally there was a lot of overlap in professions. 

Practicalities: 07:00-10:30 train to Samarkand, stayed at Antica, room 6

Food: laughman noodles and plov, dinner at a family home - assorted appetisers, chickpea soup, plov and melon.

21st September 2008

Summary: Samarkand, return to Tashkent

Decided the overnight train back to Tashkent which we had booked (00:50-06:00) would be torture so Denis (the guy who picked us up yesterday) helped us change our tickets to an earlier train to arrive in the evening. Had a busy day of sightseeing - more domes and blue tilework at the mosques and mausoleums. Got fed up with the inflated/imaginary tourist admission prices (up to 10x local prices) so started bargaining with some success. Visited the bazaar which was incredibly clean and orderly, with marble benchtops and fresh fruit and vegetables for sale. Also visited the museum which had photos of Samarkand before and after a recent restoration effort - some buildings are virtually completely rebuilt. There was also a fantastic exhibition of photos of Uzbekistan by a Japanese photographer (www.jinakino.com). Met M+A back at the hotel and shared a cab to the train station.

Practicalities: 17:00-20:30 train to Tashkent

Food: yummy breakfast at the hotel - rice pudding, yoghurt, deepfried courgette and cheese patties, homemade jam. bread, bananas, pumpkin comcas.