• Had to get a visa on arrival but
of course the Visa office was closed. Luckily there was a Sri Lankan man
also needing a visa who was far more pushy than me who made enough noise, that
someone came to open the office.
• So waiting waiting for
visa
• then waiting for "passport
control",
• then waiting, waiting , waiting
for bags. No signs, no English, so only when all the bags were out
and mine hadn't arrived did the lovely bag man ask "Peking?"
(i.e. Beijing). I said "Bangkok" and he pointed around
the corner to another baggage belt where my little blue bag was going around and
around on it's own.
• So next it's waiting, waiting
waiting to go through Customs where your bags are scanned and you complete a
form stating how much money your'e bringing into the country. That was a
1 1/2 hour wait. A young Uzbek man in front of me, Sardor, has been
studying in Beijing and was home to attend his brother's wedding. He'd
been busy learning English and Chinese and we had a great discussion to fill in
the time. Learning about each others lives, countries and experiences. Lots
of laughing and the surrounding travellers became involved, asking how old I
was, why was I coming to Uzbekistan and what did I want to see here.
Sardor was worried about how I would get on with neither Uzbbek nor
Russian language skills and insisted I take his mobile phone number so that if
I got in trouble, at least I could phone hime for advice or he could interpret
for me. How nice is that? A good start to my time here.
Bek from
our tour company was to meet me and take me to the hotel. I did wonder
whether after all this time waiting he may have decided I'd missed the flight
and gone home.
Non
travellers are not allowed into the airport buildings. They are behind a
barrier about 25 metres from where you come out of the airport.
Thankfully
Bek must be used to waiting as there he was with his "Steppe Journey"
sign. It is so nice to be met in a new country and not be totally lost
trying to find local money and how to work out public transport to get to your
accommodation.
Met up
with Win at the hotel and she took me for a walk in the nearby area.
Found a beautiful shop "Uzbek Apparel". Ikat's mainly
that have been made into very stylish clothes. Win bought a beautiful jacket.
Took prices for a few items I liked but as I'd only been in the country
for a few hours didn't have a sense of the conversion rate. Checked when
I got back to the hotel and they were beautiful clothes with quite beautiful
price tags also. But I'd come to Uzbekistan in search of Ikat and here it
was the first night and we'd seen it.
On the way
home we ate under the grape vines at a beautiful restaurant called something
like Caravanserai. Lots of old Uzbek artifacts to look at. Good
food. Smokey rattatoui type dish that was "darshat"
(perfect). Did avoid the horse meat though.
Very 70's
hotel. The Grand Orzo
Woke up
early and thought I'd do a quick walk around the block. Autumn is coming
and there is a chill in the air, lovely to be able to walk without
humidity. Of course the block wasn't a square block so I did get a bit
lost for a wee time.
Left for Fergana Valley at 8am the next morning.
Lovely driver Marmer. A retired policeman with some of the biggest
smile lines around his eyes that I have ever seen. We speak no Uzbek or
Russian and he only has Uzbek and a few words of German. Still we managed to learn
he has 5 kids, 10 grandkids and 1 wife.
Tashkent
has huge wide street and lots of little cars. Soviet architecture.
Lots of 4 storey apartments in various states of repair. Some have
murals on the side. After Laos, I feel more like I'm in Europe.
Barren dry
land. Drove through the Kamchik pass. Police in many places. A few
stops for our passport checks. Very high barren mountains which are
covered in snow through winter.
On the way to The Fergana Valley
The most gorgeous melons of all different types.
Hard round cheese made which tastes as if it is made of yoghurt
The traditional bread which is pretty nice and had at any opportunity.
We will become very familiar with this over the next few weeks.
Win and Sardor at the Kudayarkhan palace
painted paper on all the ceilings
Juma mosque
Our first suzani
Halva
The cemetery
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