Our guide book warned us that the crossing to Uzbekistan would take a long time and we would need to prepare well. We were told there are several banned medications in the country and when we looked at the website to see what they were -there were 200! We listed all ours and their uses to make life easier. We were also warned that they would look at our photos to be sure we did not have any pornography or photos they deem unacceptable. We had to fill in a declaration of how much money we have and they kept one form and we have to present the other when we depart. At the border they were not even interested in looking in our bags so we passed through in no time.
Patient John was able to grind the taxi driver down to a reasonable rate to drive us to Tashkent an hour and a half from the border. We ended up with a Tajikistan man joining us. He worked in China for a company making leather jackets and was heading for the airport in Tashkent.
It was instantly noticeable that Uzbekistan has a better economy than Tajikistan. There was a well constructed double lane road and lots of new and partly constructed two storey buildings along the side of the road. The shops were well made of baked brick and with modern pvc double glazed windows. The place was buzzing with builders.
The green plains between towns were mainly cotton plantations with food crops filling smaller spaces between the huge fields. Like all through Central Asia the locals had their melons, sweet corn and vegetables stacked up on the side of the road for sale. Often there would be a steel bed nearby where they would take a nap between sales or weeding and harvesting. Their animals would be tethered nearby eating available grass along the drains and road edges. We did pass some huge plastic growing houses with hydroponics and solar panels that looked very impressive.
John had to use the phone map to direct the driver around the old city roads to our bed and breakfast near the old bazaar of Chor-su. The place only had a small sign on the gate and no other signage on its huge steel door. We had booked a double room with air con and an ensuite but the owner informed us there had been some problem with the room and we would have to take a bed in the dorm room with three others for the night. That was fine by us and we shared with a young French English teacher and his 79 year old grandmother. They had been 40 days in Central Asia visiting every antique, silk, ceramic and carpet shop or factory that they could find. They had bought so much stuff that there were bags everywhere in the small shared room.
The B n B owner Mirzo entertaining us on his datur- two stringed traditional instrument, one evening.
The other person in the room was Anna from Italy and she was trying to get a transit visa to continue onto Tajikistan. She had been to the embassy the day we arrived in the city and was going back the next day. We have heard from several travellers about how difficult it is to get a visa for Turkmenistan. They offer 3 day or 5 day transit visas. If you want a longer stay you have to book a tour and have a guide. We found a Turkmen travel agency online who firstly issued us with a LOI which is a Letter of Invitation. We then had to book a tour with them as they were one of several government approved tour companies whom you could book through. We booked with them and are are now going to the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat. Once the LOI was paid for we had to join Anna in the queue at the Turkmen embassy to pick up the visa. Ours was issued on the spot but Anna's was rejected as they are no longer issuing transit visas. Of course they want visitors to take a guide and a tour and they are promoting the games as being bigger than Beijing's opening and closing ceremonies.
$100 US dollars in Uzbek somoni!
Uzbekistan has a dual currency or official and black market rates for Euro or US dollars. The B and B owner changed our dollars for 1: 7700 against the official rate of 1:4500. All accommodation must be paid in US dollars so all travel, food and other things we can pay in somoni. We later changed a hundred dollars at the market and got it all in 1000 somoni notes which took up a lot of space in our backpack. It reminded us of when we used the Bolivian black market to convert dollars to peso to buy airline tickets and they filled a big backpack!
Getting about the city has been easy on the metro. We had to buy a plastic token for each journey. Guards checked our bags on entering the subway and then again before entering the turnstile. Photos cannot be taken of the inside of the metro as they are deemed to be military installations. Each station has a different theme and they are decorated with glazed tiles and domed ceilings. The glazed tiles are works of art. The platforms are old but spotlessly clean. There is advertising on the walls of the escalators, but none on the platforms other than advertisements on a tv screen. One night we saw an Asian tourist take photos and in no time a guard and policeman arrived to get him to delete them. There are security cameras everywhere. The lines are not very far underground and at times we have felt the trains rattling under the footpaths as we walk above ground. We felt very old travelling the metro because every time we entered a carriage the locals, both men and women, would give up their seats for us.
One night we met a Couchsurfer called Yulduz. She responded to our public message to meet up. She is a 22 year old Uzbeki student learning Korean and playing the Korean drums in her spare time. We met at a Turkish restaurant that had three floors for dining and an outside garden area with its own children's playground. I doubt there is one like it in NZ. She also invited Jacky, an English woman who lives in the Gran Canaries. Jacky told us about her very interesting trip in a Russian icebreaker to the North Pole. They could not get off right at the pole as there were polar bears nearby.
Another night we met with Farruh who had invited us to stay with him. Unfortunately Uzbekistan has a rule that means all guests have to be registered and you cannot be registered in a private home. (Well, not easily). We caught up with him in a park and ate at a Russian restaurant. He recently returned from studying in the Uk where he did a masters. He is an English teacher. He also did some travelling for a year and a half and taught English in Mexico. He wants to travel more but has the responsibilities for his retired mum who has had a hip operation and for his younger sister who is studying, because his dad died in his 40s. We called him the Uzbek hippie. He teaches his students at a table in the restaurant even though he has been offered work at friend's schools, as he wants to do his own thing.
Farruh was most surprised at the changes to Tashkent in his year and a half overseas. There are streets of bars, cafes and classy European looking restaurants with outdoor seating and even water misters to cool the guests.
The lively Russian restaurant.
One day we went exploring and found a city tour bus by chance. It was not listed in the top 10 things to do in Tashkent or on posters anywhere. The upper deck of the bus had an area that was airconditioned and a part that was open. We toured all the main sites for two and a half hours stopping at some to walk around and take photos.
The city was hit by a huge earthquake in 1966, leaving 300,000 homeless.
This monument to the Russians who helped rebuild the city after the 1966 earthquake. 20% of the houses built were given to the Russian volunteers, much to the annoyance of the city's residents causing street brawls.
Our guesthouse was in the old city where there are still mud brick homes and narrow lanes.
A monument and park with the Museum of the Victims of Political Supression in memory of those who died under Stalin.
Part of the city is leafy with lots of parks and modern stores and called the European section while part is noticeably Russian era with tall blocks of residences.
The new white mosque where we saw a funeral taking place.
Independence Square/park was closed to the public as the structures were washed and the gardens replanted and watered. Sept 1st is when Uzbekistan celebrates 26 years of independence from Russia so there will be big parades.
Storks above the gate to Independence Park. We were unable to see the statues of the Crying Mother, honouring the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers killed in World War 11.
One day we went inside the TV tower to get a view of the city but being a military structure we were unable to take photos of the view.
We spent a hot day cooling off at Alisher Navoi National Park - he was a poet from 1441-1501.
In the dome above his head is written ' Know all human kind: The greatest curse in enemity: The greatest blessing is Amity.'
The park is huge with canals, where we saw teen boys jumping off the bridges and racing each other, kids with their parents on the funfair rides, and courting couples in the shade of the conifers. The park houses the House of Representatives, the Wedding Palace and the Istiklol Palace. It is wonderful how much green space the city has.
The brides love the Cinderella dresses and this one had a lot of trouble getting her dress into the waiting stretch limo.
We have enjoyed the restaurants and food in Tashkent. If only the other places in Central Asia could learn from their restaurants.
Patient John was able to grind the taxi driver down to a reasonable rate to drive us to Tashkent an hour and a half from the border. We ended up with a Tajikistan man joining us. He worked in China for a company making leather jackets and was heading for the airport in Tashkent.
It was instantly noticeable that Uzbekistan has a better economy than Tajikistan. There was a well constructed double lane road and lots of new and partly constructed two storey buildings along the side of the road. The shops were well made of baked brick and with modern pvc double glazed windows. The place was buzzing with builders.
The green plains between towns were mainly cotton plantations with food crops filling smaller spaces between the huge fields. Like all through Central Asia the locals had their melons, sweet corn and vegetables stacked up on the side of the road for sale. Often there would be a steel bed nearby where they would take a nap between sales or weeding and harvesting. Their animals would be tethered nearby eating available grass along the drains and road edges. We did pass some huge plastic growing houses with hydroponics and solar panels that looked very impressive.
John had to use the phone map to direct the driver around the old city roads to our bed and breakfast near the old bazaar of Chor-su. The place only had a small sign on the gate and no other signage on its huge steel door. We had booked a double room with air con and an ensuite but the owner informed us there had been some problem with the room and we would have to take a bed in the dorm room with three others for the night. That was fine by us and we shared with a young French English teacher and his 79 year old grandmother. They had been 40 days in Central Asia visiting every antique, silk, ceramic and carpet shop or factory that they could find. They had bought so much stuff that there were bags everywhere in the small shared room.
The B n B owner Mirzo entertaining us on his datur- two stringed traditional instrument, one evening.The other person in the room was Anna from Italy and she was trying to get a transit visa to continue onto Tajikistan. She had been to the embassy the day we arrived in the city and was going back the next day. We have heard from several travellers about how difficult it is to get a visa for Turkmenistan. They offer 3 day or 5 day transit visas. If you want a longer stay you have to book a tour and have a guide. We found a Turkmen travel agency online who firstly issued us with a LOI which is a Letter of Invitation. We then had to book a tour with them as they were one of several government approved tour companies whom you could book through. We booked with them and are are now going to the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat. Once the LOI was paid for we had to join Anna in the queue at the Turkmen embassy to pick up the visa. Ours was issued on the spot but Anna's was rejected as they are no longer issuing transit visas. Of course they want visitors to take a guide and a tour and they are promoting the games as being bigger than Beijing's opening and closing ceremonies.
$100 US dollars in Uzbek somoni!Uzbekistan has a dual currency or official and black market rates for Euro or US dollars. The B and B owner changed our dollars for 1: 7700 against the official rate of 1:4500. All accommodation must be paid in US dollars so all travel, food and other things we can pay in somoni. We later changed a hundred dollars at the market and got it all in 1000 somoni notes which took up a lot of space in our backpack. It reminded us of when we used the Bolivian black market to convert dollars to peso to buy airline tickets and they filled a big backpack!
Getting about the city has been easy on the metro. We had to buy a plastic token for each journey. Guards checked our bags on entering the subway and then again before entering the turnstile. Photos cannot be taken of the inside of the metro as they are deemed to be military installations. Each station has a different theme and they are decorated with glazed tiles and domed ceilings. The glazed tiles are works of art. The platforms are old but spotlessly clean. There is advertising on the walls of the escalators, but none on the platforms other than advertisements on a tv screen. One night we saw an Asian tourist take photos and in no time a guard and policeman arrived to get him to delete them. There are security cameras everywhere. The lines are not very far underground and at times we have felt the trains rattling under the footpaths as we walk above ground. We felt very old travelling the metro because every time we entered a carriage the locals, both men and women, would give up their seats for us.
One night we met a Couchsurfer called Yulduz. She responded to our public message to meet up. She is a 22 year old Uzbeki student learning Korean and playing the Korean drums in her spare time. We met at a Turkish restaurant that had three floors for dining and an outside garden area with its own children's playground. I doubt there is one like it in NZ. She also invited Jacky, an English woman who lives in the Gran Canaries. Jacky told us about her very interesting trip in a Russian icebreaker to the North Pole. They could not get off right at the pole as there were polar bears nearby.
Another night we met with Farruh who had invited us to stay with him. Unfortunately Uzbekistan has a rule that means all guests have to be registered and you cannot be registered in a private home. (Well, not easily). We caught up with him in a park and ate at a Russian restaurant. He recently returned from studying in the Uk where he did a masters. He is an English teacher. He also did some travelling for a year and a half and taught English in Mexico. He wants to travel more but has the responsibilities for his retired mum who has had a hip operation and for his younger sister who is studying, because his dad died in his 40s. We called him the Uzbek hippie. He teaches his students at a table in the restaurant even though he has been offered work at friend's schools, as he wants to do his own thing.
Farruh was most surprised at the changes to Tashkent in his year and a half overseas. There are streets of bars, cafes and classy European looking restaurants with outdoor seating and even water misters to cool the guests.
The lively Russian restaurant.
One day we went exploring and found a city tour bus by chance. It was not listed in the top 10 things to do in Tashkent or on posters anywhere. The upper deck of the bus had an area that was airconditioned and a part that was open. We toured all the main sites for two and a half hours stopping at some to walk around and take photos.
Amir Timur on his horse. A Muslim military leader, born in the 1320s. Under the Soviets he was a villain but the Uzbeks see him as a hero and honour him.
The city was hit by a huge earthquake in 1966, leaving 300,000 homeless.
Our guesthouse was in the old city where there are still mud brick homes and narrow lanes.
This is part of the huge Chor-su bazaar just down the road from our B n B. It is also where we would
find money changers with their black plastic bags of money. The place is enormous where you can buy anything you need. We got caught in the frenzy of produce arriving in the early morning and stall holders bargaining and choosing their day's fruit and vegetables. Absolute chaos. When we returned late in the evening we would walk through stalls closed up covered with sheets and local stall holders asleep on the ground or on their trolleys, but the grounds would be swept and clean.
A monument and park with the Museum of the Victims of Political Supression in memory of those who died under Stalin.
Part of the city is leafy with lots of parks and modern stores and called the European section while part is noticeably Russian era with tall blocks of residences.
The new white mosque where we saw a funeral taking place.
Independence Square/park was closed to the public as the structures were washed and the gardens replanted and watered. Sept 1st is when Uzbekistan celebrates 26 years of independence from Russia so there will be big parades.
Storks above the gate to Independence Park. We were unable to see the statues of the Crying Mother, honouring the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers killed in World War 11.
One day we went inside the TV tower to get a view of the city but being a military structure we were unable to take photos of the view.
We spent a hot day cooling off at Alisher Navoi National Park - he was a poet from 1441-1501.
In the dome above his head is written ' Know all human kind: The greatest curse in enemity: The greatest blessing is Amity.'
The park is huge with canals, where we saw teen boys jumping off the bridges and racing each other, kids with their parents on the funfair rides, and courting couples in the shade of the conifers. The park houses the House of Representatives, the Wedding Palace and the Istiklol Palace. It is wonderful how much green space the city has.
The art gallery.
The brides love the Cinderella dresses and this one had a lot of trouble getting her dress into the waiting stretch limo.
We have enjoyed the restaurants and food in Tashkent. If only the other places in Central Asia could learn from their restaurants.
