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7NNT25: Day 10 & 11 – Somewhere in Uzbekistan
Soundtrack: any song about waiting in airports… Writing this in the Pie Republic outlet at Tashkent International Airport, consuming an overpriced chicken caesar sandwich and a cappucino, which in these parts is the same as a flat white. Also, the chicken caesar sandwich has tomato. Also also, the Pie Republic doesn’t sell any pies (though they do have meat filled somsas, which I guess comes close). That’s probably a metaphor for something, I don’t quite know what. In the lst two days I’ve experienced Uzbekistan airways, had actual gluten-free Uzbek food, walked a bit, sat around waiting a bunch, shopped for trinkets for the folks back home, and made sure…
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7NNT25: Day 9 – Khiva
Soundtrack: “Helter Skelter”, The Beatles Today we explored the ups and downs of Khiva, the old provincial capital and city that’s a mere 2,500 years young. Khiva, like many historical places, is a city within a city, there’s the old walled city, Itchan Kala, and then the rest of the city. Itchan Kala is largely a walled museum city, with the bulk of building done in the 18th and 19th Centuries (Ghengis Khan was here, you know the story). Much of the construction of the period remains intact, owing to the Khanate of Khiva capitulating fairly rapidly to the Tsarist forces, and then having their own revolution after the soviets…
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7NNT25: Day 8 – The road to Khiva
Soundtrack: “Wide Open Road”, The Triffids Somewhere on the road to Khiva, with no other people in sight, the only signs of civilisation being the power poles and the road itself, my phone showing no signal, I glanced at the dashboard and the realisation kicked in: the damn fuel light is on. I don’t know when it came on, but I figure that if this car is like most, that means it has at most somewhere around 50km worth of fuel. I start doing the maths, if we’re doing just over 110km/h, that gives us maybe 30 minutes. I’m not panicking yet, afterall the driver seems quite calm about it,…
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7NNT25: Day 7 – Bukhara
Soundtrack: “People Who Died”, Jim Carroll Band A full day in Bukhara that kicked off with meeting a new guide at 9am. She spoke fast and I’m really bad at remembering names, so I’m not sure what exactly her name was. Uzbek names also take a bit of getting used to, there’s a lack of Shazza, Kazza, Bazza and Dazza here. Mix this with a morning of more stories about 16th-19th century Uzbek Amirs and I’m sadly floundering in the name department. All credit to the guides, they definitely know their stuff and have got all the names, dates, and places sorted, but it’s a lot for someone who’s only…
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7NNT25: Day 6 – Samarkand to Bukhara
Soundtrack: Having hit peak Timur, it was time today to leave Samarkand and head further down the Silk Road to the old capital of Uzbekistan, Bukhara. I keep remembering and then forgetting that these are kind of the footsteps of Marco Polo, who came through here 800 or so years ago. Would have been cool if he’d been like the Vikings, and left some graffiti behind, but can’t have everything. I can safely say that he never took the fast train and watched the countryside scroll at 159 km/h. Though the fast train didn’t have the same level of service today, there were no free pastries or tea, boarding was…
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7NNT25: Day 5 – Samarkand
Soundtrack: “Sugar, Sugar” – The Archies Today was mostly a make our own fun day, so we used the opportunity to have a bit of a stroll around the city, mostly in the Tsarist Russian part. We’d noted a couple of shopping malls within walking distance, so thought we’d check them out. The first excitement in the walk involved a chicken. It may have been trying to cross the rather busy road, or it might have just wanted to loiter under a parked car, I don’t speak any language of chicken so I couldn’t ask. A couple of Uzbek gents appeared to be trying to direct it or catch it,…
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7NNT25: Day 4 – Samarkand
Soundtrack: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” – Pete Seeger/The Byrds A more sedately paced day after yesterday’s hustle. We kicked off with a late hotel breakfast, our Samarkand accommodation is smaller than Tashkent so the selection was scaled down considerably with only a few types of cheese, limited hot foods, fruit etc and some local options like samsa. First stop was a traditional crafts village on the edge of Samarkand. The Uzbeks have a long history of making paper, having obtained the knowledge from the Chinese — according to some folklore by force, where captured Chinese soldiers gave up the knowledge in exchange for their lives. Like many things, the knowledge was…
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7NNT25: Day 3 – Tashkent to Samarkand
Soundtrack: “Know Your Product” The Saints One thing that Uzbekistan has that Australia doesn’t is fast intercity trains, the sort that do the 300km from Tashkent to Samarkand in just over 2 hours. We were a little unsure at what economy class would entail, but need not have worried. As economy rail goes, it’s one of the best. There are comfy seats with a decent amount of leg room, the baggage space was a little tight but not as bad as some, and they provide free snacks and drinks. The snacks included a little bag with a pastry and a sachet of 3 in 1 instant coffee, icecream, and fruit…
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7NNT25: Day 2 – Tashkent
Soundtrack: “Going Underground” The Jam Our first full day in Uzbekistan was spent exploring the old and new parts of the capital, Tashkent, with our driver and also a guide who tried to take us through 15 centuries of history in 6 hours. In summary: most of the cultures that have dominated Uzbekistan over the centuries have had a mix of good and bad elements, except the Mongols, who were all bad. Seems like the Uzbeks still have a bit of a grudge from the days of Ghengis Khan, which I’m sure would make an Uzbekistan Vs Mongolia ice hockey game rather interesting. So here’s the non-wikipedia version: the Uzbeks…
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7NNT25: Day 1 – A whole lotta transit
Soundtrack: “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” Bon Jovi We queued, we waited, we napped, we queued, we flew, we got there in the end. Due to reasons too boring to detail, our chosen airline to take us into Uzbekistan was Batik, a budget airline that doesn’t have a universal reputation for punctuality. When it’s on time it’s on time, but when it’s late, well, our 4 hour delay out of Perth at least wasn’t the 9 hour delay another of their flights was experiencing. I don’t know what went wrong but their schedule ran to the toilet faster than someone after a bowl of improperly stored rice. There are 4…
