2025 | seven nation noodle
seven nation noodle tour april/may 2025. uzbekistan, thailand, vietnam, philippines, hong kong, macau, singapore
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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…
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7NNT-Day 0: Prep
Lagman, shivit oshi, khao soi, pho, banh canh, pancit, jook-sing, laksa, hor fun. It’s time to travel again. Case is packed, I know where my passports are, a new playlist has been synced to my venerable ipod mini, and the world awaits. Uzbekistan, Thailand, Viet Nam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore, 5 weeks of sun, fun, walking, touring, sweating, drinking, and of course, eating. Some of these places I’ve been before (this is my 5th time in Viet Nam) while others are completely new and unknown, places I’ve only seen on maps, or read about, or, in the case of the first stop, gone from almost zero knowledge to…
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7NNT25 – teaser
coming soon…
