Blogs from Uzbekistan, Asia - page 3

Hello Everyone! I would like to share the details of my recent trip to Uzbekistan. Being from neighboring country, it was always in my mind to visit this beautiful and historical place. We have so much in common. Our traditions, our history, our origins have same root. By the way, I am from Kazakhstan. So let me inform you first of all, that my trip wasn't planned well in advance. It just happened that one snowy day I wanted to go somewhere sunny and warm. I started looking into many countries, but most affordable one appeared to be Uzbekistan. Number one, there was very good airfare offer, number two I was always in touch with my goof friends from Tashkent and finally, number three, I am big fan of historical places. I took my laptop and ... read more

We slept well but still had a leisurely start to the day – we’re on holiday. We reconsidered about breakfast being ok when it gave us both stomach ache so we took a very slow walk to the Registan, our first stop. The guidebook describes it as arguably the most awesome single sight in Central Asia. The 3 buildings are among the world’s oldest preserved madrassas (Genghis Khan having destroyed the older stuff), the oldest having been completed in 1420. They are huge. We paid the entrance fee and went into each, highlights were in Tilly-Kari Madrassa (the middle one); the mosque as it is intricately decorated in gold and the young girl who took us into her family’s shop in what used to be a professor’s room, where she explained the meaning behind the symbols ... read more

We got up at a leisurely time and after breakfasting in what looked like the boiler room (which was hot inside) we headed out to see the sights properly. We first went back to Kalon Minaret and after poking our noses into the medressa we paid to go into the mosque. With a large courtyard and deep sides with large arched ceiling it is big enough to hold 10,000 people. We had it almost to ourselves - tour groups had clearly had a more leisurely start to the day than us. Next we walked over to the Ark a royal town which is Bukhara oldest structure and has been occupied since the 5th century. We checked out the mosque, courtyard and each of the small museums but didn't think it was worth the hefty entrance fee. ... read more

Having spent a month as youngsters inter-railing around Europe living in the trains and seeing as much as we could we're nostalgic about train travel. It was only when faced with 16 hours of being bounced around in a tiny, hot cabin with a comatose drunk man that we remembered the reality. We caused much bemusement when after getting on the train we promptly bailed off again as it was too hot to bear but when the guard understood why he booted a couple of men off the bench on the platform and we took a seat spending a pleasant hour in the evening cool making new friends with the help of a young man that spoke a little English. When we got back on drunk man was kick out of one of our bottom bunks ... read more

For the uninitiated, present-day Uzbekistan was previously the junction and the centre of the ancient caravan road which stretched from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean and which was called the Great Silk Road. Towns and countries came and went over history, but for centuries the road functioned as a trade and cultural bridge between the East and the West. There is no doubt that a revisit to Uzbekistan was a big draw point for this particular tour for me, given I had an all-too-brief visit here some 10 years ago and really enjoyed it. My only concern was whether I had since that visit over-glamorised it in my mind and thus lifted the bar too high. I hadn't. The visit did not start well. After an obscenely early start of 3am to get the 6am ... read more