http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Uzbekistan en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:06:42 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:06:42 UTC Uzbekistan. We had been planning this trip for so long and finally the time had come around. My mate Leigh met me in Riga the day before we were due to fly into Tashkent. We started to get pumped up about the thought of seeing the Socceroos start there World Cup qualification campaign in a couple of days time so instead of wasting this new found energy we had a massive night in the Old Town of Rig http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-335481.html HelloMinor Internet difficulties have kept us from updating our blog.... But here we are in Tehran with a reasonable computer and Internet connectionHere's what we have been up to since KyrgyzstanUzbekistanFarghanaTashkentSamarkandYurt CampBukharaKhivaWe really enjoyed Uzbekistan. All of the monuments mosques madrasases etc were all covered in beautiful blue tiles. Meghan especially lo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/blog-330737.html After an afternoon of waiting patiently for our passports at the Kazakh embassy we dashed across Tashkent and booked ourselves on the next train west the night train to Bukhara. The bar was full of drunk russians with the police keeping a tight watch on all passengersparticularly the man who fell asleep on the table Bukhara is the an old spiritual city once very important on the Old Silk Roa http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-329363.html We arrived into Tashkent after a pretty hectic day crossing the KazakhUzbek border by foot. The border gaurds were seemingly pleasant on the outside laughing and joking with us but were less amused when they looked through my bag for guns and narcotics or more likely some petty cash which they could pilfer for their own added tax and all they found were postcards of Nantwich and Newark. I http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-328885.html We are now in Bukhara.... another awesome place in Uzbekistan. We had city tour yesterday and cruised around the sites. Visited the Ismail Samanid Mausoleum a 10th C Mausoleum for Ismail Samani who both the Uzbeks and the Turkmen hold in high esteem as hereos of their country. The terracotta brickwork has features from Zorastrian Buddhism as well as Islam. The Turkmen want to relocate the tomb http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/blog-326209.html bAfter Tashkent we travelled to Samarkand . The actual countryside in Uzbekstan is quite boring lots of cotton fields and not much else. The irrigation of the cotton is putting pressure on the water supply in rural Uzbekistan and they are also going through a long drought. The extra problem for the Uzbekis is that it is a country rich in natural gas but the source of the major waterways is in t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-326201.html After Arslanbob we headed to Osh. We had time there to have a look around. We went up King Soloman's mountain and just generally took in the city. Osh is Kyrgyzstan's second largest city. It was a lot prettier than Bishkek and I enjoyed kicking around. The weather also has turned warm again as we are starting to head towards Uzbekistan.The border crossing was relatively pain free it was only ab http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-323845.html Best day on the whole central asian part of the trip was spent venturing out to a 10th century Samanid mausoleum somewhat between Bukara and Samarqand. Katherine had a great book about mouments of central asia which included a tiny section about ArabAta in a town Tim about 200km from Samarqand along the old royal road between the two great cities of the Syr Darya. Our plan was public transport w http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-322753.html Have just visited Amir Timur's mausoleum the Gur Emir... it was the end of a vast display of turquoise and midnight blue majolica tile. The buildings were impressive the Bibi Khanum mosque the Registan with Ulug Beg's madrassah and the Shah Zinda as well as the big man's tomb itself. But somehow I was left slightly cold it was not how I imagined I would feel being in Samarkand. As you try and do http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-321599.html I spend two days spent in Bukara visting Madrassas and Mosques. Sublime architecture with stunning tile work and madrassahs with wonderfully simple rooms. The Kolon Mosque is massive and gives a real sense of the power of Bukara as a seat of Islamic learning. In addition i'm quite impressed by the density of madrassas in Bukara as it clearly signifies the strenght and influence it must have ha http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-321567.html In Tashkent you cannot forget the Soviet past I was taken back to being 18 again and living in Hungary.... it made me realise how huge the Soviet Union was the reach from Europe into Central Asia. The buildings are angular affairs tumbledown in the case of the appartment blocks swish in that of the government buildings. with wide treelined boulevards. It is actually a lot more pleasant than I http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-320861.html Flew into Urgench on a Russian plane crossing both the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya which was quite interesting. The irrigated land is a channel of green in a sandy desert which stretches as far as the eye can see. I met Rafael and Claire two French travellers and we shared a taxi to Khiva from Urgench. The town itself is pretty amazing but with so much restoration and the quite numerous tourist http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Khiva/blog-320381.html Or as they say in Uzbek Buyuk Ipak YoliAm in Buchara Uzbekistan an oasis in the Kyzyl kum desert a sbopping place for camel caravans carrying exotic wares for thousands of years.... There are camel statues round the ornamental pool which is one of the centres of the old town Lyabi Hauz. Lined with old willows and choikhanas under the trees where dogs cats and ducks live pretty much in harm http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-319807.html Arrived safely into the Tashkent airport to be greeted by the messiest passport control of my life. It beats the choas in Hurgarda by a million fold. Basically everyone thinks if they push and stand as close to the glass panel as possible they will be able to get their stamp sooner and get out of the crush of humans. The problem with this is that everyone is pushed togther as in a scrum. Every http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-318877.html Coming back to Tashkent felt like coming home. It was nice to be in familiar surroundings again and to know where we were going. The last couple of days were spent getting the last doses of Uzbek food even as I knew I had to make the most of it whilst I was there It was a bittersweet goodbye as I loved Uzbekistan but was really ready to leave. Of course the departure wasn't as easy as you would t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-311180.html ldquoHe follows us for long time nowrdquo M whispered nervously eyes flickering over the crowd around us. ldquoVery bad man. You know CNGrdquo Not personally so far thankfully but Irsquod heard a bit about them. The Uzbek branch of the KGB which had apparently survived more or less intact after the collapse of the Soviet Union. While they donrsquot inspire quite the same level of http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-309238.html seems 2 month we are here himself and i ... past one month the weather was so hot in tashkent almost going out and hanging around with out aircondition is impossible .the bad point in here is resturant and fast food are working till 11 pm shops till 9 adisco after 12 before we came here we were thinking uzbakistan language supose to be uzbak but later we learnd that all suviate countrie http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-305853.html James Elroy FleckerTHE GOLDEN JOURNEY TO SAMARKANDWe are the Pilgrims master we shall goAlways a little further it may beBeyond that last blue mountain barred with snowAcross that angry or that glimmering seaWhite on a throne or guarded in a caveThere lives a prophet who can understandWhy men were born but surely we are braveWho take the Golden Road to Samarkand.Sweet to ride forth at eveni http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-305078.html Apart from all the sightseeing that we've been doing most of our time is based around eating. Eating is definitely a big part of the culture here so it's needless to say that I love it here They also eat LOTS here I'm talking double what we probably eat back home for each meal There always tends to be salads soups bread then the main course which is often Plov kebabs or other meat dish http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-304682.html We thought we were going to be home free after reaching Bukhara as we were back in civilisation which meant being able to drink cold water. Well things aren't that simple around here As hard as it is to believe it is also actually hotter here than it was at the yurt camp I am guessing the thermostat has edged over 50 degrees...And the search for cold beer and water led us halfway around the to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-300025.html I'm glad I prefer the heat to the cold as it's boiling here It's dry heat though so I'm not actually feeling it that much but a couple of people in my group are struggling. I am now travelling with 1 Canadian 2 Irish and a fellow Aussie. The combination of all our different accents and slang is amusing us although confusing our tour guide at times After leaving the capital we flew to Urg http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Khiva/blog-299568.html De taxirit van Bishkek naar Osh is er n die we zo snel mogelijk willen vergeten al zal ze ons nog lang heugen.. In rsquot kort de rit zou 10 uren duren iets voor halfweg krijgen we autopech 6 uur later kunnen we terug vertrekken we moeten ergens overnachten en komen pas een dag later toe in Osh. De sfeer in Osh is helemaal anders dan die in het noorden van het land. Autorsquos mensen s http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-299180.html I am now in Tashkent the capital of Uzbekistan and starting to feel like I'm functioning normally again after a week of madness. I have been suffering from a severe lack of sleep partly my fault as I decided to have a big night or two in Bangkok over the weekend but also because I was stressed about whether I was really going to be able to get my Uzbek visa processed in one day in Bangkok as http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Tashkent/blog-297465.html Next was Samarkand a much bigger city than Bukhara with as much history but without the warm fuzzy feeling. This very much felt like a big place the people weren't as friendly and everyone seemed out to make a quick buck but there historic sites were good if heavily renovated due to earthquakes and I got to stay in a traditional Uzbeki yurt in the Kyzylkhum desert before coming into town http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-297331.html On to Bukhara another ancient and historic city famous for it's huge prison. The weather really begins to heat up in Central Uzbekistan and my farmer's tan comes on quite nicely. For some reason city tours always happen in the heat of the day. Bukhara had the feel and charm of Khiva but it was much bigger and more touristy.The city walls were huge and imposing and the central square with http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-297328.html The next day I finally have an easy border crossing and enter Uzbekistan.I stay in the historic town of Khiva inside the ancient city walls. After Turkmenistan it feels really nice here people are friendly relaxed and interested and of all the muslim countries I've been to it's by far the one that ahs best integrated the religion into their lives without it interrupting it.I walk the streets http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Khiva/blog-297324.html Well another installment while we can Here are some pictures from our time in Uzbekistan which is almost drawing to a close. It was a long tedious 3 day train journey to make it into Uzbek but worth the suffering just We have met some fantastic people exclusivley Uzbek. The architecture here is just amazing. I always love being in Islamic countries you can't beat hearing the call the praye http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Uzbekistan/Samarkand/blog-290281.html