Sept 19-21 Khiva Sept 19th. Over 1000kms of train ride from Tashkent to Urgench through mostly barren empty desert, few camels, bit of dry tussock, but mostly just nothing. Eventually arrived in Urgench, where we negotiated a short taxi ride to Khiva for 20,000 Soms discovering the weird nature of the Uzbek currency - at about 3,000 Soms to the dollar. Changing a $100 note into Soms results in a huge 'brick' of notes as the dominant note is just 1,000 Soms (about 30c). So everyone is walking around with huge lumps of cash - much too large to fit in a wallet ! Paying for anything is a real exercise in lengthy counting ! Ancient Khiva had a reputation for barbaric cruelty, slave caravans, and terrible journeys across inhospitable deserts. The historic heart of Khiva
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