Blogs from Khiva, Uzbekistan, Asia - page 3

This entry is longer than usual, since we will be crossing the border into Tukmenistan tomorrow, where internet is not available, and supposedly hotel rooms for foreigners are wired. It is harvest season. Heading to Bukhara on bumpy roads (which used to be smooth highways back in Soviet times), women in traditional dresses work diligently in dark brown fields sprinkled with snow balls. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan's main exports and lifeline, along with gas and tourism. Even elementary school teachers moonlight as cotton pickers during harvest time. That is why our guide's kid has not been in school for a week. While cotton is plentiful, all of it is exported and quality clothes are imported from Russia, China, Korea, and Turkey. Local textile capabilities are still under-developed. Life in Uzbekistan after independence in 1991 has ... read more

THE UZBEKISTAN DESERT - (August 2007) - Introduction - I’m now writing this blog well over two years after getting back home to England. I had good intensions at the time to complete all the ‘blogs’ while I was on the road visiting all these places. And when that didn’t happen, I intended to complete all my ‘missing’ blogs as soon as possible after I got back home to England. That also didn’t happen, and now it’s January 2010 and I’m still struggling to find the time to complete them all. Therefore in the interest of completing the story of my return to England from Australia ‘overland’, or should I say ‘overland as much as possible’ - all the ‘blogs’ from herein will be brief and hopefully to the point. Which is probably for the best ... read more

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 Urgrench a small agricultural town in the North West region and then made our way to Khiva, a captivating ancient city. Now I'm not very good at remembering history, it kind of goes in one ear and out the other, so if you want to learn more about the rich history it's probably wiser to do some research! Although legend has it ... read more

I will laugh at an English tourist... You set off for a 6 week trip. You decide on day 1 that you're so homesick that you want to go home. What do you do? You give up and go home almost immediately. Well this one did, but not before coming out with: "so this is raw onion?" and (passing by the mausoleum of Ismail Somoni) Me: "Somoni's really popular in Tajikistan, they've even named their currency after him." Him: "What's their currency called then?" Me: "Um, the somoni." The Somoni mausoleum was restored to shiny newness, like almost everything of antiquity in Uzbekistan. At the same time as restoring the buildings, they've removed any normal city life from anywhere near them as well, so much of the time it feels really sterile, like being in a ... read more

We stayed inside the old wall, a small hostel with courtyard gardens, really nice and close to all the sights. the next day was a city tour with our guide for the rest of Uzbekistan, Jalol, really funny guy. Anyway I really love this city, all the sights are close by and really gorgeous architecture, but same as before, cannot be bothered remembering the names of places, i know i should make an effort but with the pace our group is trucking through different countries at the moment all i can do is send photos and maybe later take my time and name them. It was scorching hot and quickly the group wilted, I stuck on til the very last then had some good meal at a restaurant close by. Theres lots of tourists, some ... read more