Uzbekistan and Russia : it's my dream come true...May 2013

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London to Moscow- 16th May

So the pilot announces we will be landing in about 20 mins. 27 degrees on the ground wow that's 20+ degrees more than what we left in London. Also he said 5-10min taxi and don't be alarmed as the runways are pretty rough so the taxi will be bumpy....hmmm welcome to Moscow I guess :-)
Immigration went smoothly, now a nine hour wait at Moscow Domodedevo airport for our next fligt to Tashkent! a latte costs £6 phew will be bankrupt by the time we board the next flight !
Finally in the check-in queue for the flight to Tashkent. Everyone seems to have their bags sealed/wrapped in cellophane and no speaks even a word of English :-( wonder what's going on! This is going to be one interesting trip! Let the adventure begin :-)
Check-in all done smoothly despite everyone trying to jump the queue but me being Indian was able to beat them! Now trying to get Zaara something to eat before going through security.....well confused the hell out of the people serving at Subway in trying to order a tuna sandwich..well what next ! Security checks here we come :-)
So Russian immigration interesting experience: they make a difficult as possible for you to get into their country and then once you are in make it as difficult to get out too! And Sadiq reckons the guy behind the immigration desk is actually reading his book while doing the security checks..which is why it's taking forever !! Next stop boarding gate....well lets see if they understood what Sadiq meant when he asked them about pre-boarding for people with kids! So we find out there's no queue and no pre-boarding its just everyone barging in... And while we are waiting a policeman walks into boarding area escorting three people (what looks like criminals maybe getting on our flight!) and it's true they get priority boarding & get escorted through first on the plane! Ahh saying my prayers n fingers crossed for a safe arrival !! So on the plane itself now & across the aisle from Sadiq is a wise looking old man who seems very intently studying the flight safety card and what seems like is marking out with his fingers the quickest exit route ;-) ! Another guy gets on and hasnt realised there are actually seat numbers'..guess he thinks he's on a bus. Now he's realised he's frantically searching for his ticket stub. Oh n there's the guy from the check-on queue who kept saying we were Americans !! Well in our seats now belted up n all I want to do is sleep. Oh and the old man across from Sadiq is on page 2 of the safety card..:looks like he's trying to figure out how the inflatable safety rafts work!! Time for a snooze me thinks....most people r still on their phone chatting away...people watching is so much fun. Well the stewardess just served some drinks what looks like apple juice, she says its lemonade but it tastes something completely different well a browny yellowy looking lemonade is a first for me!! Guess there's going to be a lot of firsts on this trip :-)

Tashkent 17th May


Just picked up a big wad of 300,000 Uzbek SOM that's apparently our spending money for the day !
Birthday dinner at 'Caravan' yummy Uzbek food, pilov was particularly good and the stew which had pasta in yogurt based sauce. I wasn't brave enough to try the horse meat though :-) had some fab non-alcoholic birthday cocktails :-) the lamb kebabs were very flavoursome with a distinct flavour of cardamom coming through.
During the day we visited Chorsu bazaar in the old town which is a huge covered market selling fruit/vegetables/nuts/spices etc. huge stalls lined with fresh spices, vegetable and a huge variety of nuts mostly all in their shells. people were buying strawberries by the bucket loads & they were selling plastics buckets next to the strawberry sellers....some sort of fixing going on there. The guys in the market were trying to guess where we were from and they kinda looked at us strangely when we said England...and then asked if we were from Pakistan or Hindustan :-) Train to Samarkand first thing morning tomorrow...early night I think


Tashkent - Samarkand 18th May


At Tashkent train station it's massive but only passengers are allowed in. On the Oh so very posh Afrisiyob train....puts the European trains to shame really :-) The card inside says soft drinks, water and breakfast is included....made the day for us backpackers :-) apparantly free wifi too...what more do we need ! the train attendant are more smartly dressed than BA cabin crew !

Breakfast has been served croissant & orange juice n the croissant seems to have been imported all the way from France it's so hard :-)

Samarqand: and there's only one word "wow" so breathtakingly beautiful ! Registan Square is the view to die for. As it's the weekend it's full of local tourists soaking in their beautiful cities. Our driver Fazal is a very nice guy and goes out of his way to help us get some discounts on entrance fees :-) Us desis always looking for a bargain we even managed to avoid the ticket woman at 'Shakhi zinda' the avenue of mausoleum s and got free entry! The view at the top of the steep entrance is stunning and reminds us both of the 'Siq' at Petra, it wasn't something we were expecting to see.

Little Zaara was getting tired of the heat, but enjoyed running around in the cool courtyard gardens and the attention from the locals. The locals all wanted to take photos taken from us and one young girl just grabbed my hand as I was standing and got her friend to take a photo of us together and then later with all three of us....very odd. And they other funny thing was soon as they heard Zaara's name they started mentioning the Bollywood film 'Veer-Zara' apparently it's hugely popular here :-)
We visit the museum of 'Afrosiab' the site of the ancient city of Samarkand. After negotiating to pay in dollars n not SOMs as we don't have much of the local curency. After walking around the ancient antiquities we come to their prized possession the room covered in fresco. But when we go in the rooms all dark n you can barely see a thing and there's a guide showing some people around with a torch light very strange. So I ask the woman door keeper if she can switch the lights on and she tells me no electricity...I am really annoyed what's the point of paying entrance tickets when you can even see the exhibits. So I go to the woman at the entrance and ask her so she waves her arms around to someone and says it will come on in 5mins. We wander upstairs to see the other galleries and sure enough when we come back down the lights in the fresco room are on an all the other tourists are happily enjoying it now! I couldn't believe that the tour guides didn't ask for the lights to be turned on and were just walking their groups in the dark !!
So today we have free time in Samarkand and we decide to have some chill out time. In the city centre we go to a posh looking coffee shop. I take the opportunity to take Zaara to the toilet thinking they would have decent toilets...and to little Zaar's shock it was an Indian style hole in the ground one, the look on the poor child's face. I almost have to dangle her over so she could do her wee and then I happened to say these are like toilets in India and she goes: 'mummy I'm not going to India with look of horror on her face!' :-) Here's the modern version of the 'chaikhana'

So we go to a restaurant where several locals are eating sat at a 'charpoi' we made ourselves comfortable and asked for a menu only to be told there's no menu and the guy rattles off a few dishes that are in the kitchen! That's a grand total of five dishes plus salad and bread. Seems like Gordon Ramsay has been here to his restaurant makeover and slashed the menu :-) food looks delicious ! Local variety of dumplings, obi non (bread), plov and shaslik.
Back at the Registan after dinner we get to watch the so called 'light & sound' show that is usually put on for tour groups...well I wouldn't pay a penny it was so poor. We flag down a taxi to get back to our hotel only to find out after a couple of blocks that he was taking us to the wrong hotel. Turns out taxi driver doesn't speak a word of English, we don't speak a word of Uzbek and he's asking us for address n directions to hotel. We show him hotel on the map he has no clue how to read a map n find his way...this is hilarious ! He eventually phones the hotel and gets the directions there. I'm just thinking he's gonna ask for double the fare but credit to him he got us there and didn't even ask for any more money :-) gotta love the Uzbek people. In the hotel reception I notice this sign....to my US friends....forget the Best Westerns here's to Best Eastern!



Sadiq complaints about the air conditioning at reception, the guy comes in keeps fiddling with buttons with no luck, goes back to reception n comes back and starts plugging unplugging at the wall still no luck....more pressing of buttons and by now also sighing very loudly 'Japan Japan ' as apparently all instructions r in Japanese ;-) eventually gets it working then tells Sadiq to unplug socket to turn it off and when Sadiq looks at him weirdly repeats Japan Japan loudly n leaves!! He also doesn't know a word of English. After he leaves Sadiq takes the remote control n turns the AC on n off no problems !! Haha! That's way too many adventures for the day :-) Next stop Bukhara tomorrow on another eventful train journey...



20th May - Train to Bukhara


First security check outside the station the guard looks at me questionigly and straightaway asked 'Hindustani'? When I said England he didn't believe me. Second security check inside the station building guard asks again suspiciously...Hindustani? I didn't say anything so to satisfy his curiosity he asked to see our passports looking noseyly through them then just gave me a blank look! Well it's a pretty grand station for somewhere that only sees about 20 trains pass through the day! we go out on the platform to take some photos and a big fat security guard comes shouting 'no photo no photo' then asks Sadiq where we r from & when Sadiq says England he goes ahh anglais come come take picture of me too with your daughter and wife...arghha pic with a big fat pervy Uzbek old man not impressed !! An he kept telling me to move closer to home I nearly hit him with my massive backpack ;-) Wow impressed with the train so far, a cabin with three comfy seats and a dining table, carpets, power sockets and TV included too :-)
Three hours later train pulls into Bukhara 'Boxoro' station and people start crossing the tracks to get across to the other side...for a second feels like we are in India :-) here's a pic complete with its backpackers 😊

Our hotel is a converted old madressa (built in 1861) building quirky and full of charm. Rooms are converted student classrooms. We are greeted with Bukharan hospitality of green tea and mixed nuts served on charpoi's in the pretty courtyard.
Little Zaara isn't too keen on Uzbek food so we decide to take Zaara to a place called Bella Italia thinking it was the same as the chain in England..well turns out it was just a so called upmarket restaurant selling pasta n pizzas which if the Italians tasted they would be turning in their graves!! Lesson learnt stick to local cuisine in foreign countries :-) will be back at the local chaikhana tomorrow .


Bukhara - 21st May


Went to the market where the locals buy their wares from packed full of herbs, spices, green tea, fruit, veg & bread. We stopped by a shop to look at some green tea and the curious shopkeepers started chatting to us not believing we are from England. Eventually we tell them we are originally from India and straightaway he goes to me ahh Sridevi! Never been called a Bollywood actress before....feel like a celebrity now lol! The pretty patterned bread that is sold everywhere here. I too am a proud owner now of one of these gadgets they use to make the patterns....watch out for the pics on yummyliciois 😊
Next stop was the jewellery bazaar which bizarrely but I guess quite appropriately was run by mostly women. First time I've been to an open air jewellery market which is selling real gold stuff....no armed guards or security here :-)
Walked past the pottery sellers and saw my friend from yesterday Nargis who when she found out I was from India asked me if Raj Kapoor & Nargis were really were really in love or it was a made up story....hmm how am I to know! I started looking at some traditional tea cups and teapot and she told me to come later after 7:00pm and she will do me a good deal! Ahh the effect Bollywood has on the Uzbeks :-)
Now in the 'silk road tea house' their version of the English afternoon tea comes with five types of herbal teas, coffees and homemade sweets & nuts. First time drinking coffee since been here and had to add about three spoons of sugar to make the thick black muddy concoction with added cinnamon & cardamom drinkable!!

So later in the square I made a new friend little 10 year old boy called Mirjan who was trying hard to sell me some postcards. As I bargained with him the poor little soul was getting so confused with his hundreds and thousands :-) he started off at 3000 SOMs and sold it for 500 SOMs :-) we needed some money changed but it was gone 5:00pm so banks were shut and as there were policemen lurking in the streets the blackmarketers seemed to have disappeared. So I asked my little friend Mirjan if he knew anyone who changed money and all of this in sign language and bits of English! Although previously I had managed to convince him that I was from Ajerbaijan :-) he took us to some dodgy looking old man he knew and we bargained the dollar rate with him and eventually managed to get 2700 SOMs for $1 (official rate is 2000 SOMs). We hurriedly counted the money before any policemen turned up and left the place. We spent the afternoon walking around the back streets observing some local life although the most we found were some kids playing in the street or the odd local selling stuff through his house window (this I guess was the local Mohalla shop just like the ones we had in India before the malls arrived ). Later as we were looking for the 'Chor Minor' again a few kids in the street offered to show us the way and the little girl told me her father & grand father were from Iran and mother from Turkmenistan. Dinner was the usual Uzbek fare at the lively lakeside restaurant. After dinner we took a walk around the old town to see it by night but there were few people wandering around and it looked beautiful in the moonlight.



Bukhara - 22nd May


Good morning Bukhara! Having homemade breakfast in a very traditional setting in the hotel courtyard now that's what I call bliss on holiday :-)
Fresh mulberries from the many local mulberry trees. These trees are where the caterpillars of the silk worms use for their cocoons and the fibres left behind are later used to make silk thread which Bukhara is so famous for and it continues through Central Asia and onto china.

Relaxing on a swing under the shadow of the Chor Minor writing up my notes Bukhara continues to ooze its charm :-) an old German guy who is possibly bored of being with his tour group decides to come and chat me and Zaara up. He's from south Germany and we get talking about our trip to Munich Salzburg and god knows what makes him think I'm from Sri Lanka :-(
Finally found the local hangout a tiny no frills place that only specialises in one thing stuffed filo/puff pastries with meat, chicken, potatoes. Take your pick and it's cheap as chips and you sit and chat with the locals as you eat. Zaara has taken a liking to these pastries and seems to be happy eating them borrowing our neighbours ketchup (or rather the Uzbek version of ketchup! Heinz hasn't quite made it here )

Haven't seen so much gold since the gold souk in Dubai only here you see it when the locals smile. Most of the women seem to have their teeth classed in gold as apparently it's cheaper to have gold fillings than normal ones. Short trousers above ankles and socks with open toed shoes/slippers seem to be the trend here.
It's very hot today so it's nice to be just sitting by the lake fountains on with a cold drink and watching the world go by. There cant be a better past time than people watching :-) 600SOMs for a bottle of coke (a total of 15pence/22cents)!
There's so many amazing monuments around but still the locals seem to be more interested in getting their photo taken in front if the ridiculous camel statue by the lake ;-)
So we bumped into our little friend Mirjon from yesterday and he n his friends stopped by for a chat. His friend asked me again where we were from n I said Ajerbaijan so he started testing us by asking questions about some singer Ujair from Ajerbaijan :-) Just before we leave for the train station we go to have one last look at the kolon and bump into Nargis again. We take a few photos with her and her cousins. While I'm busy bargaining hard for some pottery from her Sadiq is chatting away to her girl cousins discussing male/female relationships and even gays in Bukhara. They tell him there's one lady boy in town too and that they had a whole group of gay toursists little whole back and how embarrassing they found it. Nargis is married but no kids yet, loves Moscow and visits frequently. Her cousin has a boyfriend and another one just had baby 45 days old! However said men don't gossip.
Bukhara train station similar to Tashkent and Samarkand a modern building with several security checks but the only modern train station I know which has no bridge or underpass to get to the other platforms ! To get to platform three where our trains was we had to cross the rails and go through the stationery train that was at the other platform very strange never seen that anywhere before even the smallest stations I know of have at least a footbridge. Finally on our way to 'Khiva' overnight sleeper train...guard checked our tickets and passports several times, big fat local woman pushed her way past me to get to her cabin in the dark. The next 12 hours will be interesting, there's no restaurant car but guard says there maybe 'choi' (tea) later. Reminds me of sleeper train travel in India only difference is if it was an Indian train we would've been served a thali by now. We have four seats booked so the whole cabin is ours. We have some Iranian American neighbours living in Houston, Texas (mum, dad & son) and have offere us food as they have lots of bread and nuts :-). Beds have been made freshly laundered linen and choi has been delivered too. The iranian guy from next door has just brought across some breas, we have samboosak (pastries) thats dinner sorted. The train steadily rolling along almost falling sleep in its rocking motion. Little Zaara is happily entertaining herself with the iPad watching Lion King! What would she have done without it phew...thank god to Apple one satisfied child traveller!



Khiva / Xiva - 23 May


Next stop Khiva, train pulled in bang on time. It was a very comfortable nights sleep, toilets were pretty clean too. Breakfast in the morning was our takeaway potato pastries from Bukhara and bread given by our Iranian neighbour.Our hotel in Khiva is another converted madressa only this time it's huge and we even have our own minaret adjacent to our huge two bedroom suite with balconies overlooking the Main Street. Sadly there's no free wifi so we'll be hanging out in the coffee shop in town more often I guess :-) oh well loving the daily green tea detox!
View from our balcony:

So it seems like some Uzbek movie is been filmed outside our hotel room. Actress dressed in a garish outfit, seems like now we are sitting in the balcony might be in their way so filming has stopped and the three guys have walked towards our hotel reception probably to complain. Oh they are walking back to the film set now!! Looks like they have given up and moved location :-(Sitting in a traditional choikhana having our after dinner detox of green tea! Guy sitting at the table across from us claims he is from Delhi and looking for his ancestors here from the time of Amir Timur and the other moguls...yeh right me thinks he's drunk or bull shutting !Zaara is enjoying a piece of Uzbek cake and boy it's hard and sticky !! Oh we'll makes her appreciate mummy's cakes back home :-)Khiva is absolutely fascinating the mud architecture and streets of the old city seem to be frozen in time and the whole place is one big museum. The people however don't seem as friendly as those from Bukhara or Samarkand.And now watching an Uzbek film with the locals at an open air cinema, first time for me as a grow up its a fascinating experience set amongst centuries old buildings and in the moonlight....this place doesn't cease to amaze !!
Good morning Khiva. Breakfast time today little Zaara discovered a new love of dunking her biscuits in warm milk and sucking on them...and at the same time Sadiq decided to detox his biscuits by Dunking them in green tea! Like father like daughter :-)Although the guy serving bfast recommended dunking them in double cream...which was surprisingly yummy ;-)People watching in the square while Zaara is playing her ball with the locals. Sadiq is enjoying clicking photos of the locals who are all dressed up in their best outfits and out as apparently it's end of school term before the three month summer holidays start so they are out celebrating !
So the people here are extremely curious especially when they see an Indian person. We walked into a museum and the lady guard straightaway looks me up and down and then asks 'Indian'? Next she starts inspecting my face then she asks me to take my sun glasses off so she could have a better look at me. Then she points at my eyes and Zaara's eyes and signs saying same and beautiful! Ahh I've never had so many conversations in sign language.
While walking around another palace a couple of young local guys who were also looking around comes up to me and asks if he could have a photo taken with me. I lost my temper and said how rude and pointed to Sadiq saying he was my husband but obviously he had no idea what I was on about. So then I said $10...that took him by shock! I walked away and then Sadiq started explaining to him it was rude to ask strangers esp women for photos where we came from. But the strange character turns around and says to me "$10...are you serious??" Today was more or less a day for relaxing and people watching !

Tonite we are back at the open air cinema as Zaara was insistent she wanted to watch a movie there and for that she even finished off her dinner without a single argument ;-) so we are all sat in the cinema which is set in the centuries old fort watching an Uzbek movie called 'the bygone days' or rather more reading the subtitles !
It's a really old print with poor quality film with lots of noise in the picture so little Zaara goes: 'daddy why is it raining in the house?' Aww bless what does she know born in the digital age she's only used to seeing film in HD quality ;-)


Khiva to Tashkent - 25 May

We have a few hours this morning before heading off to urgench for our train back to Tashkent ! We head to the local market to get some food (nuts, seeds, bread) as its going to be a long journey back. It's another busy day in Khiva locals are back young girls dressed in their best attire and parading up and down the narrow lanes some holding hands with their boy friends ! The guys are enjoying these rare moments staring at them :-) couple of the local girls insist on taking pics of me and Sadiq and then themselves with us! We have just been sat here for an hour or so people watching again while Zaara is playing with a local kid.
Loving the local fashion and the fancy hairdo's....hmm!! ;-)
Just saw a group of girls and boys dancing away in the street in 35 degrees heat....open air disco in the sun ?? I don't think so! Little Zaara is fascinated by these crowds and they by her :-)The local 'sunglasses hut' is booming with business :-)
So as we get in the taxi to head to the train station, some idiot has parked his car right in the road so there's no way of getting out of this one way road. Our driver looks around to see if he could find the driver of the car in vain so he get hold of two other bulky guys to see if they could lift it out of the way!! Just as they are trying to lift it the driver of the other car comes running and shouting and complaining....well what were you thinking in the first place when you left it there!Phew it's hot at Urgench station a whole square kilometre around the station building is sealed off as a no-drive zone so we have to walk ages in the heat to get to the building! Now on the platform the walk to our coach is almost another kilometre..phew this train must have at least fifty carriages!! It's just arrived from somewhere so it's not as clean as the others ...oh well the next 15 hours will be interesting ! NOT! The guard woman on the train is not very happy with Sadiq as he keeps trying to open the windows and she keeps asking him shut them pointing to the air con thingy which isn't on anyway. Well I guess he's not going to get any choy from her today is he!! :-(Ok take my words back after I sweet talked her when she came to check the tickets again...I asked for some choy and she shook her head which I assume she meant ok and few mins later she came with a teapot and three cups...must be my charms :-) Everytime we ask for tea here they always bring three cups assuming little Zaara would also be drinking it. Well she's settled with the Ipad and Lion King and we are enjoying the cup of well earned choy and looking through the photos transporting us back to the wonderful memories !!Watching the beautiful sunset over the desert as the train rolls through so serene except the rumble of the train! A complete contrast to the busy bazaars and streets of Khiva this morning. Poor little Zaara doesn't seem to be doing quite so well and has been complaining of tummy ache....keeping my fingers crossed ! Dinner for her has just been a banana. We're munching through the bread and nuts we bought at the market earlier in the day. Don't want to stress the tummy out too much can't bear the thought of spending time in the just bearable train loo! My little backpacker getting used to life on the road (or rather rails in this case): bread, nuts & fresh apricots bought in the market.


Dinner done we are now enjoying some tv time with our own in-train Apple TV :-)Ahh the flexibility of an iPad !! What did we do on overnight trains before apple came on the scene to transform our lives and the way we travel forever ! Lion king done & little Zaara finally tucked away in her bed I finally claim my ipad back and spend a little quiet time reading my book on the kindle reader! But not for long as the battery has nearly finished and the power socket on this train is too far away from our cabin so I call it a day and doze off to sleep to the gentle rocking of the train. There's something quiet soothing about falling asleep to the gentle motion of the trains! Well good sign I guess if I was to live my next dream of travelling on the 'Trans-Siberian express' !!

Train to Tashkent- 26 May


15 hours later still on the train....breakfast is again bread n nuts and croissants that we brought with us! No choi for Sadiq as the guard woman has disappeared :-( all the locals seem to have come with their teapots so they can make their own tea as there is a big 'samovar' that seems to be boiling hot water all the time !Finally train pulls into Tashkent 45mins late :-( we are due to be heading To the mountains north of the city for a day trip. We eventually start around 1:00pm and around an hour later we are ascending into the mountain road. First green hills we have seen in the last ten days as most of our travels were in the more desert areas. We can already feel the chill in the mountain air. We stop at what could be a ski resort but right now the ski lift is taking people up to feel the fresh air. The locals are wrapped up in warm clothes and we are in our summer gear :-). We also take the ski lift up to take in the views. Sadiq had to put little Zaara on his lap n hold on tight as there's not much else other that a measly safety bar! Wow they dont seem to be too bothered about safety Here. She's a little scared as we ascend up but is relaxed in a few mins and starts watching the other peole that are heading down. We see a few kids similar age to Zaara sitting on their own too.
Further along we head to see lake chavrok. The setting is beautiful however the area seems pretty run down. There's a huge ugly hotel on the lakeshore sticking out like a sore thumb ! The lakeshore is also pretty dirty. It's mostly stony and there are a few local families and some jet skiers. Little Zaara enjoyed being by the waterside for a short while. Although she didn't go into the water as it was very dirty. Finally it's time to head back to Tashkent as we have a flight to Moscow very early in the morning. On the road we watch our driver doing his evening namaaz while still driving. That's a first I've seen someone praying namaaz while driving, he must be very religious as most Uzbeks didn't appear to be so. There are mosques at every corner but we didn't see many people praying in them.Well it's been a long couple of days travelling and I'm hoping for a nice chilled out dinner as its gonna be another day travelling to Moscow :-(
Well dinner at the caravan was a treat and we continued my post birthday celebrations with some traditional Uzbek dessert cake :-). A little boy called Daler whose parents were having dinner at the adjacent table came up to play with Zaara. Unfortunately he could only speak Russian and kept trying to have a conversation with us in Russian :-)We enjoyed our last cups of choi (green tea) out in the open in warm weather ! Even though I have bought some local green tea and cups it will never quite be the same as sitting under the stars on charpoi's whiling time away!



Leaving Uzbekistan - 27 May


Only got a few hours of broken sleep before the alarm went off at 3:45am :-( the dodgy guy at the hotel reception didn't remember our registration cards until we were almost out of the door ! The immigration process means you has to collect these registration slips for all the places you have stayed in so they can tally up exactly where you have been in the country!Well exiting Uzbekistan what can I say...the one single thing that puts you off travelling to non-European countries is their lengthy entry-exit procedures and it would seem that the exit process is even worse than the entry one ! I mean you are leaving their country what more :-(So the first of many security checks begins when the taxi pulls into the car park entrance where driver has to open the boot of the car for the guards to check. Next he can't drive us all the way to the drop-off point as there is a no-drive / no-man kind of zone surrounding the airport!! So we pick up our bags and the next security check is outside the airport doors-passport check done ! Next we enter the airport and just by the doors there's the next bag scan/security check! Next the check-in desk...I almost faint when I see the queue....well I guess you get so used to online check-ins and swift departures at heathrow T5 that you forget what it's like in foreign countries!! Then there is a mad scramble to find some customs forms as you have to complete these and they will check them to make sure they tally up with the ones you filled out when you arrived !! Whatever next ! Finally through check-in....customs check next ! It means another bag scan and this time the guy is actually scanning our passports and then checking the customs forms and stamping...so that done for now! Next queue passport/immigration check. While we are waiting the other counter opens up and the old man in front of me tries to dive in so the security man sends him away and calls me over...lol everyone is laughing at him ;-)He's looking through the passports and grinning away wonder what's so funny!! Phew that's done and finally one last bag scan!! So that's six security checks/bag scans later we are on the otherside! Ok so there area near the boarding gate is also a no mans zone and when they call for boarding the people are all pushing through and crowded by the doors waiting to run through! The guys are so impatient: a boarding card with a seat number in hand and they are still trying to push past just outside the aircraft door!!! Phew do they think they are on a bus! We are on the plane, Zaara is happy she's got her own tv screen and wow there's even a USB charger so I can har a fully charged phone & iPad by the time we land in Moscow :-) happy days!!Goodbye Uzbekistan it's been an amazing experience (despite the lengthy immigration procedure) and has been a dream come true !
This is the first country I've been to in recent years where the local mobile phone carriers haven't bombarded you with SMS messages saying 'welcome to Uzbekistan' in fact not even a single message! In fact think it must be controlled by the government as incoming calls from abroad haven't been coming through either :-(Little Zaara is enjoying the inflight entertainment of Uzbek only movies: she's watching the same movie 'Bygone days' that we watched in the open air cinema in Khiva :-) she also enjoyed Sadiqs in-flight meal of roast chicken! Poor Sadiq was left eating her spicy veggie meal ;-)The across the aisle from was using his phone even when the plane was about to take off! he was typing and deleting, typing and deleting...must be some desperate messages to his girlfriend ;-)The plane touched down and phew the landing was bumpy the Tarmac at Domededovo airport is awful. The people are off their seats and getting their baggage even before the plane has hit the ground and the poor steward had given up ! An old woman in front of us is carrying her tiny pet dog in her hand baggage....err never seen that before. After flashing our British passports we were what seemed like upgraded to the shorter immigration queue :-) woman and pleasant and we breeze through the passport/visa check. Next challenge finding our way to the 'aero express' and then the metro to the apartment.
Everything is signposted in the metro only in Russian....the fun begins ! A very nice Russian guy and extremely handsome too who seemed to be speaking English (he spent a few years in Ireland) helped us out after the unhelpful woman at the information desk just shoved us off. Anton our new friend showed us all the way to our train and explained which our stop was. The metro was packed and I don't think the locals were happy seeing a couple of tourists with huge backpacks adding to the fact that it was extremely hot and sticky underground ! Finally we get to our apartment complex, the entry system is interesting: you have to turn the dials to line up your flat no to be allowed entry must be the remnants of the old soviet times :-)The owner of the apartment Yana meets us & shows us around. she is very fashionably dressed that russsian women are known for! she has a pet cat called Vata and has befriended Sadiq



Moscow -27-30 May


A city of opulence where you will find the most fashionably dressed women, glorious architecture, designer shops, untrusting government resulting in security checks and police presence at every point of your daily life! The first sight inside the Kremlin will leave you in awe !! An awesome ensemble of buildings within a still functioning fortress. St. Basil's cathedral is everything you had ever heard or thought of Moscow ! As pretty as a postcard even in real life!
Despite everything I'd ever read about it: dangerous, unfriendly people, police harrassing tourists I found it quite the opposite. Ordinary people seemed friendly enough to help or give you a smile and so did the security or police. Although some of the staff working for the government i.e. at metro stations were not too keen on helping out! Most locals didn't seem too indifferent to people in any other big busy city . Metro stations seemed extremely busy at all times of the day (nothing like rush hour here...all day seemed like rush hour for the metro) makes you wonder either there are a lot of people travelling all day or the system is pretty inefficiently run. The metro stations are very grand and opulent not seen anything like then anywhere else!
The government officials are pretty grumpy though and will not part a smile maybe a nod if you are lucky!The city is a shoppers paradise especially shoes with shoes and handbags in every imaginable colour for those who can afford it! Prices seemed about 30^ higher than those in London in the same shops!!Since the breakup of the USSR you'll find pretty much all the western shops and restaurants here....Starbucks was our first stop...gotta check them out in all countries!! I even saw my favourite breakfast place 'le pain quotidien' and the ever present McDonalds of course:hate to say but it's one place we never visit anywhere we are in the world unless desperate!!
The armoury museum in the kremlin is not to be missed! It has an amazing collection of applied arts from the Russian kings and Tsars: jewellery, clothes, armoury and the best of all the royal carriages! Another favourite of mine was the Easter eggs designed by the famous jeweller 'Faberge' which were given by the rich to the mothers and sisters of the family :-)
The weather hasn't been the best since we arrived in Moscow, it's been grey and cloudy and raining heavily some las night till this morning. To add to the gloominess Sadiq and little Zaara haven't been feeling great complaining of tummy aches. So after a lazy morning at our rented apartment we ventured out around midday and it seems luck was on our side and the weather cleared up making way for some glorious sunshine. I visited the armoury alone saving Zara the boredom of another museum and giving Sadiq some much needed rest. After a couple of hours they seemed better and we spent the rest of the day walking around the rest of the sights in the beautiful weather circling back to see the stunning st. Basil's cathedral in the evening light :-). we spent lots of time in the various plazas and square by the fountain sides letting little Zaara play with her tennis ball while we either relaxed and people watched or entertained her. Moscow has numerous green spaces, plazas and fountains with benches laid out under shady trees for people seemed to be spending time with friends or alone relaxing. That's one thing that London misses :-) we have the big parks but not the lovely squares and plazas that other cities seemed to have integrated within their urban planning so well! Arbatskaya seemed like a mixture of Leicester square and carnaby street. The GUM is moscows equivalent of Harrods only much bigger than Harrods however the toilets are pretty disgusting for a posh shop.
Everywhere you see in the city expensive cars with blackout windows parked in the streets with the chauffeurs waiting inside. The highest number of SUVs I've seen anywhere in a city! They obviously don't have congestion charge ;-)One way of finding your way around Moscow metro where everything is in Cyrillic is by recognising the stations by their opulent decorations :-)
Several bag checks later we are at the immigration desk. The lady at the counter seems friendly and is a little surprised with so many entry's and exits to and from Moscow in the space of two weeks :-) its a family queue and a guy and woman behind us who have no kids try their luck with the guy joking that the lady with him was his 'mama' even the woman at the counter was smile h whin is a great achievement I guess ;-)The security checks after that have machines that scan your whole body: you are asked to stand inside a circular chamber and put your hands in the air while an X-ray machine scans yor whole body left to right ! Never seen one of those before �inally in the BA Lounge chilling !! Cleanest toilets in Moscow are in the BA business lounge in Domodedevo airport.An hour to go before the flight and we wil be home bound :-(Spent the last of our roubles to buy a few souvenirs and boarded the flight. After two weeks of eating bland food even the Asian vegetarian BA meal tastes good (in fact even Zaara stuffed herself with toast in the lounge). Well making herself comfortable she is so excited about having her own TV that she can't stop chatting away and the poor man in the seat in front moved to another seat :-) well the plane in the air and special meal served she's now happily enjoying her in-flight entertainment of Cartoon Network with a drink in hand ;-) !

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Comments

[ujjwal]

Thanks
Enjoyed reading your blog!