Blogs from Uzbekistan, Asia - page 9

Samarkand October 26 2014 Throughout this trip we have tried to mix staying in cities with their easy transport links and rural visits. We found the Nurata Mountains had Uzbekistan's only community based tourism scheme. They are also conveniently located between Bukhara and Samarkand which were already on our route. There are many organised tour options where you can get driven there in a 'private' car and the driver stays with you all the time. Our experience to date and also discussions with the CBT coordinator, Sherzod Norbekov (travelresponsible@gmail.com; www.nuratau.com), suggested we could travel independently and it would save money. On Sherzod's advice we did hire a guide for the first two days and Raslan (T: +998 9366110; raslan.naratau@mail.ru) proved a very valuable asset. We arranged to meet him in the 'jump off' town of Nurata. ... read more

Oct 2-4 Samarkand We took the 0840 fast train called the Sharq from Bukhara to Samarkand. Excellent trip in 'business class ' for just $13 for the three hr trip, nice three seat compartment for the two of us. After cuppa of tea and a few bickies, we set off to explore a couple of nearby monuments. First was the Gur Emir - an amazing 15thC mausoleum built to house the body of Amur Timur, their famous leader of the time who raided and conquered most of the surrounding countries during a 9 yr rampage from 1386 to 1395. This mausoleum had the most brilliant tiled domed ceiling one could imagine and contained the tomb of Timur and five of his family, including Ulleg Bek. Next morning, we set off to walk to the Registan - ... read more

Geo: 41.3806, 60.3595Khiva is an ancient Silk Road town - it operated a slave market for 3 centuries on which its wealth was based. They point out the places in the East Gate where slaves for sale were displayed but otherwise there isn't much evidence of its trading past. The caravanserai and bazaar are 'closed for restoration'.So what is there - and why Disneyland. It is a walled town - actually there were two sets of walls. The area inside the inner walls known as Ichon-Qala and the bit inside the outer walls Dishon-Qala. With the exception of one infrequently visited palace Dishon-Qala doesn't figure in this tale, that's Uzbekistan, remote from its capital. That means broken roads and pavements, holes in the pavement big enough to fall down, litter and rubbish everywhere.Inside Ichon-Qala there is ... read more

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 ... read more

Geo: 39.6576, 66.9476Samarkand - in the footsteps of TimurWhere do you start with Samarkand. Taken in 329BC by AlexanderThe Great who married Roxana, daughter of a local chieftain. A key city on the Silk Road, then sacked by Ghengis Kahn in 1220. In 1370 Timur decided to make it his capital and poured a vast fortune into creating buildings worthy of him. After his death his grandson Ulugbek ruled until 1449. Ulugbek was also a prominent scientist - he built a huge observatory.In the 16th Century the capital was moved to Bokhara and Samarkand went into decline. Over the years the great buildings decayed until the Soviets embarked on a huge programme of restoraton to promote the tourist industry. (see later)My arrival in Samarkand was not on a golden road but on the AfroSiaob bullet train ... read more