TASHKENT & SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN
- Kilometres by plane: 5,188 km
- Hours flying: 7,5 h
- Metro stations visited: 7
- Cups of tea drank: &%3€”9
- Friendly people met: 15
With absolutely no idea what we would get ourselves into, we boarded the plane in Da Nang for the unknown country of Uzbekistan. Already on the plane we felt welcome. Next to us sat a nice, big, Russian uzbek, Aleksandr, who drank local wine with one glass in both hands, spoke good English and taught us the cyrillic alphabet, providing us with tips on Tashkent and his email address just in case we would need anything.
At the Tashkent airport our guest house host was greeting us with a sign with my name on it. It was nice to get welcomed this way and not having to guess your way to the lodging in a completely new country in the middle of the night, without the language skills. He was nice, but his place was not. This was the first time on this trip we could not stay in the place we had booked. It was just somebody’s apartment in a block of flats - all rooms were full of beds, we did not get a key to any of the doors (building door, main door, room door), only one toilet for 10 people, our room was not private (we had to walk through another room to get to the hallway/toilet and there was only a curtain and a window in between the rooms) and the mattresses were so thin, I could not sleep at all. In the morning we explained him the situation and negotiated down the cancellation charge. In the end both parties were happy, and I found a much better place for us to stay the next two nights, with private bathroom and really friendly people.
The metro was the best thing about Tashkent - in addition to the good food. We basically rode around the city on metro, getting off at stations, just to marvel at them. Each station is different and a sight just by itself. On the second day we met Abdullah at the fresh market where we bought nuts, cheese, gurkins and fruit. He was really nice and ended up showing us around. He just wanted to talk to us, practice his English and make sure we get the best experience in his city. Some tourists don’t understand this, he said. Some people think he might ask for money, or trick them into something. But he just wants to talk. He took us to a mosque, his local one, where only Kai and him were allowed in (I was wearing too short shorts, so even wearing a hijab did not help). He also took us to a lunch place of our choosing and helped us order the local specialties. Even when we offered to buy him lunch, he refused. Very humble, brilliant, hospitable guy who wanted to study travel and had just applied for it at the university. Let’s hope he gets in. All he wanted is to travel to the US, Los Angeles, specifically, and we did our best explaining there are other nice places on earth.
Continuing our social afternoon with Abdullah we ended up drinking wine and beer with our international hostel people, including local, German, French and Pakistani people. Very interesting conversations until the wee hours of the morning, which I don’t regret despite the little hangover.
Taking the very punctual and modern morning train to Samarkand, we started our journey towards the west of Uzbekistan. Buying train tickets was an experience, as they did not speak much English, so we went through the whole conversation on a piece of paper, writing down when we want to travel and them answering with dates and times and prices. Very friendly too. Same with buying a local sim card. When someone does not speak English, they will holler a colleague to help. In general people seem very excited to see Western tourists, many are proud to show off their English skills, and eager to get to know us and shake hands.
Registon is the main sight in this mid-size city in the middle of a desert. It is a complex of temples and islamic buildings built in the 17th century. It has since suffered from losses but some parts are rebuilt, and it looks very well-kept and tidy. We had a bit of a bad luck getting in, as on the day we arrived we were too late to enter. The next morning we got up early to be there when it should open at 8 am, only to find out it was still closed. Some people said it opens again in 5 days because there is a music festival rehearsal going on. When we asked another local he said it opens at 11 am. So we went back to the hotel, had breakfast, headed back to Registon around 11, just to hear it opens at 12, maybe, who knows, and decided to go for other sights meanwhile. We noticed there are two tram lines, and of course, had to ride both of them from start to finish, which took the rest of the afternoon, so we were again too late for the Registon. Tomorrow is our last chance!
Uzbekistan is the friendliest, cleanest, nicest and safest place I have ever been to. Even when I had no expectations of this place, those thing still surprise me, positively! I like the food (which was not always the case in Asia nor South America), they have cheap beer, and they have local wine, which is a welcome addition, and they have trains, metro and trams! People are unbelievably friendly and not just trying to get your money. I’ve been around, seen a lot of the world and usually nothing surprises me anymore, and things don’t feel like anything. Here, this place feels like something, it surprises the hell out of me, positively! This is a good example: In Samarkand we tried to find a bus to our hotel and while asking the first young people we saw on the street they found out there are no buses, then got us a taxi and after realising the taxi driver does not know where to go and does not speak English they hopped in the taxi with us, took us to our hotel and paid for the taxi. We tried to give them money, but they insisted we are their guests. We exchanged phone numbers and promised we can help them and their friends with English if we ever meet up again. Maybe tonight.
I cannot wait to explore more of this country, hoping we get to cross over to one of the neighbouring “5 Stans” countries - time permitting. We will be heading west towards Nukus, from where we will take the overnight train back to Tashkent next week. After that, no plans until the next flight. Let’s see where the road takes us.