Uzbekistan 17/07/2005

Trip Journal From 22nd July 2005 - 27th July 2005

Sunday 17th July saw us heading towards the border from Osh / Dustlyk.1 ½ hours from woe to go. No searches, things are improving, although we did have the Uzbekistan customs in a flap re the vehicle paperwork, they were shuffling papers around like a pack of cards, by the time the Robertson’s and the Pinders came through they had it all sorted. We had a laughable drive through some disinfectant which doesn’t even hit the wheels or under the chassis and parted with 2000 sum Just under US$2.00 for the privilidge.We were also asked for our medical certificates which is the first time that’s happened. We decided to bite the bullet and head straight for Tashkent some 280kms away. We have our visas for Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to organize. Large areas of Uzbekistan are desert and the temps are well over the 40s, so an air con room’s sounding good. We noticed a heavy army presence through the Fergana Valley where they had recent troubles and along the narrow stretch of road by Tajikistan.

We got our first puncture east of Marghilan, and as it turned out we had to replace the tyre as a huge bolt had gone through the tyre...Disapointing when the tyre had heaps more wear on it. We had it repaired on route for US$2.00 they put a plug in it but it was not successful as the hole was too big.

You notice the change straightaway when you enter a new country, the people are smiling, waving and whistling as we drive by, the roads are better with a white line painted down the middle and there are more cars and not so many donkeys and horses. The police checks are continuous, I just lost count, the police jump out from the shade waving a baton at you and blowing a whistle to get you to stop. Tashkent was an interesting city, wide streets with many impressive buildings. We are having fun coming to grips with the money here. US$1.00 = 1120 sum, which is fine but the biggest note here is 1000, I changed US$200 and I was given bundles of money all in 100 notes, I had to stuff it all into a plastic shopping bag as there was so much of it. Of course when Lawrie saw me waltzing down the street with a fully loaded shopping bag he assumed I had been on a shopping spree - that was until he opened the bag and discovered it was full of money, not clothes. To change it into sum is a problem too as we had been to 3 banks prior to changing it at a money changer only to be told that none of the banks have any sum.

The seven of us enjoyed watching the sun set up Uzbeks equivalent to NZs Sky Tower with its revolving restaurant. Although it could only managed to do a ¼ rotation and then repeated it all night, backwards and forwards. We stayed at the Raddus-Jss Hotel another great spot with a swimming pool and an enclosed courtyard.

Visas in hand we said goodbye to Tashkent and headed towards Samarkand not a very interesting drive, very flat, hot and dry. Once we left Tashkent finding a gas station that had diesel seemed to be a challenge too, we tried 5 before we found one that had diesel.

Samarqand, a Silk Road city has a population of 400,000 the skyline is dotted with domes and minarets. We wandered around the narrow streets in the Old City, visited the buzzing local bazaar great to stroll around and mingle with the locals, we tried to capture on film the mosaics colour of The Registan, with its impressive leaning Medressas

Heading towards Bukhara diesel pumps still seemed to be in short supply. Bukhara is a delightful city, rich in history dating back thousands of years; it’s a fairy land of minarets, medressas, mausoleums, mosques and caravanserai. It’s a shopper’s delight; all the local handcrafts are on display wood carvings, paintings, costumes, clothing, gold embroidery, carpets galore and the usual nic nacs.

Wednesday 27th July Jill, Paul, Lynda, John, Nigel and us head into Turkmenistan we met the guide at the border at 10am.