Best Eastern Beldersoy Tashkent

On the road again<br><br>Tuesday October 20, 2009<br><br> We're up early. The Brits leave today so we have to drive from Samarkand back to Tashkent and they go directly to the airport. I&#8217;ll spend one night, sort of, in the hotel and leave it at the ridiculous hour of 3 a.m. to go to the airport for my flight to Istanbul.<br><br> Not much to tell ...

... buildings, all quite beautiful with domes covered in blue tiles with mosaics around the bottoms. We went into the mausoleum first and had a look around then into the former university which is now a workshop area. According to our guide, almost everyone in there was a "master" of their craft whether it is woodworking or embroidery or painting. They had wonderful book holders but you had to learn how to ...

... they let me in or will they tell me I can&#8217;t check in until 3 p.m.??? I&#8217;ll sleep in their lobby then.<br><br> Luckily, after we found the desk clerk, he was happy to let me have a room and even carried my bag up the two flights of stairs. I crashed briefly but I turned on my cell phone and suddenly was getting lots of messages from my daughter ...

First Tour to the Subway -October 10, 2009<br><br> A knock on my hotel door and an Uzbek standing outside. He tells me he is the tour leader and that we are going to go visit subway stations in 15 minutes if I want to come along. Wow, of course I do. At least I had woken from my nap when he knocked so I didn't have to do much to be ready to go.<br><br> The whole group was coming. It is a group of ...

... lady?" I am trying to move out of the flow of traffic and get a coat out of my suitcase because it&#8217;s freaking&#8217; cold! Well, maybe 5 C.<br><br>The touts are good-natured and friendly and we banter. It goes something like this.<br><br>&#8220;Taxi lady?&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;No thank you, I have a car coming&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;Where is your driver?&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see ...

<br> When I say the night I mean that I put my head on the pillow and moments later Ziyodullo is banging on the door. <br> "Come, we must go to Tashkent."<br> It is 6a.m. I stagger into my clothes and we leave the hotel, what a waste of money, and go to the lockup and the bike. It dawns on me that Rustam is going to ride it to Tashkent. We have a very brief discussion and he gets the message that this is not going to happen. Back into the car to scour an ...

... temporary home now, where people start to get to know us and help us out with water, information and other things. One Pakistan guy even invites us for dinner and shows us the ONLY working bankomat in town! With US dollars in the pocket, Anvar takes us to the black market to change them (1900 sum in stead of the official rate 1521 sum at the bank!).<br><br>Some of you are wondering how I am doing whilst doing all the sightseeing and meeting these great people. Well, I&#8217;m ...

... proberen te regelen. We zijn er nu een week en Kirgizie en India is gelukt! China is een erg populair consulaat met een bijzonder Oezbeeks systeem. Je moet &#8216;s ochtends voordat het consulaat open gaat je naam op een lijst schrijven en dan roepen ze mensen per groepjes van 10 naar binnen. Ik ben blij met de Engels sprekende Oezbeek die voor me vertaalt wat er continue gemeld wordt en me helpt met het invullen van het application form aangezien dat in 2 talen is geschreven ...

... far surpassed my expectations - a must for any outdoors/trekking enthusiast. Bishkek is no metropolis by any stretch, but it was a quiet city of boulevards, parks and museums. We spent an entire afternoon sitting in its parks, beside cooling fountains, under the shade of aspen trees. We also had the good fortune to hike at the Ala Archa gorge, merely 30 km outside of Bishkek. The vistas were breathtaking - both because of the mountain ...

... shop called Chelsea Organics and a pub called The Chelsea. The area we had stumbled upon was indeed the Chelsea of Tashkent. It was late and we'd been walking for hours, so in the end we settled for dinner at the hotel, eating Chelsea Organic fruit, yogurt and beer (for James) in front of the BBC. Ahh the simple pleasures!<br><br>We spent much our second day in Tashkent visiting the famous Chorsu Bazaar. Chorsu Bazaar is an enormous farmers market and is a wonderful ...