Hotel Malika Kheivak Khiva

... can go through without fear of conking my noggin.<br><br> We have a long bus ride today to move from Khiva to Bukhara. Marat, our guide, suggested going to the market to get some fruits and such to eat on the bus. I had the trusty map he had given me so I head over that way to do just what he advises. How odd that I walked all over and could not find the market. I could find people and what looked like it should be a ...

... completely covered in tiles. <br><br> We walked outside the old city walls (again, old being a relative term). The bottom part of the city walls slopes outward. At one time, people were buried on these walls. This was during a time when the city was besieged by nomads from time to time and nomads didn&#8217;t like graveyards. It was believed that they would not cross through the graveyard to get into the city ...

... This city grows on you quickly. We camp in front of a 4-star hotel, which is very handy, as we do not sleep there, but can use their toilet, bottle in the freezer, ask away at the English speaking reception desk, receive phonecalls and &#8216;borrow&#8217; WiFi connection internet 24 hours a day ;-) As this will be the last opportunity for a while, we do the necessary shopping (not easy as Russian shops tend to hide themselves&#8230;little doors, no shop windows!). We ...

... Two Uzbek truck drivers waiting in the same lines ask so now and then if everything is going ok &#8230; so far so good&#8230;After 3 hours of paperwork and without having to unpack anything J, we have collected all necessary stamps and we enter Uzbekistan!! <br><br>One of the truck drivers is waiting for us afterwards and invites us for lunch in a small restaurant 6km from the border. We were definitely in for some food and would never have found this good restaurant by ourselves ...

... it is now a salty sea with ships in deserted land. Unbelievable when you see it, and you can't imagine that this natural disaster was done by human beings.<br><br>Entering into Uzbekistan made us being millionaires. The biggest note here is 1000 sum, which is worth just about 45 cents on the black market. Yeah, I think the people learn counting bank ...

... 7th century Qu'ran that is purportedly the world's oldest. If I had not already tuned out Natasha's ever-shrill voice, I might be able to tell you why it is blood stained, but to be honest, I haven't a clue. We eventually ditched the group and spent the afternoon the way we always do - in a park, eating ginger cookies and people watching. This time we sat in Amir Temur square, beside of the statue of Timur (otherwise known as Tamerlane - the ...

... had your bag it was checked off against your flight ticket before you were allowed out into the carpark, where the predatory taxi drivers waited.<br><br>After some hard bargaining we jumped into a cab and started the trip from Urgench airport to Khiva, passing through innumerable cotton fields as we went. As part of Soviet premier Kruschev's "Virgin Lands" programme of the 50's much of Uzbekistan's arid steppes were irrigated, and a cotton monoculture established ...

... struggled through until 1920 when it became part of Uzbekistan. <br><br>Today Khiva is a city of museums. The ancient city has been either conserved, restored or rebuilt inside the ancient mud walls. Unfortunately the locals have been moved out so the bustle has gone and you effectively walk around a Marie Celeste city, with only a few idiot off season tourists like us to entertain you. Temperatures reach 50 degrees in the sun in the afternoon so ...

... English which was highly likely? Umm&#8230;.<br><br>Funnily enough we were not at all surprised &#8211; or impressed.<br><br>As we sat in the lounge wondering how we would fare, Alan befriended Alpamis, an interesting young Uzbek man travelling to Nukus who spoke perfect English. Alpamis was from the Republic of Karakolpakstan where he worked for Medicins Sans Frontieres as a counsellor and psycho social support worker for people with multiple antibiotic resistant tuberculosis. Alpamis ...

... Doctor..." Mohammed replied. "Doctor?" we replied. Just then, a man from the car in front was waved up to the table and with great efficiency and accuracy delivered a good cubic inch of flem into a glass jar being held in the hands of our Chef M.D. With the jar in his right hand, he lowered his eyes, leaned forward, dipped his nose and lifted his nostrils in a careful inhale. There was no ...