Radisson Sas Hotel Tashkent

... same kind of things I had seen this morning in the fine arts museum but I paid to take photos in this one and I am glad I did. The embroideries are quite interesting in that girls married at 12 or 13 back then and were required to have 40 pieces of embroidery in their dowry. These were not small chair back covers either, they were often bed cover size. So friends and mothers would get together and each would ...

... on the top. We will see it better during our city tour. The two birds are either storks or cranes but symbolize unity and prosperity and peace.

The park was not that busy but several people were playing games of backgammon and other locals were doing the ubiquitous photo essay (taking photos of your boyfriend/girlfriend in front of every conceivable picturesque sight in town). Back to ...

... rallied round to help. They take me to a bank. No they don't accept Visa/Mastercard. They find one that does. You must get dollars I am advised. I do. Back to the airport to make a phone call. Now the ticket.
"You need cyms."
"But I thought..."
"No cyms."
We go back to town. Then comes the bargaining to get a good exchange rate.. It is certainly better than the bank rate but the dollar is sliding. One of the delights of Uzbekistan is its ...

... and I are like a married travel couple, dealing with some communication problems at the moment. In some ways we are opposites and that makes it difficult sometimes. But I have a feeling we can overcome this. The deadline traveling still puts some pressure on the trip, but I have come to terms with the fact that we cannot stop at place for a long time and have to travel by schedule. The days are flying by and yet not. Have not found the time or energy to play the djembe much, do ...

... aanbidder ooit ontmoet van een jaartje of 18 denk ik die me uitzwaaid met I love you…. yeah right…..

Het verkeer in Tashkent is geen gekkenhuis, de wegen zijn niet slecht en het is absoluut overzichtelijk. Hartje centrum, bij hotel Dedeman mogen we gratis overnachten en er is een grote rotonde met daarbinnen een park waar de mannen schaken en ik even tot rust kom, lezend in mn silk road reisboek. 2 zusjes (21 en 24 jaar) komen naast me zitten op het bankje en al gauw ...

... buy a lot in this country and have doors opened....

It would have been an asset to speak at least some Russian while travelling around in this area. On the other hand, it is interesting how easily you can survive if you a least speak 10 words and use your hands and feets. At the end, you get where you want to go, but it is a pity that this communication barrier gives you not the possibility to have a lot of contact with the locals.

During thousand of years, this famous road connected China with the Mediterranean and two hugest civilization of those times – Oriental and Western. Thousand years numerous caravans with expensive silk, exotic spices and precious stones moved by this road. Many grandiose caravansaries, majestic mosques and madrasah appeared along this way. Now you can go by the ancient road as well! You will have excellent ...

... br>Program of the tour:

Day 1. Tashkent / arrival.
Day 2. Tashkent - Samarkand (330 km, 5-6 hrs.).
Day 3. Samarkand.
Day 4. Samarkand - Nurata (218 km, 3-4 hrs.).
Day 5. Nurata - Bukhara (170 km, 2,5-3 hrs.).
Day 6. Bukhara.
Day 7. Tashkent - Fergana (310 km, 5 hrs.) - Osh (150 km, 3 hrs.).
Day 8. Osh - Toktogul.
Day 9. Toktogul ...

... were intrigued by the cosmopolitan population, particularly by how many Russian-looking people there were. I had naively expected everyone in Central Asia to have been more Asian looking but here there were long-legged bottle blonde women in very skimpy clothing and stocky Russian looking men who didn't look Asian at all. There were also a large number of ethnic Uzbek people who had interesting faces – quite different from those in eastern Asia. The young ...

... more European and yes, more like us.

There were in fact no queues, just a sea of Uzbek people pushing into one gate. To be fair, it was not aggressive pushing. People were very friendly and the pushing bit seemed quite normal – to them. It is hard to explain just how much luggage these people had. Shopping sprees in China are apparently very popular with the Uzbek peoples and most passengers were equipped with at least two trolleys, each piled precariously high ...