Khiva Hotels - Reviews and Rates

Khiva, October 13, 2009

Arriving in Urgench by train this afternoon, we had a 45 minute bus ride to Khiva which is an old city in history and under UNESCO heritage. However, much like Warsaw, it has been destroyed numerous times, either by invaders or by fire or by earthquake. At least better than Warsaw, what we are seeing here will be ...

Summary:

At our last stop in Russia, Astrakhan, we camp outside a hotel, easy access to toilet, WiFi, phone and a frozen bottle for the still not working fridge! Functional shopping and on our way to Kazakhstan! Interesting border crossing at night! See details below. My first Kazakh night: Playing pool, pivo, vodka and husband nr.2 on of...

Khiva.

A short domestic flight in an ancient Tupolev 154B (Lockheed Tristar clone), a quick prayer of thanks on arriving at Ugench and a short taxi ride and we had stepped back in time to the ancient city of Khiva. Four days here, when the guide books say one day is enough? Hmmm. Oh well time for rest and washing I suppose.

So what...

Today we left Khiva. We commissioned Mohammed again to drive us to Bukhara so we could get on a night train to Tashkent. Not from our origin we were flagged down by a (yet another) policeman and pulled in behind a waiting vehicle. On our right, sitting in the middle of the road-blocked 'T'-section was an old man dressed in a white lab coat and a...

After a share taxi ride that took 9 hours instead of 6 I finally got to Khiva (hiva) a silk road city that was once a place where one could buy a slave and a camel in the same bazaar. The great thing about khiva was that it was and still is completely surrounded by a huge mud wall. The bad news is that it has been set up as a museum city and as ...

Khiva did not disappoint. the old mud fortress walls still surround the old city, and everything inside is just beautiful - blue tile minarets, medrassas, mosques, mud brick buildings... just amazing. the ~5 hour ride today through the Kyzylkum Desert was also cool - miles and miles of absolutely nothing. Chris, who I'm traveling with at the mom...

Just climbed down off the highest minaret in town after watching the sun set over Khiva. Bought too many souvenirs so need to post some stuff home. Nice thing aboput Khiva is that you're buying direct from the workshop, from the guys that make the stuff so they're adding personalised touches for us at no extra cost. Had another haircut - 500som,...

Samarkand I was happy to be back at a backpackers' joint - Bahodir B&B. While at a internet cafe, I met an entrepreneur-minded 17 year old teenager who wanted to practice his English. I accepted his offer to show me the sights the next day. Samarkand (population 400K) is a very important Silk Road city. All the touristy sites are within walk...

Despite being somewhat out of the way for me to get to, I had heard so many good reports about Khiva that I couldn't resist the 6 hour drive up to check it out. Armed with only a daypack, I found a bus to the outskirts of town and bargained myself a good deal for a share-taxi - 15,000 sum (USD$12) for the 6 hour journey :) Khiva didn't disappoin...

If we wind the old travel chronometer back I find myself, like many travelers before me, in Khiva, Uzbekistan. When Lieutenant Younghusband, Queen Victoria's emissary to Khiva, was finally granted an audience with the immoderately inflated Emir of Khiva's ego. The Emir laughed heartily at the thought of the inferiority of a village that allowed ...