Uzbekistan
November 26th 2011: Shimkent, Kazakhstan – Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on November 26th 2011: 290km (180 miles)
Driven distance total: 22’730km (14’120 miles)
The plan was, that today will be an easy day! Everything went a bit differently. The border to Uzbekistan was only 100km (60 miles) away from Shimkent. When we arrived there, it was only a chaos and the border was closed due to renovation! We changed some money and were happy when we were out of this chaos. We found out that we had to go approximately 100km (60 miles) further south to another border. Around 3PM we finally arrived there. The exit out of Kazakhstan ended up being very annoying, since the border guys at the entry forgot to give us some document for the car. Now the officials there made some trouble because of the missing document. There were different versions from the custom guys like waiting several days, drive back to the entry point or of course pay some penalty of 200€ (300$). We then found luckily a “friend” who also worked for the border, who helped us. He told the “mean” border guys that we will call the embassy and they will arrange the rest. Obviously this seemed to help and finally after 2 hours we left Kazakhstan. The entry into Uzbekistan took another 90 minutes, but everything went normal, without any problems. In darkness on icy road during snowfall we finally arrived in Tashkent!
Oh yes, we have seen during the day approximately 10 smaller accidents. Obviously they don’t really have it under control when the road is slipperyJ.
November 27th 2011: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on November 27th 2011: 290km (180 miles)
Driven distance total: 22’730km (14’120 miles)
Obviously Tashkent (like the rest of central Asia) would be a bit nicer in the warmer seasons. Well, at least the sun was shining for about one hour today, what a gift. We could enjoy some very beautiful mosques and other buildings and went finally to one of the market.
November 28th 2011: Tashkent – Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on November 28th 2011: 320km (200 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’050km (14’120 miles)
Again we sat us in the car and drove in direction Samarkand. Since we are a bit short on time because of the visas, our Uzbekistan trip is limited to the major silk road cities. We felt good because it was for once not snowing. Unfortunately we got disappointed! We encountered the entire program. First a bit sunshine, then rain, snow, fog and snow covered roads. Of course like this we haven’t seen a lot from the landscape... L. After all we ended up in a very cold hotel room, since Samarkand has trouble with the energy supply... L.
November 29th 2011: Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on November 29th 2011: 0km (0 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’050km (14’320 miles)
Since we didn’t want to spend another night freezing, we looked in the morning for another hotel. As an exception, we chose a quite luxury hotel with a fitness center etc.J. Then we started our sightseeing-tour through Samarkand. We visited the unused old Koran school Registon, the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, the cemetery with old big mausoleums Shah-i-Zinda and finally the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum. All of them were really old, impressive buildings, with all kind of history, which we don’t want to explain at this time :-). We couldn’t resist to use the fitness center before dinner. It was just a bit a shame that we didn’t know, that the little Arnolds of Samarkand were present. We looked a little bit old besides all those guysJJ.
November 30th 2011: Samarkand – Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on November 30th 2011: 290km (180 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’340km (14’500 miles)
This trip happened finally for once during sunshine! In the evening I (Stefan) had really tired hurting muscles from the gym the day beforeJ!! The normally very touristy Bukhara is currently almost without visitors.
December 1st 2011: Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on December 1st 2011: 0km (0 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’340km (14’500 miles)
Of course we were hoping for nothing for good weather! It was cloudy and a cold wind was blowing! Otherwise Bukhara would be nice without all the tourists. The old buildings here are similar to the buildings of Samarkand, some mosques, old Koran schools and minarets.
December 2st 2011: Bukhara – Khiva, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on December 2st 2011: 480km (300 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’820km (14’800 miles)
Another current problem in Uzbekistan is the gasoline and diesel. It is currently difficult to get fuel, since there is a shortage! We tried our luck at a gas station with approx. 100 cars waiting in line. They sent us away with the words „niet dizel“. Since our tank was not completely empty, we anyways started our trip in direction Khiva. On the way we luckily found some diesel. Not so much luck we had with the road… The roads are only renewed when the old once are almost not passable anymore. One of those roads we had to take. The first part was good, then the torture began... We were on the road for 4 hours with an average speed of 25km/h (16 mph). The landscape was on the entire trip similar, deserted steppe. There are also many police checkpoints along the roads. Different then 2 months ago, they usually don’t care about us. Just sometimes they ask a few questions because of curiosity, like where we are from, if we are married and if we have children:-).
December 3rd 2011: Khiva, Uzbekistan
Driven distance on December 3rd 2011: 0km (0 miles)
Driven distance total: 23’820km (14’800 miles)
Khiva is another city along the silk road. Our final day in Uzbekistan we spent with exploring the small town. The specialty of Khiva is definitely the city wall around the old town. Inside of the wall you feel like in a big museum. Also here there are several historic buildings.