Uzbekistan

August 2011

Photos of Uzbekistan

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Wednesday August 24th (Cont)

We walked a kilometre onto the Uzbek border. Our passport was stamped, we had our temperature taken (and asked if we had diarrhoea) and then filled in two customs forms. Three officials sat in an office and only saw one person at a time. As we had entered the building, we had seen a British Ambulance parked outside with a ‘Charity Rallies’ sticker. They were doing the same event that we had in 2008. The three Brits (2 men, 1 woman) took an age to get processed – having to import the vehicle. Meanwhile, more Turkmenistan people arrived to be processed and started to try and jump ahead of the ‘queue’. They would ignore the line, push through and then get told to get back behind the barrier. This went on for 20 minutes and I was getting fed up with them. Once the Ambulance crew had gone, it was a free for all. Half a dozen people pushed through from behind us and got processed. I then pushed through myself. Others started to yell at me, but the Uzbek officials could see we had been there for ages and waved us through. They processed us without fuss and we were gone.

Walking to the edge of the immigration area, we found the road and a few taxis waiting. There were a few stupid prices offered for the 50 mile ride. We stood around and let the price come down. Eventually we settled for $10 each (and later discovered that $5 each was the local rate) but it was cheap enough for us and it would get us to Bukhara for the night. Our taxi driver was a young, cocky man. We were familiar with Uzbekistan and the donkeys and carts and cotton fields which soon appeared en mass. On the way to Bukhara, our driver pulled into a drive, went into a house and came back with a petrol tank to fill the car. It turned out that there was a petrol shortage in the area and everyone was using illegal or hoarded fuel. I had taken his picture doing this and when we set off, he wanted me to delete it. He said the word ‘Facebook’ and indicated that if I put it on the internet that the authorities might see it and he would get into trouble. I pretended to delete it and he was happy. He wouldn’t be happy to know it is on my website but tough shit – he shouldn’t have overcharged us!

By the time we reached Bukhara we had done around 306 miles today. When we had negotiated our taxi fare, he had said he would take us to our hotel. In the centre, we soon recognised some familiar sights including the Ark-Citadel which was the residence of Bukhara khans. It still has imposing walls and entrance façade. We had toured Bukhara in 2008. Even though I had a map which showed our hotel, the driver didn’t seem to know where he was and asked a couple of people. He wanted to drop us in the centre but we refused to move. “Hotel” I repeated. Eventually he got his bearings. He knew where a large hotel was and ours was nearby – also a towering building. We had arrived just before dusk. It felt good to be back in Bukhara and away from Turkmenistan.

(Reused from 2008 account) Bukhara has been inhabited for at least 2500 years. Located on the famous Silk Road, city has long been a centre of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. It was originally Uzbekistan’s capital only to be usurped in the Nineteenth Century by the economic powerhouse of Tashkent. With a population of 255,000 it is Uzbekistan’s fifth largest city but gives the impression of being a sleepy town. Guidebooks sometimes criticise Bukhara for being too twinky and rebuilt/manufactured for the tourist industry, but we found it great place to explore. The locals were friendly and appreciative of our visit, yet they didn’t hassle you.

I had reserved a room at the Hotel Bukara Palace. The friendly male receptionist could speak a little English and I pumped him for information. “We need to go to Dushanbe tomorrow. Can we get a shared taxi?” Yes. But he couldn’t explain where the taxis were located. He said he would call a taxi to take us there in the morning. So at least we knew we could start making our way towards Tajikistan. With only two days left on our visa, overstaying and another deportation from the last thing we wanted.

It was sweltering in humidity, but the air conditioning in our room was not up to the job. We headed out into the ‘centre’ to stop sweating and tried to find a) an ATM to get some local currency b) beer c) somewhere or something to eat. We found an ATM and for $30 we got a wad of notes (their largest note had increased from 500-1000 Som but it was still worth peanuts). Finding a shop that sold beer, we restocked for the evening and up the road saw a ‘kebab’ café. We entered and found mostly groups of teenagers in there. A group of four schoolgirls giggled when we sat down in the next (fixed) table. We looked at the menu and understood nothing. I turned around and asked them to explain. One of them tried to describe the dishes in one word “pork”, “chicken”. We opted for the most expensive dishes (always a good move in a foreign café).

Thursday August 25th

(Reused from 2008 trip) The Lonely Persons guide summarises Uzbekistan as “Ancient villages meet staggering architecture in this mysterious, land-locked country…it is the most historically fascinating of the Central Asian republics. Within it are some of the oldest towns in the world, some of the Silk Road's main centres and most of the region's architectural splendours”.

The CIA summarises its history as “Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the Soviet era, intensive production of "white gold" (cotton) and grain led to overuse of agrochemicals and the depletion of water supplies, which have left the land poisoned and the Aral Sea and certain rivers half dry. Independent since 1991, the country seeks to gradually lessen its dependence on agriculture while developing its mineral and petroleum reserves. Current concerns include terrorism by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of human rights and democratisation”.

Uzbekistan is another huge country - slightly larger than California with mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes and as we discovered, sudden broad, flat intensely irrigated river valleys. Its population is getting on for 27.4 million with a very low £1300 average annual income. 88% of the population are Muslim (mostly Sunnis)

Its major natural resources are natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc. Consequently, its major industries are textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, gold, petroleum, natural gas and chemicals.

The CIA summarises it’s current existence as “Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 11% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its population live in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's second-largest cotton exporter and fifth largest producer; it relies heavily on cotton production as the major source of export earnings. Other major export earners include gold, natural gas, and oil.” Whatever they say about a democracy, President Karimov runs it as a police state

I knew I had a severe problem this morning when I got up at 4.30am and my backside exploded. In the next hour, I was back in the toilet 2 more times and felt like I had lost half my body weight in liquid shit. Trev was ok and I had to conclude that it was the tap water in Turkmenistan that I had drunk the day before which Trev had avoided. I always drink the local water and take my chances. This time I had to pay the price. It was problematic because we had a long day’s drive today. Trev gave me some Imodium to block me up. The last crap was ‘problematic’ because the water had been cut off and I couldn’t flush it. I bet the cleaner wasn’t impressed.

We had told the male receptionist that we would come down at 6am. The hotel design was strange in that the lobby dominated the entire building with the floors acting as borders around it. There were fountains and lots of marble on the ground level. The hotel was silent. I don’t know if we were the only people there but we never saw another person. The receptionist was asleep on a bed. I woke him up and he called his mate who turned up twenty minutes later. The receptionist explained to him that we were heading for Dushanbe and to explain our intentions to the shared taxi driver.

A couple of shared taxis were parked on a road we would have never found on our own. Sure enough our man talked to one of the drivers and told him that we were heading for Denau and then the border. There was some negotiation and a price was agreed. $20 each was written in my pad. The driver called his son on the mobile phone and handed it over to me. Alex had lived in Stratford, East London and had excellent English. He acted as a translator for his father, the driver. He explained that we would have to wait for two more passengers and that he would talk to us later. No problem.

Two more people appeared and off we went, heading southeast out of Bukhara. It was a fast drive to Qarshi with flat, straight open roads and no police checks en route. Lots of people were selling apples, grapes and tomatoes by the side of the road. Donkeys and carts were constant moving hazards. Bricks were being made by hand from large clay fields. It was very familiar to the sights we had seen in 2008 when we had approached Bukhara from the north. Every garage was closed with no fuel so no wonder our taxi driver yesterday was using illegal fuel. Two and a half hours later we arrived at Qarshi bus station. Our driver called Alex again who explained that we would change cars and drivers here and that his dad would explain to the new driver our plans and that the ride had been paid for. His dad would return to Bukhara. We waited thirty minutes by the car until a Muslim couple finally joined us. Qarshi was the first place that we saw fuel for sale.

The flat landscape and smooth roads turned into hills with construction crews working on the rough roads. Our new driver liked to take the sharp bends very quickly and I kept expecting us to tip onto two wheels or for the steering to give way so that we crashed over the side. It was another very hot and dusty day. At one small village, the driver pulled in and indicated he would be a couple of minutes. It was his house and he popped in to change his shirt which was covered in sweat.

Continuing on through the hills we approached Denau. Just outside, we dropped the Muslim couple and picked up another local woman. At Denau, we were passed onto a third driver who would take us to the border. There was another passenger, but we needed two more. Eventually, the driver said for an extra $2 each, we could leave with just the three of us.

The border was packed with trucks. We walked past them into the immigration building and were surprised to be the only people. There was a woman official and three men. We had to fill in custom forms in duplicate again with our currency declaration and then they proceeded to give us a proper grilling. Interviewed separately, we had to empty much of our backpacks. They would then pick stuff up and ask us what it was. They asked lots of questions and wanted to see books and photos. They were bored and nosy. We just had to be patient but it was the worst crossing we did and took ages. I had not declared my car radio on my customs form. I was asked to put my pack through an X-ray machine and a big black blob appeared on the screen. “What’s that?” the woman asked. “A car radio. It’s a present for a friend in Tajikistan”. She lost interest and told me to repack my bag. Trev was still getting questioned, but eventually they stamped us out of the country. Uzbekistan hadn’t changed much in three years. The officials were still a pain in the arse, but it’s a nice country to visit in a run down kind of way and the people are very friendly. We felt as if we had been guided through the country today almost returned in time to 2008.

Uzbekistan Roadkill: Dog, cat, 2 x UFOs

Travel - £42.46
Accommodation - £36.32 (1 night)
Food - £8.96
Other - £0
Total - £87.74