So as I mentioned I was happy to be leaving Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan was a huge improvement!
We had a painless border crossing and met with our guide Mirza who was to take us around the country. He was a funny little guy always started a sentence with "So..." and had a really funny accent. He was at his funniest when he told us jokes.
"There is a joke in Uzbekistan. So... there was a Georgian man, Russian man, Uzbek man and Korean man on a train. Georgian man say we have loads of wine in our country so he throw out of window. Russian man say we have loads of vodka in our country so he throw out of window. (Pause for effect) Uzbek man say we have loads of Koreans in Uzbek so he throw out of window. Hahahaha"
You had to be there..
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| Our Guide, Mirza |
Our first stop was a place called Khiva. The town exists primarily for tourism as it has been turned into a museum town where you pay to enter the town and see the sights. We spent two night here. Mirza gave us a tour in the morning and saw everything. Really interesting place with loads of things to see primarily cultural. Khiva was one of the main stop off points for caravans travelling the Silk Road so had lots of grand buildings and Madrassas. Madrassas are special schools where boys used to go to learn the Koran.
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| Our digs in Khiva |
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| The Impressive Minaret in Khiva. Minarets are the towers used to call to prayer and occasionally kill people. |
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| Cemetary |
The second night we all went out for dinner and afterwards Mirza and another guy took us to a night club. We were the only ones in there on account of it being a week night and Aoife took over from the DJ who was delighted to let us take over as we were the only customers.
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| The girls DJing |
The next morning was an early start (luckily we'd been half sensible on the drink) and headed to Bukhara. This place was similar to Khiva. It was aimed at Tourists and the sights and buildings were terrific. This place had the most impressive Madrassas and Mosques. I was shocked at the amount of people who spoke English. All the kids came up and said "hello." Uzbeksitan has had the friendliest people so far by a mile everyone smiles and says hello (and tries to sell you something.)
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| Madrassa in Samarkand |
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| A working Mosque |
The best incident was when me and Denis were walking through Bukhara and I was taking a photo of him infront of a tree. A girl, about 9 years old had stopped to let me take the photo. I told her to pass and Denis and I told her to get in the photo which she did with a sweet smile. Next thing she says to Denis: "Ice Cream?" Denis, resigned to the fact he'd been stung goes "Aye, all right" "Then she goes: "Friend?" "No feck off just you!" She reeled him in and he bit. I sat there pissing myself as she led him off to bu her an ice cream. He deleted the photo.
From here we went to Samarkand. This was a bigger place more like a city. We were staying next to the University and the difference was subtle yet obvious. Much younger people, not as friendly but a much more liberal place. Mirza did one of his famous tours. There was a fantastic Madrassa and Mausoleum and a brilliant Bazaar (market). There was a fake McDonalds.
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| Large Madrassa in Samarkand |
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| Central Square, Samarkand |
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| Denis and Mel |
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| The Bazaar |
It was here that CJ broke the news that Tibet was closed to Foreigners until mid July which means we won't be able to visit there when we go through China. It also means that Nepal, Everest and India are all out and instead we will be spending longer in eastern China and South East Asia instead. It was quite a shock as Everest was one of the highlights for most of us and everyone was disappointed. But it does mean we'll see more of China including the Great Wall and the Panda Sanctuary as well as more of Vietnam so that will all be cool.
It was in Samarkand we had the mother of all nights out. This night out was different as Mirza took us to a traditional Uzbek dance hall where people go for dinner and then it turns into a disco. The best part about it was that whole families go out together and get ridiculously pissed up. When we got there even before we ordered food these crazy women came over to us and dragged us up dancing going mental. They were out celebrating a 60th birthday with the whole family. It felt like we were at a wedding except Wine was $3 a bottle. Fun times were had. It was so good we went again two nights later and we were treated to belly dancing by chicks who didn't have anything close to a belly. It was a border line strip club all in the name of family entertainment.
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| Crazy dancing |
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| Crazy Woman! |
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| More dancing |
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| Belly Dancers demanding money |
We moved onto Tashkent where we had two nights. The capital city had little to offer in regards to culture so we went to a water park and got sunburnt!
As I said Uzbeks have been the friendliest people so far I loved them. However, for some reason I don't think they like me. Here's why:
1. They keep saying I look like Wayne Rooney. Its bad enough to be told I look like Karl Pilkington but Wayne frickin Rooney??? You can f**k right off!
2. One of the funny things about the place was that the local people kept coming up to us asking for pictures with us. They were especially interested in the girls with blonde hair (aren't we all!) because no one in the country is blonde. However, I didn't get asked ONCE!!! I was getting a complex. Then one day we were walking around and these girls asked Jen and Lucey to be in a picture with them. I was like "right feck off so if you don't want me in it" then I felt a tap on my shoulder and I felt a wave of happiness as I felt loved and needed. A smile erupted on my face as I felt I had been accepted into theis foreign country, this new unfamiliar culture had finally accepted me as a friend.. I turned around and the girl handed me the camera, to take the photo. Humph
3. When the belly dancers were finished they went around the tables giving private dances (I know!) and you had to give them money (you didn't tuck it into their pants, just gave it to them) and I was waiting patiently with 1000 Sum in my hand and when she came past she skipped me and went to Keith. Yeah whatever bitch I didn't want it anyway!!
Needless complex or genuine reason? You decide!
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| Keith caught in the act! |
For those of you following my shits I am now used to the heat so thankfully they are currently regular and solid for the time being anyway.
That be all for now. I am currently in Kyrgyzstan heading into the mountains for a few days so communications will be gone for a while. Then into China. No Facebook or Blogger for a whole month. Weird!
Adios amigos
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