Honey, I Found Some Travellers…

Can you imagine coming home to a “surprise” and your husband presenting two smelly foreign travellers to you?⁣

Well that is exactly what happened to Feruza after her 14 hour day of work. ⁣

Let me tell you more…⁣

We’d cycled a long 81 miles and it was pitch black when we finally arrived in Sirdarya. It looked like a sizeable place and we figured there’d be a hotel. ⁣

We found one room in the entire town and it wasn’t in a hotel. It was ours for the eye watering price of $20 or $30 depending on the room. It was room only, no breakfast, no air con, no WiFi and a toilet outside. The room was extortionate for what it was. The beds were singles, short and there was a foot board, so Stew wasn’t getting any sleep! She knew we were desperate so rejected our negotiations. If we had stayed there we would’ve been frustrated at the expense, slept badly and it definitely would’ve bugged me the next day.⁣

After some deliberation we decided we weren’t getting ripped off and we were suitably energised thanks to our coffee, chocolate and sugary-drinks stop. Off we went into the darkness in hope that we’d find a hotel, a cafe to take us in or some greenery for our tent.⁣

5 minutes later Stew did an emergency stop and I nearly ran into the back of him.⁣

An Uzbek man (Otabek) flagged Stew down. He was so excited when he saw the Union Flag on my bike.⁣

We talked at the roadside and he said “my woman English teacher” he invited us to his house which he described as “normal”.⁣

We went back and his wife, Feruza came home to 2 smelly English tourists. She was thrilled to see us and said she had a headache after work but as soon as she saw us it disappeared.⁣

She had no idea what was waiting for her, but when she saw our bikes in their garden she had guessed.⁣

Feruza was an English teacher, so we could speak easily with her. She gave us a bed for the night and invited us to stay as long as we wanted. She told us we could stay for a month if we needed to – and I believe without doubt that it was a sincere offer. ⁣

We were one day away from Tashkent, the capital city and our visa was running short, but we knew we’d have a better experience in their home so we stayed for 2 nights.