Uzbekistan Travel Guides
After visiting the breathtaking cities of Uzbekistan: Khiva, Samarkand and Bukhara we were excited for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Tashkent isn’t the same as the other Uzbek cities, on the whole I found it to be totally underwhelming, especially for a capital.
We’re now in Kazakhstan, moving towards China and reflecting on the last 6 months and all the wonderful cultures we’ve experienced. We write a list of things we particularly like about different places. We’ve visited 18 countries now, and it’s been wonderful to see how different countries and cultures do things.
We stayed with Otabek, Feruza and family for 2 nights. During our rest day in their home Stew and I chilled out! We didn’t move much and enjoyed the time off.
Meeting and speaking with Feruza’s students is one of my favourite memories of the trip so far. I got up to speak with her students who welcomed me with the sign pictured. They asked questions about England and our bike trip.
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…
At the market I’d said to Stew that I’d like to buy a couple of fresh pomegranates and as soon as I’d finished my sentence the gentleman on the left presented us with a pomegranate each...
This is a kinda freaky, but effective way of getting the traffic to slow down at crossings. When the schools finish for the day these cardboard signs are put out in the middle of the road to make you think children are crossing.
Cash in Uzbekistan can be tricky to get hold of. When you cross the border you’re best exchanging American dollars on the black market; in cafes across the border you’ll find women with wads of Uzbekistan som waiting for tourists who need money.
Here are some of the pictures taken during our stay in Samarkand. It was so hot when we walked around Samarkand, as high as 40c. Even the locals commented on the high temperatures recently.
Well here it is, at long last – the secret to why our bikes and panniers “look like we left yesterday.” Maintenance. We hear it a lot, our panniers look like new and our bikes are in great condition...
In Uzbekistan there are plenty of shops and stalls on the road and you will always find what you need, but you won’t always find what you want.
From a visual standpoint Bukhara and Khiva look very similar. Bukhara is much bigger and more populated, but still manages some of the tranquility I wrote about in Khiva. Both are very beautiful places, we would return to Khiva – mostly to see the family we met there and see how things have changed
Where do I even begin with the roads of Uzbekistan… I am sorry to report that during our time in Uzbekistan we experienced what were by far the worst roads we have ever ridden on.
There are moments of peace, freedom and kind people, but there are also moments of total frustration. It was during Uzbekistan that we had that very honest conversation…
We wanted to take more photographs, but we didn’t want to hang around as a military truck was patrolling and coming towards us.
The one thing this tent can’t do is pitch freestanding, meaning we always have to peg it – not ideal in sand. To date we haven’t had any problems, but we have had to get a little creative! Here are our most creative Uzbekistan camps...
A quick lunch stop in a bus shelter turned into anarchy as we were joined by the school children! There were so many of them, joining us at our bikes. One young boy ran so quick he fell face down into a sand pile! He was alright though! 😄
I couldn’t possibly move forwards with our Uzbekistan adventures before I introduce you to this beautiful family who we stayed in Khiva. Their @airbnb was one of our favourites to date. If you strip Airbnb back to what it’s supposed to be, it’s an amazing platform to travel with.
We have made it to Bukhara and we could not be happier to lay our eyes on a bed, a toilet and a shower. It is a mixed bag of emotions and experience. From dry desert lands to cities like Khiva, which take your breath away.
4,800 miles cycled marks 20% of our trip complete and 20% of donations in! Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!!!! At 10% and at 2,400 miles I said I had no idea how we’d get the next 10% but somehow we’ve done it!
An old city in Uzbekistan, established 1,500 years ago. I’d seen pictures of Khiva, so I was excited to finally arrive. Finally we have something different to look at and explore, something more interesting than the flat lands of Uzbekista
Now we’re back in civilisation we have the joy of feeling the warmth of the Uzbek people. As we made our way towards Khiva we were stopped to share melon and take photographs with the locals.
If there’s one thing this part fo of the world does exceptionally well it’s cake. Cakes are beautifully presented – and that goes for all cakes, not just celebration cakes.
Yesterday we left the desert and found ourselves back amongst the greenery. It’s been a while. Surprised to say I was quite disappointed. I really loved the desert cycling, but not to worry there’s plenty more where that came from.