Usually it is the people that make you fall in love with a place/ country and that is so true of Uzbekistan! Thus would love to return to the country but for those of you planning to make this trip. Some snapshots from my trip.
My Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive at Tashkent
Day 2: Tashkent
Day 3: Chimgan Mountains and later to Charvak Lake (travel by private bus. Stay at Tashkent)
Day 4: Samarkand (travel by bullet train)
Day 5: Shahrisabz (by bus)
Day 6: Bukhara (by bus)
Day 7: Drive from Bukhara to Khiva- 8 hours (by bus)
Day 8: Khiva
Day 9: Tashkent (flight from Khiva)
Day 10: Return flight to New Delhi
Some FAQs that might be useful:
- Travel Season: April to May and then Sep to Nov. The temperatures here can vary from 55 to -25 deg C so you can only travel during the above months. This time I had traveled in May but the sun was too strong for outdoors so next time I would perhaps travel in Oct.
- Currency: USD and Euro are the most acceptable currencies and most places accept payment in USD/ Euro but no credit card. Pound or Yen is not readily acceptable, though I met two people who accepted INR as they were due to visit India soon. You can get the currency converted at many places in the market but ask around as various rates are available and be careful of police who is always on the prowl.
- Safety: It is perhaps one of the safest places I have visited where one can see children playing on the streets till 11. The only challenge is you are chased by everyone in all cities including Tashkent for clicking photographs with you. Initially you might enjoy the attention but later seriously it gets on your nerves as they usually don’t take no for an answer and will keep following you till they have clicked pictures with you. But mostly they mean no harm.
- Language: Most of the people speak Uzbek or Tajik and hence English is a problem. The language fortunately is closer to Hindi and people are so helpful that one can get around by sign language. People will make so much effort to understand you and be understood and they are so crestfallen when you say that sorry you can’t understand a thing they have said.
- Clothes: Although it is a Muslim country, I believe thanks to the Russian rule their clothes are very modern. I saw barely a few women wear a burqa, many from the countryside were wearing head scarfs but most women in the cities were dressed in skirts and dresses. I even witnessed 3 weddings wherein the bride and groom (though Islamic) were wearing the catholic white wedding gown and black suit respectively. Thus I was advised to wear clothes below knee level but I felt the advice unnecessary. You can easily wear anything.
- Public Transport: Though the country is poor, the infrastructure is brilliant and very well maintained. People there really love cleaning their cities etc all day. I used their trains and buses and loved them. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to use the metro at Tashkent as everything in Tashkent was so walkable but even that is supposed to be one of the best.
- Shopping: Handicrafts and dry fruits are really cheap and very good in quality. Most of the clothes and artificial jewelry are from India and China.
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