[amyntor]

I've been wanting to write about my trip to Central Asia in summer 2023. But being the lazy person that I am, I couldn't manage to get started. It began with a flicker of motivation sparked by @Kashi053's captivating post about their road-trip in Kyrgyzstan.


After my first international adventure in Vietnam in December 2022, I returned home. Yet I was not quite settled. The itch for exploration still lingered and led me to ponder my next steps with an Indian passport in hand. Kazakhstan popped on the radar with its generous 14 day visa-free offering. I have great interest in all things related to Soviet history, architecture, and life. So, Kazakhstan proved irresistible - a perfect launching pad for my ambition to visit all the 14 former Soviet republics.


Digging into visa requirements for Kazakhstan's neighbors revealed:

1. Uzbekistan: Smooth e-Visa process, $20, 2-3 days.

2. Tajikistan: Tricky e-Visa, $50, potential delays and requests for more documents.

3. Kyrgyzstan: Also e-Visa, but with the added hassle of needing an invitation letter from a local travel agency – a deal-breaker for my lazy travel style.

Without further ado, I applied for Uzbek e-Visa (https://e-visa.gov.uz/main) and got it in 2 days.

I decided to visit Uzbekistan first, its ancient cities and vibrant bazaars calling out to me with promises of adventure, and immediately searched for the cheapest flight out of India to Tashkent. After some digging, I snagged a deal—a one-way ticket out of Delhi for 12k.

You see, I've never been one for round-trip bookings. My travel philosophy? Keep it open-ended. No set plans, just me, a one-way ticket, and a world of possibilities waiting to be explored.

I defaulted to my usual travel routine—prepping with offline maps from Google Maps and Maps.me.

I landed in Tashkent on 24th May 2023, cleared immigration, and grabbed some Uzbek Som from the nearest Bankomat (that's they call ATMs in the Russian speaking parts of the world) with my trusty HDFC debit card, and set off. Hostel booking? Check. Offline maps? Double check. No need for a pricey airport SIM card. With a backpack over my shoulder, I opted for a leisurely stroll from the airport to my hostel, taking in the everyday hustle and bustle of Tashkent's suburbs. Four kilometers of pure immersion in the local vibe—a perfect start to my Central Asian escapade.

After a good hour of walking, I made it to the hostel, ready to get the check-in formalities sorted.

In Uzbekistan, every traveler staying at a hostel or hotel must undergo registration and obtain a registration slip. While I personally never faced scrutiny from immigration, it's wise to hold onto these slips as they may be requested upon departure.


The book that sealed the Central Asian deal for me




View from the flight to Tashkent


Beautiful metros in Tashkent (one can buy a ticket for INR 10 equivalent Som and visit all the stations in Tashkent!)



Those ads ruin the beauty





Registration slip looks like this


I managed to make some friends at the hostel and here's some good time with them.

That's it for now. It's amazing how the internet has transformed our attention spans. Trying to squeeze two months of adventures into one post feels like fitting a square peg into a round hole. I'll be back soon with follow-up tales to keep you entertained and maybe even inspired

[Kashi053]

@amyntor, this is great. Can't wait to see the full update.

[amyntor]

Hello again folks. I’m back again to pen down the next leg of my journey. Trust me, motivating myself to put down words on my text editor wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

After an intoxicating (pun intended) night at the hostel, I woke up the next morning with a heavy head. To make things worse, it was a Monday and I had work. Yes, it’s exactly what you are thinking. I mix work and travel with a potentially lethal dose of adventure. I fired up my laptop and tried to plug in the charger. To my horror, it didn’t fit. Well, technically it did fit but it wasn’t gripping. Then I realised my chargers won’t work and I didn’t have a compatible adapter.

With my mind pre-occupied with finding a way to charge my laptop, a man, looking to be in late 30s, checked into the same dorm and he pulled out a laptop. Idea! Why not just borrow an adapter from him and I go buy an adapter at a hardware store later? That’s exactly what I did. My initial attempts were futile because the man couldn’t understand English much and my Russian was just as good as his English. After some drama and some smiles, mission accomplished. At that time, neither of us expected we’d become very good friends and go on more adventures together in two different parts of the world. More on this some time later in a different post maybe.

We properly exchanged pleasantries later, all thanks to Google Translate. By pleasantries I mean the war situation and how it was affecting him, his family, and the Russian populace.

After I’m done with work, I went out to buy the adapter I needed, a local SIM card, and also went for an event walk to explore the city centre.

Some evening traffic in downtown Tashkent:


It's more organized and less chaotic than Indian roads, although the Uzbeks like to honk as well. There's almost no two wheelers on the road. Uzbekistan is purely a car country where Chevys dominate the roads. 94% of cars sold in 2022 in this country were all Chevys.



State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan


War memorials. These can be found in almost all major formerly Soviet cities.



An orange chonker on the street


Finally, my most important purchase from the trip



The next day, my new Russian friend checked out of the hostel and mentioned that he was moving to a different hostel closer to the city centre and that he was visiting Samarkand next but not sure when. We said our goodbyes and I moved to a different hostel myself to explore other parts of the city. I thought that was the end of our short lived friendship.

The next morning, I reached the Tashkent Bus Terminal (the Avtovokzal, as they call it in Russian and Uzbek) to buy a ticket to the bus that leaves for Samarkand in a couple of hours. I stood in the queue and five minutes later, someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned back. Lo and behold, it’s my new Russian friend again grinning ear to ear! Both of us were amused by the coincidence and thought it’s best we travel together because both us needed to work in the better part of the day and could only step out in the evenings. We did quick maths over breakfast at the bus terminal and realised that booking a private twin room in guest houses and homestays wouldn’t cost much more than two separate beds in a hostel. The former option would also give us some privacy to work too. He seemed trustworthy and our worldview and general opinion on things matched too. So, that was decided.

After a long bus journey, we reached Samarkand at 4:30 PM. The ride was pretty smooth as the roads were in good shape. The average speed of the bus was between 100 and 110 kmph. Pretty fast. As soon as we got off the bus, we looked for some places on Booking and found an economical one, in a walkable distance from the Registan square. We booked a Yandex taxi to that place and reached in half an hour. Here’s where my Russian friend, let’s just call him Ivan, proved to be resourceful. Since Ivan could speak Russian, he haggled with the landlady and managed to get us a 30% discount over the price on Booking.com

That evening we walked in and around the Registan square, not venturing out too far because we were both tired after the bus journey.

The Registan in the evening



The Gur-e Amir that served as inspiration for future Mughal tombs like the Taj Mahal in India (in case you didn't know, the Mughals were from Uzbekistan)
Here's its entrance:



The next day after work, we set out to explore Samarkand on foot. I think we walked about 17 kilometres that day visiting the interesting parts of the city. An evening well spent. We stayed one more day in Samarkand after that, shopping in the famous Siab bazaar. Every day of ours ended in a cheap local bar, rejoicing over our explorations and enjoying freshly brewed cold lager. A pint only costed the equivalent of 30 Indian rupees.

The Registan again during the day


More pictures of Samarkand






The entry fee at Shah-i-Zinda seemed a bit expensive for Ivan, but it was accessible from the cemetery next to it. So we hiked through the cemetery to get a good view without having to pay.



Ulug Beg observatory




Buying some fruits at the bazaar



After 3 days (nights actually) in Samarkand, we left for Bukhara. After a mix up at the bus station (we got to the wrong one that was closed years ago), we finally managed to buy a ticket and ended up having to kill four hours at the bus station.

After we reached Bukhara, Ivan’s negotiation skills came out in full display. We almost walked out on a lovely couple who were running a guesthouse when we couldn’t agree on a price. They called us back in and this time, made an offer we couldn’t refuse. Ivan and I swiftly congratulated each other on this win and took up their offer.

Complimentary breakfast at the guest house:

[amyntor]

Our visit to Bukhara followed the same pattern. Work, go out in the evenings, get a good look around the city on foot, and down beers at a local bar. I must say Bukhara felt more interesting to me unlike Samarkand, which was very touristy. I promise you that beer being cheaper in Bukhara did not have any effect on this assessment of mine.

Some pictures from Bukhara.

The Kalon minaret and the Kalon mosque




The Sitori-i-Mokhi Khosa palace












The Ark of Bukhara


Funny story. By the time we reached this place, it was closed for visitors. But we managed to bribe the guards to let us in for half the price.



Here's my friend:






At the Mir-i-Arab madrassa









Chor Minor (Read Char Minar) - a construction inspired by our own Charminar in Hyderabad


Some Soviet era insignia for display and sale




More to come about how Ivan and I made it back to Tashkent, bid our goodbyes (for real this time) when he left for home and I continued my leg of journey into the eastern and more conservative parts of Uzbekistan.

And even more - my experience taking a cross country bus to Almaty, immigration in Kazakhstan, how I joined a Chinese travelling group when going back from Almaty to Tashkent, getting a visa to Tajikistan, crossing the land border from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan, my journey on the Pamir highway with a French guy and a German gal, watching Afghan villages from across the border and betting on if they had electricity or not, how I got my a$$ handed over to me by a group of Pamiri school boys in a football match, my return trip to Uzbekistan again and then finally my last week in Kazakhstan before flying back to India.