oneworld82

When I was a little boy dreaming to explore the World, two places fancied my imagination: Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan. They captured my dreams for no particular reason other than their peculiar, exotic names. Zimbabwe is as dissonant as it can possibly get to the Italian language. That “z” and that “w” are just, well, strange. The same reasoning applied to Uzbekistan. Very few words start with a “u” in Italian, and that was enough for me – not to mention that having a “z” and a “k” in the same name is, in my modest opinion, uber sophisticated. Other places that I wanted to visit were, of course, Kamchatka (mostly because of strategy game “Risk”) and Novaja Zemlja (yes, I am fascinated by Siberia).

As a child, of course, little I knew of the Silk Road and the wonders of Bukhara and Samarkand, of plov and shashlik. After all, I was 9 years old, and the USSR had just fallen apart. The World had just started to discover parts of the World that were on the other side of the Iron Curtain before then. The only stan known was, of course, Afghanistan, but no-one knew nothing about the other “stans“.

A lot has changed in these 20+ years (although I would forgive you if you thought otherwise, given how wildly is Russia behaving these days). The stans are not only back on the World map, but also becoming a new Mecca for more adventurous travelers willing to discover bits of the Silk Road and of the great Timurid kingdom. Plus, Kazakhstan is becoming a household name in its own regard thanks to its huge oil reserves that are likely to propel the country into the Rich-World club by 2030 – according to President Nazarbayev’s view.

It helps, of course, that a host of airlines fly to Central Asia these days, making the region much more accessible than in the past. Air Astana, for instance, is a company on the rise that the Kazak president wants to transform into a mini Middle Eastern carrier (after all, Almaty’s and Astana’s locations bide well for East-West traffic). Couple that with the fact that Kazakhstan just launched a pilot program to allow visa-free visits to citizens from a number of countries and you’ll understand why I decided to tick two of the “stans” off my list this summer.

The trip I am about to narrate will tell the story of my 13-days trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Armed with my backpack, camera, and Lonely Planet guidebook I have decided to embark on a discovery tour of the two most easily accessible of the countries in the region. I really wanted to include Kirgyzstan as well, but to be honest planning to travel alone can get pretty expensive if you are low on time.

My itinerary would bring me to Almaty, from where I would fly to Urgench to visit the famed walled oasis city of Khiva; then I would proceed to Bukhara and Samarkand – the core of the Timur kingdom and very important cities along the Silk Road – before exploring Tashkent. From there I would make my way to Shymkent (in Southern Kazakhstan) to visit the city of Turkistan, the most important pilgrimage center in Central Asia. Then, I would fly back home.



This trip report is composed by the following sections:

1. Swiss Airlines Business Class Lounge at Chicago O’Hare
2. Swiss Airlines ORD-ZRH in Business Class (333)
3. Swiss Airlines ZRH-FRA in Business Class
4. Lufthansa First Class Terminal
5. Lufthansa FRA-ALA in (new!) First Class (333)
6. About Kazakhstan
7. Around Almaty
8. Uzbekistan Airways: ALA-TAS, TAS-UGC, and UGC-BHK
9. From the Land of One Thousand and One Night: Khiva
10. The cultural capital of Central Asia: Bukhara and its famed Madrasas - Part I
11. The cultural capital of Central Asia: Bukhara and its famed Madrasas - Part II
12. An Adventurer’s State-of-Mind: Samarkand
13. A Soviet Capital City: Tashkent
14. Shymkent, Turkistan and the Yasaui Mausoleum
15. Etihad Airways ALA-AUH in Business Class (320)
16. Etihad Airways AUH-CDG in First Class (346)
17. American Airlines CDG-DFW in First Class (772)

I hope you will enjoy!

P.S.
- Here are the links to my previous trip reports.

Here's a link to my previous trip reports

Four Days in Hawai’i – Kona 2014 featuring AA 763ER in F HNL-DFW
To Taiwan! How to burn USDM on CX and JL (new) First Class
LH New F (DFW-FRA) vs BA F (LHR-LAX) + French Riviera, Brussels, Luxembourg, and NYE
A seat (LH F), a Porsche, a bed (LH F/EY F), Southern OZ+AKL, a tasting menu (QF F)
A lion here, a rhino there... a safari in South Africa & Swaziland feat. AA J class
Hanami in Tokyo for the weekend: DFW-NRT (AA F) vs NRT-JFK-DFW (NH F Square, UA F)
A weekend in Santiago de Chile: DFW-SCL-DFW on AA Business Class (763ER)
A weekend in Dubai: DFW-LHR-DXB in 72 hrs. Lots of pics, feat. BA Club World
oneworld! Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, Australia trip reports + CX F/J, QF J and AA F
Cathay Pacific NYC - HKG - SIN in First/Business class: unforgettable!
MNL-SYD in Qantas business class + Qantas Club in MNL
Coming back from Down Under - Qantas A380 Biz Class CNS-MEL-LAX and AA F to SJC
Tales from Israel & the West Bank - IB/LY in Y
Kangaroos are so cute! Let's eat them! 12 days in Australia from Sydney to Cairns

farbster

Looks very interesting. Can't wait to see your adventures in each country.

oneworld82

I arrived at ORD a few hours before my flight, as I was connecting from DFW. My flight from there on AA in Y class was uneventful, so I will skip it. Check in for SWISS opened about 3 hours before departure. Separate lines for economy class, business class-Star Gold, and First Class-HON Circle were made. Check in was a breeze, and the staff was able to check my luggage all the way through Almaty, even though I would have to collect my LH boarding card in Frankfurt.







I proceeded through an empty security line and within minutes I was in the departure section. The good thing about the 2.50pm SWISS flight is that it leaves very early, at a time when not too many people crowd the airport.



The business class lounge is located not far away from security, near gates 8/9. I was promptly admitted by a welcoming agent and at that point there were only 3 other people inside. The space, to be fair, was pretty small, and the lounge got eventually crowded when all the Gold and business class passengers showed up. I liked how the space was furnished though contemporary European best describes it. The seating and eating area was nice, but unfortunately there was only a limited view over the tarmac. The food selection was ok, but somewhat limited. There were only cold cuts of meat, a nice cucumber and tomato salad, some olives, and some bread rolls. Thankfully there was a pretzel roll, which nicely complemented my choice of meat-salad. I forgot to mention that there was also some decent assortment of cheese and fruit (plus some nice looking chocolate chip cookies). The quality of the food offered was pretty good, and I washed everything with a glass of cabernet sauvignon followed by a not-so-good espresso.













The lounge, for what I could see, did not have showers, and the restroom was pretty basic. Overall, it was a comfortable but not memorable place to spend a couple of hours ‘ even though I must compliment SWISS for even offering a lounge in ORD, where they only have two flights a day.

sidewinderx5

I seriously think Kazakhstan has become highly popular for reasons other than those mentioned *cough*BORAT*cough*

Looking forward to your journey though! I can imagine several architectural wonders!

AvidFlyer1990

The lounge HAD RESTROOMS! It's important! Usually fly SkyTeam J from ORD, and I'm a ST Elite Plus, and the only ST lounge that I had been, at ORD is the AF VIP lounge, and it does not have RESTROOMS! You have to go outside the lounge, turn right, and use the common restrooms! So much for the VIP experience!

Cannot comment on the KAL lounge, and I have to check it out the next time I fly. However, the BA F/J lounge at ORD were pretty decent!

The pics look great, oneworld82. Looking forward to the TR!

oneworld82

LINK TO BLOG POST

Flight LX2609, Aug 21st, 2014
Airbus 330-300
Business Class, Seat 12A
14:50 – 06:25+1

About 40 minutes before scheduled departure time one of the lounge attendants announced that boarding had commenced for the flight. I quickly proceeded to gate 16 for boarding. A sort of human zoo was trying to get through the gate, and a poor SWISS employee was trying to make some order of the chaos. Thankfully, a dedicated premium cabin lane was available, and so I made my way through quickly.





Once on board, I turned right to enter the business class cabin. What can I say: it looks really nice! The color scheme and the fabric pattern of the seats is very warm and visually appealing. The first impression was great.



Today I was seating on seat 12A, one of the “throne” pods reserved to Sen/HON Circle passengers. The trick to get one of the throne seats is to hope that no elite passenger gets them… and then check in as soon as possible, since if at check in those seats are open one can freely take them. The seat itself was comfortable, and my particular pod had tons of space where to put my personal items – although no real storage cabinets was present. Legroom was plentiful in seat mode, and overall the seat felt pretty private (although I feel that other products, like BA’s Club World or AA’s new business class offer more privacy). The seat had a nice blanket still wrapped, a bottle of water, and an amenity kit in the form of a cute tin box.























Minutes after sitting down, one of the flight attendants asked me whether I wanted any newspaper. I asked for the Wall Street Journal, which was promptly delivered. Nice touch.

Once most people were on board, a pre-departure drink was offered (choices: water, orange juice, champagne). I, of course, went for some bubbly (glass #1). Menus were distributed for dinner and breakfast (SWISS adopt the express service breakfast card to maximize sleep – a concept I first experienced in 2012 on Qantas and that I think be a winner of relatively-short flights like this one); a FA came by to take my “main” order before departure.

Take off happened on time. It was a rainy day in Chicago, and as a consequence the first 10 minutes of the flight were pretty bumpy. After the seatbelt sign was switched off, the FAs started their service. A round of drinks was offered – I went for more champagne (Duval-Leroy Brut, not bad), water and some salted almonds (chips were offered too). After 15/20 more minutes, another round of drinks was offered (champagne glass #3).



The menu today read as follow:

First Course

Bresaola carpaccio with arugula and capers

Seasonal salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Main Course

Seared beef tenderloin,red wine sauce

Potato gratin, broccolini, baby carrots

Bratwurst with onion sauce

Rosti, green beans

Vegetable ravioli with puttanesca sauce

Cheese

Selection of Swiss and international cheese

Dessert

Chocolate mousse with raspberry compote

Swiss chocolates

Coffee

Espresso by Nespresso

Selection of teas by Sirocco

I had selected the seared beef for tonight’s dinner. The tray was served with the First Courses and cheese in it. I liked the bresaola carpaccio a lot (taste of Northern Italy, I needed that!), and the salad tasted fresh. I had a pretzel roll with them and the cheese (good quality here as well). Extra-virgin olive oil was provided (as well as a little bowl) to dip bread in. Nice little details matter.









The pace of the meal was good – it wasn’t neither too rushed nor too slow. Five minutes after finishing my appetizers, the flight attendant appeared with my Main dish. I ordered a glass of the Baron Rouge red wine to go with it – just for the sake of trying a Swiss red. The wine was alright, a little bland for a steak. The main course was very tasty. The meat was cooked medium (some pink could be spotted here and there) and it was very tender. The vegetables complemented the meat real well, as it did another pretzel roll









Ten minutes after finishing my main course, my plate was taken away and dessert offered. The chocolate mousse was delicious, and I had a Nespresso to complement it.







The whole dinner service took a little less than two hours, and the meal was of superior quality. The service was attentive throughout, and it left me very happy. At this point, as you could imagine, I started feeling sleepy, so I reclined my seat in bed mode and kept watching Noah (which proved to be a perfect way to fall asleep!). The bed is very comfortable, and the cabin temperature was just right! I managed to get 3+ hours of sleep – something no easy for me on a Trans-Atlantic flight!









When I woke up, we were about two hours off Zurich.



I started listening to some Led Zeppelin while reading one of my books on Central Asia (more on that later). About one hour before landing, breakfast was served. I liked how the flight attendants actually asked if it was a good time to serve me! As I mentioned earlier, e had to pre-select our meal. Usually breakfast on red-eye flights isn’t anything special, so I opted only for Danish pastries and coffee (plus fresh fruit). The pastries were good, and the fruit, fresh. But really, nothing memorable (as expected). After breakfast I had the time to go to the washroom and freshen up before landing in Zurich, about 10 minutes behind schedule. As I had a tight connection (40 minutes!) I was worried I would not make my flight to Frankfurt, but it turned out that it only took me 15 minutes to go from the gate through immigration to the main terminal and then to the “A” gates where my flight was leaving from. A very cool feature of the gate was the “self-check in” machine. Basically, you self-scan your boarding pass and an automatic door opens up letting you board the plan. Very cool and efficient!







Overall, my first experience on SWISS business class was super. Great cabin, great seat, good food, decent drinks, and efficient service (which, in all honesty, could have been a little warmer) made for a very pleasurable flight. At 45,000 Aeroplan with no fuel surcharge, it was definitely a bargain. Now, I really have to find a way to try SWISS First Class…!

P.S.

- The restrooms were nicely kept and with good amenities for business class.

makin'miles

Good start to what looks like a great trip report - looking forward to the rest!

avneeshj

Great start so far. Looking forward to the rest and reading about the "Stans".

AhogZ

I've been around in one of the ...stans some time ago, will be great to see the Central Asia form your perspective, thx.

FlyerBeek

oneworld82, excellent report so far. I'm really looking forward to the Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan portion - I've always wanted to travel to Central Asia. Also, I had no idea LH offered F to ALA.

-FlyerBeek

rankourabu

Hope you manage to get the IL-114 on TAS-UGC

I was disappointed when they swapped it to A320

oneworld82

Flight LX1068 ZRH-FRA
7:05a – 8:15a, Aug 22nd, 2014
Airbus A320
Business Class, Seat 2A

I am always amazed by Intra-Europe flights – even more so after having lived in the US for a while now. First of all, most of them are very short – usually below 3 hours but mostly between 0.5 and 2 hours. Some of the busiest European routes (like CDG-LHR, LHR-FRA, MUC-FRA, LIN-FCO) are usually between cities that aren’t very far away, but the volume is enough that many of these O&D’s are served by jet-type of planes. What’s most amazing, though, is the service that you get in business class. it’s true that the seats on European carries cannot compete with Asian or North American carriers’ in width and comfort – as they simply are economy class seats with the middle seat blocked. But even of the shortest of the flights, you’re always offered food and drinks – no matter what’s the time of the day. Last year I was amazed by British Airways’ LUX-LHR flight – where they managed to serve champagne and a great salad with prosciutto on a hour-long flight. but SWISS managed to do even better than that, serving a full breakfast… on a 45-minutes, 250 miles flight!

The business class cabin was surprisingly big and busy today – after all, it was a 7am flight on a business-heavy route. The seats on this A320 are the slim type, narrow but overall not too bad. After seating down, one of the flight attendants came by offering me a newspaper (they had a good selection). We took off 10 minutes past our scheduled departure time, mostly because we were waiting for connecting passengers to board. We managed to land on time nonetheless, since the block time for this flight is very generous.



















Once airborne, the FAs started to serve breakfast. It was a surprisingly nice tray that I was handed – cured meats, cheese, and a selection of bread rolls (which I did not take) and jams are a great way to spend 45 minutes on a plane! A number of drinks were offered as well, and I got myself some decent coffee.



It always amazes me how efficient European crews can be, because there was even some time spared after breakfast and before landing! Whoever works in the food & beverage department (and training one!) at SWISS is simply awesome!





We landed on time in FRA at a very remote part of the terminal – it took me a good 15 minutes stroll to get out of the airport. All in all, a very short but again pleasant flight on SWISS – an airline that definitely knows how to treat its premium customers.

oneworld82

Unfortunately I did not. My timing worked better with the A320 schedule. I must say, HY is a much better airline than I thought - even though ground service is dismal.

NHFL9

A big THANK YOU in advance for what is sure to be a great report. I am hoping to plan a trip next summer to visit many of these places and have a feeling this report is going to be very helpful!

oneworld82

There are experiences in life that are simply worth living. Small, fine things like a glass of Glenfarclan while enjoying a nice cigar, or a ride in a Porsche to your plane, or perfect catering while waiting to board your flight are something aspirational that simply add another dimension to flying. The Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt delivers all of this and more.



I like how secluded and separated for the rest of the airport this lounge is, because it makes it really special and, in a way, hard to get to (unless you are departing from FRA, of course). This means fewer people, and better service.







I made my way through the downstairs’ backdoor. As soon as I left the elevator, one of the lounge attendants came forward to greet me and to escort me through security. She informed me that I would be picked up at 12.50pm to board my plane, which gave me 4 good hours at the lounge. Sounds good to me!










When I got there, breakfast was still being served. I took a look at the spread, and it was impressive, as always. Pastries, meats, eggs, desserts, a vast assortment of cereals. This buffet could rival a good 5 stars hotel’s! Since I wasn’t too hungry (and since I wanted to have a proper lunch before my flight) I only indulged in some cured meat and carrot juice. The FCT always looks relaxing. It is never too crowded, it feels very luxurious, and it is very quiet. The perfect place to relax during a layover.












Breakfast

After eating my breakfast I decided to (finally) take a shower. Better than that, one of the rooms with a bathtub was available, and so my hour-long bliss could commence. These bathrooms are really nice, spacious, elegant. Ethro amenities add that touch of luxury that makes all the difference in this World. You have not only a tub, but also a nice rain shower. Honestly, you can’t hope for more than this!

















After freshening up, I was ready to smoke a nice cigar. I do not smoke regularly, and when I do I only like smoking cigars or hookah. It’s something I do every two/three months over special occasions, and this was certainly one. After all, it doesn’t occur me more than once or twice a year to come to the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt.













The selection of cigars features many Villager 1888’s. I went for a “Robusto” today, since I felt like having something with flavor. The cigar lounge is usually quiet, and you have a stereo with different music that you can use as a jukebox (but for free). I put on some lounge music, got myself some water, a glass of Glenflerch 25 y/o… and enjoyed my cigar in pure bliss. It was a good, relaxing hour, after which it was already time for lunch! Smelling like a human cigarette I went to the restaurant area and took a seat. After 5 minutes a waitress came to take my order. The menu looked very appetizing, and it featured a gazpacho with shrimp toast that was hard to pass.







While waiting for the gazpacho I went to check the buffet out… and came back with a full plate! Everything looked SO delicious – DO&CO is really the industry standard here. The cannelloni were especially good – a big compliment coming from an Italian






Appetizers

My gazpacho came pretty quickly out. It was DELICIOUS. I usually am not a huge fan of cold soups, but this one was spectacular. Thick, fresh, flavorful, chill but not too cold. The shrimp toasts were a great complement to it.


Gazpacho and shrimp toast

After I finished my soup, the waitress came back to clean my plate and to ask me whether I wanted anything else. Of course I did! I ordered the seared fillet of beef, medium rare. The steak was out in no time; cooked almost to perfection, it was oh-so-tasty and perfectly marinated! The arugula salad was a perfect side, and I had everything with a pretzel roll. I had my entrée with a decent glass of Chianti.


Beef fillet



To finish my meal I had a panna cotta: I am pretty sure I couldn’t have got a better one not even at a fancy restaurant in Milan…






Panna cotta

The FCT provided me with an excellent meal, that set the mood just right for my flight to Almaty. After finishing my meal I took a seat and almost fell asleep. Not long after seating down, though, the attendant that escorted me in came to pick me up as my flight was boarding. I shared a nice Porsche to the plane with two German folks. Riding in a luxury car on the tarmac is always special, no matter how many times you do it. A long line of people was boarding the plane, but we zipped through the premium cabin entrance. To my big surprise, once in I found a new-First Class cabin waiting for me. The LH tool said this was going to be an old-First Class product, so my delight was great. The plane featured new business class as well, so overall this was a totally refurbished plane. My next 7 hours were going to be awesome.



P.S.

- The terminal has excellent bathroom facilities and two resting rooms with beds for longer layovers.