louislitt

It reminds me of LHR T5 from the outside, however it really really is poorly maintained. Its sad to be honest, because that part of India until the Commonwealth Games was doing really really well, until its funding was cut, corruption grew and people stopped caring- it was a everyman for himself kinda situation.



@daKav: the flight actually originates in DEL and picks up passengers in ATQ. The Turkmenistan Airlines (T5) flight has a (quite long) night stop in ATQ though and is a direct ATQ-ASB.[/QUOTE]


Been on the departing and arriving end of those T5 flights. The reason for the long stop overnight, is that it rarely actually happens. Most of the time, the flights out and in to ATQ from ASB are delayed by at least three hours.Many times for a lot more than 3. Especially during winter. This is normally due to the fog at ASB.

NeedstoFly

Just looked at Uzbekistan Airways UK website.

Lon - Tashkent £432
Lon - ATQ £452
Lon - DEL £619

Dieuwer

Great trip report! Very courageous to just go there solo. No safety issues at all?

When you look at those monuments in Samarkand and other places, you wonder what it must have been like back in those days. The cities must have been bustling with merchants, artists, scientists, and other tradesmen.
The wealth and power must have been enormous, otherwise you would not have been able to built so grandios.

flo-e

No, not really. I used common sense but other than that no special precautions. There's heavy police presence in all countries (which can also be an issue in some places but here it wasn't) so I felt pretty safe at all times. The only instance where I did not feel safe was the 12hr shared Jeep ride from Dushanbe to Khorog. But that was purely because of the wreckless driving of the driver. Going >80km/h on a pothole-riddle road in complete darkness.

I agree - those Silk Road cities must have been bustling and fascinating places where East met West.

eigenvector

Did you use the new Tajik e-visa service? If so did you have any issues at DYU or with the GBAO permit (which I assume you would have got for Khorog)?

mpkz

Cool overall report. Having spent a few months in Central Asia over the past 1.5 years it's really nice to see other people coming in and doing similar things, such as flying the Il-114 and traveling around by shared taxi instead of a tour
(though even the front seat is super uncomfortable if you are above 190cm )
You even made it to Nukus, which was too far out for me.

On the border crossing - it really seems to be idiosyncratic / person-dependent in Uzbekistan. Despite tons of horror stories, I've never had problems in my Uzbek border crossings. For instance, some traveler on Caravanistan reported being strip searched at Oybek-Buston (closer to Tashkent than Denau) whereas I got through with a cursory "open your bag" thing. I guess confidence/friendliness/looking like a traveler goes a long way?

wannabeglobetrotter

great TR! pics are stunning. Thanks for posting.

flo-e

I did use the Tajik e-visa service which was super convenient and quick (<24hrs turnaround). The GBAO permit was included as well for a total of USD70 IIRC.

I entered Tajikistan overland at the Sariosiyo/Tursunzade border crossing. The e-visa was no issue, no questions asked. Same when I left overland to Kyrgyzstan (and only had a stamp but no visa in my passport). I hope more countries follow this example - if they are just after the $$$, it's much easier for everyone involved.

shefgab

Nice report! I was thinking about doing Uzbekistan this autumn, but I went to the Faroes and Iceland instead! Your photos are great though!

flatlander

A very interesting report, thanks for posting it!

What languages did you use to communicate with the locals, especially for the car rentals and shared taxis?

flo-e

So I speak basically zero Russian. I did take the language for one or two years in high school, so I am still able to read the alphabet but that's it.

Except for few youngsters and tour guides, no English is spoken. Everybody speaks Russian though besides their native language.

It involved a lot of pointing at things and sign language. In some instances I used Google Translate which is quite good for Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz. For transport, I would usually say the name of the place where I wanted to go and then agree on the price by typing the number on the calculate on my phone. This usually worked out well.

I regret not being able to communicate more with the locals. For example on the two day drive from Khorog to Osh, it was just the driver and me and we barely spoke.

FlyerBeek

Stunning trip report! Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Very inspiring. Central Asia remains high on my list of unexplored places that I need to visit.

-FlyerBeek