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From Uzbekistan With Plov(e) - To Central Asia On TK (Y/J) and SU (Y)

From Uzbekistan With Plov(e) - To Central Asia On TK (Y/J) and SU (Y)

Old Mar 27, 2019, 9:13 am
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Great report!

For your unidentified shots, two ideas: (a) reverse image search (google's or tineye), (b) what EXIF data is there embedded in the image? - may include lat/long info. Hope that helps.
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Old Mar 27, 2019, 9:37 am
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Originally Posted by Tocsin
Great report!

For your unidentified shots, two ideas: (a) reverse image search (google's or tineye), (b) what EXIF data is there embedded in the image? - may include lat/long info. Hope that helps.
Thanks!

I know about reverse image search and tried that to no avail (only three Russian websites where similar pictures remained unspecified), but I completely forgot of the coordinates buried down in the EXIF data! Both pictures are reportedly the Tash-Khovli Palace, so at least that is sorted out now
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Old Mar 27, 2019, 11:10 am
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Originally Posted by Gardyloo
The coolest thing (for flying fans) was the seriously cool TU-114 eggbeater (with its counter-rotating props) that took us from Leningrad to Tashkent overnight. The in-flight meal was memorable - a (real) PVC bag containing a hard cooked egg, a piece of slate roofing tile black bread with a little tub of red goo, and a whole cucumber. Comrades, the harvest goal for cucumbers has been exceeded! Hail the hero farmers!



Then they tried to kill us on a hideously underpowered IL-62 on TAS-SVO. Because of density altitude (high elevation, 40C) the pilot decided to do power tests on the engines while we sat on the apron. He turned off the air conditioning in the cabin (to preserve power?) while he did this, and by the time we rolled the inside of the plane was, oh, say, a million degrees. Some old Uzbek gent in the full outfit jumped out of his seat and started howling and running around; he was gang-tackled by the (sturdy) FAs who strapped him into his seat using belt extenders. When we finally took off, the driver used 101% of the paved runway. The Indian man (from Mumbai) next to me said he was afraid of fainting.

Once we were wheels up and clear (just) of the trees, the skipper turned back on the a/c (or maybe opened a window) and the temperature fell right now - so fast that the perspiration in the cabin's air didn't have time to get cleared, so it condensed on anything metal in the cabin and.... rained on us. Nice.
Wow that are some epic flying adventures. I didn't know about the Tu-114, that looks like one amazing plane to fly. Thanks very much for sharing your full account, loved reading every bit of it!
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Old Mar 28, 2019, 2:25 pm
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Part 15: Urgench to Tashkent
Train 058ЬА 'Amu Darya' – price 40 EUR for 'Spalny Vagon'
STD 3.50pm - STA 7.01am (travel time 15h11m)


As my train departure was only at 3.50pm I had time for a leisurely last stroll through Khiva in the late morning. Given I had so much time I decided not to haggle for a taxi at the West Gate but to head for the North Gate in the hope of finding a marshrutka to travel like the locals do. The marshrutka stand was reportedly a bit further to the east, but some locals were here in their own cars gathering enough people for the 32km drive to Urgench. I paid around 1USD for one of the four seats in the car, which is quite a fair price compared to the 5USD I haggled on the way to Khiva for a taxi. Within minutes the last few seats were occupied as well (fortunately for me not by fat babushkas but by pretty young ladies) and we set off for Urgench. I went out in the city centre close to a shopping mall as all other passengers went out there as well.

There isn't really much to see and do in Urench at all, but if you need to catch a plane or train in the city you can keep yourself occupied for an hour or two by just wandering around. It's a modern Soviet town of broad streets, empty boulevards and big squares. The city was founded by the people of Old Urgench (Konye-Urgench) in what is nowadays Turkmenistan (the border is just a few miles south of Khiva). When the Amu-Darya river changed course in the 16th Century the townsfolk were left without water and had to look for a new spot to set up town. Even though the river itself is a few miles out of the town, the huge Shavat Canal bisects the city in half.





Of course, there are plenty of ugly monuments such as this one named the Avesta monument. The Avesta is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the otherwise unrecorded Avestan language. Zoroastrianism is an ancient fire religion, and in ancient times was the major religion in much of Iran/Central Asia. Unfortunately no Game of Thrones style scenes here with a nude Melisandre or Thoros of Myr waiting with a bottle of gin



Across the river towards the train station was the little Jalad ad-Din Mingburnu Park. The chap was the last ruler of the Khwarezmian Empire in the 13th Century.





A broad avenue brought me to the train station where I still had about a 40 minute wait until my train all the way back to Tashkent would arrive.





Time went by fast and before I knew it my train rolled into the station. Urgench is a major stop on the line so most through trains will halt here for some 20 minutes.







Today's train (timetable number 058ЬА) was named the 'Amu-Darya' after the great nearby river. Like most long-distance trains in the ex-USSR, it has a cool name plate and beautiful shield of the national railway company.



I again had a ticket booked in a 1st class sleeper which is known in every ex-Soviet country as 'Spalny Vagon'. It consists out of two berths. In Uzbekistan, if you book only on berth it means that most often you will share the compartment with another passenger of the same sex (of course you can book both tickets for single occupancy). As the train was fully sold out what it seemed – it meant I had a roomie as well for the journey. This has its upsides as well as obvious downsides. The downside is of course less privacy. Had I known that a ticket did not give single occupancy (it differs per country and trains are perhaps even more inconsistent than airlines with their rules!) I would have probably bought two tickets given they were relatively cheap at just 40 EUR for this long journey. On the other hand, one of the great things about travelling is socialising and meeting other people.







The carriage attendant, called the 'provodnik' or 'provodnitsa' depending on their gender) comes around collecting tickets (you get it back shortly before arrival) and handing out bedding. Uzbekistan Railways is unfortunately no Lufthansa First Class where a lovely FA makes up the bedding for you before you go to sleep

The journey goes straight through the Kyzylkum Desert. And while that means that the terrain is not the most varied, it does give a sense of adventure as you realise how empty and dry this country is for most. Sometimes you pass some bigger or smaller irrigation canals – all created in a madcap attempt by the Soviet Union to irrigate the lands (mostly for cotton harvest, which is still a big industry).





The whole attempt at centralised socialist planning was sheer madness from the start. The Soviet Republic of Tajikistan built the fourth-largest aluminium factory in the world, but did not have any aluminium deposits so it had to be brought from far away. Uzbekistan, being one of the driest places in the entire Soviet Union, had to become the largest producer of cotton, which is notorious for needing quite a bit of water. Whole rivers were diverted or drained and canals were constructed for the project. It surely did contribute to the industry, as Uzbekistan delivered some 70% of all Soviet cotton during its heyday, catapulting the USSR into the 2nd place of world cotton production behind the US. It however had gigantic ecological results, from chemicals polluting the sparse water supplies, the monoculture creating problems with the soil, and most of all: the drying up of the Aral Sea, a huge endorheic lake in the country which got most its water out of the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya Rivers.


Yeap, that's what happens when you take away all the water for the cotton industry and the rivers cannot bring enough water to retain the levels of the lake. Photo courtesy of NASA's public domain images.

On a more happy note, I loved the moment when the train finally crossed the Amu-Darya River. While the name of it might not ring a bell to many, for sure the Greek and Latin name of the river (the Oxus) is much better known. I always love it to follow the footsteps of such important figures as Alexander the Great – although arguably crossing the desert by train is far more comfortable than on horseback or foot!



The train has a lively bar wagon, where I sat down for some tea and laghman.



At one point my compartment roomie arrived as well and sat down opposite me. Even though he didn't speak a word of English (and my Russian doesn't go further than just a few words) he was genuinely friendly and insisted on buying a few beers for me. At one point he also brought a plate of some potato and meat dish for me. At other tables, some of the Uzbek men even ordered entire bottles of vodka.



Highlight of the train however was the beautiful desert sunset, which was a great farewell to a gorgeous country.



I slept well and woke up an hour before arrival in Tashkent, giving me plenty of time to fresh up a bit in the bare-bones lavatory – which was kept surprisingly clean. We arrived at Tashkent's southern station right on time. I had no problem finding a taxi to take me straight to the border with Kazakhstan, located on the outskirts of Tashkent, and was even able to negotiate a very decent price of around 5 USD.

The border procedure was fairly easy and straightforward. At Uzbek exit procedures nobody cared about any of the hotel registration slips (you officially must keep these!) and the friendly Kazakh officer quickly stamped me into the country after inquiring about my travel plans (it's visa-free these days for most western nationalities). Much quicker than anticipated, I was now in country number 69 which I've visited.

Even though I heard there are irregular buses departing to the nearest big city of Shymkent some 110 kilometres away, I didn't encounter any. There were however plenty of taxis and private vehicles offering rides. I was easily able to exchange USD to Kazakh Tenge at the border, and then to secure a front seat in a car heading for Shymkent for around 10 USD. We set off empty, although we picked up three more passengers for the back seats during the ride on a smooth motorway.





Highlight of the journey was this strange monument of a mountaintop ship which someone put up there for a weird reason.



Within just under two hours we arrived in Shymkent, where the driver dropped me off in front of my hotel. The whole journey from Tashkent's southern railway station across the border to Shymkent took just over three hours – and was much, much quicker than I anticipated. All the more fortunate for me, as it meant I had a full day ahead to explore Shymkent.

Next up: exploring the Kazakh city of Shymkent and flying home with Aeroflot
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 4:06 pm
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Part 16: Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Hotel: Shymkent Hotel, price: 30 EUR/night

My hotel for the night, the Hotel Shymkent, is a renovated former Soviet hotel which nowadays is one of the nicer places in town. Even though the room was nothing special, it was perfectly acceptable. Internet was fast, the lobby was a nice place to drink a coffee, and the staff were friendly and eager to help, for example for calling a taxi.



The city of Shymkent is described in guidebooks as “southern Kazakhstan's most vibrant town”. For sure, the city is not a looker – it was only developed in Tsarist times and then massively rebuilt by the Soviets. Think broad boulevards, blocks and a couple of monuments. That said, it is certainly lively enough for a day – and a whole different world than the silk road cities of Uzbekistan. The city has a population of one million, although it feels more like it has half or a third of that when walking around.





When it comes to the sights of the city, there is this weird pedestrian crossing which I found oddly intriguing.



There was a monument of a giant rose – not sure if it is a tribute to the British Labour party or the social-democratic movement or whatever else. A full 7 out of 10 in the scale of Soviet ugliness.



It's not all Soviet though – at times some more modern buildings can be found in town, such as a big shopping centre with an indoor ice rink. If you might be travelling on the road for a longer time in Central Asia, Shymkent would surely be a great town if you are looking for modern amenities or to stock up on goods.



There was a theatre in town with the best ever smell of shashlyk around – although I couldn't locate where they were actually grilling the meet. Bummer, as I was getting a bit hungry.



Probably the most important sight is the 'Monument of Mother Earth'.



From the pedestrian bridge over the busy roundabout there are some OK views over town.



Higher up on the hill you can find Independence Park – which is well worth a stroll. It has all kinds of monuments praising the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.



Being in a Borat mood, I couldn't resist a selfie to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.



Putting aside the ubiquitous Borat jokes one must make when in Kazakhstan, I actually started to like the city. Sure, if you expect something glorious you will be utterly disappointed. But if you look for a cool Soviet urban centre, Shymkent does the trick. And given my love for obscure places, I was happy to have a full day in town to walk a bit around.



For just 4 USD I had a very tasty late lunch in a random restaurant. The menu card was only in Russian, but I could take out easily the words of 'manti' and 'shashlyk' so that was what I ordered.





Both were very good – especially when washed away with the local Shymkent beer of which the city is quite proud of.

As I had a very early flight the next morning (5.40am, ugh!) I decided to sleep in early. I re-visited the shopping centre on the way back to buy a couple of Kazakh beers as nightcap for in the hotel, and called it a day.

Next up: Flying home on Aeroflot in economy class, including a flight on the Sukhoi Superjet.
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Old Mar 30, 2019, 10:26 am
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Thanks for sharing this great report. I'm going to be doing much of this same trip in July, so its great to get an early spoiler of what to expect.
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Old Mar 30, 2019, 11:09 am
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Part 17: Shymkent (CIT) to Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) on Aeroflot in economy
Flight SU1951 – Airbus A320 - Seat 7A – 220 EUR as part of CIT-SVO-OTP
STD 5.40am - STA 7.00am (flight time 3h20m)


Shymkent's tiny airport is located some 20-25 minutes from the city centre. The God-awful departure time meant that I only had a relatively short night of sleep – and I sat in the taxi to the airport with drowsy eyes.

Shymkent airport is your typical Soviet regional airport, by which I mean ancient and chaotic. When I arrived the check-in desks were still not operational despite it being two hours before departure. When finally some people came the madness started and people just started queuing everywhere. A separate check-in desk for business class passengers and Sky Team elites? Forget about it. I don't know why but it also took ages just to process every passenger. The fact that many brought their entire household with them surely didn't help either – although it was no difference with the passengers who just had hand luggage only. When it was finally my turn (of course I chose the wrong queue which took by far the longest) I was checked in within 30 seconds and had my boarding pass in hand.



There were two security checks and passport control in a weird maze of small corridors. The gate area of Shymkent airport isn't too much either to write home about. It reminded me mostly about the waiting area of a hospital or dentist.





Boarding is done by bus at this airport – which despite the pitch dark time of the day gave some good opportunities to spot some beauties.



As it was again a sheer madness boarding the stairs to the Airbus A320 I didn't manage to take any snaps of the plane's exterior or interior, although those who are interested in reviews of four Aeroflot sectors in business class can check my previous trip report about a fun journey to Siberia in winter.

The breakfast choice on the flight was between pancakes and eggs, and I decided on the former. The pancakes had a perfect texture and the taste with the berry sauce was simply very good. Add a yoghurt, plenty of cold cuts, an edible croissant and a chocolate bar and you simply have a great economy meal. Well done Aeroflot. I've had much worse breakfasts in business class!



Arrival in Moscow was on time. I had to switch terminals to make my connecting flight to Bucharest – and this time it was not as easy as previous SVO transits. I waited forever in a queue only to find that when it was my turn that for whatever reason I could not make use of it and had to go to the next booth. The person manning it said I just should go in front, which angered the 50+ people queuing there, although of course I didn't really mind.

Those who have read my previous trip report on Siberia know that there is one major drawback when flying Aeroflot. I do actually think the airline has a very good product both in economy and in business class. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about any of the Moscow lounges. If you pick the right one on a good day when it's not so crowded, it's a decidedly average experience at best. This morning however, the lounges in the F terminal were an absolute shambles. They were so full that simply no seats were available and the state of the toilets was even more disgusting than in the terminal itself (and there was a queue). I just picked up a soda to drink – and went out after 10 minutes to sit instead somewhere near the boarding gate.

Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) to Bucharest (OTP) on Aeroflot in economy
Flight SU2034 – Sukhoi SuperJet 100 - Seat 12A – 220 EUR as part of CIT-SVO-OTP
STD 9.10am - STA 11.25am (flight time 3h15m)


Luckily priority boarding was strictly enforced for this flight. As I was seated near the gate already and we were boarding by jet bridge meant that I was the first to be on board (well, the first after 'parents and children and those who need assistance'). This would be my first flight on the Russian-made Sukhoi SuperJet and naturally I was quite looking forward to it and eager to snap some decent shots. Business class is two abreast in proper recliner seats, while economy is 2+3.







The plane is a regional jet much like Bombardier builds them, and Aeroflot therefore mostly uses them to lower-yield destinations in a 2 -3 hour radius from SVO, both domestic and international.



I found the economy seat comfortable and leg room to be good as well.



There are however to drawbacks to this plane. First, the way the seats are placed (or at least on the left side of the aisle). As you can see on the picture below, one of the legs of the seat in front of you sits right in the middle of your leg room. It therefore makes it first of all impossible to put a bag below the seat in front of you, and second, this is quite annoying if you want to stretch your legs a bit. The person who designed this design flaw deserves some months in the Gulag!



Second, a bit more minor, I found the windows to be fairly lowly placed. You would need to stretch your neck and lower your head to be able to look out of the window properly.





It's a perfectly fine plane, but when it comes to comfort I much, much prefer the Embraer (during some recent flights with LOT Polish Airlines through Europe I found seat comfort be similar, if not better, than on 737s or A320s in economy).

The journey down to Bucharest was otherwise perfectly enjoyable. Take off was smooth and there were some nice views out on this rainy day in Moscow.





Again breakfast was served, this time I chose the eggs. It was mediocre at best and nowhere as good as the pancakes on the previous flight.





There were some gorgeous views of a sunny Romania on arrival as the plane flew straight over the Carpathians and the Prahova Valley.









We arrived on time – and safely – and when flying a Russian-made aeroplane that is all you can ask about. Joking aside, I do like flying Aeroflot and these days I'd easily rate them among the better European airlines you can fly. I only wish they would massively overhaul their lounges (more capacity, better offers) if they truly want to compete with some other European airlines who are upping their game in this regards (Turkish, Air France etc.).

This was about the only time I was happy we were disembarking by stairs as it meant I could take a decent snap of the Sukhoi itself.



I was through passport control in no-time and when I entered the parking lot of the airport my Uber was already waiting to drive me home. I absolutely loved Uzbekistan and can highly recommend anyone to visit it. Especially now the country eased up their visa policies it is a great time to contemplate a trip to the old silk road.

Thanks again for reading along on this trip report, and hope to see you again on the next journey!
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Old Mar 30, 2019, 1:55 pm
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Thank you for sharing your amazing experience with us!!! The photos and write - up really makes one want to visit.

Looking forward to your next TR!!
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Old Mar 31, 2019, 5:18 am
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Excellent again!

Where next?
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Old Mar 31, 2019, 7:59 am
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What an amazing trip - thanks for the very detailed write-up!
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Old Mar 31, 2019, 11:02 am
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Originally Posted by netllama
Thanks for sharing this great report. I'm going to be doing much of this same trip in July, so its great to get an early spoiler of what to expect.
Thanks netllama, I'm sure you will have a great trip as well. I just hope that the July sun will not be too hot! (although on the other hand, you will definitely have clear blue skies instead of the mostly cloudy days I had!)

Originally Posted by roadwarrier
Thank you for sharing your amazing experience with us!!! The photos and write - up really makes one want to visit.

Looking forward to your next TR!!
Thanks again roadwarrier, it is indeed a highly recommended place to visit, and for sure something out of the ordinary!

Originally Posted by lhrpete
Excellent again!

Where next?
Thanks lhrpete. My next trip is to Spain's Basque Country at the end of April, although I did make three fun journeys since the beginning of the year to places as diverse as the tropics and the arctic which all warrant a trip report on their own. I'll have to think which one I will put online first.

Originally Posted by ironmanjt
What an amazing trip - thanks for the very detailed write-up!
Thanks for following ironmanjt!
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:09 am
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What a great trip report - makes me want to go visit Central Asia! Which is high praise for a trip report.
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 12:35 pm
  #73  
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@Romanianflyer, upon my exit at TAS last May, the immigration official asked for a couple of hotel registration slips. Let's not make generalizations for future travelers (that said, Uzbekistan has been loosening up its entry procedures, so that may soon change).
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Old Apr 7, 2019, 11:10 pm
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I have a trip booked in October for many of the same places, so thanks for posting!
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 12:09 pm
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Very interesting report. Thanks for sharing. I just love reading reports such as these.

Uzbekistan is definitely on the list for me to visit.
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