Today was another travel day. Getting up fairly late we started the day out slowly. Having animated and funny conversations with our fellow travelers from Germany at breakfast time flew by. They searched for fellow travelers for more challenging destinations through the internet. This was their second or third trip together. Despite their huge differences, which made it enjoyable to listen to their stories and experiences, they complemented each other well in some ways. The women owner came by and brought us each a glass of freshly milked camel milk. Having never tried it Esther was very sceptic at first, but to her surprise it tasted quite mild and very similar to rich cows milk. Another experience to add to our plate.
We packed our bags for the flight back to Tashkent, which was not easy as we had to fit in a liter of Vodka for Inom and three liters of fresh camel milk for the yurt camp owner to take to her relatives in Tashkent. People always help each other out here and so Inom did that lady a favor. We managed fit everything in and just hoped that neithr the Vodka, nor the camel milk or our liter of cotton seed oil we bought will be running out during our flight.
We set out mid morning to drive to Urgench, the closest airport. As we had some time left before taking our flight we decided to stop the the local Urgench market for some last minute shopping and light lunch. In the city, we noticed many cars with small pieces of paper or cloth covering parts of their license plates. It turns out that police cars use cameras to record parked cars while they drive by and issue fines for illegal parking. However, with the license plates partially obscured, the cameras can’t capture the full plate number, preventing the authorities from issuing fines.
We love the local markets. So many smells and sights. Old rickety shopping carts being pushed through the aisles, bags of spices standing around, lots of different sweets tempting us to be tried , the live stock section selling chickens and rabbits. We bought diferent types of teas and also decided to take home some cotton seed oil.
After being done with the shopping part we looked for a place to have a quick bite.
The noses smelled grilled chicken and so we went to sit in a small but very busy restaurant full with locals.
We stuck out as being the only foreigners here. We had delicious chicken kebaps and some salad for a mere 100.000 Soms (~7.50 EUR) for three people including three bottles of Coca-Cola. Can‘t beat that.
We had enough time to catch our 3:30 PM flight from Urgench to Tashkent, our first opportunity to fly with Uzbekistan Airways.
For those who might think that Uzbekistan Airways is some ‘never-come-back airline’ flying old Ilyushin planes, you couldn’t be more wrong.
We boarded a brand-new, well-equipped Airbus, complete with screens and USB charging ports—much more than Lufthansa offers on local flights. Plus, you get a sandwich and complimentary drinks. They even have a very entertaining safety video showcasing all the tourist highlights of the country.
Since this was the end of our journey, we recognized all the landmarks, having visited each one. Lufthansa has finally released a new safety video as well—needless to say, it is not funny at all. Inom asked his seat neighbors to join him for a quick prayer, and so we took off, safely protected by Allah’s hands, back to the starting point of our journey.
On our last evening we reserved a very nice restaurant and wanted to invite Inom and his wife for our final dinner here in Uzbekistan. Funny enough an aquaintance we met in Myanmar, Amish from India, happend to be in town at the same time and we agreed to have dinner together. Amish being a travel agent in india and Inom one in Uzbekistan, one never knows what extending ones network may bring.
It was a lovely evening and again a nice vacation comes to an end. Tomorrow morning our flight back to Munich via Istanbul leaves early and Inom insisted on driving us to the airport himself.
We could not have wished for a nicer and better guide then Inom. In summary this was a very interesting vacation. A good mix of nature and activity as well as visiting different cities. We liked Samarkand and Tashkent best as those cities have a good mix between history and real life.
Khiva and Bukhara were great too, but not as bustling with everyday life as the other cities. Food-wise, it was a bit challenging—while simple dishes like soups, vegetables, and salads were nice, most other foods weren’t to our taste, especially those involving goat or lamb, which includes all ages of mutton.
This concludes our travel blog from Uzbekistan. Feel free to ask any questions or if you need more details about Uzbekistan.
