Aktepa

Alarm for 6am, breakfast at 6.30 then back again to Tashkent Airport. I think the breakfast at the Radisson Blu is the best we have had…. dare I say it again…. Just wish I had been able to get in the pool!! Had an opportunity to see “The White House”, residence of Mr Mirziyoyev, the President, on the way to the airport. A fond farewell from Shakira who clasped me to her bosom, kissed me on the cheek and told me Jewish children take their name from “the women” 😳-another reference to my heritage or so she thinks! My thoughts on Shakira are mixed. I think it took us the whole 10 days to get used to her. She is very passionate about her country, her people and way of life but she is also very interested in where we come from: our health and education systems, salaries, taxes etc. When stressed she could have an unfortunate attitude and crossed swords with Georgina a couple of times and her sense of humour was lacking at times but this was probably cultural difference. I did get more used to her as the days went on and there were several instances of her being keen to help. The concept of the coffee break (or any break) was lost on her. Many morning walking tours went on until 2pm ish and she was not impressed by there being 5 vegetarians in our group! Her next tour is in 4 days (an Israeli group which she hopes contains less vegetarians!) Her accent was difficult to follow and made her talks challenging to say the least.
So…. Uzbekistan…. With its Mosques, Mausoleums, Madrassahs and Minarets! Some thoughts: So different, beautiful, stunning historical architecture, ancient civilisations who survived in their fortresses to build and re-build their cities, very clean, no litter, mostly unspoiled to date, little begging (mostly in markets), ability to survive many invading tribes and forces (Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, not to mention the Russians!) over the years and a “young” country emerging from Soviet control but can’t quite shake off Russia’s evil eye. Mr Mirziyoyev has made judicial reforms, opening up the country to tourism and foreign investment. In early 2020 the number of countries granted visa-free travel to Uzbekistan had jumped from 9 to 90 and was named the 4th fastest-growing country for tourism.
Ted and I have found it fascinating and could visualise the travellers on the Silk Road on their camels bringing not only their goods but education, religion, ideas over many years. We now at least know where Uzbekistan is and in relation to the neighbouring “stans”.
So, dear Blog Followers… hope you have enjoyed it and liked the photos…. until the next time! 😍

(And so a HUGE PS…. BA cancelled our flight back to Manchester. We had landed at 3pm from Tashkent then sat around for 7 hours until our 22.05 flight was put back to 23.00 and then cancelled. They cancelled the Glasgow flight too. Chaos reigned-collected our luggage but no hotel availability whatsoever. Eventually went to Euston on tube, sat around in various places, tried to find 24-hour Starbucks or McD situated down by St Pancras. No such luck. Finally, after dragging the suitcases back up to Euston we boarded the 06.12 to Stockport. Nightmare! At time of writing we have been up for 30 hours and counting! 😳)Read more