Uch-Uchak

Coach day today, leaving impressive Khiva to travel through the desert and indeed along part of the Silk Road to our next destination, Bukhara. Our guide (not always understandable… never have I understood the phrase “lost in translation” so much 😳) gave us a few more facts about Uzbekistan. She refers to it as a “young country” following the departure of the Russians in 1991, but one which is trying hard to develop. It is one of the CIS (community of independent states) the countries which used to be part of the USSR. Population is 38 million, education is free and there is 100% literacy (or so she said!) as education is also compulsory to the age of 18. The average age is 28! The majority of the inhabitants are of the Muslim faith. There are 12 districts, then provinces made up of villages which are now known as “unions of farmers”. The main industry is agriculture. Each baby is born in hospital and strict administrative records are kept. Health care is also free. The Great Silk Road (named as such in 1877) passed through Uzbekistan from China with routes to Egypt and Europe.
Had a short toilet stop after a couple of hours. The ladies were required to pay 2000 Sum each to use the “facilities” (1 Western and 3 Eastern style i.e. hole in the ground!) No loo paper either. The Gents was free-of course it was. But when you consider 15000 Sum is about £1, you can’t expect much more. We paid 120000 Sum for 1 beer and 2 wines at dinner last night and rounded it up to 150000-approx £9-10.
Onward through the desert (quite a lot of traffic and tour buses) and across a new bridge in order to cross the Amu Darya. This bridge was a shared one between Road and railway. Apparently if there is a train coming the traffic is just stopped for an hour….. Next stop (no toilets) was for a “panoramic view” which I have included in the photos. Across the river is Turkmenistan.
Lunch was a chaotic free-for-all with Shakira dashing about getting us all seated, getting the tables cleaned, ordering the vegetable samosas (very nice) and the kebabs. She seized Ted’s kebab from him, divested the beef from the skewer, chucked most of it on his plate and tore the last chunk off with her teeth and ate it! We were all so surprised we burst out laughing… even Ted!
Three hours more in the coach and then arrival into the Omar Khayam hotel in Bhukara. Quick wash and brush up then dinner at 7pm.
PS someone in the group posted the photo of the lady with the gold teeth!Read more