Friday 4 May
Our last day in Samarkand – tonight we leave by the overnight train, arriving in Urganch at about 12.15 lunchtime on Saturday. We've been told that a car from our hotel will pick us up to take us the 30 kilometres or so to Khiva.
We have no fixed plans for today, although we won't be looking at any more Samarkand heritage sites. Stunning as they are, we're all “architectured out”. The wifi isn't working in our hotel, so our first aim after breakfast will be to find an Internet Cafe. Actually they aren't cafes here – simply a room with lots of computers where you pay 1000 soms per hour – about 25p. I know Elaine's sent me an email which I'm dying to read, also I want to publish yesterday's blog.
Breakfast is more than we can eat. We're given that semolina porridge we had in Tashkent – it's quite nice if really hot, but here it's lukewarm and not very appetising. There's natural yoghurt (home-made) which is really tasty, and the usual spicy ham and slices of cheese, and Uzbek bread, which is flattish and circular. Also some cold stewed fruit which tastes good mixed with the yoghurt.
We walk out of our hotel into beautiful warm sunshine – it's about 27 deg c. We get to the first internet outlet and we realise we've left the memory stick at the hotel – which we could use to connect to “fixed” internet if there's no wifi available. The man on reception isn't very helpful – no, there's no wifi, no he doesn't have a memory stick – okay so perhaps he doesn't understand memory stick in English but he could smile! He's one of the very few unhelpful people we've met in Uzbekistan.
Further down the road there's another internet outlet and the man on reception couldn't be more helpful. It's a large noisy room full of computers and university students – very few students have their own computers at home, the man in charge tells us. Pop music is blaring out and it's obvious to us that this is a meeting place for young people as well as an internet outlet.
The man in charge is calm and friendly, completely unfazed by the noise and bustle of good-natured students surrounding him. He ushers us into a side room, with still more computers. There's no wifi, but he lends us a wifi dongle and takes us through the procedure to connect to his internet provider. It takes a while but he's helpful and patient and finally – yes!! we are connected!!
We love getting emails from family and friends, even if we don't always have a chance to give a long reply. I'm so pleased to hear all my daughter's news. We have a laugh at some of the comments friends have made about our blog. I'm able to post the next instalment.
With all the time it took to connect to the internet, we've been here for well over an hour. The helpful man in charge has disappeared and the young man on reception will only charge us 1000 soms – we want to pay more, for all the help we were given. But the young man cannot be persuaded to take any more money.
We make for the market, and as we wander around Samarkand (slowly, because it's so hot!) we are struck by the number of people, especially young people and children, who smile and shout out
“Hello, how are you?”
This happens so many times, we are starting to feel like film stars! Sometimes people just approach us and say “Are you English?” We are sitting in the shade eating a banana when 3 teenage girls come up to us, smiling, and ask to have their photo taken with us. They giggle as one of them takes a photo, then they swop around, and take another.
On our way back to the hotel we buy provisions for our overnight train journey, as we'll be on the train until the following lunchtime. We buy bread, butter (we can buy a very small amount here), cheese, cooked meat, Mars, Snickers, and Pringles. We bought fruit in the market so we're well stocked.
We find a restaurant that looks nice inside, and go in. We're pleasantly surprised – it looks like good local food, the menu's in English, and the service is good. And we have our best meal yet in Uzbekistan.
We've paid an extra $20 to have the use of our room until the taxi comes at 10.15 pm to take us to the station. It's great to have a rest and a shower. Also the wifi is back on so I write up yesterday's blog as we wait for the taxi. I just manage to post it on the internet before the taxi arrives.
Our last day in Samarkand – tonight we leave by the overnight train, arriving in Urganch at about 12.15 lunchtime on Saturday. We've been told that a car from our hotel will pick us up to take us the 30 kilometres or so to Khiva.
We have no fixed plans for today, although we won't be looking at any more Samarkand heritage sites. Stunning as they are, we're all “architectured out”. The wifi isn't working in our hotel, so our first aim after breakfast will be to find an Internet Cafe. Actually they aren't cafes here – simply a room with lots of computers where you pay 1000 soms per hour – about 25p. I know Elaine's sent me an email which I'm dying to read, also I want to publish yesterday's blog.
Breakfast is more than we can eat. We're given that semolina porridge we had in Tashkent – it's quite nice if really hot, but here it's lukewarm and not very appetising. There's natural yoghurt (home-made) which is really tasty, and the usual spicy ham and slices of cheese, and Uzbek bread, which is flattish and circular. Also some cold stewed fruit which tastes good mixed with the yoghurt.
We walk out of our hotel into beautiful warm sunshine – it's about 27 deg c. We get to the first internet outlet and we realise we've left the memory stick at the hotel – which we could use to connect to “fixed” internet if there's no wifi available. The man on reception isn't very helpful – no, there's no wifi, no he doesn't have a memory stick – okay so perhaps he doesn't understand memory stick in English but he could smile! He's one of the very few unhelpful people we've met in Uzbekistan.
Further down the road there's another internet outlet and the man on reception couldn't be more helpful. It's a large noisy room full of computers and university students – very few students have their own computers at home, the man in charge tells us. Pop music is blaring out and it's obvious to us that this is a meeting place for young people as well as an internet outlet.
The man in charge is calm and friendly, completely unfazed by the noise and bustle of good-natured students surrounding him. He ushers us into a side room, with still more computers. There's no wifi, but he lends us a wifi dongle and takes us through the procedure to connect to his internet provider. It takes a while but he's helpful and patient and finally – yes!! we are connected!!
We love getting emails from family and friends, even if we don't always have a chance to give a long reply. I'm so pleased to hear all my daughter's news. We have a laugh at some of the comments friends have made about our blog. I'm able to post the next instalment.
With all the time it took to connect to the internet, we've been here for well over an hour. The helpful man in charge has disappeared and the young man on reception will only charge us 1000 soms – we want to pay more, for all the help we were given. But the young man cannot be persuaded to take any more money.
We make for the market, and as we wander around Samarkand (slowly, because it's so hot!) we are struck by the number of people, especially young people and children, who smile and shout out
“Hello, how are you?”
This happens so many times, we are starting to feel like film stars! Sometimes people just approach us and say “Are you English?” We are sitting in the shade eating a banana when 3 teenage girls come up to us, smiling, and ask to have their photo taken with us. They giggle as one of them takes a photo, then they swop around, and take another.
On our way back to the hotel we buy provisions for our overnight train journey, as we'll be on the train until the following lunchtime. We buy bread, butter (we can buy a very small amount here), cheese, cooked meat, Mars, Snickers, and Pringles. We bought fruit in the market so we're well stocked.
We find a restaurant that looks nice inside, and go in. We're pleasantly surprised – it looks like good local food, the menu's in English, and the service is good. And we have our best meal yet in Uzbekistan.
We've paid an extra $20 to have the use of our room until the taxi comes at 10.15 pm to take us to the station. It's great to have a rest and a shower. Also the wifi is back on so I write up yesterday's blog as we wait for the taxi. I just manage to post it on the internet before the taxi arrives.
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