Everything falls into place
2 AugTried to get up at 5 today, but it was still dark. Had to settle for 6 instead. We’ve made the decision to head forSamarkland, and give Tashkent a miss. We’d been keen to see the Tashkent subway, which apparently was a vast network of tunnels built as a bomb shelter by the Soviets! Next time!
We’re back on the motorway, following the signs to Samarkland. You can’t really call it a motorway, as although it is 2 lanes each way, with a central barrier, cars regularly come up the wrong side. If you can’t turn across the barrier to the road you want, you just do so earlier than your exit, and drive on the wrong side of the road until you reach it. There is also an unbelievable amount of slow moving donkeys pulling carts. There are regular checkpoints with boom gates, last night they were unmanned, but today we are stopped at the first one. We can’t proceed this way as it crosses back into Kazakhstan, and that violates our visa. Instead we have to drive the two long sides of an isosceles triangle. Eighty km one way, and then 80kms back, to reach the motorway only 50kms from where we left it!
It’s not all bad though. It’s much cooler here (although very humid), and the scenery is much greener. The second 80kms is on a rubbish road, but we must pass 100 donkeys towing carts. It passes through rich agricultural land, with lots of corn, and what looks like spinach to me.
Back on the motorway, we reach Samarkland by about midday, having used a jerry of fuel on the way. We still have no money, and we’ve run out of water. However it turns out the only normal bancomats in Uzbekistan are in Tashkent! We drive around Samarkland, lost, trying to find somewhere to get some money, or even exchange some $US. We stop at a pharmacy, as they tend to speak some English...no good. It’s Saturday, and all of the banks are shut. We try a Western Union, but they won’t help. We even consider having a quick look in Samarkland and then heading for the Tajik border!
We are finally saved when we see a sign to Hotel Grand Samaqland. It’s in the guidebook, so we go for a look. There are 3 other Mongol Rally cars in the car park. It looks like we’re saved. Travelling like this is amazing. One moment it feels like you’re in a hopeless situation, then the next everything is going your way. The hotel accepts payment by visa, so we book a night. It is lovely, the first properly air-conditioned room we’ve seen for a long time. They know a bank that is still open, and has an ATM. We walk there, but they are shut at 2pm, rather the 5pm that our hotel specified. It’s only 2:15! No matter, we’ve also been told we can change money at a particular hotel, so we change some US for some locals.
The Uzbek money is mental! 1 US dollar is worth some 1300 Uzbek dingbats (proper name eludes me). However the smallest note is a 1000! To fill our car and our jerrys with fuel, requires some 60 individual notes. Of course they are so fast at counting them, it’s impossible for a tourist to keep up. We are dangerously low on $US now, but at least for now we can buy some water, and then do some sightseeing.
The buildings in Samarkland are pretty special. The city has been the subject of many a poet, and used to be the capital of Uzbekistan. Check out the pictures below:
We run into the Polish motorcyclists from the border at one of the attractions. They are heading for the Pamir highway, so we may see them again.
Back at the hotel, we meet the other mongol teams for quite a few beers, and then head to a local restaurant, where I have a local specialty – the ShaslikXXXXXX kebab + some more beers.
Here is James, whose Team name I have forgotten, illustrating the wad of cash required to pay for dinner!
Two of the teams have come from the southern route, through Turkey, Iran and Turkmenistan. One team has come into Uzbekistan from Kazakhstan, but in the west not far from Volgograd. Everyone has their funny tales to tell.
No word from Tim yet?
