Tashkent: Taste of Apricot

Here we are in Samarkand with our first post from the road...

Left two days ago (July 15th) from Milan with am Uzbek Air night flight full of Indians & Pakistanis (going home from Italy via Tashkent).

We landed yesterday morning in Taskent & got some Central Asia vibe right away: low buildings, scorching sun, plenty of different faces all over, from Russian blonds and Far Eastern almond eyes, and everything in between.

Went to change some money and found out the largest denomination is the 500 "sum" note (0.25 euros). Giulia ended up with a comically huge pile of cash that left her bewildered.

Visited the Khast Imom, the Chorsu Baazar and the modern Mustaqillic Maydoni, i.e. a modern downtown with a set of pharaonic buildings. Weather was very hot.

Found out the Lonely Planet is pretty much unreliable for Uzbekistan. For starters. although the guide is supposed to be updated, all prices are off by 50-100% (no, we have not been cheated - locals pay the same), i.e. metro is 300 sum (not 140), entrance to Khast Imom is 2500 and a 2nd class train ticket to Samarkand is about 13000 sum.

Speaking of which, yesterday we also bought the train ticket to Samarkand (where we are right now) from the main station, only later to discover that the train was leaving from some other train station whose existence was not even mentioned in our guide.... Was only a good idea from Giulia to ask about that so that we could find out!
(most people do not really speak any English or any other language we know, so this sort of communication is always a nice challenge)

Most people in Tashkent dress Western-style (not quite Islamic). Plenty of make-up, jeans, mini-skirts, high heels.

Had dinner in a Syrian restaurant very early; after the night flight & the day walking in the sun we were too tired to hang out. By 9pm we were sleeping.

Were sleeping at Gulnara Guesthouse, a cosy place that for breakfast served what Giulia defined a divine apricot jam (from which the name of this post :-)

More to come on the Samarkand area next time we connect...

(written by Lorenzo & Julie in Samarkand)