5AM I woke to take an taxi to the train station. These
trains are very similar to the ones in China. I booked a business class ticket
for 135000 UZS. I was stupid to change 100 USD for 420000 UZT and found out
later the black market rate is actually 8000 UZT per USD as opposed to 4000 UZT
at the bank.
11AM We left at 7:30AM. The train was nice and I arrived at Bukhara. I asked to leave my luggage at Hotel Amelia. The boy working there explained things very well. I started walking around with just my camera.
4PM The place was very impressive, very much reminiscent of Morocco. I had some pilaf there, which is just like fried rice. I deliberately stayed a little longer finished around 4:30PM. A teacher helped me with the taxi to a taxi station. She convinced me not to go to Khiva because it was so much smaller and 6 plus hours away. Samarkand apparently was even bigger than Bukhara. I listened to her and took a taxi to to Samarkand. I didn't want to sit in the back so I took another car for 50,000 instead of 45,000 UZT. It didn't even have air conditioning but at least I had some thoracic and plastic surgeons from Bukhara as company.
9:30PM We arrived at Samarkand but he would just drop me off on one of the main streets. One of the guys in the car said there is a train to Tajikistan. I took the chance and went for the trains station to find more information. He was somewhat right but mostly wrong. Let me explain: there is a train today in one hour to the border city of Sarasi, which takes approximately 10-15 hours. This runs today and every other day, which would be impossible for me since my visa expires 2 days from now. I wouldn't come to Samarkand to leave now without seeing anything. The alternative is to take another train to Termez, approximately 10-15 hours from here and change to another train to go to Sariasiya, taking another 2 hours just to the border. It would take another 1 to 2 hours to Dushanbe. I confirmed this with two Japanese tourists here. I was lucky to have them give me the hostel information because my phone has only been able to get on the Internet once since two days ago at the Tashkent airport.
I cut my losses and skipped both options. I thought the best option would be to leave for Tashkent at 11AM tomorrow morning and arrive around 1PM. The plane ticket to Dushanbe through Moscow is 400+ USD but I would arrive the next morning at 5AM. I left the train station at 11PM and the driver took forever and asked another guy at a hotel who spoke English who was no help. I gave him the number to the hotel in the beginning. He didn't use it until I asked him. We arrived at 11:30PM and he didn't want the 2000 UZS we agreed on. I paid him 5000 UZS which I paid the next day going back. It was fair.
There was no dormitory but at least they gave me the room for 60000 UZS instead of the 120000 UZS they started with. I tried to organize as quickly as I can but still spent a lot of time getting on the internet until 12:45PM due to my cell phone issue.
11AM We left at 7:30AM. The train was nice and I arrived at Bukhara. I asked to leave my luggage at Hotel Amelia. The boy working there explained things very well. I started walking around with just my camera.
4PM The place was very impressive, very much reminiscent of Morocco. I had some pilaf there, which is just like fried rice. I deliberately stayed a little longer finished around 4:30PM. A teacher helped me with the taxi to a taxi station. She convinced me not to go to Khiva because it was so much smaller and 6 plus hours away. Samarkand apparently was even bigger than Bukhara. I listened to her and took a taxi to to Samarkand. I didn't want to sit in the back so I took another car for 50,000 instead of 45,000 UZT. It didn't even have air conditioning but at least I had some thoracic and plastic surgeons from Bukhara as company.
9:30PM We arrived at Samarkand but he would just drop me off on one of the main streets. One of the guys in the car said there is a train to Tajikistan. I took the chance and went for the trains station to find more information. He was somewhat right but mostly wrong. Let me explain: there is a train today in one hour to the border city of Sarasi, which takes approximately 10-15 hours. This runs today and every other day, which would be impossible for me since my visa expires 2 days from now. I wouldn't come to Samarkand to leave now without seeing anything. The alternative is to take another train to Termez, approximately 10-15 hours from here and change to another train to go to Sariasiya, taking another 2 hours just to the border. It would take another 1 to 2 hours to Dushanbe. I confirmed this with two Japanese tourists here. I was lucky to have them give me the hostel information because my phone has only been able to get on the Internet once since two days ago at the Tashkent airport.
I cut my losses and skipped both options. I thought the best option would be to leave for Tashkent at 11AM tomorrow morning and arrive around 1PM. The plane ticket to Dushanbe through Moscow is 400+ USD but I would arrive the next morning at 5AM. I left the train station at 11PM and the driver took forever and asked another guy at a hotel who spoke English who was no help. I gave him the number to the hotel in the beginning. He didn't use it until I asked him. We arrived at 11:30PM and he didn't want the 2000 UZS we agreed on. I paid him 5000 UZS which I paid the next day going back. It was fair.
There was no dormitory but at least they gave me the room for 60000 UZS instead of the 120000 UZS they started with. I tried to organize as quickly as I can but still spent a lot of time getting on the internet until 12:45PM due to my cell phone issue.
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