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This is a report of a solo-trip to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, undertaken during July/August 1994.

Uzbekistan, part 2

Pierre.Flener
2004-04-03 18:57:13

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Wednesday 3 August 1994: Samarkand - Bukhara

After breakfast, Ludmilla sees me off at the bus-stop. From now on, I'll be completely on my own, but I feel confident I that I know enough to get around cheap. At the long-distance busstation I purchase a ticket to Bukhara ($2.50) and am immediately whisked onto an incredibly decrepit bus that is about to leave. I should have waited for the next one, as I get the last seat, well, make that a spot on the metal box at the rear of the bus, the actual seat having been torn off. Anyway, at least I sit, because the ride becomes a tour through hell when the driver starts free-lancing outside town and filling the bus to intolerable capacity. Though it must be said that older women, pregnant ones, and young mothers enjoy extreme courtesy. The waits during "(un)loading" of passengers and their bulky luggage, which is about every two kilometers, turn the bus into a "hamam"-on-wheels on this 45C day. Everybody is sweating profusely and greets the short surges of actual movement with great relief. It's hard to believe and enjoy the fact that I'm actually traveling on the Silk Road. The last two hours of the seven-hour-journey are much better though, and the open windows somewhat compensate for the lack of A/C. Eventually, we do pull into Bukhara's long-distance bus-station.
Bus #7 takes me downtown, where astonished construction workers delight in giving me directions, in Uzbek, to the Varakshah Hotel. But then the big disappointment: non-CIS citizens are now charged a hefty $15 a night, nothing short of a 700% increase since the October'93 printing of my guidebook! After a brief round, it turns out that this still is the cheapest and sleaziest hotel in town, and they have the nerve to charge you nearly the equivalent of an average monthly salary! Trained in middleeastern ways, I do my best to haggle them down to a reasonable amount, such as the one paid by CIS citizens, but ...