Khiva Diva

Wednesday 25 September


I slept 11 hours last night!  I think the early start yesterday and the heat and walking ran my batteries low quickly.  But I slept well and long.  That’s what holidays are for.

Breakfast was an Asian treat of stewed apricot, melon, cheese, bread, omelette and coffee.  Eaten whilst sat on cushions on the floor.

Then we were off.  We had a quick explore of the city walls.

Before diving back into the melee of Khiva.

Our traipses were more of the same as yesterday.  Our ticket was a two day entry so we finished off the 10 or so sights we’d had our eyes on, explored some odd places, such as the Museum of Musical Art which was pretty much devoted to famous Uzbek musicians from the last century.  And explored more mosques and madrassahs.  The more you see the more you are blown away by the amazing tiles.

Oh, and some souvenir clay birds.

A replica yurt.

Pakhlavan Makhmoud Mausoleum 

Floor to ceiling tiles. Awesome.

Stunning.

When the sun goes down the monuments get even more awesome.

It was a phaff finding somewhere to eat as the places we tried were block booked by coach parties and the place we’d dined yesterday was unexpectedly shut.  We did eventually alight on a roof top restaurant and I wined and dined on veg and chips whilst JC munched his way through another kebab.

Tashkent to Urgench to Khiva

Tuesday 24 September

We had an early start to catch our flight to Urgench and were up and out by 0530.   We caught our taxi to airport - it was all looking good.  Then realised we couldn’t see our flight on the departure boards.  In fact there were no domestic departures.  Panic set in. We were in the wrong terminal!  It turned out that the domestic terminal was a taxi ride around the other side.  We hopped in a cab and sped around to the right terminal kicking ourselves we hadn’t checked.

We checked in ok -  you can't check in online with Uzbek Airway - and JC found some French tourists to chat to.   It amazes me how he just switches from language to language.  We also started to recognise tourists we'd seen the day before.  Tashkent (and, by the extension most of Uzbekistan) is not an overly touristy place and we were often the only Caucasian faces on the metro.

The flight to Urgench was short and uneventful - the best type of flight.  Although Urgench is a large town, we headed straight down the 30 km to Khiva as, according to the guide book, only “clueless tourist groups” stay in Urgench.  It goes on to describe Urgench as “a flat, grey Soviet city with all of Tashkent’s faults and few of its saving graces”.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the ancient city of Khiva.  Khiva is an ancient trading post on a side branch of the Silk Route.  Established in the 8th Century the majority of the buildings now here were built in the 17th Century.  Our hostel was within the city walls so we were in spitting distance of everything we wanted to see.  For a 15 USD tourist ticket you got entry into all the mosques, Madrassahs and museums you fancy.

Our tickets also included entry to the highest minaret which was short but steep climb up and gave us great views of Khiva.  All the stone steps were set very high apart so it was a good workout climbing them.  They must have the fittest Imans around.

The Khuna Ark was magnificent.  It contained numerous open courts from which the ruling Khan would receive guests, administer justice or pray.  Some courts contained a round stone plinth on which a yurt would be erected in the winter.  The temperature here varies from over 40 deg in the summer to below freezing in winter so all climates have to be coped with.

The beautiful blue tiles are individually painted.  They seem to be cemented onto the walls and then affixed with a nail for security.  Many of the tiles are numbered.

The throne room.

The tiling was amazing.

Khiva buildings date from the 16th century onwards.  In 1968, during the Soviet rule, all of Khiva's buildings were designated museums.  The most holy place, Pakhlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum, became a place where people were ‘invited’ to attend anti religious lectures, and another became a Museum of Atheism (it’s now a Zoroastrian museum).  As the Soviet republic continued over the years, Khiva morphed from a spiritual place of learning to a historical site to be abandoned.

In 1990 Khiva became the first site in Asia to be awarded a UNESCO world heritage site and regeneration began.  Buildings are being restored to their former state with tiles being replaced and plaster reapplied.  This process was naturally expedited by Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991.

JC visited here in 2001 and saw no hotels, restaurant or tourist stalls.  Now these sit side by side with the mosques and Madrassahs: like places the world over it has now become a tourist Mecca.

Silk weaving.

I loved the 16th Century Juma Mosque which contains two portals of natural light and appears like a leafless forest with its 117 wooden pillars, some dating back to the 16th century.

I worked out how to order Ruth friendly food today simply by ordering a side of veg and a side of rice.  Beetroot and squash are in season so the veg is usually boiled or fried combinations of these with aubergine, onion and potatoes.  It’s going to keep me fed along with nuts and fruit.  JC is discovering a favourite called lagman - beef, veg and noodle soup.

We found a place for a decent sundowner. Sunset. Wine.  The most awesome raspberry tea.

Tashkent - Fountains, Mosques, Parks

Monday 23 September 

After a 12 hour sleep (!) we ventured down to Independence Square.  Today, as we were trying to decipher the Cyrillic metro names at the station (our map had Latin script) some students befriended us and helped.  They were both studying international studies and the smartest students I’ve ever seen.  First year undergrads and wearing three piece suits.  In fact all the students we’ve saw were super smart.  It’s like office wear for lectures.  One of the students kindly accompanied us right down to Independence Square before leaving us.

We explored the fountains and arches under the watchful eye of the park guards.


Found the eternal flame in the remembrance memorial.

After lunch we explored a small mosque complex, Shayhantaur Memorial complex tucked behind a high street.


As I’ve seen at other mosques this had a rack of scarves outside, presumably for tourists.

Prayer time.

Loved the lights which were in keeping with the Ottoman Empire star and cresent.


We noticed that Tashkent has an abundance of white cars.  In fact not only white, but white Chevrolets.  About 80% of the cars on the road seem to fall in this category.

Other makes we saw were Daewoo and the odd Lada.  I was expecting to see many more of these.

As we walked down to the metro we waited at a road crossing next to a man.  A school girl no older than 7 walked up.  The man looked at her, offered her his hand and they walked hand in hand across the road.  Once over they dropped hands and went their separate ways.  What a lovely culture where children simply trust a stranger to cross the road with them.  I wonder when most societies lost that trust.

Whenever we were on the metro I was never allowed to stand.  There was always a teenager jumping up as I got on the train and insistent I take their seat.  I just go with the flow but it’s quite funny watching them all jump up for JC too.  He’s certainly not accustomed to being treated as an elder.

We strolled around a local park which had an air of faded glamour about it.  It was full of young couples enjoying time together away from the watchful gaze (glare?) of their parents.

Not quite sure what the red fruit was.

Tashkent has a wide variety of trees with oak, horse chestnut, spruce, willow and sycamore all abundant.

Lots of birds chirping around but I rarely saw a dog or cat. I  suspect that’ll change when we leave the capital.  I loved these plants!

We discovered a lovely restaurant for supper.  Unlike last night, we’d planned this one and knew it was veggie friendly.  It also had an English menu so we were quids in.  Veggie shaslik.  Rice.  Wine. JC had beef and noodles and the most awesome raspberry tea.  All for under 12 USD between us.