The washing and toilet facilities were primitive but new Western style facilities were under construction. I suspect that anyone in Bokhara will be able to guide you to Mubenjon's, but it is quite easy to get to: take the small street leading south from the Lyab-i-Khauz, until you see a garage with the 5-ring Olympic symbol, and go down the adjoining alley until you see the sign (in English).
We spent the next couple of days wandering about in Bokhara - we were invited to a wedding celebration the first day, which was a lot of fun, though I found it impossible to keep up with the 'drain your glass each toast' style of drinking and must have left the impression that Canadians are wimps when it comes to vodka consumption. Bokhara was great, small enough that one could walk anywhere, more of a 'living' place than Khiva, and friendly (quite a few kids asked for pens, but they were not aggressive). I met quite a few English speakers here, and could have stayed longer. It takes at least 2 days just to see the major historical and architectural sights of Bokhara.
From Bokhara we went by bus to Samarkand. At the bus station there was the usual wild crowd pushing and shoving at the little ticket window. Twice I tried to penetrate, moving gradually towards the center of the maelstrom as people managed to exit with tickets, but both times I was unsuccessful in getting close enough to the window to shove my money through the little slot before being forced to relax my grip on the people in front of me for a split second and suddenly being forced from the crowd like a pip being squeezed out of a lemon! Finally someone at another (closed) window took pity on me and let me buy my tickets there! Queuing in Uzbekistan is a nightmare.
Finally we arrived in Samarkand, found a relatively good value place to stay (Hotel Zerafshan, the usual huge, run-down, dirty, Soviet style establishment, but not quite as huge, not quite as run-down, not quite as dirty as the others, and only $8 for a double, I recommend it).
Samarkand is a large, industrial city, with heavy traffic, mostly trucks and buses belching black smoke, and with the exception of the Timurid monuments, full of extremely ugly decrepit Soviet style architecture. I was disappointed, especially after Bokhara, which had met my expectations. The Timurid buildings were (to my eyes) beautiful but a little suspect, overly restored. And somehow lacked the magic that I had expected. There are more sites to visit than in Bokhara, and the individual buildings are impressive, especially the Shah-i-Zinda, but there wasn't the same pleasure of simply 'being there' that I felt in Bokhara.
Finally we returned by bus to Tashkent and had some fried chicken bones for lunch (a change from the usual menu mutton fat and mutton gristle!). We visited the State Art Museum, one of the few museums which is still open, and even that could be disputed - most of the rooms were blocked off with a rope barrier, for no obvious reason. It was very frustrating, to have to attempt to look at a museum's treasures with binoculars from the corridor. There were lots of guards standing around making sure you did not enter the closed areas - so it wasn't that they did not have enough people to guard the rooms! Finally, we saw a performance of Faust at the Opera, splurging on the best seats (US$1.75 at the official rate), perhaps 50 of 2500 seats in the theater were occupied. I recommend the Opera - especially as it is the only possible activity during a Tashkent evening!
The next morning we went out to the airport and ate every little bite of every meal on our 7 hour flight to Frankfurt ......
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In the above summary of the trip I have made some reference to practical details, and here I will elaborate on a few of those topics.
VISAS: as noted, we received visas at the airport with accommodation pre-paid. It appears easy to get a visa for the duration of one's intended visit if you have pre-paid accommodation for the first and last nights. We met a number of people who had entered Uzbekistan by land from other CIS states without visas. Their stories were wildly different, from some Australians who had almost been arrested, and spent 9 days in Tashkent trying desperately to sort our their situation, to some Americans who got a visas in a morning. Generally the visa situation is more strict and difficult than implied by the Cadogan guide, although some people still seem to get away with anything. An important note for UK passport holders: there is some agreement between the UK and Uzbek governments that UK citizens can move freely about in Uzbekistan without having every city that they want to visit written in their visa. We met a chap from the UK who had a copy of this agreement (in Russian) and showed it whenever necessary, I rather doubt that you could get by if you did not have a copy of the agreement.
MONEY: during our visit the som went from 22 to 23 to the U.S. dollar. It is impossible to use Traveller's Cheques or Credit Cards except at the Hotel Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Even the official Intourist hotels in Bokhara and Samarkand do not take Traveller's Cheques much less credit cards. You MUST have cash. The Cadogan guide recommends lots of small bills, but I found that wherever I had to pay in US$, I was able to get change in US$. You certainly do not need to bring a huge stack of 1 and 5 dollar bills, as I did. Don't change too much money into som, for anything that you can pay with som is inexpensive, and it is hard to go through a lot of som! Some typical prices: taxi rides within Bokhara/Samarkand 10 to 20 som depending on distance, entrance fees to museums/historical sites 5 to 15 som, meal at a street stall 5 som, meal at a hotel restaurant with vodka 10 to 20 som.
GUIDEBOOKS: the Cadogan guide is essential, but already quite out of date. Here are some corrections & additions to the book (in addition to what I have already mentioned) [square brackets indicate page numbers]:
GETTING TO CENTRAL ASIA: [7] PIA have one flight per week, currently on Monday, from Peshawar to Tashkent. [10] Regent Holidays will arrange Uzbek tours & accommodation but NOT the Almaty-Urumqi train [14] PIA do demand to see evidence that you have an Uzbek visa before you board your flight though I suspect that you can avoid this by claiming that you are in transit to somewhere else. [16] China Xinjiang Airlines now have weekly flights between Islamabad and Urumqi
PRACTICAL: Electricity [24] the plug size (the diameter of the 2 round pins) is larger in Uzbekistan than in Pakistan & China. I found it useful to have an adapter that ended in two bare wires which I could stick into any outlet. Guides [30] here (and in several places later) the book claims that you can join an Intourist group to visit Uzbek museums, etc. I tried this many times, and the conversation always went: 'Do you have tours to the museum?' 'Yes' 'Is there a tour today?' 'No' 'When is the next tour?' 'I don't know'. Police [39] For 'never offer a policeman a bribe', read 'never offer a policeman a bribe yourself, always get someone else to do it'. Tourist Information [42]: there is no Intourist office at the Hotel Uzbekistan anymore, only an Uzbektour office that sells air tickets.
TASHKENT: Getting To and From [94] The desk in the Hotel Uzbekistan charges US$8 service charge to get a domestic ticket, and an additional 4% if you pay with a credit card. Tourist Information [98] there is no Tourist Information in the Hotel Uzbekistan. On the 3rd floor there is a Business Center where you might get someone to tell you something if they are not busy with businessmen sending faxes. Museums [101] The Aybek museum is closed. All museums: in my limited experience there are no Intourist tours to any museum. Eating Out [106] the restaurant on the ground floor of the Hotel Uzbekistan is also 'hard currency', prices are very high (US$15 per person and up). All rooms include a breakfast buffet. Entertainment [107]: The Hotel Uzbekistan does not sell tickets to the Opera. From the box office the tickets range from 10 cents to $1.75.
SAMARKAND: Getting Around [115] Delete the paragraph about bus 10. In 3 days I never saw a bus 10 near any of the locations mentioned in that paragraph. Tourist Information [116]: to hire an Intourist car and driver to Shakhrisabz is US$72 not US$20. We hired a taxi for US$20, I very much doubt you could get one 'much more cheaply'. [128] The Khodja Akrar madrasa is in roughly the same direction as indicated on the map, but very much further away (it would be off the bottom of the page). Where to Stay [128]: The Zerafshan was US$8 double, with hot water from 0700-0900 and 2000-2300 most days. Eating Out [129]: The Chinese restaurant has closed and is now a shashlyk restaurant. The restaurants in the Zerafshan were quite OK (they actually had beef shashlyk for those who tire of mutton fat).
BOKHARA: The Zindan [145]: we were told that it often closes early and when we went there at 4pm it was already closed. Where to Stay [156] Hotel Bukhoro is US$60 double with no meals. The AT&T satellite credit card phone does not work. The Varakhsha has gone up from $2 to $30.
KHIVA: Getting to and From [163]: It took a lot of negotiation to get the taxi fare from Urgench to Khiva down to 200 som. There is no Aeroflot/Uzbekistan Airways office in the Amin Khan madrasa. Where to Stay [169] The Hotel Orkanchi is US$10 per person full board, and is located just south of the Amin Khan madrasa.
OTHER BOOKS: For historical background on Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara and Khiva, I recommend the appropriate chapters of Kathleen Hopkirk's A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia (John Murray, London, 1993). This book concentrates on recent (18th century and later) history; and if you get hooked, her husband Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game (John Murray, London, 1990) is over 500 pages of similar excitement and adventure. Hopkirk's Setting the East Ablaze (John Murray, London, 1984) is an entertaining (and often shocking) account of the Bolshevik battle for Central Asia from WW I to WW II.
For information on the current social and political situation in Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian CIS countries, 'The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism?' by Ahmed Rashid (Oxford University Press / Zed Books 1994 is excellent.
Mark Seltzer
28 Ravina Crescent, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4J 3M1
e-mail: mark.seltzer@acm.org
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