Journey of Life

Eight days, three splendid cities. From preserved restored Islamic sites to the more modern Soviet Union architecture, the cities are incredibly distinguished by their own identities. Last night we backed up to the Hotel Uzbekistan, a classic example of Soviet architecture built in 1970. And we will be leaving Uzbekistan and hopefully we will return to this fascinating country that has a lot to uncover. Uzbekistan Airways flight HY 553 back to KLIA was later in the evening, at 11-ish. Mr. Zulfekar, our tour leader, has requested a late check-out. That morning, we went to Chorsu Bazaar, located in the center of the old town of Tashkent. We were given 2 hours for shopping, where we bought souvenirs and local delicacies. Picture on left: Roslina at the grand Hotel Uzbekistan Facing the Chorsu Bazaar, by Nu'man We had good bargains at this stall Amek le satu yang... buat baju raya tahun ni (;-P) The one on left is recommended... jumma cake After spent about...

This post will be full of white! Yup, it is snowy in Chimgan. Early in the morning after breakfast, we headed to the railway station and then embarked on the Afrosiyob to Tashkent at 6.45 am. Coach no. 5 was where all our group sat. The journey took around 2 hours, passing several provinces. When we were approaching Tashkent, we saw some of the villages were covered with snow, indicating that it was even cooler here! Picture on right: Arriving at Tashkent Railway Station. The Afrosiyob train There was a Railway Museum in front of the central station The bus then headed to Beldersey Resort in Chimgan passing through the mountain and Charvak lake for about 2 hours.  The views were magnificent, blue and white along the way. Half way, our bus were stopped by the police and we were not allowed to go further up. Mr Ilham said that the mountain is observed and monitored by the authority for safety reasons. If the road condition is prone to danger, public were not allowed to p...

I'm kind of an early morning person but I had to stay in because the weather seemed harsh to me! Samarkand was even cooler than Bukhara and we had experienced snowfalls yesterday. I have taken more than 80 pictures for this entry about the first day in Samarkand. Today in Samarkand, we barely had a full day, and we will be going to Chimgan early tomorrow morning. Even though today's trip started at 10 in the morning, we had visited most of the main attractions and then finished the day shopping at Siyob Bazaar. After the breakfast, we went outside, as we saw several others were playing on the ground. Snow starts to fall again; yes, we were so excited since it was our first. Mr. Ilham said that this weather condition is the best, as the snow is not heavy. It was at the peak of the winter season in mid-January. Picture on left: Nu'man at Amir Timur Mausoleum The first stop was the Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum, the conqueror of Asia, also known as Tamerlane. Apart from ...