Journey of Life

Eights days, three splendid cities. From preserve restored Islamic sites to the more modern Soviet Unions architecture, the cities incredibly distinguished by its own identities. Last night we backed to the Hotel Uzbekistan, a classic example of a Soviet's architecture built in 1970. And we will be leaving Uzbekistan and hopefully we 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 for late check-out. That morning, we went to Chorsu Bazaar located in the center of the old town of Tashkent. We were given a 2 hours for shopping where we did bought souvenirs and local delicacies. Picture on left: Roslina at the grandeur Hotel Uzbekistan

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 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.

I'm kind of early morning person but I had to stay in caused the weather seem harsh to me! Samarkand was even cooler than Bukhara and we had experienced snow falls yesterday. I've more than 80 pictures for this entry of the first day in Samarkand. We only had barely a full day today in Samarkand and early tomorrow morning we will be going to Chimgan. Even though today's trip start 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 peak of the winter season in mid January. Picture on left : Nu'man @ Amir Timur Mausoleum

On the fourth day we transferred to Samarkand, its about 270 km from Bukhara. At around 9 am, the bus started the journey following the route passing through Navoi and made several stops. After about one hour, we stopped at Gijduvon to visit a ceramic center for about an hour. The traditional ceramic making was passed from generations to generations. A visit to ceramic pottery will surely be one of the brightest memories of a trip to Gijduvan. While we were served with simple breakfast, the host demonstrated the way to put down their baby to sleep, in a cot. It's not a normal cot but it has been modified so that the baby can pee and poop directly   into a bowl. Picture on right: Taking picture in front of the Rangrez Hotel after check-out.

If yesterday we had to wake up as early as 4 in the morning to catch up the flight, today's itinerary started a bit late, so we fly out the bed a bit late! The weather still freezing with the temperature never go beyond 10 degree Celsius, even in the midday. We added another later in clothing to withstand the coldness. No matter what, the journey must still go on. By 10 am, our bus headed to the center of Bukhara. Bolo Haouz Mosque, Ark Citadel and the Kalyan Minaret are some of the most famous structures. Another important and symbolic highlight is the Lyabi-Hauz Ensemble, stop in the evening.

When I was searching for attractions in Tashkent, it's Metro Station was at the top in the list. Built during the USSR era, each metro station was ornate with different themes designed by prominent architects and artists of Uzbekistan. It was recommended to view the spectacular design of now being permitted to take pictures inside metro station since 2018. Back to our trip, the journey started, and ended, in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. With the first day in Uzbekistan pretty much exhausted with travelling, exploring Tashkent were mostly on final two days. Uzbekistan Airways HY 053 bound to Bukhara at 8.20 am. So we woke up at 4 am, and an early breakfast has been prepared as requested by our tour leader, Mr Zulfekar. Nu'man by that time has been recovered and full recharged. We were excited to visit the historical city of Bukhara. Around 6.30 am, we checked in for the 2 hours flight.

Uzbekistan, a Central Asia country was never in  front or center of our travel wish list, however it was a fascinating country with a lot to uncover. A bit on Uzbekistan, language spoken are Uzbek and Tajiks, but Russian is the most spoken. It's pretty hard to communicate with the locals. And as their SOM currency is not being traded, we brought a couple hundreds of US Dollars for our 8 days stay in Uzbekistan. Money changers can easily be found in the city or even in the hotels. SOM 10,000 equivalent to MYR 4.30 and a naan bread cost around 1 ringgit.