Prvi del poti (Uzbekistan) že skoraj za nami

Pred začetkom te poti me je kar nekaj kolegov začudeno povprašalo, zakaj hudiča med dopustom silimo v zimo. 🙂 Po njihovo je pravo dopustovanje povezano s toplimi kraji (ali pa mogoče smučarijo kje v soseščini) in na koncu jih tudi moji argumenti, da pač iščemo kraje, kjer je turistov ta trenutek manj, hkrati pa še vedno lahko najdemo zanimive zgodbe, doživetja, nekako niso prepričali. 🙂 Torej, trenutko se klatimo še po Uzbekistanu, ki počasi leze iz temperatur pod letiščem. 🙂 Če nas je prvi dan pričakalo močno sneženje in konkretno zimske temperature, smo v mestu Khiva že počasi zlezli nad “prijetne” temperature nad lediščem. 🙂 Če bi odstranili še današnji dež, bi lahko že skoraj govoril o pomladi. Drugače pa je Uzbekistan res fajn popotniška destinacija, ki ponuja ogromno. Ljudje so prijazni, odprti, ustrežljivi. Mesta na svileni poti so naravnost fantastična, fantastične so tudi cene različnih stvari. 🙂 Dobri hoteli stanejo tam okrog 25 EUR, cene v restavracijah pa so že kar smešne – nekaj eurov za vse 3 za celotno pojedino.Težko bi izpostavil, kaj je bilo najboljše tekom poti po Uzbekistanu. A če bi že moral, bi zagotovo omenil prižiganje lučk na veličastnem Registanu v Samarkandu, pa stari del mesta Bukhara, včerajšnji jutranji market nekje na podeželju južno od Bukhare in pa včerajšnje raziskovanje ostankov starodavnih trdnjav svilene poti. Ja, tudi pastirske sposobnosti najmlajšega so bile včeraj uspešno prestane. Pred nami je še nekaj dni Uzbekistana, potem pa se s 30 urno vožnjo z vlakom podajamo v neznano. Najprej na skrajni zahod Kazahstana in divji večdnevni off road trip po Ustyurt platoju, potem pa počasi na vzhod.

Before starting this trip, a number of colleagues asked me why we decided to take a trip to the countries, that are still in winter. 🙂 According to them, the real vacation is connected with the warm places or maybe skiing somewhere in the neighborhood. Even my arguments that we are just looking for places where there are less tourists at the moment, but at the same time we can still find interesting stories, experiences , somehow not convinced them 🙂 So, right now we are still in Uzbekistan where winter is slowly saying goodbye. On the first day we experienced heavy snowfall, but right now in Khiva the teperatures are a bit better. 🙂 Otherwise, Uzbekistan is a really fine travel destination that offers a lot. People are friendly, open, helpful. The towns on the Silk Road are fantastic, and the prices of various things are fantastic. 🙂 Good hotels cost around $ 25, and restaurant prices are super cheap – a few euros for all 3 of us for the whole lunch. Its hard to pick out the best things that we saw till now. But if I had to, I would definitely mention the lights on the magnificent Registan in Samarkand, the old part of Bukhara, yesterday’s morning market somewhere in the countryside south of Bukhara, and yesterday’s exploration of the remains of the ancient fortresses of the Silk Road. And it was a magical experience looking at my son when he was “working” as a shepherd. 🙂 We have couple of more days to spend in Uzbekistan and then the 30-hour train journey will led us into the unknown. First to the far west of Kazakhstan and a wild multiday off road trip along the Ustyurt Plateau, then slowly east.