Day 19 Bukhara to Khiva

A long day of travelling today. In fact, it’s a 470 kilometre trek from Bukhara out to Khiva, close to the border with Turkmenistan - the least accessible, and most eccentric country in the “Stans”.


For half an hour or so we drove through the modern, and ever developing suburbs of Bukhara. The usual urban sprawl of shopping malls, flats, offices etc. This is where Uzbekistan is so different to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is quite simply a lot richer than, and more developed than its neighbours.


After about 90 minutes we start to traverse the Kyzylkum Desert. Although it’s not the big sand dunes type of desert, it is nevertheless sandy, barren and pretty deserted. The road was straight, and we seemingly drove for hours without seeing anything of note whatsoever. Imagine the poor Silk Road traders taking weeks to cross it in searing heat. 







We stopped for a very decent lunch at a place in the middle of nowhere, then continued the monotonous journey. There was a brief stop to look across the Amu Darya River to the border with Turkmenistan a kilometre away. Complete with soldiers patrolling, and lookout posts.






The last action of note on the journey was somewhat bizarre. The road ran alongside the railway line to Khiva and beyond. However, when got to the crossing point of the Amu Darya River, we were held at a road block for 20 minutes waiting for a train to pass. Once it had gone we drove up onto the single carriageway bridge that the train had just used, and promptly crossed with our wheels straddling one of the embedded tracks.





Finally we got to our hotel in Khiva - the Orient Star. It’s fair to say that the best had been saved until last. Okay, it’s not 5 star in terms of facilities, but it’s 10 star for atmosphere. The building is a wonderful old Madrassah. Judge for yourself…..







We’ve got the full tour of Khiva tomorrow, so will get all the technical details and history. For now, here are some photos taken after dark. Beautifully restored, it is pure Arabian Nights


























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