A welcome return to Khiva

I know what's on your minds. Who won the Snoring Ashes? 

 

Sadly it went to form. Jeff crashed nicely at about 10.30, and produced a gentle, and almost inaudible but consistent rumble pretty much immediately. Whereas, I manged to observe our arrivals into Jizzakh and Samarkand well into the early hours of the morning. Somewhere between Samarkand and Bukhara I finally got off to sleep, eventually waking at about 8.30 a couple of hours short of Urgench. although it was not a good night's sleep, it was hardly unexpected - part of the three in five sequence that I was not looking forward to. On a positive note though, only one of those three left - a night of camping in "very basic conditions, with no proper toilet facilities" near the Darvaza Gas Crater in the Karagum Desert. It promises to be a classic night.

Basic facilities in the desert???

At around 10.40am, sixteen and a half hours after leaving Tashkent, our train slowly ended its 1000 kilometre journey in Khiva. We arrived to a glorious clear and sunny day. It was just lovely to be back somewhere that was familiar. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I'd get another chance to visit this wonderful Silk Road City. But fate had it that my route to Turkmenistan was to be via here - what a bummer!

 

We're dropped off at our "boutique hotel" near the South Gate of Ichan Qal'a, the fortified old city of Khiva. It's called Shaherezada; it's rather lovely, even though it's way too early to check in.

 

Boutique Hotel Shaherezada

Out we go, straight into a day long guided tour around the city. Tbh, I'm tempted to do my own thing as it's likely to be a virtual repeat of what we did last September. The then the penny (actually the S'om) drops - go solo, and I'll have to pay my own admission fees to the various sites. Additionally, being the only person in the group who is effectively travelling alone, it's probably not wise to give the impression of being aloof at this early stage. Off we trot, heading for the Western Gate of the old city. When we get there, there's quite a commotion going on - I can see golden flags being waved inside the gate. Within a minute a dancer emerges from the gate swirling like a dervish in a wonderful gold and black outfit that appears to have wings. Then two stilt-walkers clad in white emerge waving their beautiful gold flags. It really is a sight to behold - welcome to wondrous Khiva.

 

 

Outside the Western Gate

Once inside the Western Gate we're confronted by the stumpy Kalta Minor Minaret, and then we dive straight into the Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassah, which is now the Orient Star Hotel, where we stayed last year.

 

 

First stop after that was the Zindan Prison with its macabre pictures of various means of meting out justice to miscreants. I'll not post post the pictures, but they include methods such as - stoning, burying alive, impaling and throwing off a minaret - all very Life Of Brian, and hopefully there were no women there at the stoning!!

Throughout the day we took in Kuhna Ark, Toshhovli Palace, the East Gate and Fortress Walls, Juma Mosque, Allakuli Khan Madrassah, Islom Xo'ja Madrassah and the Pahlavan Mausoleum.... a stack of pics to follow............

 

Kuhna Ark

  

Juma Mosque

 

 

Out and around the Eastern Gate

Allakuli Khan Madrassah

This day was really the first opportunity to get to know the various members of the group. We had Brian and David from Baltimore. Partners in, I guess their late 30's, Brian could speak 9 languages fluently. Rather helpfully one was Russian. Next up were Jim and Anne from Florida, who were around about my age (25!). Unfortunately, when we were in the Kuhna  Ark Anne, who walked with the aid of a stick at times, took a tumble and cut her lip - a lot of claret was shed, but she battled on stoically. She was incredibly fortunate that it was nothing worse, and seemingly it didn't require her to give the local healthcare offering a once over.

Alongside the previously mentioned Aussie Jeff, were his friends and compatriots Reg and Liz. They are regular travellers together, and have had the pleasure of visiting North Korea. It will be very interesting to see how they think secretive Turkmenistan compares. Last up, and definitely not least, were the self-proclaimed "Girl Gang". Three British women in their late 20's to early thirties (again I guess). Hailing from Leeds (Raeesah), London (Charlotte) and Colchester (Emma), they became travel mates when they were on a holiday a couple of year's ago. Instantly, they are incredibly friendly;  open, sociable and genuine. By the end of the day I'd been granted honorary membership of the gang! Quite how that happened I'm not sure - perhaps it was help the aged day? Emma and I had already had a long chat about "The Rest Is politics Podcast" when she spotted me reading Alastair Campbell's latest book, so that was a great start, and perhaps the reason for inclusion in the "Gang". The three of them had arrived into Tashkent via a long weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan.

 

 

 

Toshhovli Palace

 

Islom Xo'ja Madrassah

  

Pahlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum

The day touring Khiva was a joy. It is just one of those places that just has "the vibe". This time it was definitely busier, but I put that down to it being a Saturday and the presence of more Uzbekistani's than last time. There were numerous groups of young women, all dressed very smartly in black or beige skirts and white blouses. They looked similar to the uniforms worn by local school children that we saw last year, but were definitely  older than 20 - maybe Uni Students or perhaps Hen do's - I've no idea really. 

Once we'd finished at the Mahmoud Mausoleum, the group went back to the hotel to check in, and get ready for dinner. Of course, I had work to do - stamps and cards were badly needed to deliver on promises of postcards. To many this would feel like a chore, but I love the challenge of the bureaucratic, logistical and language barriers. It proved to be simple, as Richard has described where I needed to go to. However, the cards had to be written quickly and posted before the place shut at 7pm. I knew a restaurant nearby with outdoor seating overlooking a public chess set where I could enjoy a beer whilst scrawling the usual staccato sentences. Job done for now - delivering on the Turkmenistan end of the card deal was bound to be much harder.

 

Despite having a lovely day, I realise I'm missing having Cate around - I think it's just that sense of being the one in the group without a genuine mate or partner around. All very strange - it's like I'm a bloody stroppy teenager who needs their parents around so that they can ignore them! She's spending the week looking after Eliza whilst Lara and Max are in Paris. I'm getting a steady flow of pictures of Eliza enjoying the Beach Hut - she's at that age where they melt you.........just to be clear I meant Eliza there, not Cate!!

 

 

 

Compared to last year's trip, this one is far less prescriptive in terms of meals provided, so you can opt in or out of accompanying the group. I cannot begin to describe how much better that is. It's nothing to do with the people in the group, and everything to do with being given a bit of freedom, and not wasting c2 hours sitting on my arse eating course after of course of unnecessary food. Cushdie, As Mr Trotter would say. So this evening I exercise my right to go solo, just wandering aimlessly around the Ichan Qal'a. The light, however, is hazy so there's no point going up to the observation deck for the classic shots of the Khiva skyline as the sun goes down, and floodlights come on. Furthermore, the robbing bastards have introduced a 100,000 S'om fee for doing so - ok that's only about £6.20, but is shows the growing commercialism that we'd predicted last year.

 

And now for the really big day - crossing into Turkmenistan. Best estimates are that it'll take us 3 hours to get through immigration and customs into one of the world's most private countries. I'm excited! It's the reason why I'm here.