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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Aug 03, 2008 02:00 PM Khiva (Uzbekistan) - at sunset and later
At sunset, Khiva looks its best. The long shadows of the minarets and Islamic schools create wonderful play with mosaics and the grid of the upper part of the city walls. The soft light of the dying sun rays make the mudbrick buildings glow golden. The best spot to take some spectacular photos is the top of the fortified complex by the main gate. Everything can be snapped from there - all the great buildings and minarets but also the wavy-curvy city walls, my favourite.
When the sun disappears behind the horizon, life seems to stop. There are no bars or clubs in Khiva. All eateries cum cafes close down at 9pm with the exception of the bar adjacent to the Asia Khiva Hotel - and there is the pool as well. The bartenders were very friendly and I stayed there until 4am. The owner of the hotel dropped by as well, so I had a chance to praise the personnel at the reception (a guy named Ali) and the two lads in the bar. He appreciated that and I learnt that as a local Uzbek entrepreneur he was very respected and liked in Khiva.
The city was very concervative, so I did not meet any local girls. Only men went out at night as their wives and girlfriends stayed at home. I am not complaining. The chaps were fine and even a local guitarist came to play some tear jerking local and Russian songs. It was a great night. I am so glad that Roxana Tour put me in that hotel! I would highly recommend them and they do trips along the Silk Road in all Central Asian countries.
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Aug 02, 2008 02:00 PM Tashkent - first impression
The capital of Uzbekistan has welcomed me with temperatures exceeding 42C, as officially measured. What it has been in the sun, I have no idea. Coming on Sunday meant fairly empty streets and little traffic. That created a great first impression. The wide shaded pedestran alleys criss-crossing the city felt wonderful.
I just walked along the Rustaveni alley from my hotel to the Grand Mir Hotel, so I could exchange some money. I came in at a wrong time, as the bureau de change was on a break until 6pm. This gave me 45 minutes to browse the Internet on my iPhone through free wi-fi in the nice air conditioned lobby, slounching in one of the hyper-comfy sofas. This is where I am typing (tapping) these words.
My plan is to continue along the alley towards the historic part of the city. I really cannot wait to see those monuments there. Perhaps I will use the metro.
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Aug 02, 2008 02:00 PM Tashkent - second impression
Tashkent is really great. Its wide alleys and free flowing traffic make an impression of a relaxed place. The wide pedestralised areas among grand trees are all great.
Roxana Tour, who invited me to Uzbekistan, took me out. Well, I feel like I made them, but I hope we had a great time. The owner and his colleague showed me a few places. First we had a couple of drinks in TheCaravan restaurant and then they whisked me to Dudek Restaurant. A place set up by a Czech, who has the same name as me. They brew excellent beer there and serve delicious snacks, including sausages. The quality of the place is stamped with an excellent band, playing superb mix of tunes.
Then, we went to the Diplomat Service, which celebrated its third anniversary. It was great. It is a big nighclub with two dancefloors complete with poles for pole dancing. They also had a hall with a few pool tables. The place made rather good fruit platter, which was obligatory - in place for a cover charge, which was nil.
In the morning, I confirmed with myself that I did indeed like Tashkent. It was cilivilised and easy to move around.
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Aug 01, 2008 02:00 PM Russia - Siberian capital
Novosibirsk, positioned allegedly in the geographical centre of Russia and the capital of Siberia is not very attractive. It is high rise concrete blocks of flats erected from gray prefabricated parts, with a theoretical shelf life of 20 years.
There are few churches in this concrete jungle and the only remarkable structure is the nice Trans-Siberian Railway Station. Anyway, Novosibirsk is a large city trying to make a statement that there is civilisation in Siberia. Perhaps lagging a decade or two behind the European parts of Russia, but there are ATMs and hefe-weizen beer served from tap, imported from Bavaria!
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Jul 31, 2008 02:00 PM Russia - Siberian Total Eclipse of Sun
Well, I caught up with my friends, without avoiding problems, sadly. But luckily we got together at the Hotel Central in Biysk and caught up a little. It was the eclipse day. The main purpose of our coming to Biysk, an uninspiring Soviet town, at the Biya River. Weather kept up nervous. Clouds covered most of the sky and the sun broke only aloccasionallt through somewhat frequent gaps. Yet the clouds were moving too fast.
Eventually, we took an executive decision to take a taxi and drive in the Gorno-Altaysk direction, chasing the parts of the act that were not obscured. We stopped about 8 minutes before totality, right in the middle of the gap between two thick clouds. But about 1.5 minutes before the total eclipse, the gap closed and we were really disappointed. Fortunatelly, about 45 seconds into the 2 minutes totality, a couple of small gaps in the cloud revealed the disc of the sun obscured by the moon and a small corona. It was not perfect, but it was spectacular. I managed to snap a few photos.
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Jul 30, 2008 02:00 PM Russia - Siberia is nice and hot hot hot
It took me almost exactly 24 hours to reach Biysk in Siberia from London. It was 4 h on the flight to Moscow, 6 h wait on the airport, 4 h on the flight to Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, in the geographical centre of Russia, 2 h wait for luggage to be offloaded there, 0.5 h on a Taxi to bus terminal, 4.5 h on a minibus to Barnaul and 2.5 h on a shared taxi to Biysk.
I could have flown from Moscow directly to Barnaul, saving at least 8 hours.
Siberia is vast spaces, green, lakes, rivers, trees... And it is hot hot hot, with temperatures in Biysk exceeding 35C easily.
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Jul 29, 2008 02:00 PM Siberia - I am off to Altai Kray
It will take me quite a long time to get to Biysk, but hey that is the purpose of travelling. The only shame is that I have a 5.5 h stop over in Moscow, which I could actually do without.
Then, from Novosibirsk, I am taking a coach or a bus (not sure yet) all the way to Biysk to meet my friends. I hope they are going to get there, after their trouble at the Mongolia-Russia border.
I have not yet decided whether to take a look at Moscow... five hours sounds like a lot of time, but then it is so far from the airport, and then commuting back and forward with all the luggage does not necessarily appeal to me much. I will see when I get there.
Hopefully, there will be plenty of internet cafes everywhere for me to report on the progress.
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Jul 27, 2008 02:00 PM Kazakhstan - internal flights
Although I wanted to keep it cool and relatively flexible, my nerves did not hold, and I decided to buy a ticket from Shymkent to Almaty. I learned from bitter experience by not making early bookings from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk, and the accommodations in Barnaul. I visited the Air Astana website today and found that a relatively flexible air ticket was about £70. This was reasonable, so I booked it and I am now a little less flexible with my itinerary between Tashkent and Bishkek. Now, that IATA requires airlines to issue e-tickets, life appears much more simple with the tickets, although I am still taking paper tickets for my London-Moscow-Bishkek-London route!
Anyway, it I think I am glad that I booked the flight today. At least I have more certainty that I will manage to get out of Turkestan vicinity, closer to Almaty/Bishkek area in time for my departure back to London. And it will save me much time. I will depart in the morning and will arrive in Almaty in the morning, in time to do some sightseeing, perhaps organise myself for the mountain hiking or even pre-organise transport to Kyrgyzstan.
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Jul 24, 2008 02:00 PM Uzbekistan - visa obtained
As instructed on Monday this week, I went back to the Uzbek Embassy to collect my passport, hoping my visa would be glued onto one of the pages. And it was!
The same guy in the tiny window was seating there and again did not say much. He took my numbered tag, found my passport and said: £47. Compared with the £20 for the Kazakh visa, this is not cheap, and even more expensive than the regular £45 fee for the Russian visa. Anyway, this is the end of the painful five week process of obtaining the official letter of invitation, tying oneself to a specific tour agent in Uzbekistan and paying them $580 for the invitation letter, hotel bookings, etc. Well, at least I am not planning to spend more than $100 on food and entries in Uzbekistan following these arrangements. But we will see and you will know immediately as I plan to report on location.
So, apart from hotel bookings in Siberia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (but I am not too worried about the latter two countries), one internal flight in Kazakhstan, coach trips between Tashkent and Turkestan, Almaty and Bishkek, I am set and ready to go.
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Jul 23, 2008 02:00 PM Russian Federation - Siberia Hotels Booking Failure
My stress levels are already rising. I tried to book hotels in Barnaul for the total eclipse, but they claim that they cannot take any bookings. This is not entirely unexpected but it is causing me a slight problem. I tried the Central Hotel in Barnaul - they have a nice website and allow online bookings in Russian. I booked a room and they made me wait until today replying (in Russian) that they could not process the booking. I have a chance to follow up on the telephone, but I have a feeling that there will be problems with the hotels at that time.
I am scheduled to meet my friends in Siberia, who are on their two year honeymoon bike trip around the world. They have a tent, so I will be able to get camping accommodation, although I did not see any campsites in Barnaul or Biysk. I will try to phone a few other hotels in the area to see if I can get a room for three of us somewhere. It does not have to be funky, but it should not be too expensive either.
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