Our friends A and D invited us to join them on their trip to Uzbekistan. We gladly accepted as it would not be likely that we would do it on our own steam. The trip was to attend a wedding (of strangers) in Uzbekistan and to tour the 4 cities on the Silk Road: Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. This is a narrative trip report, so maybe boring – as I am not good at posting photos.
Flights:
There are very few major airlines flying to Uzbekistan. The most direct route from Australia is with Korean Airlines with long layover / transit in Incheon (18 hours on the outbound and 11 hours on the inbound): SYD – ICN (10 hour flight) and ICN – TAS (7 hour flight). Half an hour to an hour less on the return legs.
Initially we were going to slum it in Y, but the return flights were overnight so we forked out for J for the entire trip. For us, flying at the pointy end has never been about food (as a few of you on the forum know how fussy hubby is with food!) and drink (we are tee-totalers). Rather, it is about that extra ‘real estate’ in the sky. Hubby calculated that it cost $400 every hour for us on the planes.
Korean Air is part of Skyteam. We have not flown with any Skyteam member before. We then had to decide which Skyteam ff to join as we don’t want our earned points go to waste. We settled on Delta as their points never expire and they had a match challenge for Oneworld members. I matched hubby’s QF life gold with DL gold. I have had no status with any airline after covid.
After our 2 outbound flights SYD – ICN – TAS, both of us earned our DL silver. Then after our 2 inbound flights TAS – ICN – SYD, hubby got DL gold till end of January 2024. But I stayed on DL silver ☹ - because hubby got more miles as a matched DL gold.
The shared Skyteam lounge at SYD was nothing to crow about. Same for the shared lounge at TAS. The business lounge at ICN was OK.
For the long 18 hours layover, we stayed at the Ibis Styles hotel near ICN – cheaper than the Grand Hyatt. The hotel is 2 years old. Rooms are small, minimalist, but clean, comfortable with good size bathroom (shower only). We paid extra for breakfast as there is nothing around except for a small shop in the hotel selling snacks. Breakfast was a buffet with both Asian and Western food choices. It would be nicer if they had a variety of teas – instead of just green tea and black tea. Coffee could be made from a machine.
For the 11 hours transit, we did not want to sit in the lounge. We booked 6 hours at the transit hotel. This turned out to be a good decision as we had 4 hours solid sleep, and a shower to refresh before going to the lounge. The room (as expected) was pokey, but the beds were comfortable with crisp white linen.
On the 2 outbound flights, hubby thought he would just eat what’s on the menus, but he struggled as there was no veg option. So, we pre-ordered the veg option for the 2 inbound flights. This did not turn out well either because they served exactly same main course on both flights ☹
Flight SYD – ICN was B789 - apex suite seats – 2 x 2 x 2
Flight ICN – SYD was B748-i (this is the extended hump). We were upstairs, apex suite seats – 2 x 2. We like upstairs because in addition to normal overhead storage, there are extra storage bins along the windows. (OTT: I remember years ago BA and TG had Y seats upstairs on B747 – where I loved to sit.)
Flights ICN – TAS and TAS – ICN were A332 – lie flat sleeper seats, no suite – 2 x 2 x 2.
The KE crew were all very nice and attentive. The toilets were kept clean and refreshed throughout the flights.
ICN airport is large – long walks to and from gates.
We were going to check in a bag for the wedding clothes, but in the end we managed with only 2 cabin bags each– one for the wedding clothes and shoes, the others for touring.
PS – no visa is required for Australian passport holders, for Uzbekistan.
The wedding
Our friend A has been to Uzbek six times over the past 20 years. We were privileged to be invited to A’s friend’s sister’s grandson’s wedding. It was held in a beautiful large reception hall in Tashkent. The wedding had great entertainment – traditional dances and songs (of course we did not understand any of it, except for a familiar operatic song). Of course the delicious food (including horse meat!) was piled high on the tables – one could not even put a pin between them. It was an enjoyable highlight of our trip.
The Silk Road city tours
Our friend A planned the 9 days tour with a tour company in Tashkent (called Anur Tour – reviews are on tripadvisor) recommended by her Uzbek friend’s daughter.
To start the tour, we flew from Tashkent (6am!) to Urgench with Uzbekistan Airways – it was 1hr 10min. A good flight.
The tour included 9 – 11 seat vans to take us from city to city (Urgench to Khiva, Khiva to Bukhara, Bukhara to yurt camp, yurt camp to Samarkand) and sightseeing (around Samarkand and Tashkent). In Khiva and Bukhara tours were done on foot around the old cities for 6 hours– we stayed inside the old cities.
We travelled by high speed train from Samarkand to Tashkent – 2hr 10min, speed averaged 160km/hr.
At each city, the sights were broadly similar: madrassas, mosques, minarets and necropolis buildings, originally made from mud bricks with tiles stuck on, and which have been restored to varying degrees. The most instagrammed site is the Registan in Samarkand – it consists of 3 madrassa buildings: one built in 15th century and two in the 17th century. On our free day in Samarkand, hubby and I walked from the hotel to the Registan – 1 hour each way! Here is a photo.
Hotels
Tashkent: we stayed at 2 different hotels. At the beginning of our trip – the Gabrielle, this hotel needs a complete refurb. Bed linen was very odd. At the end of our trip – the Milan, a 2 year old hotel, very clean and modern. Comfortable bed. Breakfast buffet had wider and better choices than other hotels we stayed at. I would stay here again.
Khiva: a small hotel called Orqonchi. This hotel is conveniently located inside the old city – all the sights were outside its front door. Breakfast had the smallest / limited choices.
Bukhara: a family owned hotel called An Nur. It is conveniently located inside the old city with sights in walking distance, and restaurants, bustling shops next to the hotel. The rooms at this hotel were better than the one in Khiva.
Yurt camp – an experience not to be repeated, although the food (B / L / D) was good.
Samarkand: a Russian hotel named Shaxzoda. After the yurt camp, this was a breath of fresh air. Indeed it was the best on our trip and has opulent furnishings throughout. The bed was comfortable. As soon as we checked in, I had a long hot shower. I would stay here again.
Food
We did read about Uzbek food – mainly meat. Hubby struggled a bit, but he did not lose any weight!
Hotel breakfasts – there were a lot of processed / cured cold meat, sweets (candies, chocolates, dried raisins / apricots, cakes), walnuts, almonds in shell, fresh fruit (apples / oranges / astringent persimmons / sometimes bananas), cooked eggs, sausages, sauteed assorted vegs, rice porridge, bread, tea, coffee, fruit juices (sometimes heavily diluted). The cherry juice at the Milan was very nice; the hotel had salad and veg varieties.
Meals at restaurants were quite cheap. For 4 of us (sometimes we invited drivers and tour guides to eat with us), average bill was between A$30 to A$50. We ate mostly Uzbek food – plov (or pilaf), shaslik meat (hubby did not have any!), salad (mostly cucumber and tomatoes), bread (different cities make their own distinctive type of bread), noodle soup with meat.
A and D’s friend took us to 2 nice restaurants in Tashkent. One is called a cheese restaurant where we could watch cheese being made. The pizzas were quite good. The bill for 10 of us plus 2 kids was around A$210. The other was a Georgian restaurant serving huge boiled dumplings. The bill for 6 of us was just under A$100.
Restaurants added between 10% and 15% for service charge. If paying by credit card, there was also a 2% card surcharge.
Cheap car rides
Taxi / car rides in Uzbek were very cheap. If we wanted to go to a restaurant, we asked the hotel reception to book a car for us. They all have an app on their phone – called Yandex. They told us how much to pay, how long it would take for the car to arrive, and the car number plate – like Uber, I guess.
Gripe: USD clean, crisp notes
We had to pay Anur Tour for hotels, vans, tours in USD. They required clean, no mark, crisp notes! This common requirement irks me a bit (@kpc can relate to this). They rejected 3 notes from A and D. When we arrived at TAS, after immigration we headed to a counter to exchange US$100 (exchange rate is fixed by the government – US$1 = UZD12K) to buy a local sim card. They looked at my new USD note and said it had a dirty mark on it, and refused to accept it. Reluctantly I pulled out another new USD note. In return, I got their used, dirty and horrible looking notes – not happy ☹. I should have brought my MacBank platinum debit card (no FX fee) to use at a machine to withdraw UZS notes. However, I was told that the machines often did not have enough money in them and therefore have a low limit on withdrawals.
Overall, we had a very enjoyable trip. We were very impressed with the clean streets, beautiful flowers on the side roads, many trees in all the cities.
I know some of you want to do the 5 stans as part of your bucket list. But if you have limited time and only want to visit one country, Uzbekistan is probably the one.
Flights:
There are very few major airlines flying to Uzbekistan. The most direct route from Australia is with Korean Airlines with long layover / transit in Incheon (18 hours on the outbound and 11 hours on the inbound): SYD – ICN (10 hour flight) and ICN – TAS (7 hour flight). Half an hour to an hour less on the return legs.
Initially we were going to slum it in Y, but the return flights were overnight so we forked out for J for the entire trip. For us, flying at the pointy end has never been about food (as a few of you on the forum know how fussy hubby is with food!) and drink (we are tee-totalers). Rather, it is about that extra ‘real estate’ in the sky. Hubby calculated that it cost $400 every hour for us on the planes.
Korean Air is part of Skyteam. We have not flown with any Skyteam member before. We then had to decide which Skyteam ff to join as we don’t want our earned points go to waste. We settled on Delta as their points never expire and they had a match challenge for Oneworld members. I matched hubby’s QF life gold with DL gold. I have had no status with any airline after covid.
After our 2 outbound flights SYD – ICN – TAS, both of us earned our DL silver. Then after our 2 inbound flights TAS – ICN – SYD, hubby got DL gold till end of January 2024. But I stayed on DL silver ☹ - because hubby got more miles as a matched DL gold.
The shared Skyteam lounge at SYD was nothing to crow about. Same for the shared lounge at TAS. The business lounge at ICN was OK.
For the long 18 hours layover, we stayed at the Ibis Styles hotel near ICN – cheaper than the Grand Hyatt. The hotel is 2 years old. Rooms are small, minimalist, but clean, comfortable with good size bathroom (shower only). We paid extra for breakfast as there is nothing around except for a small shop in the hotel selling snacks. Breakfast was a buffet with both Asian and Western food choices. It would be nicer if they had a variety of teas – instead of just green tea and black tea. Coffee could be made from a machine.
For the 11 hours transit, we did not want to sit in the lounge. We booked 6 hours at the transit hotel. This turned out to be a good decision as we had 4 hours solid sleep, and a shower to refresh before going to the lounge. The room (as expected) was pokey, but the beds were comfortable with crisp white linen.
On the 2 outbound flights, hubby thought he would just eat what’s on the menus, but he struggled as there was no veg option. So, we pre-ordered the veg option for the 2 inbound flights. This did not turn out well either because they served exactly same main course on both flights ☹
Flight SYD – ICN was B789 - apex suite seats – 2 x 2 x 2
Flight ICN – SYD was B748-i (this is the extended hump). We were upstairs, apex suite seats – 2 x 2. We like upstairs because in addition to normal overhead storage, there are extra storage bins along the windows. (OTT: I remember years ago BA and TG had Y seats upstairs on B747 – where I loved to sit.)
Flights ICN – TAS and TAS – ICN were A332 – lie flat sleeper seats, no suite – 2 x 2 x 2.
The KE crew were all very nice and attentive. The toilets were kept clean and refreshed throughout the flights.
ICN airport is large – long walks to and from gates.
We were going to check in a bag for the wedding clothes, but in the end we managed with only 2 cabin bags each– one for the wedding clothes and shoes, the others for touring.
PS – no visa is required for Australian passport holders, for Uzbekistan.
The wedding
Our friend A has been to Uzbek six times over the past 20 years. We were privileged to be invited to A’s friend’s sister’s grandson’s wedding. It was held in a beautiful large reception hall in Tashkent. The wedding had great entertainment – traditional dances and songs (of course we did not understand any of it, except for a familiar operatic song). Of course the delicious food (including horse meat!) was piled high on the tables – one could not even put a pin between them. It was an enjoyable highlight of our trip.
The Silk Road city tours
Our friend A planned the 9 days tour with a tour company in Tashkent (called Anur Tour – reviews are on tripadvisor) recommended by her Uzbek friend’s daughter.
To start the tour, we flew from Tashkent (6am!) to Urgench with Uzbekistan Airways – it was 1hr 10min. A good flight.
The tour included 9 – 11 seat vans to take us from city to city (Urgench to Khiva, Khiva to Bukhara, Bukhara to yurt camp, yurt camp to Samarkand) and sightseeing (around Samarkand and Tashkent). In Khiva and Bukhara tours were done on foot around the old cities for 6 hours– we stayed inside the old cities.
We travelled by high speed train from Samarkand to Tashkent – 2hr 10min, speed averaged 160km/hr.
At each city, the sights were broadly similar: madrassas, mosques, minarets and necropolis buildings, originally made from mud bricks with tiles stuck on, and which have been restored to varying degrees. The most instagrammed site is the Registan in Samarkand – it consists of 3 madrassa buildings: one built in 15th century and two in the 17th century. On our free day in Samarkand, hubby and I walked from the hotel to the Registan – 1 hour each way! Here is a photo.
Hotels
Tashkent: we stayed at 2 different hotels. At the beginning of our trip – the Gabrielle, this hotel needs a complete refurb. Bed linen was very odd. At the end of our trip – the Milan, a 2 year old hotel, very clean and modern. Comfortable bed. Breakfast buffet had wider and better choices than other hotels we stayed at. I would stay here again.
Khiva: a small hotel called Orqonchi. This hotel is conveniently located inside the old city – all the sights were outside its front door. Breakfast had the smallest / limited choices.
Bukhara: a family owned hotel called An Nur. It is conveniently located inside the old city with sights in walking distance, and restaurants, bustling shops next to the hotel. The rooms at this hotel were better than the one in Khiva.
Yurt camp – an experience not to be repeated, although the food (B / L / D) was good.
Samarkand: a Russian hotel named Shaxzoda. After the yurt camp, this was a breath of fresh air. Indeed it was the best on our trip and has opulent furnishings throughout. The bed was comfortable. As soon as we checked in, I had a long hot shower. I would stay here again.
Food
We did read about Uzbek food – mainly meat. Hubby struggled a bit, but he did not lose any weight!
Hotel breakfasts – there were a lot of processed / cured cold meat, sweets (candies, chocolates, dried raisins / apricots, cakes), walnuts, almonds in shell, fresh fruit (apples / oranges / astringent persimmons / sometimes bananas), cooked eggs, sausages, sauteed assorted vegs, rice porridge, bread, tea, coffee, fruit juices (sometimes heavily diluted). The cherry juice at the Milan was very nice; the hotel had salad and veg varieties.
Meals at restaurants were quite cheap. For 4 of us (sometimes we invited drivers and tour guides to eat with us), average bill was between A$30 to A$50. We ate mostly Uzbek food – plov (or pilaf), shaslik meat (hubby did not have any!), salad (mostly cucumber and tomatoes), bread (different cities make their own distinctive type of bread), noodle soup with meat.
A and D’s friend took us to 2 nice restaurants in Tashkent. One is called a cheese restaurant where we could watch cheese being made. The pizzas were quite good. The bill for 10 of us plus 2 kids was around A$210. The other was a Georgian restaurant serving huge boiled dumplings. The bill for 6 of us was just under A$100.
Restaurants added between 10% and 15% for service charge. If paying by credit card, there was also a 2% card surcharge.
Cheap car rides
Taxi / car rides in Uzbek were very cheap. If we wanted to go to a restaurant, we asked the hotel reception to book a car for us. They all have an app on their phone – called Yandex. They told us how much to pay, how long it would take for the car to arrive, and the car number plate – like Uber, I guess.
Gripe: USD clean, crisp notes
We had to pay Anur Tour for hotels, vans, tours in USD. They required clean, no mark, crisp notes! This common requirement irks me a bit (@kpc can relate to this). They rejected 3 notes from A and D. When we arrived at TAS, after immigration we headed to a counter to exchange US$100 (exchange rate is fixed by the government – US$1 = UZD12K) to buy a local sim card. They looked at my new USD note and said it had a dirty mark on it, and refused to accept it. Reluctantly I pulled out another new USD note. In return, I got their used, dirty and horrible looking notes – not happy ☹. I should have brought my MacBank platinum debit card (no FX fee) to use at a machine to withdraw UZS notes. However, I was told that the machines often did not have enough money in them and therefore have a low limit on withdrawals.
Overall, we had a very enjoyable trip. We were very impressed with the clean streets, beautiful flowers on the side roads, many trees in all the cities.
I know some of you want to do the 5 stans as part of your bucket list. But if you have limited time and only want to visit one country, Uzbekistan is probably the one.
- thanks to A and D. The traditional dancing and singing performances were absolutely amazing. The food was delicious (no not the horse meat). We spoke to the groom's grandmother, mother, his 2 sisters - all speak very good English, and various relatives.
