Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong

[stm1sydney]

On board!

 

[LadyC]

China Airlines and Air China are 2 different airlines

Yes I realised after @Henleybeachad responded - my bad. Either way, the product was better than I anticipated.

 

[henleybeach]

Asiana Airlines
A330-300 business class
530pm departure

After a sleep in the transit hotel and a quick beer in the Asiana lounge we headed off to board our flight to Tashkent.

A glass of Champagne while we settled into our seat. Pillow , blanket but no amenity kit supplied, first impression was wow , this is a five star airline ??? Outdated angled seats, interior outdated , IFE is shockingly outdated.

We ordered the Korean menu which was the ssambapp and it was delicious, fresh Clean, crisp and full of flavour . I ordered the shrimp western starter and that was nice as well. The service was good and the FAs very friendly.
I got the cheese platter with a glass of 20 yo Taylor’s port which was very nice. What is it with cheese platters on airlines , they give you all this cheese and then put 2 crackers on the plate!

What really lets Asiana down is the seats , the service and food is great just the seats and IFE are awful , but it’s still better then sitting down the back !

I dozed off for a couple hours and woke up with only a 90 minutes until landing , a quick coffee and some water and we were ending our marathon to Tashkent.

We were through and into the country of Uzbekistan in about 15 minutes from landing , unreal. Straight off the plane with a bus waiting for us , straight to the terminal , immigration didn’t ask one word, just stamped my passport (visa free now) , went to baggage carousel and our bags were first out and in the car with a driver we had waiting out the front. Easiest international airport ever!

Straight to lotte hotel for some rest and ready for tomorrow.

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

 

[stm1sydney]

Yeah, soft product on Asiana is great - service and food both exceptional, including in Economy. Toilets kept very clean and well stocked etc. (My best Y meal that I can remember would have to be a very tender and tasty spicy octopus on Asiana - and this at the end of a 10 hour SYD/ICN flight, closely followed by their ssambap and bibimbap.) Hard product not as good.

 

[stm1sydney]

Not sure if you are spending time in Tashkent first, or heading straight to Bukhara.

Tashkent: great shashlik restaurants around to the right of the main dome at Chorsu bazaar - a separate building with about 10 such places all serving shashlik, non (bread), salad and tea. We paid 45,000 som (2 pax). If you go up a couple of sets of stairs from here, you can see the non bakery in action.

Bukhara: go out to the main market (Buxoro Markaziy Bozori), very large and interesting, we had four samsa (samosa) and tea for 8,000 som at "Sabina" samsa. Also, in the centre of town, if you do not want to eat at the tourist traps (noting they all add service charge of 15% onto already inflated prices), walk east on the main road for approx 500m to the grilled chicken place "Cafe Boctok" and 800m to a dumpling soup and samsa place "Cafe Shohrud". Local prices, no tourists/tour groups.

Local vodka is very good and very good value.

 

[henleybeach]

We have a day today in Tashkent before Bukhara , Thankyou for the tips we will check them out . Love eating where the locals go

 

[stm1sydney]

Lotte Hotel is close to Cosmonaut metro so use that to get to Chorsu (and get on and off at every station in between for photos!) - the metro is great.

 

[henleybeach]

We had a full Day in Tashkent today so we went off after breakfast and walked to Hotel Uzbekistan. They have a hop on hop off bus that departs from there , we Decided to jump on as it was only $12 and took about two hours. Unlike other hop on hop off buses around the world, it actually doesn’t work like that . It stops at the sights for 15-20 min so you can take pictures and you jump back on the same bus. I’m glad we did it in the end as the commentary along the way was informative. We caught the metro to chorus bazaar and had a look Around and then had some lunch. Plov , meatballs , bread , salad and a juice each came to a grand total of $8 and it was sooooo Nice. Tashkent surprised me , it was a lot greener then I thought maybe because it was spring and we both enjoyed it. I recommend defiantly having one full day here to look around.

It’s lovely and 31 degrees here and not a cloud in the sky,after lunch we headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for a swim and a cold beer

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

 

[stm1sydney]

Samarkand:
Lunch: At the back (west side) of the main market (Siyob) next to Bibikhanum, there is a separate building and there are a couple of grilled chicken places here, a large one at the front and a smaller one on the side. We went to the one on the side (no name) and had half a chicken, bread, tea for 16,000 som. Tourist-free zone.
Dinner: Near Registan, in the side street to the south beside the Registan Supermarket ("Suzangaron St"), about 100m down, there is a restaurant with a pink facade, lots of Uzbek men here knocking back the vodka and eating shashlik. Beer also available. After dinner you can buy a bottle of Uzbek vodka in the bottlo on the corner, for later!

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

Today we were off to Bukhara by plane, the ticket cost a grand total of $48 pp. after breakfast at the hotel we went for a walk around some parks and gardens before heading to the domestic airport in Tashkent. Our flight was on a A320 and was full to the brim. There was two tour groups on board. It’s the first time sitting in economy I’ve seen everyone get a pre departure drink, a chose of Pepsi, 7up or water.

We checked into hotel Fatima in Bukhara , a little boutique hotel for around $95 a night including breakfast . We dropped our bags and went exploring around for a couple hours, it was only 35 degrees here ! After dinner once the sun had set, the amount of people doubled , all the locals with families were out and the kids running around having fun, we bought a ice cream and watched the locals.

Who doesn’t love people watching! One of the kids was riding his bike around being a pain , nearly running into everyone, a policeman walked over and told him off and obviously the kid was cheeky back, so a quick slap across the chops from the policeman quickly sorted him out and he pushed his bike as he walked off ! Our train leaves tomorrow at 1550, so some more exploring in the morning before we leave, it really is amazing how old and pretty with all these buildings / structures are.

 

[henleybeach]

This is Po-i-Kalyan mosque complex and it consists of three structures built in the 12th - 16th centuries: Kalyan Minaret, (below photo) Kalyan Mosque and Mir-i Arab Madrasah.

 

[henleybeach]

The Kalyan minaret
It’s in the Po-i-Kalyan mosque complex

 

[stm1sydney]

Also in Samarkand (as you liked the plov/osh in Tashkent): Afrodita Super Osh on Orzi Makhmudov St.