Silk Road Trekking Dispatch
July 28, 2009 – Adventure Begins in Tashkent
Members of the Team in Tashkent
Team members from Holland, Canada, United States, England, Australia and Spain are in Uzbekistan now. This 2009 version of Berg Adventures / I.P. Trek wanderlust is underway. Jim will join us in Samarkand in a few more days; Alex has arrived in Samarkand from his own journeys in Tajikistan. We spoke with our hotel in Samarkand this morning and they confirmed that he has arrived.
Meanwhile the bulk of our crew of adventurers has arrived in Tashkent. This morning at 6:30 AM, Paul, Ken, Mike and Kathy stood looking surprisingly fresh in our hotel lobby here just off Aeroflot flight 163 from Moscow, a try “red eye” flight that deposits passengers at Tashkent’s International Airport in the wee hours of the morning. Prior to this Nancy Lee had arrived from the US, Annette from Australia via Seoul, Linda from London, Charles and Vera from Holland via Istanbul. Wally and Leila have been here a few days making preparations for this Silk Road tour and our mountain trip which will commence across the border of Tajikistan in a few days time.
Tashkent is a welcoming urban surprise. It is Central Asia’s largest city with a population of more that 3 million people. Now in mid summer it is hot. We’ve seen temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius this week. But wide streets, green parks and lovely shade trees lessen the impact of dry desert heat. The relaxed smiles of people here belie the size of the city.
Left: Captain Alex about to sail across the desert with our bags toward Bukhara. Right: Our desert vessel is quite large for a group of 12 – and it is air conditioned!
With nothing more than some water on their faces and a quick breakfast for our recent arrivals we took off in a very large, air conditioned bus for a day tour of Tashkent. Just before we left another large bus, driven by our “Captain” of desert travel, the driver Alex, took off with our large duffel bags full of mountain gear for the drive to Bukhara. Alex will be driving that large bus 11 hours today to reach Bukhara where we will meet him tomorrow morning after a short flight there. In coming days you will see “Captain Alex” and his vessel in the deserts of Central Asia with all of us aboard.
Some highlights of our tour of Tashkent are seen in these photos.
The mountain gear in these bags will come in handy in the snow filled Fann Mountains
Across from our hotel is the Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre.
There are not many tourists in Tashkent. We found friendly locals taking pictures of us out of interest. Annette with new friends.
Left: Mike and Kathy stroll toward Independence Monument. Made from the melted bronze of a Lenin statue, this globe represents Uzbekistan’s independence
Right: Charles and Vera enjoy Tashkent. Their stay in Istanbul had been lovely, but shared with many other tourists.
The tomb of the unknown solider, representing the losses of Uzbek people in the Second World War, is one of Tashkent’s most important monuments.
Left: Leila, tireless in her organizational efforts, took time to enjoy the tour with us today.
Right: On the streets of Tashkent, you’d never have guessed that Paul had only slept one hour on the plane last night.