Unwell in Uzbekistan

We ended up having a lot more than expected down time in Uzbekistan.  When we arrived in Samarkand we stopped in front of the Registan for some pictures and were approached by some German tourists.  They asked us about our trip and wondered if we had been sick thus far because one of them in the group was just recovering from a week of being ill.  I said we had been alright so far and if we were feeling a bit under the weather, we would just buck up and cycle onward.  Well, ironically hours later after we checked into the Bed & Breakfast I suddenly became ill.  I am still not sure what caused it or what exactly I got but I had the fever and felt like crap.  I was weak and kept crapping liquid around the clock.  My guess is it was either Giardia or just some bacterial diarrhea.  The next day I went out to exchange some money at the Siob bazaar nearby and right in the middle of the exchange as I was counting the money I became dizzy and felt another fever coming on.  I quickly left but it was too late as I blacked out and face planted the pavement.  The stacks of Uzbek som I just exchanged were scattered everywhere around me as were the other items I was carrying.  I was out like a light.  Next thing I know I wake up with cold water being splashed on my face and I am surrounded by many locals trying to help.  Two of them kindly lifted me up off the ground and moved me to a seat so I could regain my composure.  Then they called an English speaking guide over to assist and she told me to see a doctor and to drink a bit of vodka with salt.  I passed on her drink suggestion and at the time wasn’t planning on seeing a doctor but the next day I did just that.  It was a bit difficult trying to explain to the doctor my symptoms but the doctor got someone on the phone who spoke some English and he translated.  They were all very nice at the hospital and didn’t charge me anything.  They prescribed me some antibiotics and said to rest up.  After a few days of taking the antibiotics I didn’t feel any better so I consulted my aunt back home.  All the while Trevor was restless and wanted to get a move on.  However, the all mighty Trevor who feels invincible would join me in my misery as he fell ill with the same thing.  As a result we both took some Tinidazole and began to feel better the next day.  In total, we were in Samarkand for six days, which was five days more than we originally planned.

Overall the roads in Uzbekistan are not all that great as there are lots of bumps.  We were also met with lots of headwind early on.  We managed to luck out and find some stealth camping spots but it has been a bit trickier here as there is lots and lots of farmland. 

To avoid any trouble when we exit the country we have stayed at a proper hotel at least every three days so we can officially register.  Apparently they may check this when we leave the country and if we don’t have the proper slips they can fine us or ask us for a bribe.  All in all it can get a bit messy but from the cyclists we have passed earlier they had no trouble here and it seems it is a ‘luck of the draw’ type deal if the border guards do in fact check our registration slips.  Fingers crossed we don’t run into any trouble leaving the country tomorrow.   

When we made it to Tashkent we immediately applied for the double entry Kazakh visas.  Not sure why but me being the obvious foreigner I was told to go in first without signing up to wait in line.  The process was quite straightforward but unfortunately it has taken a week to process.  As such, we had a lot of waiting around in the capital.  It was a shame we couldn’t hit two birds with one stone and get the Chinese visas as well but the consulate has been closed this week.  So now that we have the Kazakh visas we will finally be back on the road tomorrow and head for Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan via Kazakhstan.  Hopefully we will get the Chinese visas there. 

Our first rest stop in Uzbekistan we are greeted by this nice man who gives us some bread with yogurt dip and two pomegranates he picked from a bush nearby.  I really love pomegranates so it was neat to see the bush they are grown on.  Unfortunately these had the white arils and I like the red ones much better.  But beggars can’t be choosers.

The cotton pickers were out and about and we saw many of them doing their thing in the fields.  Saw cotton being transported by the truck loads just like this one. 

Our first night in Uzbekistan was spent in Bukhara at this traditional house.  The room we stayed in here was pretty unique but the picture of that girl above me creeped both of us out a bit.  

I had a nice morning stroll in Bukhara and would probably place it as my favourite Uzbek city we visited.  

The more reason to use other means of transport like the bicycle for getting around.  We saw a few horrendous lines of vehicles whilst cycling through the country waiting to fill up at the pump.  This was the worst of the bunch.   

A mountain of melons. 

Trevor delighted as ever for making it to the famous Registan in Samarkand. 

Trevor was so kind to snap a photo of me just after I fell ill and feeling like crap.  

Here is me at the Siob bazaar shortly after I got up close and personal with the pavement.  This was my first time fainting so it was pretty neat.  I have had a couple of close calls in the past but had always managed to control my drop to the ground and regain my composure before blacking out.  I hit the ground pretty hard here and my chin still hurts. 

There have been very, very few days like this one but here is Trevor very pale and exhausted.  I felt okay after we left Samarkand but Trevor still wasn’t his normal self.  He had no appetite so he went the day without eating.  At the end of the day he was out of it and couldn’t think straight but after a good night’s rest he was better the next morning. 

Very happy to have finally found a pomegranate with red arils!  And this was probably one of the best pomegranates I have ever had.  Very sweet and delicious.  We purchased a couple of delicious pomegranates on the roadside around Gulistan.  In Tashkent I bought some more and they all had red arils so I have been very pleased about that. 

The hardships of our time in El Salvador came back to haunt us.  We have been running low on US dollars and will need more to pay for our Chinese visas.  As such, we cycled to an Asaka bank branch that according to my Lonely Planet dispenses US dollars.  Trevor proceeded to use the ATM to get some US dollars but the machine ate his card.   This was the second time Trevor has had his card eaten by an ATM.  Luckily a nice woman helped him out and said to return at 9am that morning to get his card back.  So we waited an hour or so and sure enough, Trevor got his card back.  This thing seems to happen a lot as the woman who gave Trevor his card back also held a stack of them ready to return to their respectful owners. 

The Amir Timur statue in the center of Tashkent.

Khast Imom… quite nice.

One thing that gets me excited is going into supermarkets.  We haven’t really been in one since Turkey so I was happy to see them all over Tashkent.  Although I continued to shop in bazaars as the supermarkets weren’t all that better.  Still walking up and down the aisles was a joy for me. 

I have never seen so many police officers in one city.  They are all over the city.  In every street corner, every metro exit, in the metro, every corner of an intersection.  Not sure they are actually doing much good as they seem to just annoy the people they check on.  I had been checked on twice: when I took the metro and when I entered the train station area.  And both times were annoying.

A former work colleague of mine who is from Uzbekistan was kind enough to put me in contact with her cousin, Komila, who lives in Tashkent.  Komila was super nice and took me out for an afternoon to show me around town.  We had a nice lunch at a restaurant before going to the Old Town and walking around Chorsu bazaar.  I enjoy wandering around bazaars and Chorsu was definitely a lively bazaar so it was pretty sweet. 

I checked out the TV Tower and planned to go up it until I found out the price tag to go up is $15USD for foreigners.  A far miss from the $1USD entrance fee quoted in my guidebook.  As such I gave that a miss.  The tower kind of reminds me of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai. 

I enjoy food so I walked to the Central Asian Plov Centre north of the city and sampled some plov.  It was quite delicious and I gobbled it up fairly quickly.  That said, I still prefer the samsas which are much cheaper.  Trevor is a huge fan of them too and we have both been on a diet of samsas here in Tashkent.   

Here is Trevor outside for the first time in literally a week.  And once again his eyes are closed when I snap photos of him.  Seems every time I take a shot of him his eyes are closed… I think he blinks too much.  Anyway, while I was out exploring Tashkent, Trevor lay on his bed chilling out and eating samsas in the hotel the whole week.  He had no interest of exploring around town but to give him credit, he did cycle around the first day we were here.  But then again that was mainly because we were scouring the city trying to find where we were going to stay.  We ended up staying in a dormitory at a hotel inside the train station. 

The Kazakh visa… our final visa for the ‘Stans.  We packed up this morning raring to get a move on again as the guy at the Kazakh consulate told me to return in the morning with our passports.  We did just that thinking we would get the visas slapped on and be off but the guy then told me to return at 6pm.  Both Trevor and I were frustrated as we are both quite impatient when it comes to bureaucratic things like this.  That delay obviously put a damper on our planned immediate departure so we ended up going back to the train station hotel.  We are now spending our final night in Uzbekistan and tomorrow will finally leave for Kazakhstan!