What is Central Asia? Why would I want to go to Central Asia? What countries make up Central Asia? All questions that were flung my way when I announced my plans to travel to this region of the world. If I said “the Stans” or the countries of the silk road I got a glimmer of recognition from some. For me Central Asia consisted of the Islamic countries that were suddenly unveiled to the world on the demise of the Soviet Union. Up until 1981 we had never heard of Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. By April 2024 I was finally ready to go and explore this part of the world once home to some of the greatest civilizations known to man, the land that connected Western Civilization with the Far East, the Silk Road, the lands squeezed between the Himalaya and the steppes of the Russian Federation.
Kazakhstan
I went to Kazakhstan because I made a mistake in my planning. I only had 2 weeks and my main goal was to get to the wonders of Uzbekistan. But after realizing my mistake and that it made more sense for me to fly into Tashkent in Uzbekistan it occurred to me that I quite probably would never get a chance to go to Kazakhstan again so I went there anyway.
Almaty
It was a long tiring flight to Almaty in Kazakhstan from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia following a long tiring flight from my home town of Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Unfortunately, my travel plans don’t always align with those of international airlines. I make it my practice as much as I can to never arrive in a new town in a new country after the hours of darkness. But once again the airline did not play ball and I found myself arriving in the not unsubstantial city of Almaty after dark. Despite the city’s size – around 2.5 million – the airport was small and spectacularly inefficient. None of the cash machines were working, there was only one bank open and this had a long line of people waiting. I decided I couldn’t be arsed standing in line and got talking with one of the taxi drivers who I later knew to be called Sultan. Despite warnings that the taxi drivers at Almaty International were unscrupulous bastards I settled on an arrangement with Sultan that he’d take me to my hotel for around NZ $10 and we’d stop on the way at a cash machine so I could pay him. Just a heads up that the Kazakh currency is called Tenge and there are around 300 Tenge to the NZ dollar, so that’s 3000 I owed him. On the way I told him that I also wanted to stop somewhere to get a kai and if he was able to take me to a restaurant that served traditional Kazakh fare I would buy him dinner. We stopped at a cash machine and I should have been more vigilant but I allowed him to stand near me as I withdrew money from my account – a beginner’s mistake I could almost smell the temptation on Sultan’s breath or so I imagined. In the end nothing came of it but I gave myself a good ticking off over it when I finally got to my hotel.
You might think it’s a bit odd to invite a complete stranger to dinner particularly an Almaty taxi driver that I had been told to be wary of. But to me the advantages are that I first of all get to eat with someone else, I really don’t like eating my evening meal on my own, also I get to try something I wouldn’t normally eat, thirdly I’ve got an interpreter with me, at least in this case Sultan had a decent amount of English and finally I had someone who could tell me something of life in Almaty or even in Kazakhstan generally. Besides the meal was cheap enough. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation and the meal shared with Sultan. This was to be the height of our relationship however. It was cold, dark and wet outside and it felt very Soviet, not something I had felt anywhere else before. I was glad to be with someone even if it was to be Sultan. We discussed him showing me around Almaty the next morning which was all the time I had as my flight left for Samarkand in Uzbekistan in the early afternoon. We agree on a price of 20,000 Tenge to show me the sights of Almaty and drop me at the airport. After dinner he dropped me as arranged at my hotel a pokey little place with only the barest of essentials. When he dropped me off I handed him the 3000 as arranged which was when his true colours came out. He told me to pay him 30,000. I told him no way the agreed price was 3000 and that’s what he was going to get. He came back with some crap about how I was his brother and he would only charge me 15,000 to which I made it clear he was no brother of mine and I wasn’t paying 15,000. In the end it was cold and dark and I was feeling a bit vulnerable so I told him if he was going to charge me 15,000 I’d take 5000 off for the meal I paid for him and I’d give him 10. We left it there but with a bitter taste.
That night I ummed and ahhed about whether I should stick to the arrangement to go with Sultan in the morning. No way did I want to rely on that sleazebag but I didn’t have any other contacts and finding an English speaking driver at the last minute was unlikely. In the end I swallowed my pride and sent him a message to pick me up in the morning. He arrived at least an hour late which meant we only had time to really get to two places the world’s largest wooden church – the Ascension Cathedral – and the gondola trip up Kok Tobe.
And then it was off to the airport. But when he dropped me there I went to pay him and found that I only had 16,000 on me. I said I’d go inside and see if I could get the remaining money out, if I couldn’t I’d sort him when I returned to Almaty in 10 days time. There was no cash machine and no banks at departures. But then it occurred to me I was short changing him 4000 but he had ripped me off to the tune of 5000 the night before so I figured we were all square.
Uzbekistan
Ironically one night in Kazakhstan left me with a more potent cultural experience than any of the other Central Asian republics largely due to the thick Soviet feel to Almaty in the dark and the rain and no doubt a large dose of my own cultural perspective. I did return to Almaty some 10 days later to catch my flight home and saw it in an entirely different light. It appeared quite modern, quite Western even and the cafe I ate in could have quite easily been found in Ponsonby or Mt Eden back home in Auckland. But now the main motivation for travelling to this part of the world was in front of me. Uzbekistan holds most of the cultural highlights from the old silk road and the vast empire of Timur of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Samarkand
Leaving Sultan behind in Almaty was almost as exhilarating at the time as finally making it to a place that I had been hoping to visit for the last decade or so. The airport at Almaty appeared totally inadequate with I think only 4 departure gates though I understand a new terminal has subsequently been built. The contrast with Samarkand was like landing in an entirely different world. While Almaty’s population of 2.5 mill had a crappy little inefficiently run airport Samarkand’s was state of the art. Uzbekistan has invested heavily in the tourist infrastructure and why wouldn’t it? It will, I’m sure become a huge tourist destination, to me it’s great sights are among the best anywhere in the world. The taxi dilemma I experienced in Almaty doesn’t happen in Samarkand – they have a designated reasonably priced airport taxi service which was a huge relief. My hotel was welcoming, the room pleasant and well lit and it was located right next to one of the big 3 sights of Samarkand like literally next door to Timur’s mausoleum.
It was however the Registan which was the main inspiration for the entire trip. Simply one of the great sights to be found anywhere in the world. It is the perfect time to go there, though tour groups are beginning to pour in it’s still manageable and certainly did not take anything away from the experience of being there and at NZ $14 or so to get in it’s a hell of a bargain compared to any of the great sights in other parts of the world. Actually the above shot was taken from a platform overlooking the Registan from outside the fence but come on why wouldn’t you go in for the full experience. BTW while I thought the currency rate in Kazakhstan involved mind numbingly large figures in Uzbekistan we’re talking 7000 soms to the NZ dollar.
I actually approached a group of young guys and asked them if they could show me to the 3rd great sight of Samarkand known as Shah-i-zinda as I thought it would be more likely they would speak English. They weren’t from Samarkand but I walked back up to the Registan with them and it felt great to be mixing with some Uzbeki folk (or any folk actually as I was already beginning to feel the need for companionship). We took a few photos and then they told me that I wasn’t welcome to hang out with them and walked off and left me which made me feel a bit stink. But anyway I walked around the outside of the Registan when I spied a tourist trolley picking up some local people so I hopped on expecting to be told to get lost or to pay up but it was clearly another of the forward thinking initiatives around the tourist industry and not only that but it took me straight to Shah-i-zinda. If I hadn’t have already seen the other two sights I would be waxing lyrical about it, it was impressive but I’d been spoilt.
I jumped on the trolley on my way back and when I got off outside the Registan there was the inevitable group of taxi drivers who approached me, the only individual foreigner (didn’t see any others anywhere in Central Asia – except the Japanese couple I’ll mention soon). I brushed them aside and then had a rethink. I was wanting to get to Bukhara, along with Samarkand and Khiva one of the great stopover points on the ancient Silk Road. However, the train that I was intending to take was booked out like 6 weeks prior unless I was prepared to take the night train which I wasn’t. The only other option was to fly. But then I thought maybe I could get a taxi to take me the 4 or 5 hours to Bukhara. The first driver I spoke to told me I’d have to pay 100 US so I thought it was best to just walk off if they were serious they would offer me a better deal. Another driver said he’d do it for 75 and eventually I got it down to 60 – which was about the same price as the train but picked me up from my guest house and dropped me at my Bukhara guest house.
The family who owned the guest house were very kind to me, they even cooked me a plate of plov (the national dish much like paella but with meat instead of seafood) without charge simply because I’d told them I hadn’t tried it. The next day the taxi arrived, I assumed (foolishly) that it was just me but I was driven to a carpark on the outskirts of town and transferred to another taxi with a couple of passengers in the back (not that I cared but the cost of a shared taxi was about a quarter of what I paid). The driver showed zero interest in me for the entire trip. He alternated between chugging on cans of coke and snacking on pumpkin seeds dropping the shells onto the ever growing pile at his feet at the same time he managed to spend a good part of the trip yelling into his phone. He had his own ideas on how to drive a motor vehicle. On a 2 lane highway if there was a car in each lane in front of him he just squeezed through at 80 kph or more. When we got to Bukhara he drove around traffic waiting at lights by driving through the gutter. But anyway he got me where I wanted to go and then right at the end as we greeted the owner of my new guest house I plonked the 60 bucks in his hand and he broke into a big smile, vigorously shook my hand, jumped in the taxi and headed back to Samarkand.
Bukhara
My new host was as young, pleasant and proficient in English as my host in Samarkand. The old town of Bukhara was a 15 minutes walk from the guest house and though it had elements of Samarkand’s registan about it it also had it’s own unique style and stunning in it’s own right. Probably the difference is with Samarkand in particular the registan you go to see it, whereas in Bukhara you go to walk around in it. I had a large room with a spa bath (surprisingly) that overlooked the courtyard which all the rooms were located around.
The next morning I went down for breakfast and got talking to a young Japanese couple who were doing a partial around the world trip as a honeymoon. Normally I wouldn’t butt in on anyone else’s trip but I was craving company and when they told me of their plans to visit the Ark fortress (not that I’d heard of it but would have gone with them if they’d been visiting a fish pond) I asked if they’d mind if I tagged along. They seemed pleased with the idea (or maybe they were just being polite, come to think of it that is one of the key pillars of being Japanese) so after brekkie we headed out and had a thoroughly awesome day.
Tashkent
I flew from Bukhara to Tashkent which is the capital of Uzbekistan but not a tourist town. Samarkand and Bukhara both had a bit of an artificial feel to them but Tashkent is no mistaking a bona fide modern city. It had a nice feel to it at least for the short time I was there. The only draw back was the usual debacle at the airport with the taxi drivers. The guy who picked me up was a bit of a rogue but we ended on good terms especially when I asked him about getting a ride to the Tajik border and he set things up with his brother to collect me in the morning.
The guy on the desk at my hotel in Tashkent could well be the most decent bloke I ever met. He organized ubers for me, recommended restaurants, was pleasant and amiable to chat with which I needed at the time and when I returned to Tashkent from Tajikistan I didn’t have the right change to pay my driver so he forked it out from his own wallet.
I returned to Tashkent after a weekend trip to Tajikistan – just across the border – and did my old invite the driver for lunch trick and he took me to what’s known in Tashkent as Plov Central. A huge restaurant the serves one thing and one thing only ….. starts with a p and ends with a v ….
Tajikistan
I thought it would be worth getting a peak at Tajikistan and had been planning a quick trip into Dushanbe – the capital – but it seemed like it was more trouble than what it was worth. Then my plans changed as I wasn’t originally going to Tashkent but one look at the map and I realised that Tashkent was a stones throw from the Tajik border. I was picked up by my taxi and headed off to the border just with my passport and toothbrush (I left my pack with the guy on the desk in the Tashkent hotel above). At the border there was plenty of activity and without much ceremony I was swept into a vehicle on the Tajik side and I waited and I waited. After 45 minutes or so, there were still 2 places to fill in the car so I told the driver I’d pay for them if we could leave straight away. He was thrilled with this and then magically a young woman with a baby just happened to jump in the car with us but what the hell we were off. It was only a 30-40 minute drive into the Tajik city of Khujand which was much larger than expected. The key thing I wanted to do there was to frequent the market, the Panjshanbee Bazaar, but the driver spoke no English then magically the car stopped at the lights right next to a huge market, the lady with the baby in the back to my surprise was able to confirm in English that this was the market I wanted. So I leapt out of the car and as I all my Tajik money came spilling out onto the seat the taxi driver could easily have just driven off but no not in this part of the world all the passengers scrambled around to help me pick up the cash and with a wave goodbye they were gone.
As I wasn’t carrying any luggage I was able to quickly merge into the market. I went a bit crazy with my phone as there was photos at every turn. To get good photos of a market or a street scene I’ve found that it’s best to stand off to the side by a post or a wall preferably where other people are gathered. You don’t want to be running about openly snapping a way that tends to get people’s backs up.
I spent a good couple of hours at the market before grabbing a taxi to my hotel – the Khujand Grand Hotel. And it certainly lived up to its name. I got a large room right on the corner of the street next to the Khujand fortress and surrounding park and the gondola station from which you could get a ride across the river all for around $60. The hotel restaurant was superb and very affordable despite its grandeur. I enjoyed my brief time in Tajikistan, you certainly wouldn’t call it overrun with tourists – in the time I was there the only foreigner I spied was a Chris Hipkins (Aotearoa/New Zealand prime minister at the time) look a like. Tajikistan is renowned for it spectacular mountain scenery but this would need to wait for another visit.
Kyrgyzstan
I suppose I figured that I’d never get another chance to go to Kyrgyzstan so I included it in my itinerary. I needed to get back to Kazakhstan to get my flight home so instead of flying directly there I decided to fly to Bishkek, the capital and catch a bus from there to Almaty – about a 5 hour trip. I had 2 nights only in Bishkek and to make the most of my time I hired a guide to take me on a half day trip to Ala Archa National Park. The trip was very pleasant and the guide, Max, was great company. So much so that I asked him if he wasn’t do anything in the afternoon if he could show me around Bishkek which he was quite happy to do. Bishkek was surprisingly modern and unlike the other Stans everybody wore Western clothing and even more striking the people had Chinese features unlike the Stans where most people had Turkic features.
Indonesia
Bali
It was a crazy whirlwind trip up to Central Asia and back. Ridiculous in many ways but with the twin constraints of time and money I didn’t have a lot of choice. In fact it was even more madcap than that as I still needed to get home. My flight went through Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and then supposedly onto Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam before continuing on to Bali in Indonesia and Brisbane, Australia before landing in Auckland (the Brisbane part was to spend time with my eldest son who lives there). However, I stuffed up not realising that I needed a visa for Vietnam – I’d been there several years before and it wasn’t then required. But my bad. I had a dilemma then. Initially I thought I was stranded and would have to buy a separate flight home but common sense prevailed as it occurred to me that I just needed to get to Bali to reconnect with my original flight plan.
I’ve encountered some weirdly coincidental situations in recent trips. This was one of them. I’d flown to Bali on my way home from London, England way back in 1987. There was a problem with my flight and I ended up having to fly out after only a night when I’d seen absolutely nothing. This time I flew in in the late afternoon and once again only had one night but fortunately my flight the next day left in the early evening so I had the best part of a day to look around. The taxi drivers at the airport were like vultures but after the initial onslaught one of the drivers came over and gave me a more reasonable rate so I went with him to my accommodation in Kuta and as is my wont I asked if he’d do me a good deal the next day for a tour. For about $100 he drove me to 5 or 6 destinations the best of these were the Pura Taman Ayun temple and the Tegenungan Waterfall, located near Ubud, Bali. It was quite a thrilling culture shock to go from the dry Central Asian plateau to the jungles and humidity of Bali.
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Very informative and fun at the same time. Good for us old fellas that are still up for a bit of intrepid travel.