Central Asia

For this part of the trip, we booked a private tour which brought us from Khiva to Nukus and the banks of the Aral Sea, covering over 1000km in 2 days. Now that I’ve made it out alive, I can … Continued

The high speed rail line ends in Bukhara, which means to go to Khiva, you’ll have to take the slow train that leaves Bukhara at an ungodly hour of 4am, arrive in Urgench >6h later, then arrange for another transportation … Continued

The good thing about Samarkand train station is that there’s only one platform. So if there’s a train arriving more than 20min before your departure time, it’s probably not yours. I got annoyed by tour groups again, so let’s skip … Continued

To everyone who gives me *that look* when they ask me where I’m going for holiday and I say Uzbekistan, let me put things into perspective. Uzbekistan received 6.6 million tourists in 2023, which is ranked right below Australia (7.2mn) … Continued

I’m jumping right into the tea. The real misadventure here is 1) self connecting in Dubai, and 2) taking Uzbekistan Airways to Tashkent. We had to stamp into Dubai at Terminal 3, collect our luggage, pay AED6 to take 1 … Continued