Khiva. Day 8

 After several days in Ashgabat we changed city - and country today. This meant being out of our room at 4am to take a bus to the airport and the 6am flight to the town of Dasugoz on the other side of Turkmenistan. It was only  a 50 minute flight so although it was cramped it passed quickly enough. We were then taken to a hotel for a basic breakfast before being bussed to the border.

There was quite a bit of rigmarole next. Showing people our passports - every guard wanted to see them, though it wasn't clear why. I lost count but we showed 7 or 8 people our passports. Having our bags x-rayed by both countries (not clear why Turkmenistan cared, as we were leaving). After the Turkmenistan customs we boarded a bus to drive the 1km to the Uzbek side and deposited 100 metres short of the building, to drag our bags across the tarmac. Extremely dreary, in our tired state, but not actually hard. Then onto a good, big bus for the hour's drive through cotton fields to Khiva. There were markets and villages and it was fairly colourful.

This seems a complicated way to change countries, but Turkmenistan must not have a great relationship with its neighbours as there are no flights straight into any other Stan.

We are in the old, walled city - all mud brick buildings and cobblestones, so we had to de-bus and walk the last hundred metres to the Hotel Zarafshon Boutique, which is right by the south-west corner.

City Wall with Graves

Hotel Central Courtyard

After having some time to settle in, the guide took us through the middle of town for an orientation and then turned us loose - we went to the first cafe for a drink and light lunch.

East Gate

For the rest of the afternoon we went back to rest and organise, and ventured out again with others from the group to find a rooftop terrace for dinner.

Location: Unnamed Road, Khiva, Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan

Comments

  1. Dad10 September 2026 at 05:30

    A very irritating thing about some trips is dealing with petty officialdom. I have always liked the line from "Measure for Measure", - "He was dressed in a little brief authority".
    I'm enjoying your notes and pictures.
    Me

    ReplyDelete

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