Related to the title: after the first hour walking in Tashkent, it was rather an emphatic defeat than a conquest. At 7 am, I’ready to find my way to Maleva’s place (shower). Confident on my good sense of orientation, I don’t take the same way we took yesterday, but a shortcut… “my shortcut”. I must have missed one street! I go back, take other, turn around, ask people, look at my map, but Maleva’s place is gone! I go to the starting point and go by the way of the day before. The same result, but at least I arrive to the same point I did before. Finally I find the house, in a street that I don’t remember at all to have passed by! It took me 1h20 min instead of the 10 min I had planned. The shower deserved it anyway! After this I decide to get information about how to get registered so I can be completely independent about the choice of accommodation.
Face to the wall! I call the office of registration. “Niet, Uzbek or Russisk, no Engliska”. I ask a member of the staff of the hotel, who asks a second person, who asks a third to help me to find an interpret (the cleaning lady was off this day). They introduce me to a Israeli guy, born in Uzbekistan, who can speak some English. He calls the registration office, he gets a phone number. He calls this number, he gets a second number. The same repeats about 5 times. No results. I ask other member of the staff, she brings me to the train station, a registration office is there! The officer sitting there takes himself by Karimov and talks, talks and talks in Russian. He only writes my name in the first piece of paper he finds on his desk and that’s it! What can I do in front of such a bureaucratic and hermetic wall? I decide no to loose my time with this and continue my stay in the same hotel, a place able to give me the registration paper.
The rest of the day, I’m busy scanning the whole city looking for a book guide of Central Asia (I ask tourists, leave my e-mail address to the only English library in town) and an ATM that accepts my PLUS card. I fail in both missions. My only consolation is that I’ve almost seen all the modern part of the city and that my fear of policemen disappeared. I talk to them, I shake hands saying salaam alekum. It was hard to avoid them anyway, the are almost in every corner!
About my way of communication: the infallible body language with my infallible charming smile J!
To justify my cultural visit in this city, I go to the Amir Timur Museum. It was more interesting than what I thought, I spend almost 2 hours there.
Back in the hotel, I meet 2 French guys, they’re going to Bukhara tomorrow. I join them, it matches perfectly with my plans, besides that, they got a book guide! |
Photos Ouzbékistan
Carnets de voyage Ouzbékistan
Vidéos Ouzbékistan
Carte Ouzbékistan
Guide de voyage Ouzbékistan
Santé Ouzbékistan
Billets d'avion Ouzbékistan
