Quick, Quick, Slow

After a calm night and a slightly more relaxed start we set out on 480km drive from Bukhara to Khiva. The first 400km or so pass very quickly and smoothly on an excellent highway, noticeably newer and in better condition than that from Samarkand. We do have to stop for some goats crossing, and also investigate a series of sand-traps used to help keep the road clear, at which I spot an interesting little lizard. However after the coffee stop things almost literally fall apart.

The plan for lunch fails as all the roadside restaurants are shut due to a bank holiday. However as I have probably eaten a whole sheep so far this week there’s no immediate risk of starvation! At the same time we reach the end of the good road, and revert to a bumpy single carriageway.

I’m following our progress on the map and am expecting our route to follow the main road through Urgench, over the river on the big bridge, and into Khiva. Instead, for reasons never entirely explained our driver decides to turn off the highway and take a minor road. This descends rapidly from road to cart track with passing places. The bridge over the large river has a toll, jury-rigged width restrictors, and turns out to be a series of pontoons, some of which have seen better days, with the joins covered by steel sheets. Our driver admits he has never previously used that route! I have been following on the map, and I predicted a very minor road, but not the pontoon bridge.

We find a supermarket doing a roaring trade due to being the only one open for miles around. Bank Holiday Uzbek cuisine: Lays crisps (US), Bounty bar (Birmingham), Banana (somewhere tropical) & Uzbek beer (brewed by Czechs). Oh well, more lamb tonight!

We eventually reach Khiva, although not without some further diversions as like the other cities it’s undergoing massive construction. Total of almost 8 hours on the road, including only three short stops amounting to maybe 1 hour. I may be unimpressed by Amit’s map-reading, but his endurance is impressive!

After a short pause we gather for dinner (lamb, now there’s a surprise) and then climb up the observation tower to take photos of the wonderfully serpentine walls of the old fort at sunset. We are almost stymied by rainclouds (and a couple of short showers), but our luck holds out and for about 20 minutes before sunset the sun shines below the clouds and bathes the walls in great light.

We’re in a new boutique hotel (the Bankir Khiva) which Mehmet has not previously used. This has made an odd design choice – rooms of a reasonable size, but each is almost completely filled by the most enormous ****ing huge bed I have ever seen, leaving effectively no room for anything else like, for example, luggage. Also my room opens onto the car park – noise is not really a problem but the curtains only cover about 50% of the window, so my sleep is regularly interrupted by car lights being turned on. And the bedding is too heavy… This is all a shame as the hotel is well located and staff are friendly and helpful, but more focus on the basics would help.