Tashkent

We took the train from Moscow to Tashkent. We stayed on it for 3 days and nights. It was a great trip, we ran along-side the Volga River for a long time and then crossed it via a long metal bridge to get to Samara. We crossed into Kazakhstan in the early hours of the second night. The 2 border crossings each took about 2 hours, but both were problem free, the officials were very nice and helpful in all 3 countries.

Tashkent is a big busy Asian city with obvious Russian/Soviet influences. The food in Uzbekistan is good and the bread great. The bread is sold in the street all over the city. We stayed in a very nice family run guesthouse not far from the Chorsu Bazaar, which is a very big market selling all kinds of fresh fruit. Everything was fresh, high quality and cheap and the people running the stalls were all friendly and sociable. We stayed in Tashkent for just 2 nights because we will need to return there before leaving Uzbekistan. We took the express train to Bokhara from Tashkent and got out at Samarkand - we will stay in Samarkand for about 6 days.