I woke up in my small shared room in the Khiva Alibek hostel, a two storey hostel with a large deck overlooking the entrance to the old city of Khiva. I head down to breakfast to find one of the best breakfasts served in Central Asia.
Quite literally everything you could want for breakfast, and something you probably wouldn't want - pasta at 8.30am? With food in my stomach, my next mission was to get cash by exchanging some of my crisp dollar bills and to buy a plug adapter. The plug adapter I had worked perfectly for Turkmenistan but would not stay in the wall in Uzbekistan.
I bought my ticket in the old town, this time the lady let me purchase the ticket with entry to the 10+ museums located within the walled city. A few metres in, I found a money changer and received my Uzbek So'm. Uzbekistan has gone through a period of inflation, and its currency has yet caught up with the extra 0s. Therefore the biggest available note is usually a 10,000 note, or the equivalent to $1. Tourists attempting to exchange hundreds of dollars may find themselves stuffing plastic bags full of S'om. I was sensible and received the following wads.
Next the charger. I reviewed the timetable of the mini vans stopping outside of the walled city. Easy, the number 5 goes to the town's bazaar. I wait for the minivan, ask about the bazaar. Receive a bemused look and the van drives away. This is a common occurrence in the next month for me.
Instead I venture into Khiva and ask around for a phone charger. I am pointed from shop to shop until I end up in a dilapidated photography shop. The shopkeeper takes pity on me and offers to sell me his charger - this is probably the first sale the shopkeeper has had in weeks. I'm being bumped by a couple of dollars, but after all this man is selling me the charger that he is currently using to charge his own phone. I snap this up and happily head back to the hostel to charge up.
I spend the day touring the sites of Khiva, in between multiple coffee and water breaks. Khiva is HOT.
I bought my ticket in the old town, this time the lady let me purchase the ticket with entry to the 10+ museums located within the walled city. A few metres in, I found a money changer and received my Uzbek So'm. Uzbekistan has gone through a period of inflation, and its currency has yet caught up with the extra 0s. Therefore the biggest available note is usually a 10,000 note, or the equivalent to $1. Tourists attempting to exchange hundreds of dollars may find themselves stuffing plastic bags full of S'om. I was sensible and received the following wads.
Next the charger. I reviewed the timetable of the mini vans stopping outside of the walled city. Easy, the number 5 goes to the town's bazaar. I wait for the minivan, ask about the bazaar. Receive a bemused look and the van drives away. This is a common occurrence in the next month for me.
Instead I venture into Khiva and ask around for a phone charger. I am pointed from shop to shop until I end up in a dilapidated photography shop. The shopkeeper takes pity on me and offers to sell me his charger - this is probably the first sale the shopkeeper has had in weeks. I'm being bumped by a couple of dollars, but after all this man is selling me the charger that he is currently using to charge his own phone. I snap this up and happily head back to the hostel to charge up.
I spend the day touring the sites of Khiva, in between multiple coffee and water breaks. Khiva is HOT.
At around 2pm I settled down for lunch, a meal that would quickly become my staple. Plov and Manty. Essentially; fried rice with carrot and meat, and dumplings.
I kill some time at the hostel in the early evening, doing some reading and catching up on messages. No internet censorship in Uzbekistan! I head out at night for dinner. As soon as the sun sets, the temperature becomes mild and so much more bearable. At the same time each evening, local families will come out onto the streets and let their children play. I spy a couple of places for dinner, but still have the inner turmoil of having to request a table for one. I eventually get over this, have a beer with dinner and take in my final views of Khiva.
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