We were ready to leave our new friends in Samarkand and leave to Tashkent. In the morning we had our last breakfast in Bahodir. We made some pictures outside with Ludo and Gane.

We found the local UzGasOil and filled the tank. The road to Tashkent is good. But it is heading to Kazachstan. So the question is could we really stay on this road or have to divert at some point? At some point indeed, just before the Kazakh border, there was a security checkpoint and we were diverted to the east and had to make a small detour. No problem because the roads were fine.

We stopped in a small roadside cafe to have some tea and bread. We continued to the capital and just before I was stopped by the police. They took my papers and went away to make copies. We had to wait in the sun for some time. I was not too happy but it did not take too long and we did not have to pay any bribes or anything. So I left polnii gaz and did a small race now inside the big city.

There were lots of cars and the temperature was high. It was showing 39 degrees celsius on my dashboard. I had to find our new hostel and quick, I needed a cold shower to cool down 🙂 We found the hostel called Gulnara and parked the bike safely inside. We had a nice and clean room with airco. The bathroom was also clean with good cold water! I dont know maybe there was warm water as well 🙂 It is always a great feeling to get out of the bike clothes and have a shower I think.

We got ready to visit the center. First I wanted to go to the Tajik embassy. I had a few a questions about border crossings and also about the Anzob tunnel of course 🙂

We took a taxi to the embassy. There were a lot of people waiting outside for the consulate. Inside we did not get much more info. They told us the tunnel was safe and the borders we needed to cross were all open. So it was a quick stop.

As it was a bit away from the center we took another cab to the fountains at the maydan, or square of independence. From there we walked to the independence monument and world war 2 monument. We continued the walk to the ilkhom theatre and cinema.

From there we took the metro in the pachtakor station and got out at the Amir Timur station.

The Amir Timur square holds the statue of Amir Timur. While we were watching the environment, we got a text from Sasha. He had finished work and proposed to go to a restaurant. So we waited at the square and twenty minutes later Sasha arrived smiling.

We talked about what has happened in the meantime and took a taxi to a restaurant called Karavan. This is a rather high end place. I believe diplomats lunch here so you have to be careful who is sitting next to you 🙂 But it was diner and the place was rather calm inside. Sasha ordered lots of stuff, like different kinds of salads, bread, compot, beer, vodka, shaslik, tuhum barak, and more. I don’t remember what there was but it was a lot. No problem as I was really hungry and thirsty. I think I drank 3 glasses of compot, a liter of water, a big beer and shared the bottle of vodka with sasha. The food went in also very smoothly. It was our best restaurant night in Uzbekistan for sure.

We talked about our experiences, about family, life. It was a great night. After the big diner we went near the center again and Sasha showed us a couple of interesting places. We ended in a local biker bar and got home safely in our hostel with a taxi. Sasha had been a great guide. He even came down to our hostel to make sure we got home safely. We were thankful and said do sviedanja. I wonder when we will see him again…