She's off again - Tashkent
 

Four days' travel for five days' there. I left home at ten this morning and am staying with some delightful friends not far from Gatwick airport in preparation for my flight to Istanbul and thence to Tashkent tomorrow.

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Tashkent...Pics please. Pretty please?

two days each way? Not four to get there, right? Safe travels.

.....so this enquiring mind wants to know what you do on these trips. Are you interpreting speech or documents or is it nothing whatsoever to do with interpretation?

I imagine it's one day each way just to get from the island to a major hub.

Right. Limey said today she went from Arran to Gatwick (a major international airport in London). And I think then she's saying tomorrow she'll go to Tashkent via Istanbul, but I wasn't 100% sure that she wasn't saying that tomorrow she'll fly to Istanbul ready to go to Tashkent, so I was just checking that that wouldn't then take two more days.

I knew I should have given more detail, in the inimitable style of the Cellar's favourite raconteur. ..
I left home yesterday at 10am to be in plenty of time for the 11.05 ferry (it's only a half hour drive).
Because time was a little tight between the ferry arrival and plane departure I took a taxi to the airport (ferry crossing 55 minutes but it left late, taxi to airport around 50 minutes). Ticket prices forced me to fly to Heathrow (flight time on this occasion just over an hour), and I'd planned to stay with friends near Gatwick for my departure today so I took the coach (bus) link to Gatwick (about another hour, though on the M25 that could easily be far more). My friends collected me from Gatwick and we got to their place around 6-ish.
By my twisted logic the first two and a half hours of any journey from home (ie up to Glasgow station or airport) don't count.
That was day one.
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Do keep us updated, I love your travel threads. Even, or especially, because they are actually earning you money.

I will not write the limerick this destination puts me in mind of. I will not...

Day two of my travels. Back at Gatwick by 8 am where I was offered a free cocktail before I'd even had breakfast. First flight about 4 hours to Istanbul where I am now. Three hour layover and then another three and a half hour flight to Tashkent. ETA 1.30am, local time. Four hours ahead of the UK so only 9.30pm "my" time and time to get almost enough sleep before starting my working week ...
Please provide limerick, Sundae 🙈🙉🙊
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You just missed the World Championships! My kid fenced both of these girls growing up. Now she can say she beat the #2 fencer in her age group on the planet. She did not do well at all against #1.

There was a young man from Tashkent
Whose penis was totally bent
To save himself trouble
He pushed it in double
And instead of coming he went

I understood that young man to be from Trent...

...maybe the problem is more widespread than previously thought.

it's a pandemic!

Rise of the bent-cock zombies -

ahem
The bleakest bit is just before landing in Destination Town (whichever it is). I'm tired and not looking forward to the scrum for passport control and for the customs' declaration forms (or immigration forms, depending on where ...) which have to be filled in duplicate and stamped before you can get out of the airport and which are usually in insufficient supply and NEVER made available to you on the plane when you have time on your hands ...
And although you get the roaming text (once you've landed) from your homeland mobile supplier you are NEVER able to send a text or make a call to say you've landed safely to Mr Limey.
And you wonder if the hotel really did send a taxi for you and even though they have there is a HUGE crowd of other taxi drivers trying to get your fare even though you are clearly marching along behind one of their own who has your case in his hands.
But then the drive through completely empty streets and the banter with the taxi driver and the thought that BED is getting nearer begins to cheer you up.
But this time my allegedly smart phone has a dumb blond moment with the hotel wifi, but fortunately I've brought other gadgets and my ancient iPod touch enables me to text Mr L at last.

Get some sleep! :)

That scrum is the worst. Excellent post. Feels like I'm right there.

Thanks Griff, Glatt! I did get some sleep and wrote the last post after breakfast this morning while it was still fresh in my mind.
It seems a bit of a waste but the first day always ends up being an admin day. First stop - get some currency - you can't get this sort of money at Thomas Cook's. I pay the hotel bill by credit card, and mostly eat in the hotel restaurant so all I need is change for taxis and the odd snack, but it's taken me a while to work this out. I do have one of those travellers' debit cards (you top up your account before you go and it's a payment card which is not linked to you own bank account or credit card account so is safer) but I'm never convinced it's going to work in the ATMs in my countries of destination (though it probably would).
So I travel with USD (new notes, any that are defaced in any way are rejected immediately) and first up need to change some. The official rate to the USD here is 2,500 UZS to 1USD. Allegedly you can get a better rate, say 3,200/1, from the sort of taxi driver who does airport transfers for international hotels but I wouldn't know about that. I've changed a hundred, which I'm pretty sure will be plenty. I can't get over feeling very self conscious fishing a big wad of cash out of my bag and peeling the notes off (the largest denomination I've seen is US5,000 = USD2. That's an improvement on my last visit when the biggest notes in circulation were only UZS1,000), but I try to remember that everyone's in the same boat. Last time I was here I saw someone pay his hotel bill with two bulging carrier bags' full of cash ...
Step two - get a local SIM card in my smart phone. I have an unlocked one specially for this purpose. In this town I have to go to the head office of one of the two mobile phone operators (one Uzbek, one Russian) which is a taxi rode (UZS 5,000, there is a mater but no receipt) from the hotel. It's a ten minute walk back - the taxi driver explains the route to me. There's a pretty efficient electronic ticket queuing system so I take a ticket and wait about 20 minutes to be served. The mobile company has to take a copy of my passport, visa (which I had to get before I set off) and local registration card (drawn up by the hotel for me) and UZS40,000 later my phone is bulging with 1,100MB of data and about five dollars worth of calls at 2c a minute.
On the walk back to the hotel I noticed a café/canteen busy with local office workers and such getting their hot lunch, and a little tiny corner shop next to it.
You do have to watch your step because not only are the pavements pretty uneven, but I'd never trust a manhole cover or drain cover in this neck of the woods and often alongside the roads the "gutters" are gullies a foot wide and eighteen inches deep ...
And then the afternoon is spent making phone calls because few people seem willing to make a definite appointment time until you're actually in town.
It's pretty hot (25C) and humid today - rain would be good. Sunset is at 7pm and because we're nearer the equator than dear old Blighty, dusk-to-dark happens pretty quickly.

This hotel room is enormous. 60 sq m. I reckon that’s the footprint of my house and it would probably contain Dani’s house two or three times over. I confess I booked here partly out of curiosity about the much commented on large rooms … also my last place let me down (no heating and a water fail …). I’m being charged around USD100/night, including breakfast.
It contains two queensize beds butted together just for little ol’ me; a bedside cabinet, an easy chair, two-seater sofa and coffee table, a desk and large office-style chair, a six-foot wide unit for the 42” screen TV and hospitality tray, a built-in wardrobe and a decorative cupboard unit of the same size complete with six decorative vases one on each shelf, and it still seems vast and spacious. I have no need to go to the hotel gym – walking around the room is exercise enough for me! I also have two bathrooms or, more properly, a loo (with wash basin and bidet-spray thingie), and a shower room (with another wash basin). I did an in-room 360-degree panorama video but it’ll take 46 minutes to upload so I might remember to add it when I get home.
There are one or two unusual facilities in this room. Bathroom scales (no I’m not stepping on those, no siree, nuh-uh!); a retractable washing line in the shower room (I used this, the hotel charges $5 to wash a pair of knickers); and gas masks in case of fire. I knew about these last from an online review of the place and, while surprising, I think they’re eminently sensible, since the vast majority of deaths in fires are caused by smoke inhalation.

You know how people sometimes pocket the soaps or pack the towels from hotel rooms?
Please to take the scales with you.
I could do with seeing whether all my exercise and clean living is making a difference!

Can't wait to see photos.

I can take a hint and a photo(but not the scales! ).
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...76c7b6c8d9.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...19a7bdec28.jpg
Views from opposite ends of the room. Please to excuse the rumpled bed ... The maid's not been yet.

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It's a suite!
Yup, could fit my flat in there I reckon.

That's nice. A lot nicer than the Super 8 we stayed in last month.

limey, your room is big and beautiful!

fargon, I've always found the choice of that name for the hotel chain most unfortunate. It gives me the heebiejeebies.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...5207208df7.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...235f35d7c5.jpg
Here's a couple of photos of the hotel lift. The mirror is the wall and the marble mosaic is the floor.

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http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...25ba48e7a4.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...a9cd4b57ee.jpg
Tashkent Westminster International University.

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I was always right in the middle of town where all the big impressive buildings are.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...9c2d3b9e45.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...54ce20b985.jpg
I think this one is used for important international meetings.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...2a9b4dbc0d.jpg
A detail.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...9a23d23f4e.jpg
The storks in the roof are a sign of good luck.

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Across the road from the hotel there was a medical college, I think.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...8e2e97f5d5.jpg
Close up of mosaic detail. I think the building dates from Soviet times. They often included local cultural detail in the architecture.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...1070131a5e.jpg
Also a building which seemed to be a coach garage. What caught my eye was this bathtub at which guys seemed to have a quick wash. And was used as a source of water for car and coach washing.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...f7aa4698df.jpg

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There are lots of trees for shade in the street and plenty of parks (in the middle of town at least).
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...2f00e69f0b.jpg
This is a gardening crew. Often the gardeners are women.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...239aaf2018.jpg
The main roads are all very wide; three lanes in each direction often. Or very narrow: I was sometimes startled when my taxi turned in to what seemed to be a residential courtyard entrance which in fact was a short cut to another huge street.
Here's a typical town centre street.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...79e71741fc.jpg

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And finally ...
The hotel restaurant:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...2731d5d3ed.jpg
and the café round the corner where I also ate:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...b6e7a9d8dc.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...4338b784af.jpg
The second picture shows the food counter. It was more like a canteen in that the hot food was all on display and you queued to choose and be served.
You'll have to go and look in the food forum for food reports but I think I'll do them tomorrow. I've an early start in eye morning and ought to go to bed now.

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Were you eating at an odd time? Those places are empty!

I like the stainless (?) furniture in that cafe.

Thanks for these pics, Limey!

I don't know what I was expecting Tashkent to look like, but, I thought it would look...idk, different than this.

:D

The hotel restaurants are always empty when I eat in them. I think I eat a little early for the hotel crowd. The cafe is more of a lunch place and that pic was taken around 5pm. I was probably the last customer.
Most of central Tashkent is pretty new since an earthquake which flattened the old town in 1966. The suburbs would look very different even now. Several generations of one family will live in one single-storey home which consists of several rooms opening off a courtyard. This is all surrounded by an eight foot wall and gated so nothing is visible from the street.

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Here's the bus depot this morning. There is an unfeasibly tight turn by the entrance gate (off the right hand side of the picture)and I cannot imagine how the buses get along to the bathtub.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...b21bbdfa53.jpg
And here are the hotel gas masks.
Attachment 51177

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I still want to know what exactly (or approximately) you do on these visits. I guess I'm prepared for you then to kill me if you have to.......

First airport of the day is Tashkent International. As far as I can see from the departures board it handles ten flights a day. I'm there at 6.15 for an 8.15 departure. Security, customs (another form to fill in), passport control and more security to go through.
At about 7.45 we're called to gate B1 which clearly displays a departure for Dubai, while Istanbul is gate B9. We're then called to gate B9. Apart from that it all goes without a hitch.
I just had a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits in my room before I left the hotel so enjoyed the breakfast in the plane.
Second airport of the day after a five hour flight is Istanbul Ataturk. Two hour layover here, but I've got this one sussed as it's my usual hub. There's a nice wee bar/restaurant, not too busy, up above the main food court, next to the first class lounge. I had a lovely salad and an enormous beer there.
A 3 hour 40 minute flight brings me to Gatwick and a badly planned 5 hour layover. I try to get bumped onto an earlier flight but there isn't one.
By the time I get to Glasgow airport I've been awake for 22 plus hours and in airports and planes for about twenty of those, consumed a cup of black tea with sugar and two biscuits before I left the hotel, two in-flight meals, one healthy salad and a giant beer (Istanbul) and a gin and tonic (thank you BA!) and am falling asleep as I stumble towards the airport motel.
To keep myself sane on the flights I listen to audio books (Nella Last's War - excellent real diary of life in Britain during the second world war) or watch in flight movies (if any appeal to me) and knit socks. I use small wooden needles which are a bit like cocktail sticks and have not yet had airport security ask me to give them up.
I now know that it takes ten hours to knit a sock as I completed half a sock on the flight from Tashkent to Istanbul.
(Monster, as I am self-employed in a sector where client confidentiality matters I have made it a rule never to talk about my work on public forums. [emoji87])
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Admit it: 'M' would have you shot if you talked about the work you do.

:lol: doesn't stop me wanting to know.... :D

She's an international call girl. Not in the hooker sense, but the Govt call her in to stroke egos and make nice to troubled politicians in Russian speaking countries. Stop them kicking off.
They are bemused by this proper English woman who can roast you a lamb, strip a tractor and yet still look amazeballs when dressed up.

They capitulate every time.

That's why Limey can't tell us who she is meeting. They would be eaten alive in their macho world if it was known they had been skillfully manipulated by a keen witted lady from a little Scottish island who actually has a gorgeous husband at home.

And a tuba.


Awesome thread, as ever, Limes.

I like that we have an exciting, jet-setting, globetrotter in our midst.

Limey is rockin' it as she sits on her steed holding her bird of prey.

:devil:

I think she's actually Vladimir Putin.

Think about it...

...ever seen them together? In the same place?

Eh? Huh? Amirite?

Naw, she has that pissant Putin on a leash.

and lots of extremely small, unusually sharp knitting needles... :eek:

Stainless chair.

The anniversary of that event was yesterday, I think.