A couple of hours later we were in Tashkent, a big brawling city with large main roads & tiny side streets. Frank had given us the address of the hostel but maps.me didn’t have the road. We ended up heading towards an international hotel on the main road to wait for Frank to direct us. Frank soon arrived & after the usual rally greetings we jumped back into Minty to navigate our way to the hostel.
The hostel, tucked into one of the side streets had only recently opened. We were once again welcomed by the staff & shown to the room Frank had managed to secure for us. The room was really nice & the hostel was lovely. The building surrounded a small courtyard where we could sit in the cool spray & avoid the midday heat. There was a dining room with free tea & coffee & a kitchen where we could prepare our own food if we wished. They also offered a clothes washing service which I quickly took advantage of. The Sunshine Caravan Stay is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at & it is certainly one of the friendliest.
We unloaded Minty into our room & I set about pulling out anything that needed washing. Soon the pile was larger than I thought possible. The staff at the hostel didn’t seem to care though. Off they went & started on the first load whilst we ventured out for a wander around the city with Frank.
John was determined to find another pair of shoes. After throwing one pair due to the bad smell that existed in them & the second pair following not far behind it was becoming a necessity. He hadn’t yet mastered driving in flip flops & walking boots were probably a bit much for the 40 degree heat. We spent the next hour browsing in various shops but nothing seemed to meet John’s vision of suitable footwear. I was starting to get bored & so was Frank so we managed to convince John to give up on the shoe hunt & head to one of the markets instead.
I have no idea which market we ended up at but the choice of fruit and veg on offer was amazing. Visiting markets is a highlight of travelling. We are able to pick up more or less anything we want for the next few days. Visiting this market made me realise how much in the UK we rely on imported fruit & veg which has probably been force grown. Here in abundance were tomatoes which were huge & oranges which when sliced open the juice ran out. I wished we had markets like this at home. One of the things I had noticed since Romania was the quality difference. In the UK we worry about if fruit & veg is the right shape/colour, not if it tastes good. From Eastern Europe the taste intensified. Back home I don’t like fresh tomatoes. You are likely to see me avoid them at all costs, I find they are slightly bitter with not much flavour; I had been eating them quite happily since Romania as they do taste completely different. Whilst still drooling over the fresh produce we left the market to find somewhere for a late lunch.
With no real sense of which direction we should have been heading in we came across a burger place. We decided to give it a go & sat at a table at the edge. We ordered our food & waited for it to arrive. We were casually chatting about our adventures to this point, each with a story about ourselves or another team. It was good to catch up & hear the tales of misadventure. Then a small face popped through the conifer trees at the side of the cafe begging for money. He didn’t look too disheveled & nothing like other children I had seen begging in other countries so we tried to ignore the boy. We decided he was just trying his luck with the ‘rich’ westerners & he soon disappeared.
Our food arrived & we tucked into our burgers. Our first since Europe & they tasted not too bad. Our large Cokes ended up being two 2 litre bottles, slightly bigger than we expected but welcomed none the less. The afternoon heat was starting to get to us all including the locals. Around us a commotion broke out as a man in police custody was walked past the cafe. People were shouting angrily. We had no idea what was going on but it was causing some upset. The black market currency traders had all scarpered & the beggars were gone too. It was the first time we had seen trouble between locals & the police since leaving the UK. In a way we had forgotten what normal life is like.
We headed back to the hostel without really knowing what we were going to do that evening. To be honest we were both shattered & a night of not really going anywhere sounded great. We had been on the move so much & the last time we had an evening of not getting ready to move on the next morning was a long time ago. We decided not to go anywhere that evening & stay at the hostel sitting in their courtyard drinking coffee. It was bliss to relax for a while.
Sometime the next morning we woke up & without much conviction we headed to the courtyard. It was to be a lazy day, woo hoo. Yes, we should be making the most of our time in Tashkent taking in the sights but to be honest it was nice not to have to move anywhere. The day was spent in the cool spray catching up with emails & messages between endless tea & coffee. We also decided to give Minty a bit of a clear out. After 34 days on the road & an unnecessary amount of desert sand collected from Turkmenistan it was well overdue.
During the day we were invited by the hostel owners to a party that evening to celebrate the hostel being opened one month. As the sun set the dining room was filled with beer, wine & various foods. All the guests were invited & we all set about having a good time. After several beers one of the staff offered John something that looked like a cream gobstopper but it wasn’t as solid. He was told to try it after being told it was cheese. John took a bite & didn’t say much. He then passed it to me to try. I like cheese so I wasn’t too worried. I should have been, or at least I should have done my research beforehand. As I took a small bite we were told that after eating one of these cheese balls, apparently the uzbeki’s chase it with vodka. Where was the vodka!!?? The cheese was horrible. I’m not sure of its exact name but it sounded something called Kurt. All I knew was I wasn’t going to try it again.
Another day was over & I headed to bed, leaving John & Frank in the courtyard. Frank had now heard from his team mates & they were due to be in Osh in the next 36 hours. Tomorrow we were going to leave & head to Kyrgyzstan to meet the remaining members of Mischief & Mayhem & the team 40 percent nuts.
