cyclingthehimalayas.com : Mission Impassible!
Cycling in Central Asia, Cycling the Himalayas, Cycling in North India, Cycling in Nepal
Cycling Uzbekistan
Good flat/fast tarmac roads, inquisitive but hassle free super friendly locals. The challenge of the Kipchek Pass and Fergana valley's quiet, verdant, picturesque & incredibly irrigated country roads.
July 2013 - It was all arranged in the Uk and sounded easy: Arrive Tashkent and transfer to domestic airport with luggage. Unfortunately, we weren't told we would have to physically transport all our stuff to the domestic airport, and as it was counted as a second flight rather than continuous, we were worried we would have to pay another 100 quid in fees. So, we decided to taxi it to Samarkand. Miraculously, the taxi driver literally stuffed our bikes (which were in their bike bags) on the back seat of his saloon taxi and off we went: 3 hrs to Samarkand for about 60 dollars. The taxi driver wasn't so happy with the hazy weather, adding that it always goes like this when the Japanese and Americans test their nuclear weapons in Khazakstan.
We learnt not to exchange for local currency via the taxi drivers or even the banks, but to use the guys on the streets that usually hang around markets - technically it's illegal but when in Rome...In Samarkand we stayed in Antica: Amazing place, wonderful traditional decoration, but not cheap at about 50 dollars for a double room a night. However, the included breakfast was worth half the price with the most incredible blue berry marmilade made from Antica's own orchard! We found out gas is hard to get in Uzbekistan, but kerosene easy and cheaper. We set the bikes up, all had arrived safely in transit apart from Ian's Tubus rear rack which was bent, but with fearsome ferocity he bent it back.
Day 1 - Tashkent - a roadside forest! (58km)
On the edge of Tashkent, checking our maps, a group of middle aged Uzbek guys crowd around, most of them facinated and wanted to have pictures taken, but there was one dissenter amongst them, the anti-western dissenter who wasn't at all impressed we were from England. His friends told him to chill out and loosen up, it was a funny moment which summed up the the east/west relations/propaganda machine. We took the M39 out of Samarkand; a good tarmac road. After about 38km we took a rest; a rural peaceful spot in the shade of some thirsty looking trees to get out of the heat for a few hours and play some cards. Increasingly strong headwinds in the afternoon made progress slow, at one point we were clocking just 5.5kmph on the flats fighting into the wind!! After a painful 20km further we started to look for a camp spot. A quiet looking wood ran along the road on the left side, we had to traverse the dual carriageway to cycle up into the wood which made for a great isolated camping spot...and it's where i left my 'solar monkey' charging in the sun, propped up by a tree...maybe it's still there or has overloaded and exploded with the suns rays.
Day 2 - Roadside forest - Jizzak (45km)
The road is good tarmac and flat. As we see the first turn off for Jizzak we hit a big hill, over a km of steep ascent which brings with it a change of scenery; desert like; yellow and pastel green undulating hills. Along this stretch of road you get the occasional young boy selling honey. Not sure if they store the honey in the Lada overnight or if the boy lives in the car...but looked like great honey. A second bigger hill reveals itself and then we got the rewards of descent. By 10:30 it's already blisteringly hot, the road is mostly good asphalt, but in some places there are deep ridges caused by heavy vehicles on hot softened tarmac. The road would be a dual carriageway although most of it doesn't have a white centre line. The cars seem to cruise down the middle of the road rather than on the right, and when another vehicle zooms up behind, the car in front casually moves to the right almost automatically as if controlled by magnets. We stop for food at
the edge of Jizzak, a hopeless attempt at getting vege grub. We turn off the main road, down a quiter and much rougher road where we can find a hotel for the night. Its about 4 or 5km and requires asking a few locals at a couple of junctions but we find a pleasant pastel green fronted hotel with good courtyard for the bikes and only 20 dollars for the room: Little did we know this would be by far the cheapest hotel in Uzbek.
Day 3 - Jizzak - North Syrdarya (130km!)
We decided to head to Gulistan, about 80km north east, and because the M39 is such fast flat asphalt, we decide to stay on this road. We knew that after about 40km there would be a couple of possible right turns off the M39 taking us in the direction of Gulistan. We skipped past one right turn and reached another with a huge blue sign stating 'Gulistan' to the right. We foolishly asked the locals if Gulistan was right, they said to go straight on, even though the massive sign said right. This was becoming a joke in Uzbek, whenever you ask for directions, the answer always seems to be 'straight on'! So, presuming the locals know better and perhaps there is a better right turn ahead, we heed their advice and go straight on - Bad move! We should've gone right at the sign when we could've...instead, we ended up cycling in Khazakstan for about 20km, back into Uzbek and eventually find ourselves in the horendous decaying industrial sprawl of Syrdarya. Gulistan was definitely the perfect stopping point, Syrdarya was not, and rather than go over the big overpass in Syrdarya, we went under it; left; sign posted to Tashkent: This is a narrower and older road that wasn't particularly pleasant to cycle on: The traffic is fast and too close for comfort. We were losing light and were exhausted by now having cycled about 125km. Nowhere suitable for camping and no hotels, we camped rough, ignobly between the road and the railway track, noisy and not advisable.
Day 4 - North Syrdarya - Tashkent (75km)
If we had stopped at Gulistan, it would be the M34 to Srydarya and then either the M34 or M39 to Tashkent -quite a big shlap, maybe 110/120km. However, from our hideous Srydarya camping spot, the road continues and soon improves, it's quite fast, we're not sure if we are on the M39 or the parallel M34, but they both head to Tashkent. The M34 goes through Yangiyo'l and we didn't go through it, just saw a sign post for it, so we guess we stayed on the M39. The last 20km before Tashkent is very undulating, long slight gradient ups and long slight gradient downs, nothing too strenuous though. Arrived Tashkent at lunchtime, and noted the bus station on the left as we entered from the south west of the city on Bunyodkor Avenue. Tashkent is a busy and sprawling place, we followed the signs to the centre, past Navoi National Park. I guess the 'Circus' is an obvious destination to head too, slightly north of centre adjacent to the old town. The taxis and buses kept weaving in front of us and pulling up to take people on board which was frustrating and dangerous. A lot of blind spot watching and super awareness was essential. We ended up going under a very fast pass on our way to the Circus, unfortunately Ian went in the fast lane and as soon as we were under the dark tunnel, Ian hit something, possibly an iron pipe that was protuding from the road. He took a major wobble, the back wheel blew, his front pannier came flying off but remained connected by a bungee cord that caused the pannier to be dragged along in the middle of the road and was inevitabely bashed by a speeding car which i thought was enough to knock Ian off balance but somehow, like a weeble, he wobbled but didn't fall down...which almost certainly saved him from serious injury. This was a stark reminder of city cycling or the dangers of cycling in traffic in general. Although Ian fixed the tyre on the side of the street we then walked our bikes to the dome of the Circus and took a left there through the old town and past Chorsu Bazaar, to find Gulnara Guesthouse down a side street: 40 Ozod St. 18 dollars each for a large clean bright room and a lovely quiet courtyard for our bikes, not a bad price for Uzbek, especially the capital!! Meeting Peter, another cyclist and central asian correspondent who spoke fluent russian, meant we had a central asian encyclopedia with us and someone who could find the wonderful Al-Defeen Syrian restaurant, our first decent meal in days. The restaurant had moved several times around town and so both internet reviews and locals were confused by it's present location but we eventually found it downtown. This, we learnt was a feature of Uzbek life; restaurants or any businesses for that matter tended to open and close frequently, so addresses often changed or the restaurant that had a review last year no longer existed at all. We spent a lot of time wandering around to places that existed a year before but when we got to the street, clearly it had shut down or was replaced by another business. This makes Uzbek, especially Tashkent, a tad confusing!
The most essential viewing in Tashkent is Chorsu Bazaar, even bigger than Istanbul's or Marrakech's bazaars. It just goes on forever under different structures or out in the open - the huge marble dome (pic - above right) being the obvious centre point. Whatever you need is likely to be there...except bungee cords!! The other remarkable aspect to Tashkent is the ubiquitous fountains...seems like the government has an obsession with fountains in Tashkent...but the government isn't stopping there, there are loads more under construction! After 4 nights in Tashkent we stocked up on basic food for the panniers and were on the road at 05:30 to cycle out of Tashkent.
Day 5 - Tashkent - Angren (85km)
When it comes to cities, cycling very early morning is the way to do it: So much quiter and easier to navigate. It was about 18km to get across the city, cycling past 'the Circus' east on Navoi Avenue, and as the avenue turns to the right, we took a right on Parkent Street, past Khalid Alimjan metro. After some km you reach a large roundabout at which you go straight over and then finally you get the feeling of being on the outskirts as the landscape changes from urban to wasteland. We passed a lake on our right, then crossed a river and then a golf course on our right too - we'd left Tashkent on Achangaran road (the E2) which soon joins the E373 to Angren. It's a quick road: We managed 40km by 07:30am! It's a dry route, though not barren. After 40km it's fields and fields of agriculture, mostly golden wheat. The road is now long slow and undulating, small gradient ups and downs. It was around about here that my previously consumed Asian cold salad from Chorsu Bazaar started giving me problems that would cause me a horrendous toilet experience on the side of the road...and shortly after that; feeling clammy; i threw up by the side of the road in the blistering heat...in the end i was so dizzy and sick that i couldn't go on and 5 mins later we flagged down a Maruti van, which just about got all our stuff in, and for 20,000.SOM we had a lift 22km to the nearest hotel (including our cycling distance, this equates to 85km for the day): Hotel Feyz, in the decrepid, neglected industrial town of Angren. This is the only hotel for miles and is a candidate for the world's most surreal hotel. It would be more at home in the flashy Russian part of Tashkent, so expansive and opulant was it's grand driveway, garden and pompous reception area that it felt like a Palace - but located on the periphery of a run down industrial town...very odd, very Uzbek...and true to form the rooms, once also grand, were now neglected, tatty, but did have Turkmenistan TV. At $60 a room it was ridiculously overpriced, especially as there was only about 8 people staying there so you'd expect the owners to be open to haggling, but they weren't budging, but then throwing up in the car park isn't the best form of haggling. Three of the occupants were big burly Germans, presumably engineers of sorts. These kinds of hotels have virtually unused grand dinner areas too, which usually have a beautiful young local girl ready to serve the non existent guests some awful looking meat and egg platter.
Day 6 - Angren - bottom of Kipchek Pass (50km)
It's about 10km from Feyz hotel to the other side of pitiful Angren, and after that, another 17km and the ascent begins. The road is mostly reasonable tarmac with rough worn patches here and there. We stopped under the shade of a tree to get some calories in us for the day's ascent. After some pretty hefty ups and downs we reach a military check point at what we believed to be the summit of the Kipchek pass...no problems with the check point...the Military are stern but respect and smiles ;o) go miles. The road again is ups and downs and past an azure lake on the right and eventually the road levels and goes through a militarised zone with watch towers...after this the road climbs and within a km there is a small pit stop cafe on the right...we were pretty shattered by now, and it dawned on us that THIS was in fact the start of the Kipchek climb!!! All the previous climbing was a prelude...it was late in the day with no obvious places to camp. Luckily, a local came for a chat and we mentioned we were looking for a camping spot, and he kindly lead us to the wonderfully ancient owner of the pit stop who in turn literally lead us down the garden path around the pit stop to
some rudimentary outdoor wooden platforms with corrugated iron roofs which
were spread out in pretty rural grounds on the mountainside; cheap and cheerful for us to lay our mats on.
Day 7 - Bottom of Kipchek - Kokand (95km)
An early start, and after 3km we stopped to cook some food on the side of the road, recognising that we would need some energy for a big ascent if the 'baby' hills yesterday were anything to go by. It's then a further 14 or 15km continuous climb to the top of Kipcheck 2267m. It was our first ever 'high pass' and we found it tough but coped well, taking it easy: Having a 2 or 3 minutes pause every 1 or 2 kms to take in the scenery and catch our breath. The top of the pass has two tunnels, both having military check points. After the second tunnel the joy of the downhill awaits...on the descent there are several places to stop and eat (or stay): Wooden bugalows and hotels. As the road starts to level a bit more the landscape is very dry and barren, desert like...we stopped on the plain, a restuarant off the road to the left was a great stopping place with distant views across the merciless desert. The road is then either flat or slightly descending all the way to the odd new lego town of Kokand (about 65km from the second tunnel). It's a super slick road, we averaged 25kmph on the flats all the way to Kokand. There's a fantastic small knot of hills in the middle of the desert on the left as you are cycling along the barren flats. Kokand is a brand new toy town of a place (in fact this new toy lego town look we were starting to get used too) - as the A373 enters Kokand you hit a large one way junction which we cycled straight over (if in doubt go straight on) and when you get to the green park, go right just after it and follow alongside the park, then at the corner of the park cycle straight over (rather than going right around the park), then it's left on Istiqlol street, past the electric utility company on the left and the large bank on the right, and straight over the major cross roads and on the right is the imposing concrete block of a hotel, opposite a pedestrianised fountain area - a bit of a ride around in a bizarre town. There are 3 or 4 over priced hotels and this seems to be the cheapest at $50 a double at the centrally located 'Kokand Hotel'; Imom Ismoil Bukhori 1; close to the city electric utility department. Like all these hotels it was once grand in it's soviet day and has been decaying ever since! The good news is that it had a Russian off licence nearby, literally within 200m, left as you come out of the hotel.
Day 8 - Kokand - Somewhere in the Fergana Valley! (72km)
Leaving Kokand we decided to ride out on a smaller road to Bagod (rather than the A373), lovely verdant country roads where there are more butterflies than vehicles, the air rife with avian conversation and the distant grumble of the occasional reluctant tractor. Our huge fold out map seemed to indicate we were south and parallel with the A373 heading towards Margilan. It was beautiful and peaceful riding and irrigation channels everywhere, in fact, children were swimming in some of the larger irrigation canals and water poured from pipes which popped up at the sides of the roads which were ideal for soaking the head under. It was scorching and we took a break by the side of a canal for hours before setting off again. We started to look for a camp spot on a small quiet road that headed back up to the A373 when a grinning almost toothless farmer stopped and asked us to join him for chai. We followed him for about 2km down a track and the side of a field to a wooden platform on stilts, with a roof and one whoe side open to the elements which looked over a large vegetable patch that a few other farmers were tending. We had barely sat down before the infectiously jolly farmer had prepared a huge plate of freshly picked tomatos, chillis and onion with the compulsory bread accompaniment which was' needless to say, washed down with gallons of green tea. The Uzbeks and the Kyrgz love the tea and bread ritual and they love to keep puring you green tea until either they see you have wet yourself or you begin to cry green tears of joy.
The farmer's son had the largest bedroom of all as you can see from the above pic.
Day 9 - Somewhere in Fergana - Andijon (95km)
Next day we joined the A373 heading to Andijon - which was a mistake, the smaller roads were wonderful cycling and we later read of the silk history of Margilan which would've made that an interesting visit and then you can continue from Margilan on through Kuva and on the 4P112 through Asaka arriving from the south west into Andijon...however, we road on the A373, it was a worn old asphalt road mostly lined by trees on either side blocking any rural views. 95km later we arrived in Andijon...it was confusing how to get into Andijon...we hit a huge roundabout and shoud've gone left here but we went straight on and we ended up taking a kind of ring road all around the city and ended up having cut south into the city. Andijon, like other Fergana cities, has a plethora of brand new lego toy town style buildings but even more so. It feel a bit like a film set, not properly lived in. Apparently the government has spent a lot of money improving the city following the 2005 massacre, when the government opened fire on protesters resulting in considerable bloodshed. The incident was condemned worldwide and has left a stained image of Uzbekistan as a Police State - certainly from an outsider's perspective. The rebuilding is apparently to quell tensions and rebuid relations with the community. We cycled around looking for a hotel and as usual struggled to find any, and in the end settled for 'Eliyat' hotel opposite Yangi Bizarre (i think we only saw 2 hotels in the whole city!). The room was 110,000SOM but for 2 nights we got 200,000SOM, just under $50 a night. For this we got a huge grand (faded grandeur) old room with 2 three-quarter beds, antique stye furniture, large TV and a large bathroom with the biggest corner bath i've ever seen, totally wasted on us...it was the kind of bath you fill with 4 or 5 people and lots of drinks. We were able to wheel our bikes in the hotel and stow them away safely. Yangi Bizarre is good for bread, biscuits, nuts, dried fruit and money changers.
Day 10 - Andijon - Kyrgyzstan (42km to border, a further 10 to Osh)
A pleasant and notably quiet ride on reasonable asphalt country roads and the occasional 'lost in time and space' village. The border was/is a green concrete building. We propped our bikes against the wall of the building before entering to complete a signed 'declaration of goods' form which then had to be stamped by one of the officers at the desks to the right. Interestingly, a couple of the officers spoke in French which we understood slighty better than Russian...but even more interesting was that the officers didn't seem interested in our registration receipts (**see below). When we had received a stamp or two, we then had to put all our belongings through the x-ray machine, but the bikes stayed outside. Once the bags had been taken off the x-ray machine we had to have our passports stamped and then we were through and could take our baggage outside, but of course then had to walk back around the building to get our bikes, reload them and wheel them alongside the building. Then it was 100m onwards to the Kyrgz side. This involved parking our bikes and entering a small building on the far left (left building for men, small building on the right for women) where a few rough shaven, spinach eating Kyrgyz officers were loitering. One of these burly officers beckoned us inside and straight to the front: We got a stamp and were out in no time...and back on the bikes...the whole border crossing taking about an hour. From here it was 10km to Osh which is quite a large sprawling city and was at first a bit disorientating. Considering what i had read about the history of central asia and there being no borders or national identities prior to Soviet tinkering just before the first world war, i was surprised how different the people were, much more oriental looking, and the country in general, and the people, a lot more rough around the edges!
***We had read that while in Uzbekistan we had to keep receipts of all hotel stays and that when we left the country we would have to present the receipts as evidence of where we had been (Police State-esque). As we had camped half the time we were slightly worried about a lack of hotel receipts. As it happens Border Control weren't really interested in the receipts, thumbing through a couple and ignoring the rest.
