In August 2005 we decided to do the Silk Road crossing 3 countries for 1 month.
We saw unforgettable places one has only heard of in oriental tales and met wonderful and friendly people. Food? Excellent except in Turkmenistan where it was honestly the worst we ever tasted.
Route:
Day 1: Tashkent
Day 3: Tashkent – Ferghana
Day 5: Ferghana – Osh (Kyrgyzstan) – Ferghana
Day 6: Ferghana – Tashkent
Day 7: Tashkent – Samarkand
Day 10: Samarkand – Shakhrisabs – Termez
Day 12: Termez – Bukhara
Day 16: Bukhara – Nurata
Day 17: Aydarkul Lake
Day 18: Nurata – Bukhara
Day 19: Bukhara-Mary (Turkmenistan)
Day 21: Mary-Ashgabat
Day 23: Ashgabat-Dashoguz- Kunya Urghench – Khiva
Day 25: Khiva – Ayaz and Turprak Kala Fortresses – Khiva
Day 26: Khiva – Nukus - Muinak – Khiva
Day 27: Khiva – Urghench – Tashkent
Uzbekistan driver:
Victor (Russian speaking a few words of German like "Benzin Problem", "gut", "nicht gut" but extremely good driver who got us wherever we wanted to go.
Travel Agency:
Dolores Travel Services. Very competent service.
We asked for a driver and English-speaking local guides. We can only recommend taking local guides in order to see the best places without having to fight with an outdated map and printed guide. Dolores Tours got us very competent ones and the Uzbekistan driver Victor was great. He got us through all the checkpoints with an incredible speed which was not obvious at that time.
In 2005 we were required to have invitation letters to get the Visas. This might have changed in the meantime.
