[B] We will just hike around Chorvoq reservoir. Seems big enough to go wandering around. We decide to go counter-clockwise from the hotel and see how far we can get. We quickly get lost in the maze of gates and fences the hotels and sanatoria have set up to protect their property against tourist that go astray. Luckily we find a friendly Tajik gardener that lets us pass a private property and we reach the lakeshore again. The sun is scorcing all day, which probably means i will get a nice sunburn. Have seen aneough sun, but at altitude (some 100m up) the sun is always a bit more intense.
May
11
Yesterday found my way to Ali's B+B. The president of the place must be mad. Normal procedure is that you get your registration done with passport and money upfront. He just sat me down on a bench and gave me wodka and beer.
Met two austrian guy's ; one is waiting for his Tajik visa and the other for a group to arrive in Tashkent. Johannes is in Tashkent for a few days and wants to get out of here. We decided to team up and get to the chimgan area, some 90 km north-east from here.
To get there we have to get to metro-station Buyuk Ipak Joli. A nice way to get to see some of the impressive metro-system of Tashkent. This was built as a nuclear shelter and taking picures is not allowed [strategic object]. Off course we are foreigners and our passports need to checked. On the metro a guy mentions that this happens to all US tourist. Well, there is more tourist outside the US as well ...
We wanted to head for Hotel Chimgan. But once we arrived there to me it looked like a real unmaintained russian relic with some rooms with smashed windows. We decide to head for Chorvoq Oromqoh. The other end of the russian spectrum ...
In the evening i see that 'My Second Uzbecian' is only 300 meters away from here. Just try and find it and maybe i can make Johannes a geocaching-adept ;-) Found it and it is my first in Uzbekistan and my first FTF. Later on i decide not to leave TB Bagheera, since this cache might not be visited that often.
La Sagrada Familia - The Alan Parsons Project
May
10
Well, tried to get to Tashkent by train today. At the ticket-office they told me there are no more tickets available. So, then back to the bus again ? But the bus station is at the other end of town. Have to take a mashrutka again and do not know which one. I decide to take the easy route ; a shared taxi.
Once it is filled up ; amongst others at the bus station 
we head off. This guy is a nut-case; taking over at the right, speeding, negating red traffic lights. Lots of traffic police around, but they seem to be busy with checking peoples papers. Close to Tashkent he slows down and i guess he was lucky a few times; traffic police have laser guns here, measuring speed. He was just behind a speeding truck, that got caught. It's not like in Turkmenistan where Olek had his speed checked about ten times on a 350 km stretch. At least they check ... People in Turkmenistan warn eachother by putting the fist on the steering wheel and making a gun-sign with tumb and pointing finger 
. In Uzbekistan that makes no sense, since there is a concrete wall between the road for oncoming traffic and nobody would see the signs.
May
09
Went to see Shah-i-zinda, the Avenue of mausoleums.
mosquefied
medressafied
mausoleumofied
Will probably see a few more on this trip, but that should do for the rest of my life. Can't wait to get out here !
Vera
