The Sunday Times: Uzbekistan By Train: Riding The Orient Silk Road Express

Katie Glass embarks on a rail odyssey through Central Asia, finding alluring cities, endless steppe — and surprising amounts of bling.

Top tiles: Registan Square, Samarkand MONTICELLLO/GETTY

My route ran from the biggest city in Kazakhstan, Almaty, through the Uzbek cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara — covering 2,548 miles in 12 days. It would have continued into Turkmenistan, too, if they hadn’t rejected my visa application. (Dictatorships aren’t keen on journalists.)

Let’s twist again: traditional dancing in Bukhara GETTY

It felt like cheating, especially given Uzbekistan’s fast, modern trains, but it was worth it to have someone else sort the logistics: visas, guides and any hotels in towns where we stopped for a few days. A trip people usually spend months planning took just a few emails.

The best experiences were those away from tourist sites. Wandering the streets of Samarkand, which smelt sweetly of basil; finding intricately carved wooden doors and cheerful mosaics; weaving through a market pungent with red cayenne, green cardamom and cinnamon; seeing stalls piled with sunburnt walnuts, fist-sized sugar crystals and pots of pomegranates.

I never tired of the fascinating oddness of the Asiatic and Slavic mix. And it was fun being somewhere not yet sick of tourists. Where people spoke English, they asked what my name was, where I was from and whether I supported Manchester football club. In a village near Shahrisabz, a man ducked into his house and reappeared with a pile of apples for me.

Samarkand to Khiva was our longest train journey. As we rushed by day through the steppe’s yellow grass, I spotted rice plains, mulberry trees and old blue Soviet tractors tending the cotton fields. Bumping along at night, I watched the moonlit sand of the Kyzylkum Desert.

We left the train in Bukhara. Drinking sweet tea at Coffee Team under the fairy lights by the Divan-Beghi pond that night, I felt both land-sick and homesick for my little cabin.

Here you can get the full version of the article: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/travel/kazakhstan-uzbekistan-train-orient-silk-road-express-p8dx8lqx2