Watchers at the border

Friends at the Kyrgyz border

Getting into Uzbekistan, a country of twenty five million people living in a region with large areas of desert, which is Central Asia’s cradle of culture,  and  has been under Russian control since the eighteenth century, but like most Stans countries has been independent since 1991, was almost a comic farce.

 The armed guards, the sniffer dogs, the yellow car which had  to be pushed into Uzbekistan and  back fired with sounds  like   Guy Fawkes night, the hoons that rode along side and  around us whipping themselves into a frenzy and then to find that because the president was in the part of the country we were travelling in, the roads were closed and we had to follow the driver and  guide in what seemed like a 360 degree re- route in the  rain.  

The border crossing from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan took over seven hours but we were prepared with thermos of tea, refreshments and plenty of warm clothes as we were not going to be caught out as had happened on the border crossing into to Kyrgyzstan. Exiting Kyrgyzstan with its closed borders to all but foreigners like us ( the civil unrest means locals cannot leave the country) involved tight security. For this border crossing we were processed car by car. The occupants of each car had to present with their passports and their departure was logged. This involved officials practising their English as they delightedly pronounced our  names. We smiled and affirmed their pronunciation.

Then the gates were opened and we drove the cars into no man’s land. One by one the cars were motioned into Uzbekistan for the border control process . The passenger then went through one door and the driver another. The driver had to present the carnet and sniffer dogs sauntered  around the car, with the trainer giving taps here and there around the body of the car. The officials asked the drivers a range of questions: how old were they, why were they travelling, their status and so on. We also had to complete detailed documentation defining how much money we were taking into the country, what medication was in our possession and what cameras, mobile phones and GPS equipment we were carrying. The border guards were all armed with AK47s but they seemed personable enough. Some car boots were opened up and the contents inspected.

We had a three hour wait as we were car four to go through. We watched   Peter and Kerith get through officialdom and were aghast when their car wouldn’t start and it had to be pushed some 100 metres into Uzbekistan. Peter would be devastated as he is always out there looking under the bonnet and checking to modify and improve things.   By the time we got to the other side Peter and Dan  had the car running but there was a lot of backfiring which could send shivers down one’s spine given that all the armed guards had their loaded guns.  Once the vacuum advance and timing was fixed the car ran better than ever.

At 5:30pm all the cars were through and into Uzbek and we met our guide Gulya and lead driver  who told us that the President was in this province so the main roads were closed. We followed the driver some 350 kms to Fargona and what a trip through the back roads.

 We were once again the little convoy of MGs driving along with people waving wildly, calling out greetings and smiling broadly. Soon the locals were on to us. This involved approximately five cars driven by young guys, windows down and the male passengers seated out of each passengers window, waving madly, mock whipping the cars, speeding up alongside us and videoing each car. It was like the Wild West with the cowboys riding rough shod in their cars. They would speed past the convoy do a screaming turn and drive back for a second attempt to capture film of each car.

After about fifty kms we lost the cow boys and down came the rain. We eventually lost sight of the lead  driver and the convoy took a wrong turn. The CB radios were our main form of communication but unfortunately the Queensland CBs don’t work so they had to follow the four MGBGTs. We reformed with the guide and driver  and  got to our destination.  Red Car, us, was pulled over by the police so they could take a photograph of the car, presumably just for their own photo album.

The next morning we were having pleasant breakfast with departure time set at 8:30am. At five to eight Gulya told us we better get going as the president would be in this province and the roads would be closed. We bolted to our cars and hit the road to Tashkent. The following day in Tashkent our walk through the main square was thwarted, again by armed guards, as you guessed it the president would be passing by in the next fifteen minutes. This guy sure gets around!

PS: Tashkent is a modern cosmopolitan city of some two million people. The Russians have left a legacy of a well planned city with some beautiful public buildings, most of which are fairly new as a result of a 1966 earth quake.  The mosques, mausoleums, madras’s and bazaars are in Islamic style with the gorgeous turquoise domes with intricately and colourfully painted and tiled walls and panels.

PSS: Gulya told us that if you prayed at the Grand Mufti’s mausoleum your prayers would be answered within fifteen minutes. With that I borrowed her scarf and made my prayer that Sarah and Luke’s puppy  Daisy which was lost last Wednesday would be returned and within twelve hours we got word that the Daisy had turned up at the Lost dogs home.  Eureka!

PSSS: Today we are off to Samarkand a drive of 330 kms. We are told that the first section of the road  is in excellent condition because it is the part of the highway that (you guessed it) the President uses regularly.