24 Hours in the Most Spectacular city S8 EP.19 | Khiva | Pakistan to Japan Motorcycle Tour
Assalam-O-Alaikum everyone and welcome back to the channel from train in Uzbekistan. You can see from my face that I am tired and half asleep. As I took a sleeper train from Bukhara which departs around 3:50 am. It will take me to Khiva at 10:45 am. By the way, this is a night sleeper train.
It departs Tashkent in the evening. It will take me to Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva which is the last stop and our ultimate destination. We will explore the city today.
I paid $13 to $14 for this train. I booked it directly from the app. I didn't go to any agent. I tried to have a comfortable sleep in this train. It's comfortable but not like the fast train. Let me show you around.
There is a sleeping berth on this side and on the other as well. Similarly, there is a berth on both sides. The AC was on.
It's very difficult to sleep without AC. If you are very tired, you can sleep comfortably. Otherwise, it's a little bit difficult. Especially for people who can't sleep in a bit of noise in the train. There are four people in one cabin. It's not noisy here.
So, one can sleep comfortably. We will reach the station shortly. Then we will show you the station before we leave. This is Khiva railway station.
It's very similar to those of Bukhara and Samarkand. Now we have to leave the station. And take a taxi from there. It was a fully booked train. When I bought the ticket, only the last cabin seat was available.
When I reached here, I can see that it was fully booked. We have got a big surprise, weather-wise. The weather is a little cloudy. It's around 30 degrees. It was 44-45 degrees for the last two days.
You can say that we have got a positive surprise. And a very good surprise. We will enjoy our stay here for a couple of days. Taxi Which hotel? Let me check.
India? No. Pakistan. Muslims? Yes, finally, I have reached the hotel. This area is within the vicinity of the walls of old town. It took me hardly 12 minutes to reach here from the railway station. I paid approximately 1 USD for that. This is a small family-run guest house.
It's not a big hotel. They have provided a beautiful, clean and comfortable room. I had the option of single bed or twin bed.
The single bed was comparatively $2 - $4 cheaper. I preferred that because I have to stay here for a night only. I didn't need a fancy room.
I paid 21 USD for this. It has an attached washroom and air conditioning facility. But there is a big reason to stay here. Let me show you. This is the terrace of this guest house. Breakfast is served here.
You can sit here in the evening. Breakfast is included in this price. You can see the amazing view from here.
Check it out for yourself. The view of the old town from here. Let me turn the camera to the other side. You can see a mosque here. There is a beautiful tower behind me.
Whenever I visit such old towns, especially historical cities, I try to find a place where I can sit comfortably and enjoy the view in the evening. Let's go down and explore the city. We need to have breakfast as well.
Since we've spent most of our time in traveling. This is our first food break. Honey cake with cappuccino.
There was a cafe right next to the hotel. Looks very nice. The people were very nice.
I was gonna sit outside at first but it suddenly got hot due to sunlight. Anyway, let's have some cake and coffee. Let's get some energy and then we'll explore the city. The coffee is for $2.50.
The cake is for $2.00. What an amazing city! It feels like I am in an open air museum. Wherever you look, you will find historical monuments and buildings. There are about 50 historical buildings in the old town and almost 250 historical houses. Which were restored during the Soviet era in 1979. This is the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uzbekistan.
It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. The old town is called Ichan Kala. It has four gates. East, West, North and South. All the entrances to the old town are only possible through these gates.
The place where I am standing right now is called West Gate. You can see a beautiful minaret behind the West Gate. Let me try to explain this area to you.
Firstly, you can see how well it has been restored. The streets are very clean and wide. Wherever I go... This azure colored minaret was built in 1851. It's called Kalta Minar. The entrance to this side is through the West Gate.
On both sides of the gate, you can see these two madrassas. You can see souvenir shops for tourists down there. And on this side, there is a wall of this fort.
Let's walk a little further and show you the madrasas. I can see that this madrasa has been named as restaurant. The old buildings have been converted into restaurants, cafes and hotels. This is the entrance to the madrassa next to the minaret. The madrassas I have shown you have similar architecture like these.
Look at this beautiful blue, white and peacock blue color. This madrassa is actually a hotel now and there is another madrassa next to it which has been converted into a restaurant. Unfortunately, we cannot show you the inside. But there are many other buildings that we keep walking towards. I am on the same road as West gate.
I can see a historical tower in front of me. The roads are very wide. When it was renovated, at the same time, the roads were also widened. Normally you don't see such parks and wide roads in old town, since the buildings have been fully reconstructed.
That's why you will come across such beautiful wide roads here. The cars are not allowed here but in old town, there are roads for cars. Normally, old town streets are too narrow for cars. But that's not the case here. I bought a ticket from West gate.
We can now visit all the monuments in old town. I got this for 2,00,000 som which is like $16. This is Juma Mosque. As soon as you reach the entrance of Mosque, you get the impression that you'll be seeing a very distinctive architectural building. This is the oldest building here. It was built in the 10th century.
Most of the buildings I have visited in Samarkand, Bukhara or here they were built in 14th and 15th century onwards. That's why their architecture is very different from this mosque. There is a big hall here which has 212 wooden carved pillars. Which have been carved beautifully and uniquely. Carving on every pillar is different from the other. Some pillars have been renovated because of their poor condition.
Roof is wooden. Side walls are made of brick. This is a functioning mosque with a portion designated for prayer and rest of the area can be visited by tourists. Personally it's my favorite building due to the unique architecture.
Look at the beautiful tower. It is known as Islam Khoja Minar. Let's see if there is a madrassa or a historical building associated with it. It's written outside that we can go upstairs.
So, it might be included in the money we have already paid. You can see a beautiful madrassa next to it. Mostly such towers are either associated with either madrassas or mosques. Here comes our lunch. The best thing about this city is that there're a lot of things to see here.
You can relax and see everything. It has a small old town and everything is inside it. So we will have lunch, take a break and explore everything. So for lunch, we have Manto from Uzbekistan known as Manti here and there is meat inside it and something else. They have served it with some sauce. I don't know what this cream is made of.
It's kind of yogurt. I like the pulao here but I don't want to eat pulao everyday. I want to eat something else too. Very delicious. It hardly costs $4 or $5.
Earlier I mentioned that whenever a building was built in the old times there usually existed a building in that area from which it was inspired from. As you saw in Samarkand and Bukhara, a lot of buildings are similar. Similarly when we talk about Khiva, the oldest historical building here is Juma Masjid. Right now I am at Kuhna Ark which was built in 17th century. Here are two famous buildings, one of them is Khan Masjid. It's a beautiful blue colored ceramic tile work.
All along the walls till the ceiling. Along with that, inspiration has been taken from Juma Masjid. As you can see carved wooden pillars here. All this was inspired by Juma Masjid because it was the oldest and the most important historical building here.
I am walking along the wall of this old town. Not only the wall here but even the wall of Bukhara, I find them quite similar to the walls of Derawar Fort in Pakistan. They are quite similar.
Overall I find this city very relaxing with its wide roads. You will find a lot of parks and abundant nature here. It's peaceful, people are not in a hurry. Traffic is also very less. Overall population of Uzbekistan is around 36 million.
Around 100,000 people live here. Mostly the population here and on the Tashkent side is less. As it's a desert area. So, in desert environment you will find less population mostly.
But I really like this city. Especially today we got a good weather. It's drizzling now. I am enjoying this environment.
The majority of tourist attractions are located within the fort's walls. Now we are enjoying the city view. There is a terrace restaurant here.
What an amazing view it is. There is a cool breeze as well. In front is the city towers, madrassas and all the historical buildings. The food is in front of us. Today we are trying kebab. I am not very hungry because I have already eaten 2 to 3 times today.
I ate to my fill today. Usually, hardly one meal or two meals are available. Today, whenever I had time, I sat down and ate something.
So here we have special kebab, some fries, some special sauces and thin bread just like that in Turkey. Hopefully our kebab will be good. Let's try it. Just like they are eaten in Turkish restaurants.
Kebabs here are very delicious. Today is my 5th or 6th day here in Uzbekistan If I like countries in terms of food in the world Lebanon, Mexico I have never been to Mexico but my colleagues were from Mexico. So they used to cook at home. Very delicious food Of course India, Pakistan and then Uzbekistan.
I paid $6 or $7 for this meal. Total value for money. Not only the view of the city was amazing but the food was also delicious. And with this, our Khiva adventure comes to an end. Initially when I was planning to come here, if you look at the google map there are two borders of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . One is right next to Khiva. And the other is next to Samarkand. That's why I applied for a visa to Turkmenistan.
But unfortunately they rejected my visa. It's a very strict country, they don't grant visa easily. Since I applied through the tour operator, I had to pay $1500 to him as well for 4-5 days of tour.
Whatever happens, happens for good. That's why I left my motorcycle in Samarkand. As it's really hot ahead, I have to go back by the same route. So tomorrow we will catch a train from here. Then we will get back to Samarkand.
And from there we will start our motorcycle tour. for Pamir Highway. That's all for today. I hope I was able to show you this city. If you liked it, don't forget to Like, Subscribe and Share.
See you in the next vlog. Allah Hafiz
2024-10-26 03:27
