September 19 and 20
The last bus ride of our Silk Road journey brought us to Tashkent, the final destination before flying to Moscow and back to the US.
After arriving in Tashkent we visited a museum of applied arts which was only mildly interesting because we had already seen such great examples of it from Khiva through Samarkand. However, outside they did have a good selection of T-shirts to purchase.
We quickly to went our rooms in the Tashkent Plaza Hotel, received our stored luggage from a week ago and took advantage of the wireless Internet access before leaving to see a ballet at the State Bolshoi Theater of Opera and Ballet. Our seats at the ballet were very good, about twelve rows from the orchestra pit, giving us an exceptional view of the stage. The music was excellent, and even though we did not know the story presented in the ballet, we all really enjoyed the drama conveyed by the music, great scenery, costumes and dance. Following the production, we dined in an elegantly appointed room on the second floor of the Opera House. This was our farewell dinner after which we said goodbye to our tour guide, Claudio, and our fellow travelers.
On Thursday, the three of us explored Tashkent on our own, finding a Magnum ice cream bar to start off an eventful afternoon. Walking through the streets trying to find certain landmarks took us to places where we didn’t see any Westerners. One of the suggested sights to visit is the Chorsu Bazaar in the “Old Town” part of the city. We decided that we wanted to visit this one last bazaar and travel there using the subway. Talking to several people along the way, we finally found someone who spoke English and she directed us to the Metro then walked with us to show us the subway stop personally.
We purchased the subway tokens, passed through the turnstile and boarded the train heading in the right direction. We were an oddity once again, being the only Westerners on the train. Looking confused while reading map on the wall of the subway car, we asked a young woman which stop was close to the Chorsu Market. She pointed to the stop on the map, then got off with us at that stop and motioned for us to follow her. The bazaar started near the top of the stairs, and the young woman, Danosa, led us through every nook and cranny, covering the area much more thoroughly than we could ever have done by ourselves. We would not have known where to go since it was so extensive. Danosa barely spoke any English, but she understood more than she could speak. We learned that she is a college student studying Business Management. When we finally left the market, Danosa escorted us back to the subway and insisted on accompanying us to our hotel. We said good bye there and hugged her. What delight she was and what an unexpected afternoon!!
We plan to get some sleep between 7 PM and 1 AM before leaving for the airport at 2 AM. Our flight to Moscow departs at 4:55 AM and out flight to the US 12:15 PM.
See you in the States!
Tamara, Rich and Garry
Captions: 1) Navoi Opera and Ballet Theater 2) Magnum bars - it took us one month, but we found them 3) Chorsu Market 4) Vendor selling bread at Chorsu Market
5) Dasona - our impromptu tour guide 6) Evening at the ballet
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