Looking for the Silk Road ... arrival in Tashkent

After long negotiation with BA we finally got the go ahead to purchase new clothes and backpack as they couldn't figure out when our belongings could have met again with us.... so another day of power shopping in Bishkek (what a vacation!!) If any of you will ever need tips on where to find (non-faked!!) clothes and equipment in Central Asia... just drop us a mail ;-)

Anyway we decided to try Uzbek airways to make up some time and flew on an old Tupulev to Tashkent (che paura!!! .. you could fold the seats..., the whole plane was min. 40 years old). At passport control we met with a nice couple of French guys who were traveling with their little girl of only 20 months (great!!). We checked in at the Gulnara Hotel and arranged for a bed on the floor for the first night, although much more comfortable then the beds we got used in Kyrgyzstan. As we didn't have any Uzbek money, our B&B host just lent us 20 USD in local currency to go out eating .. increadible the hospitality, also in this country!!
Dinner was at the taxi driver's will and we ended up far out off our Lonely planet map in a great place outside town where the waiters were maniacly running up and down to serve everyone in as little time as possible and the menu was russian only. So we pointed to some of the stuff which looked eatable on other's peoples plates and we ended up having just amazing good Shashlyk. The way back was a bit tricky with a driver who could not read the map and with us not speaking a word of Russian beside da and niet... but after more than an hour (for a 5km ride) we eventually found it.
The next two days were spent sightseeing the city with 45 degrees outside and long long long roads to walk by... We were expecting an "arabic-type" New Delhi, a huge mess, people dragging us everywhere selling staff in colorfull bazars ... instead the city is modern, with large streets, ordered traffic, people dressing smartly in western clothes. Big surprise! Especially having this romantic silk road picture inside. Frankly beside the bazar (tidy with numberd stalls!) and the beautiful mosque it didnt impress us too much. So we tried to get the admin things done as quickly as possible - Yes, unfortunately also in a long vacation there is so much tiring stuff to be sorted out, like onward visas, etc. - to go ahead to our next destination ... the longtime awaited Samarkand.