anothertravelblog

I'm not a fan of touristic places. And even if Uzbekistan isn't the first country to cross your mind when thinking of touristic places, I can assure you that Samarkand is a bit of a touristic metropolitan when it comes to Central Asia.

 

I decided to leave touristic Samarkand behind and travel south to Termez. Termez is a city located on the Afghan border and it took me 9h by train from Samarkand. The landscape was beautiful and we passed by mountains, snow and deserts.

 

I went to my hotel by using a local taxi. The driver said that I was the first european he ever met. He gave me his number, just in case I needed a private taxi somewhere. After a short powernap at the hotel I decided to call my taxifriend to hear what he suggested. He came and drove me around the city. We passed by the Sultan Saodat complex where the members of the Sayyid Dynasty are buried. They are descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. We also went to Kirk kiz fortress were, according to the legend, 40 women lived together and men were not allowed. The tour took about 3,5 hours and costed 60000 Sum (60 SEK / 6Euro).

 

When we were driving back to the hotel I saw a huge fence right next to the road. I asked the driver what's behind it. He looked at me and answered:

 

"Its Afghanistan, don't go there, it's very dangerous" 

 

It felt a bit surreal actually and I'm glad that I didn't told my mother about my trip to Termez until I was back in Sweden.

 

The second day I went to the archeological museum, which I recommend if you're planning to travel to Termez. I can really recommend Uzbekistan. It's on my top 5 list. And don't be scared of traveling to less touristic places.