Being a recent graduate had
meant that I had scrounged a free holiday with the parents, but as a result of
this I now had to make my way from South Wales to Eastern Uzbekistan. I don’t
know how many people have made this journey before me, but I would bet 1000
Uzbek sums that there are not many of us. Perhaps someone will inform me that
actually, St. David’s has its very own Central Asian society and they have an
annual trip to Samarkand
So I packed up everything
neatly, using a special system of rolled knickers to fill in any gaps. Then it
was off!
St. David’s to Haverfordwest
While waiting at the bus
stop, I was tactfully informed that I was to be living alone in a flat in Tashkent
Luckily, I met a nice lady
with a sense of adventure who had just been on holiday to St. David’s on her
own. She told me about how she’d hitchhiked around North
Wales and about a time when she went camping on Skye but her tent
flooded so she had to stay in a Youth Hostel. Apparently everyone at the
campsite had had the same idea, so they all ended up sleeping on the floor. At
least I wouldn’t be sleeping on the floor. Hopefully. And if this woman could
go on holiday on her own and enjoy herself, maybe I could enjoy living alone.
Haverfordwest to Cardiff
There’s really not a lot to
say about Haverfordwest to Cardiff except that Haverfordwest is about the most
depressing place I’ve ever been through (sorry, everyone who lives there). All
there seemed to be was deserted Baptist and Presbytarian chapels. The train
stopped at every building and I was pretty enthralled to get to Cardiff
One of those exciting fast
trains with industrial-looking windows!
Heathrow to Tashkent
After a slight glaring
contest with some man who hated me because of my massive purple suitcase, I met
up with one of the other Sheffield graduates and we went through security and
did all the fun airporty stuff.
The flight was seven hours
long and included a screening of that ever-popular Keanu Reeves classic, A Walk in the Clouds. I only managed to
concentrate on the second half, and was watching with subtitles rather than
listening to it, but I got the general gist. Basically, Keanu Reeves is married
to a woman he doesn’t fancy and starts fancying a woman whose dad owns a
vineyard and hates him. After encountering a few plot holes, everyone realises
that actually, grapes are the most important thing in the world and will
eventually bring people together.
We spent a little while at
customs and had a chat with a man there who told us about all the best places
to get plov, the Uzbek national dish (and my blog’s namesake). It was rather
pleasing to find that we hadn’t completely lost our Russian.
Once over the border and in
possession of our possessions, we got into the back of a taxi with a broken
windscreen. It was quite exciting being driven around; the roads are, in
general, really wide, and everyone drives mostly where they like, from what I
can tell. I’ve also been told that it’s Uzbek tradition to beep at anyone who
drives past.
We were taken to each of our
flats in turn, with mine the last stop. My flat is just for me, and it’s rather
groovy. The décor is on the theme of 1960s futuristic: the walls are curvy,
orange and blue, and there are a hilarious number of jazzy lights. I have, so
far, counted eighteen light switches which each operate a separate light or set
of lights. My favourite set is the one that consists of six lights with little
orange sparkly balls in front of them. Just in case you weren’t already jealous
of them, I will put a few pictures of the other exciting lights at the end of
this post.
 |
| Funky. |
All that was left to do
after trying out all of my new lights was to have a very large sleep. So I did,
and it was wonderful.
 |
| This is above my bed. Woooow. |
