Today’s installment of thetwinsontour will be action packed and full of adventure! Ha, just kidding. We spent 8 hours on a bus, with a few brief bursts of photo-frenzy excitement. We had an 8 hour bus journey to get from Khiva to Bakhara. The distance itself isn’t that far, but the roads…..

So, we left our hotel bright and early at 9 am, and headed off towards the horizon. After driving a very short time, we made it to our first Kodak moment– a field of cotton! Woo hoo. Cotton– the touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives… We only got 5 minutes here to snap a few selfies, and then it was back to the bus.

Uzbekistan is proud of their cotton. They are the number 5 producer of cotton in the world, behind the USA, China, and I don’t remember who. Most of this cotton is picked by hand, so as you drive along the road, you see fields and fields of cotton. And people hunched over picking cotton by the kilo. They get paid by the kilo, and pick from 10-50 kilos a day. I am pretty sure all the cotton fields are owned by the government, so all this cotton is shipped out of the country. Uzbekistan started growing cotton under the USSR. Cotton takes A LOT OF WATER to grow, so now there are ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS– like dust storms and such. (For interesting reading, look up The Aral Sea.) Apparently cotton production has been decreased by 25% since Soviet rule and is only grown were there is sufficient water, but I didn’t really notice any water around. And by the way, we were only able to stop at a field with no workers in it due to a French photo journalist expose about child labor.

Next up was a quick pit stop at a roadside melon stand! That’s right! We had the chance to behold the beautiful, delectable Uzbekistan melon in person. These Uzbekistan melons are amazing. thetwinsontour do not like melons, but thetwinsontour make exceptions for Uzbek melon. It is so amazing. And, we could have purchased a melon for the rock bottom price of 50 cents! But, since we have not yet been to the knife shop, we were strong and did not purchase a melon despite the bargain price and deliciousness. Evidently, Uzbekistan produces way more melons than they can eat, so the turn it into dried fruit. This is intriguing to thetwinsontour, but we haven’t yet seen this phenomenon. We will keep you posted.

Sounds like a pretty exciting day so far, huh? Cotton and melons. But wait, there’s more! What is that we spy in the distance?! Why, it is Turkmenistan! Another -Stan that we are so close to, yet so, so far away. I swear, our guide likes to torment us by telling us how close we are to all these other countries we aren’t visiting…. And, just to torment us more, we had a photo stop at an abandoned roadside building to take pictures of ourselves at the “border.” Evidently, Turkmenistan was actually about 15 km away, but there is a wide buffer zone between the 2 countries. “Turkmenistan is complicated.” Despite it’s close proximity to Uzbekistan– and indeed, thetwinsontour could see it off in the distance– Uzbeks do not go to Turkmenistan. It is harder for an Uzbek to get a Visa to Turkmenistan than it is to get a US visa. So, that was our brush with Turkmenistan. And, if that wasn’t enough to torment us and our passports, we then had a coffee break at the border! We stood around for another 30 minutes eating cookies and candy while Turkmenistan taunted us from a distance– nanny, nanny, boo boo! you can’t catch me! Fortunately, there was a donkey wandering around, and he posed nicely for photos. thetwinsontour love to photograph wildlife.

Speaking of wildlife, I did see (and probably stepped on) what my highly trained eye identified as impala dung. But I said to myself, self this cannot be true. But wait! As I was sitting on the bus flipping through a book on the flora and fauna of Uzbekistan, I saw that the GAZELLE is one of the mammals native to Uzbekistan. And the gazelle is pretty darn close to an impala! So I was correct! I love it when that happens (which is pretty much always). My animal dung knowledge reins supreme!

On the road again, on the road again. Sorry Willie, but I am not remembering the rest of the words at the moment. There is a small stretch of highway that has been completed. Our guide is very proud of this road. But, it is not a very long stretch at all. It wasn’t long before we were off the new, paved road and on the old road. We could see a road being built off to the side, but it was still in the dirt leveling stage. Our guide seemed confident that it would be finished in a few months. thetwinsontour did not see any construction crews, so our bet is it will be a few years.

We were literally in the middle of nowhere. Our lunch stop was at a roadside building where we ate a picnic lunch box. And, there was watermelon that I am pretty sure the bus drivers bought at the photo stop melon stand. Why they would buy watermelon when there is Uzbek melon is beyond thetwinsontour. But, guess what, there was a goat there! You know how thetwinsontour feel about wildlife.

thetwinsontour want to take this opportunity to advise our legion of fans that you are one in a melon. Please, don’t un-fan us.

That pretty much summarizes our day. Even though we were on the bus all day long, my Garmin Vivo Fit thinks I got over 10,000 steps. These Uzbekistan highways leave a lot to be desired. They really shake you up like salt and pepper.

Love,

thetwinsontour