At least partly thanks to Uzbekistan’s quite well-maintained train network, it was surprisingly comfortable to visit the Big Three – Central Asia’s probably most-famous highlights: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva. Indeed there is not so much to tell and write about all marvellous sites you can see there. Although often having been reconstructed, they truly testify of former glorious wealthy times, thanks to trade between Europe and China or to some powerful rulers like Timur. Unfortunately, most sites are completely overcrowded with souvenir shops, and we could hardly find a place without artificial commerce, but a more calm and authentic atmosphere to let the madrassas and mausoleums have a better effect on us. Also finding a nice little cheap place to have dinner turned out to be an almost impossible quest, and we soon missed Kyrgyzstan numerous local restaurants, food stalls and cook shops. Slightly disappointed overall but yet worthy, we’ll just let some pictures speak for themselves, even if they can only give a small glimpse at their real sumptuous appearance.

Things we learned:

• Germans are the true “Reise-Weltmeister”, and every member of the group is always ready to go hunting or fishing for food, or to jump onto a camel if it was necessary for the further journey (thanks to Jack Wolfskin equipment, every kind of outdoor gadgets and co.)
• French on the other hand are the world champions in traversing whole Asia independently by bike

Recommendable places to stay:

• Bahodir B&B
• Madina and Ilyos B&B
• Alibek B&B