Woke up worrying about my iPhone. Furthermore to that, the BB Storm that I got with me decided to died on me as well!!.. The screen just went *blank*.. Tried to resuscitate it many time but to no avail.. How bad can this go man?!
We have to rush to the airport to catch the flight to Qarshi (Karshi) City at 0910hrs. In the midst of having my breakfast, I was also bugging my Uzbek officials to search for my phone. It is already bad to have forgotten to bring your phone, it is even worst when you left your phone in a foreign country.
Anyway, I was particularly moody throughout the trip – the walk to the domestic terminal feels like a déjà vu. This trip will be a super exhausting one – three days and two nights out of Tashkent into the unknown cities. We were greeted by the same scary small Fokker plane when our aero-bus stopped at the leading stairs to the aircraft. We’ve prepared for the worst but surprisingly the flight was very smooth.
1hr 40mins later we landed in the southern-most region in Uzbek.
The funny thing about the arrival here is, we will have to take our luggage directly from the hull of the plane and walked to the gated exit (no need to pass thru the building) which is right next to the building above.
We were told that we’re going to inspect two clubs today but we will not be staying in a hotel but a club-house dormitory that belongs to Nasaf PFC. First thing that we asked was.. Does it have air-cond!! The hot weather has been getting on to us these few trips. It is especially true when we have to travel long distances in a vehicle that doesn’t have AC. The temperature ranging around 36-38’C and no AC.. is really getting on everyone’s nerve.
The good news we received it was not only it is AC-ed but it’s the nicest place to stay in this region! Check out the room! We have FREE wi-fi too! (please understand that internet is very hard to come by.. we were very delighted)
It was definitely WAYYYYYYY better than the 777 hotel.. Honestly, the 777 was really a scary hotel albeit it’s nice-colonial-english-like exterior.
The long and super-hot-under-the-sun walkway towards our dormitory, restaurant, swimming pool, football field, tennis court, training field and gym.. but it was very a beautiful place.. seriously.
After dropping our luggage, we took an hour plus car ride to Mubarek City. This whole city was developed due to the oil refinery here. All 25,000 residence works in this refinery. Reminds me abit of Terengganu..
Again, we were served a sumptuous lunch after the inspection visit in M’ashal FC..
What is a meal without the ‘chut-chut’
Food Galore!
This is the best ‘popiah’ I’ve tasted here.. it’s basically rice & minced beef wrapped with cabbage. Nice..
Finally we inspected Nasaf PFC prior to the dinner.. but not before we were forced to stand for 40-odd minutes when the mayor greeted all of us with his welcome speech.Alas he finished his speech and gave us a very nice but “chat” heavy souvenir.
Tomm is gonna be a longggggg day.. There’s some heavy heart amongst us to leave due to the comfortable accommodation & internet access but am also excited to finally stop by Samarkand!
I’m an Uzbek because:-
1) I have gold teeth.. or I will have gold teeth when I’m older
2) I drink warm Coke
3) Apart from fruits, every meal must include lamb.. cause we have 5.5 million sheeps in our country or else it will overtake our population..
