Tashent

Day 110  Wednesday 20^th July 2011  

We woke early and had a quick wash in the well water outside Valodia’s house then it was off to do a tour of the region. We stopped by the house of the old lady whose name I never did catch and we went up outside the town to a chalk hill where we had a good view of the river that flows nearby. We also discovered that Tashent has an important role in the railway system as it appears to be a junction where trains can either go east/west or north/south.

We went back to Irene’s village where she joined us and, after dropping off the very kind translating lady, we went back to Valentine and Galina’s house for dinner and a super spread it was too.  Galina’s friend Svetlana popped in to see the Englishmen and we all posed on the balcony for a picture because Galina’s friends had not believed her when she had told them that she was going to feed a couple of Englishmen – now she had the proof. What lovely, gentle company and so very welcoming.

Off we went then to meet some hunters in a nearby village and we played with the big toys in their yard – old Russian army personnel carrier and a hovercraft – before sitting in their workshop and having a drink of chai with them before being taken off again to the fisherman’s house where we found the fisherman mending an outboard motor in his garden. We declined the chance of a day’s fishing as it would mean another day in Tashent and we had to carry on our journey westwards.

We dropped Irene back at her village and said our goodbyes and then we went to the house of  some more friends,  Alvina and her husband who had very kindly set up a banya (sauna) for us. Valodia insisted on having it roasting so we didn’t stay too long inside and so we sat and had chai and something to eat with this lovely couple – how I wish I could go back to Tashent and Chita and give something back to the special friends that we have met along this journey of journeys.