Day 6 – The Inaccessibility of Tashkent
Has it really been more than a week since the 7 and a half hour flight back to London Heathrow, how time flies when you are having fun (or working!).
Anyway, let’s delve back into the sixth day of my Central Asia adventure. As it was our last full day in Uzbekistan, we remained in Tashkent and, after a lazy morning i.e. me catching up on work enquiries, it was time to trek up to the TV tower for a majestic view of the city. Now, as the Tashkent metro is completely inaccessible i.e. down flights of steps, we decided to walk for which trusty Google Maps informed us would take 52 minutes down one straight road, simple! However, as we were in no rush, we agreed to take the scenic route and zigzag our way to the tower through the suburbs (as that is where you see the real city i.e. not the commercial hubbub) and its ‘lifestyle’, needless to say, we ended up a little lost.
If you thought the city centre was a little inaccessible, try walking through the suburbs with massive water gullies dissecting the pavement…(even an able bodied individual would have to watch out for these!):
It must have been a good 2 hours before we reached the majestic tower weaving our way through the streets (and up and down steps) until we discovered the entrance to the structure…
During my travels, I have come to realise that observation decks are generally well equipped for wheelchairs (even if it does mean going through the rear) but this is Uzbekistan we are talking about hence you can guess what the first obstacle was…
It seemed rather strange though as there was a perfectly good ramp up to the entrance. Anyway, the tower presented some great views of the city…
We were all delighted to have discovered the road which we should have walked up afterwards hence it was a straight 52 minute road back to the Hotel Uzbekistan (stopping at ‘Chesters’ restaurant to sample the Uzbeks version of the British cuisine…not a bad attempt) for our final night!
