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Day 39 - Wed 23 Apr 08
Up at 05:00 for a taxi to the airport - got there with loads of time to spare. They even control when you can get to the check-in desks via security and x-ray. Got to check in at 07:30, and then hung around waiting to board. There are views of the flight line and the US Airforce transport planes. Bussed out to the plane (it's nothing I recognise, and it's very full. Surprise, surprise there's someone in my allocated seat.
The ride is pretty bumpy, but the Uzbek customs form keeps me busy through the worst of it. The in flight meal consists of a roll, a cake and a six inch sausage. I ate the roll and the cake. Upon landing immigration and customs were no issues, I'd make a slight mistake on the customs form but the officer fixed it in an instant.
I took a taxi to my hotel, the driver was an old guy with an even older car. He started out at $20. I said $5 - we settled on $10. In fact I could have almost walked to the hotel but hey. Checked in with no issues and then dumped my stuff and headed out into the city. Found the railway station and got my ticket for tomorrow, it was it bit more expensive that I was expecting.
Had a wander around the city, but there's really no great shakes here. Located a restaurant from the Lonely Planet. The only other occupants were the three witches from Macbeth. They were drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, shouting at each other and down mobile phones. I ate, paid up and got out quick.
Caught the metro up to the 'old town' - as soon as I'd got past the barrier a police man stopped me and said 'passport', 'American?' as soon as he saw the Irish passport it was 'Ah Roy Keane', he lost interest in seeing the passport and waved me on.
At the other end of the metro was a huge market with a building that looked like a large green UFO. There was a mosque nearby that I had a quick look around. Back to the hotel - rather tried!
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