Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Khiva - Day 1












 Slept well and woke up to the woman in our cabin asking if she could take photos of us, only time I have said no as we were still half asleep.

Arrived at our hotel to realise that Savik’s iPad had been left behind in the train. Good learning lesson for Savik as I had asked him not to take it out of my bag for this very reason. Luckily for him the tourist police were amazing and the iPad was found and would be back in Khiva at night. We had phoned them, with in 10 minutes we had an officer at our hotel sorting it all out. He later sent a car for us to tour the police station and tell us more about the work of the tourist police.

The government has done a lot to help grow the tourism in Khiva. The old town (Itchan Kala) is within a well maintained curvy wall that you can walk on for part of the way. There are tourist police booths in all four entrances and inside too, they all look very approachable and welcoming. There is free wifi in all of the areas too.

The inside of the walled area has all the same mud coloured buildings (mandated by the government), all of it is a UNESCO heritage site. Lots of beautiful Madrassahs, minarets and mosques to marvel at, especially the stories associated with them.

The children are a little over the stunning buildings and we headed to an amusement park in the evening which they really enjoyed. Surprisingly one of their favourite bits was the jumping castle !!

The restaurant we had dinner at also had a 1 year old’s birthday party in a separate hall. The entrance of the birthday boy was with a dancing entourage with loud music and money being thrown in the air. Savik was very excited to pick up 300$, a little disappointed when he found it was fake notes. 

Khiva looked gorgeous all lit up at night. 


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