by Shan
It is not easy to travel from Hong Kong to Uzbekistan. Hong Kong travel agents were bewildered when asked about flights to Tashkent, and the airline with the most international flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistan Airways, has an incomprehensible website. Luckily, I found www.farecompare.com/schedules/index.html and www.amadeus.net via google, which I highly recommend for anyone wanting to research flying options from point A to point B.
To maximize my vacation days, I needed to schedule departing flights on or right before the weekend. There are direct flights to Tashkent from Beijing, Seoul and Bangkok, all of which in turn have direct flights from Hong Kong, but those flights depart in the early or middle part of the week. On Saturday, Tashkent does have flights arriving from Urumqi. Although Hong Kong no longer has direct flights to Urumqi, Guangzhou has two flights to Urumqi on Saturdays, and Hong Kong has frequent train service to Guangzhou. Eureka!
This itinerary seemed like a great idea when I figured it out months ago, but as the trip neared, the painfulness of it all weighed heavily. Now that I’ve completed the trip to Uzbekistan (and back), I’ve concluded that it’s a journey of a lifetime and once is enough. Here’s a summary of how I met up with Paul and Derek:
June 7, 2008
Kowloon-Guangzhou via Train
Dep 10:32 Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Arr 12:13 Guangzhou East Train Station
I assumed this would be the easiest leg of my trip – catch a taxi to Hung Hom station and hop on the train – but it turned out to be the hardest. Hong Kong woke to some of the worst rain it’s had all year, and the black thunderstorm warning and flash floods meant there were no taxis to be found. Normally it would take a minute or two to find an empty cab on Kennedy Road, but after waiting for 20 minutes in the pounding rain, I gave up. I was going to descend the escarpment onto Star Street to get to the subway station at Three Pacific Place, but water gushed waist-high from the drainage gutter onto the pedestrian walkway. Fortunately, the other set of stairs down to Star Street was passable. I finally made it to Three Pacific Place, hopped onto the red line to Tsim Sha Tsui, transferred to the East Rail line and rode the one stop to Hung Hom. As I sat down in the train, I noticed that my duffel bag and backpack were drenched from the rain (as well as my clothes), but I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Upon arrival at Guangzhou East, my backpack and duffel bag were screened through the security machine and subsequently hand-searched. The security guards looked suspiciously at my travel books, but let me pass eventually. I’m not sure if this was Olympics-related, but the immigration officials said that “certain” printed items are not permitted in China (another passenger had her Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper confiscated). I had flown to Beijing earlier that week, and no one bothered about checking bags on arrival at the swanky new airport, so presumably the inspection was due to overly zealous or bored immigration officials at Guangzhou East.
Guangzhou-Urumqi on China Southern Airlines
Dep 15:20 Baiyun Airport Guangzhou
Arr 20:45 Urumqi Airport
The cab ride to the airport only took half an hour, and I whiled away the hours waiting for my flight eating litchis sold at the airport and reading about Uzbekistan. Advice for all flying within China: absolutely no liquids of any kind are permitted in carry-on bags, unless it’s make-up. Unfortunately, I failed to persuade the security guard that my travel-size shampoo, Purell (my saddest parting) and toothpaste were make-up, but at least I got to keep the sunscreen and pore cleanser. In addition (and this held true for the Beijing, Guangzhou and Urumqi airports I visited that week), everyone received a very hands-on pat-down after walking through the metal detector. The Urumqi flight was half empty and while 2/3 of the passengers were assigned seats side-by-side in the back of the plane, for some reason the other 1/3 of us got a whole row (3 seats) each. The Boeing 757 plane seemed brand-new and the flight attendants courteously welcomed us on board with a count-down to the number of days until the Olympic opening ceremony, while reminding us of the sad plight of the Szechuan earthquake victims. In contrast to the Chinese language greeting, the English language greeting consisted of a one-sentence welcome aboard!
Urumqi-Tashkent via China Southern Airlines
Dep 23:50 Urumqi Airport
Arr 23:51 Vostochny Airport Tashkent (3-hour time difference between Urumqi and Tashkent)
Seeing the hordes of Turkmen bound for Ashgabat and Uzbeks bound for Tashkent at Urumqi’s international terminal was a sight. If there were a weight limit for checked baggage, no one seemed to care. Every passenger checked bags at least twice his or her weight, wrapped in yellow duct tape for extra protection. Among the goodies leaving China: electric fans, ironing boards, toys, pot & pan sets, bolts of fabric, lucky bamboo, stereos, televisions and blankets. Despite the lateness of the flight, the ride was like a big party for the Uzbeks on board, many of whom seemed to know each other. I loved that when asked, “rice or noodles” for the in-flight meal, many passengers responded with “rice AND noodles” and that the flight attendants obliged. Arrival in Tashkent was truly miserable. We descended onto the tarmac and crammed into two buses, to be transported to immigration. I was supposed to get a visa-on-arrival, but the booth was unmanned and the lights turned off. Clueless, I added myself to the huddle of humanity trying to squeeze through immigration in the largest blob possible. While waiting, I chatted up a fellow passenger from China who was working on a Huawei project in Tashkent. He complained about how outrageous and uncouth the Uzbeks were for never lining up, which made me wonder if he was truly from China. An hour later, when I finally made it to the front of the line, the immigration official pointed to the unlit visa-on-arrival booth and refused to deal with me any further. I had no choice but to return to see if the booth was now manned. Although the lights were off, fortunately the guy was just back from his break. I got the visa without any difficulty, and US$131 poorer, got back in the passport control line. Thirty minutes and much aggressive elbowing later, I finally made it through immigration, only to wait in the customs line. Thirty minutes later I was at the front of the line, having my bags screened (just like in Guangzhou), this time without any hands-on rummaging of my books. I finally exited the worst airport experience ever at 2:20 a.m.
June 8, 2008
Tashkent-Urgench via Uzbekistan Airways
Dep 8:30 Tashkent
Arr 10:10 Urgench
After a three hour (3-6 a.m.) nap at Tashkent’s supposedly finest hotel (which would be the equivalent of a 3-star hotel in any Chinese city), I woke up early to catch my Urgench flight. The Uzbekistan Airways plane was grim. Some seats leaned all the way forward or backward, some seatbelts would not buckle and flies buzzed everywhere. We waited on the hot tarmac, without air conditioning, for about thirty minutes, and just when we were all thoroughly soaked in our own sweat, the plane took off. A short hour later, we descended and I saw Derek and Paul waiting outside the Urgench airport gates. Hurrah – journey over.