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Travels both intrepid and trepidatious, around the world and around the block |
UZBEKISTAN HOTEL
REPORT
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B&Bs in Samarkand
While I was in town I had the opportunity to visit (but not stay at) the new bed and breakfast establishment of Kholmumin Mamarakhimov and his wife Dilbar.
Their home is located well
off the tourist track on a dusty street in a modest middle class neighborhood.
In Uzbek fashion, shoes are left just inside the door and you pad about
the house in stocking feet. The furnishings are modest but homey, with
rugs covering linoleum floors and overstuffed sofas lining the walls.
The two guest rooms have modern toilet facilities but , for those old-fashioned
types, there's a one-holer in the corner of the courtyard. The Mamarakhimovs
are the soul of hospitality. They don't speak any English which might
make a stay here a bit of a challenge but that shouldn't deter you. If
I were heading back to Samarkand, this is where I'd stay.
The b&b phenomenon is fairly
new to Uzbekistan and it has attracted the wary eye of the government
tourism infrastructure. Uzbekistan is still too soviet to feel entirely
comfortable with ordinary folks just setting themselves up in business,
especially when that business is hosting foreign tourists. Consequently,
there is now a "B&B Association" which ostensibly insures
a certain quality control. That's true no doubt but I also suspect it
means that room charges are artificially high.
The Mamarakhimov's and other
b&bs in Samarkand can be booked through:
Esprit Du Temps
7/1 Omar Khayam St.
Samarkand 703001
Phone: 011-7-3662-35-07-61
Fax: 011-7-3662-31-06-41
Rates (including breakfast): Singles $35; Doubles $50.
For an additional charge lunch and dinner can be added.
Esprit Du Temps is a tourist agency conveniently located right across the street from Registan Square, Samarkand's primo tourist draw. They tell me their b&bs accommodate from four to fifteen people and that they also can arrange b&b bookings in Tashkent, Bukhara, Ferghana, and Khiva.
BUKHARA
Hotel Bukhara
In one of those bizarre twists
of marketing that make Uzbekistan so endearing, the Hotel Bukhara is located
right next door to the Hotel Bukhara. The former (known in town as the
"New" Hotel Bukhara) is a high-rise marbled palace of a hotel
that draws not a little inspiration from the multi-storied atrium lobbies
that have become such a cliché in the United States. The latter
(AKA the "Old" Hotel Bukhara) is a drab and dingy Soviet dump.
Confuse the two at your peril.
The "New" Hotel Bukhara
(which is owned and operated by an Indian company) had been opened about
a year when I arrived but still had a vaguely unfinished air about it.
This was especially true of the room into which I was placed (after the
staff discovered that my original room was already occupied). It had no
soap, no shower curtain, no toilet paper, no light bulbs, and no curtains
on the windows. The television didn't work and the minibar was still sitting
in the bottom of its packing crate. It didn't work either.
The public areas were, fortunately,
fully furnished and quite handsome. Behind the hotel is a medium-sized
swimming pool, which was closed when I visited. The dining room is a two
tiered affair, very posh, with comfortable tables and banquettes. The
meal I had there was a special banquet for guests of the government so
it may not be the best gauge of the standard fare, but what I had was
delicious. It was the standard Uzbek blowout meal, with a succession of
courses that is as predictable as the seasons: the spicy soup laghman,
plov, and shashlik.
My stay at the Bukhara was
a hectic one. My tab was picked up by my Uzbek Tourizm hosts and I didn't
get a chance to quiz the management on rates and such.
The hotel is about a 15- to
20-minute walk to the old city. Walk out of the hotel, turn left and keep
walking in that general direction, veering to your left when you have
to make a choice. It can be confusing to snake your way through the narrow
streets but as you walk you will find yourself stepping back in time.
I first made the walk on a night of the full moon and this introduction
to Bukhara's ancient town was quite magical.
Hotel Bukhara
8 Novoi St.
Bukhara
Phone: 011-7-36522-38311
Rooms: N/A
Rates: N/A
Sacha's B&B
I didn't get a chance to check
this place out and I wanted to because it came highly recommended. For
what it's worth, Sacha's is reported to have air-conditioning, a sauna,
satellite tv, vegetarian meals, and a refrigerator stocked with cold beer
(nice touch that).
Sacha's B&B
13 Molodyezhnaya St.
Bukhara
Phone: 011-7-36522-33890
KHIVA (URGENCH)
Hotel Khorezm
My hot tip on the dusty provincial
town of Urgench is "Don't go." Unfortunately, if you're planning
on seeing Khiva, which really is worth the trip, Urgench is hard to avoid,
although with a little persistence you don't have to stay there (see below).
Khiva is an ancient city now
largely preserved as a museum. Urgench is a modern soviet city about 15
kilometers away. One is enchanting, the other merely ugly.
Since I wasn't making the arrangements, and since I wouldn't have known
what to do if I had been in charge, I wound up staying at the Hotel Khorezm,
yet another fading Soviet-era hotel. It was a bit like the Ziyorat in
Ferghana but without the charm. Some signs in the public areas led me
to believe the place plays host to groups from France and Germany.
The saving grace of the Khorezm,
at least for those to whom this sort of thing appeals, is that it seems
to boast Urgench's happening yuppie bar. When we checked in a cadre of
the burg's young movers and shakers were vigorously celebrating the opening
of the new Coca Cola plant that President Karimov had opened that day.
They proved to be pleasant company and a valued resource when it became
necessary to make arrangements on our own to fly back to Tashkent.
Otherwise, the place had little
to recommend it. The rooms were small and drab with faded, fraying furniture.
The walls were thin. The bathrooms were cramped and shabby. And the keyhole
in my door looked big enough to accommodate a small car. I never did figure
out how to work the damned thing; I was constantly having to summon the
gornichnaya to let me into my room and lock it when I left.
We found the hotel staff to be unhelpful and English was not spoken well.
The breakfast was about average, which should not be construed as a compliment
Hotel Khorezm
2 Al Beruni St.
Urgench 740008
Phone: 011-7-36237-65408
Fax: 011-7-36237-66180
Rooms: N/A
Rates: Singles $50; Doubles $80 - $130
Hotel Khiva
This hotel is a converted
medrassa (Muslim seminary) within the ancient walled city. It has 130
rooms on two levels arranged around the central courtyard. The rooms are
simple -- they were originally designed for holy men, after all -- but
they are comfortable and the ambiance can't be beat. There is no restaurant.
This place or the Hotel Arkanchi (below) are the hostelries of choice
when visiting Khiva. Not only are they located (literally) in the heart
of the old city, but whatever drawbacks they might have in terms of comfort
and convenience will be more than offset by the ambiance.
Hotel Khiva
Phone: 011-7-36237-54945
Rooms: 130
Rates: Singles $26; Doubles $30
Hotel Arkanchi
I didn't have a chance to
visit this one, which is also located in the old city, but it reportedly
can accommodate thirty guests. Only five of the rooms have full bath facilities.
Hotel Arkanchi
Phone: 011-7-36237-52974
Fax: 011-7-36237-52230
Note: Information was accurate as of October, 1997.
This article copyright 1997 by Kelly Monaghan. All rights reserved.
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