Those magnificent men in their flying machines!

"Tourist?" the pilot asked. I nodded.

"Ingland, Amerika?"

"Narvegia!" I replied.

He nodded and told the copilot.

O joy! O Happiness! I was finally on the flight of a lifetime! I had read about this, and seen some videos about this flight. The only commercial flight in the world using a double-decker Antonov 2p. A plane as old as I am. I had travelled to Fergana for this reason only.

The day before, I had walked up to the airport, and after some wandering back and forth, I finally asked the only guy who looked official. "Sokh?" He nodded and started a long monolog in Uzbek. I stopped him, and started writing on my smartphone. I showed him in Uzbek. His face lit up and he started writing a reply. It said he would put my name on a list for the flights on Wednesday the 17th. I had to be there one hour before. When I would receive the tickets.

I got up way too early, eager to get going. I had booked a taxi the day before. It took me to the airport way too early. But I did not want to risk being late because of something unforeseen. The guy recognized me from the day before. I handed over my passport, and after a while, a woman handed me two handwritten tickets. I was ready!

I walked through security and came to the gate. Ah! There it was, in all of its glory!

Shortly after, we were ready to board, I was first in line, wanting to get a good seat. But an old lady in a wheelchair took precedence. Of course. No question there. But finally I could climb (literally) onboard. There were only four rows of seats. Three seats per row. And luggage in the back. I didn't carry much other than my pc-bag. I laid it in the shelf above the seat. And sat down by the window. Row 2. Best view in the plane!

Not much legroom, but the seats were soft, so no problem

Soon, the captain started the engine, and it moaned and spat into life. Spitting thick smoke out the exhaust pipes on the sides. It was magnificent! We taxied out onto the tarmac, and off we went. First, the tail lifted until we were level, then...nothing. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. I was wondering when we would take off, and looked down on the ground, only to realize, we HAD taken off. It was such a silky smooth take off. Just letting the wings lift us into the air. Ah! I smiled so much I feared I would need surgery to remove my smile. 

We lifted slowly into the sky. Leaving the ground below us. Soon the landscape changed beneath us. Mountains and arid lands. 

Then we started descending into more green areas. We were nearing Sokh. And with a sharp bump, we landed. Ah! What a machine! What an experience! I loved every second of the flight!

Embarrassingly bad selfie

What a beauty!

I waited an hour and a half before my return flight. I jumped into the same seat. My camera ready. I filmed the captain again start the engine. But this time, the old engine decided to show us who's boss. A tremendous bang shook the whole airplane and made everybody jump. The pilots included. A solid backfire in the engine. The pilots laughed, and the engine slowly revved up. Almost unwillingly. But in the end, it gave up and coughed and spat into life again. The pilots spent much more time checking all the instruments this time, before we headed out onto the tarmac. A short while later, they revved the engine, and off we went. Just as silky smooth as the first time. 40 minutes later we landed with a bump back in Fergana. We got off the plane, and my smile wouldn't go away. It may not have been heaven, but it was at least way up in the skies. 

I recorded a lot of video clips that I put into a video. More the "live" experience than mere words can depict. Enjoy!

Trip of a lifetime!

Uzbekistan, ergo sum!

 This day, my main goal was to cross the border with Uzbekistan. Crossing the border was pretty straightforward. I got on a mashrut. Which contrary to normal, left on a set time. I thought the border would be a certain distance. But after driving for like a minute, we stopped again. I thought we had arrived at another bus station. But no. This was actually the border. The mashrut stopped first at the Kyrgyz side so we could get stamped out of Kyrgyzstan. Then we travelled like 50 meters, where a Kyrgyz border officer came on board to check our id's. He demanded to see my exit stamp. I showed it to him, and we were off again. For like 50 meters. Uzbekistan border. Time to get out, and bring all our gear. We went into a large hall with only one booth. Which was empty. We waited for a while, before an officer saw us. Far back in the room. He exchanged (shouted) some words with the Uzbeks in our group. After a while, a passport control officer showed up. And we could get ut passport stamped. Then customs. Which was just a guy telling us to put our bags on a conveyor belt into a x-ray machine. After we had all been scanned, with him mostly occupied with talking to another guy, we were let into Uzbekistan. An hour and then some later, we arrived in Andijon. Where I would spend the night.

As I got off the mashrut, I was immediately "attacked" by a taxi driver. I didn't understand what he was saying, (no hablo Uzbek) so a local guy translated.

"The taxi driver wants to know where you are going? Fergana, Tashkent, Kokand?"

"I am going here!" I said and pointed to the ground. 

He smiled. "Really? Andijon?"

He explained it to the taxi-driver, who looked at me with disbelief. Admittedly, Andijon is not on any tourist maps. That's for sure. And I didn't go here expecting to find hidden gems or anything. It was more a practical thing. Travelling all over the world has taught me never to trust timetables. So I could have made the train to Fergana (needed to buy the ticket too), but if anything went wrong, I would be stuck. So I opted to get stuck on purpose. 

So one of the things I did this day, was to buy a train ticket to Margilon. A city close to Fergana. That was my real first goal in Uzbekistan.

But my very first thing was to withdraw some money. It was a bit weird going to an ATM, and asking for 1 000 000, without it laughing at me. The Uzbek sum isn't exactly top value. 1 000 000 sum is about $85... So I felt rich until I started buying stuff...

I also had to switch sim-cards. My Kyrgyz sim only worked a couple of clicks inland. I found a local provider and got 24Gb for about 40 000 sum (about $3). One fifth of the Kyrgyz sim. Not bad. Some sim for sum...

With my phone online, and maps working again, I walked the couple of miles down to my hotel. 

It was a very old hotel. Located in a backstreet. Where cars had to drive slowly whether they wanted or not. I loved it. 

After unpacking my bags, I went outside and had a walk around town. Just to see if I could find something interesting. And I did. Below are some of the images I took during my walk.

The next day, I got up, had a shower, and walked to the train station. At the station, I bought some food and drink for breakfast. The woman behind the counter didn't have the full change, so she gave me a ball of something I had seen before. I assumed it was something sweet since I had seen some kids eating these with a great appetite. I put it in my mouth. Oh, the shock! The horror! It wasn't sweet. It was sour cheese. My brain went into self-preservation mode. "SPIT IT OUT!" it screamed. I wanted to, but the logical part of my brain stopped me. Spitting out a local delicacy onto the marble floors of the train station? Not exactly the way to get people to love tourists. I tried finding a waste bin. All the while my face shrunk into a prune. Despite my desperate attempts to hide my disgust. Keeping a straight face isn't easy when your whole body is dying. My brain trying to cope with not trying to vomit. But I found no waste bin anywhere. I had to chew the chewing gum texture. In the end, I managed to swallow it. I flung open a chocolate bar I had bought and devoured it. Just to get rid of the taste. YUCK! Sorry. You may love your cheese, but I cannot stand it. In my defense, cheese is one of the food items I am very picky about.

I got on the train, and found my seat. The car was hot. Steaming hot. Packed with people. I broke out a sweat. Immediately. And it stayed that way for the remainder of the 1 hour trip to Margilon. When I arrived I was stinky and sweaty. And ready for some air conditioning. But first, I had to find a taxi. Which was harder than I imagined. That is, not hard to find a taxi. But a driver that understood where I was going. Nobody knew the hotel, let alone the street in Fergana. Or even the area. But finally, I found one that was able to figure it out. And he zoomed me to the hotel. With only a little help from me and my GPS. 

I came to Fergana for one specific reason. Something I wanted to do ever since I saw it on YouTube. But more on that tomorrow.