22. September 2014

Day 65... September in Samarqand

So we came back to Samarqand with the train on Monday. As there was no second class tickets available anymore we had to take the doublepriced first class tickets. 

But that was totally worth it as you get seats that cant be reclined and russian soap operas that are on maximum volume... but we could manage to turn down the volume as it would make the baby in our compartment cry all the time and not just sometime. but the lovley grandma managed to calm the baby down by clapping steadily in her hands.. overall I have to say that public transport still sucks.

But this wont be a problem as we will get the spare parts this week and we can finally get back on the road. 

How wrong we where.

We waited and called EMS -Chinese express shipping- every day. When the maximum shipping period of six days where over they said -"Oh, we meant six working days"

As the  six working days where over they said:"whats, the problem? - Its just one day overdue yet:"

Our hopes sank rapidly and after waiting here for another week we didnt really believe the package gonna arrive any time soon.

After the delivery was five days overdue we contacted EMS as usual and they still had no idea where the package was... Ok - they knew that it had left china...but from there the tracking number was useless... the only advice they had was, to not wait for the package any longer as it might got lost.

We should have paid the 400 USD for DHL delivery - and not "saved" on the EMS 200 USD - shipping cost for our parts that are worth 140 USD.

So here we are. lmost the whole september in Samarqand. We could have been in Turkey by now and enjoy a cold beer at the beach but instead we where wasting a lot of time and money here. No need to cry around as that is now part of our trip and we have to find a solution before our visas run out in 8 days. 

So we called the mechanics again... they said for 550 USD they would fix the bike in two days. We dont know exactly how they do it without spare parts but they seem confident to get it done - or at least confident enough to take our money and make the bike work till we are in the middle of nowhere.

As this is our only option right now and we are running out of time - we have to take it.

The master will start to work tomorrow

Fingers crossed we will be back on the road on thursday and have 5 days to get to the border - which is possible in three days if we skip khiva and the aral sea.

waiting, waiting, waiting
waiting, waiting, waiting

In the meantime we sit here, read books, stroll trough the city get some small repairs on our gear done and get familiar with all the neighbours in our area.

its not a bad place to be stuck, people are very friendly, the hotel with its lush garden is still a joy to hang out and the owners feed us their leftovers if we run small errands for them..

Who knows we might settle down here as we have already many friends.

Let me introduce you to our new friends - the lovley people of Samarqand.

Btw, I am bad with names - so excuse if I cant remeber most of them

The kis who are playing out in front of our guesthouse. they beg you to take a picture with them
The kis who are playing out in front of our guesthouse. they beg you to take a picture with them
The boy who comes over to hang out with tourists - between us, I think he just wanted to play games on our phone
The boy who comes over to hang out with tourists - between us, I think he just wanted to play games on our phone
The shop owner who sold us water and cigarettes, if your are lucky and he is there..most of the time his shop is closed and you see him cycling through the city
The shop owner who sold us water and cigarettes, if your are lucky and he is there..most of the time his shop is closed and you see him cycling through the city
Our local shaslyk guy - his name is okay,okay - because every time we finished eating he askes "okay?" and we say "okay!" - and he answers "okay,okay" - our russian still sucks
Our local shaslyk guy - his name is okay,okay - because every time we finished eating he askes "okay?" and we say "okay!" - and he answers "okay,okay" - our russian still sucks
Dalir2, he is the son-in-law of the family and helped us comunicate with the mechanics, he is a great guy - just as Dalir1, the nephew of the family who helped us before. But then he went back to tashkent to "study" (no picture)
Dalir2, he is the son-in-law of the family and helped us comunicate with the mechanics, he is a great guy - just as Dalir1, the nephew of the family who helped us before. But then he went back to tashkent to "study" (no picture)
The twins - also part of the family - but they are shy and just come out sometimes when the weather is perfect and there are some sweets to get
The twins - also part of the family - but they are shy and just come out sometimes when the weather is perfect and there are some sweets to get
Aunt1 runs the guesthouse together with her sister aunt2- she speaks perfect german and is a real treasure - always eager to help us
Aunt1 runs the guesthouse together with her sister aunt2- she speaks perfect german and is a real treasure - always eager to help us
aunt2 - she is the more business orientated on of the two - here she is with the newborn baby of the family... the babygirl is two months old - so we already know her half her life - literally
aunt2 - she is the more business orientated on of the two - here she is with the newborn baby of the family... the babygirl is two months old - so we already know her half her life - literally
Timur and Stalin are the local cockfight champions - they hate each other
Timur and Stalin are the local cockfight champions - they hate each other
Tags: the-stans

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Comments: 2
  • #1

    Armin (Saturday, 27 September 2014 06:18)

    Trotz allem eine schöne Zeit.

  • #2

    simon (Sunday, 28 September 2014 08:07)

    Oh Mann.... blöd zu hören... leide trotz der Wahnsinns Bilder mit. Wünsche viel glück und Erfolg mit der Reparatur ! Ein umstieg ist keine möglichkeit weil es gar keine geeigneten Fahrzeuge gibt oder ? wenn es schon keinen normalen Sprit oder öl gibt.... irgendwann denkt ihr drüber nach mit einem Motorrad weiterzufahren ? vielleicht ist das jetzt die große challenge des Trips, von der ihr euren Enkeln erzählen werdet ? also noch gute nerven u viel glück...