Hi all,
Just another random post with my experiences from Dushanbe to Fergana, as again the existing LP is a little thin on info about it.
I flew from Dushanbe to Khojand ($65, ticket bought a couple of days before), which took an hour, making a bit of a mockery of the 18 hour drive going the other way... Checkin starts an hour before the flight, rather than closing an hour before; as you might expect, it's fairly low key and low-tech. As is the plane...
At Khojand you want the Fergana bus station, which is between the airport and the town itself. The marshrutnoe to Kanibadam was 4TS, and took about an hour and a bit. From there you want a minibus to Tomozhny (not sure of spelling) which is the border - that's less than 1TS.
I had a few problems at the border - perhaps because it was a Saturday and they were bored. Tajik customs wanted to know what pictures I'd taken of Tajikistan (I was asked if I'd taken photos of anything secret), whether I was carrying narcotics and if I was a writer... Uzbek passport control was also tricky - the guy didn't like my dual-entry visa, I think.
As usual, there are taxi drivers hanging around all over the place, trying to get $50 for a trip to Fergana. However, if you wait until you get completely through the border area the prices are more reasonable.
I took a minibus to Kokand (cost me about 8000som, probably should be half that) and a marshrutnoe from there to Fergana (1 1/2 hours, 1500som). I'd consider getting a shared taxi from Kokand, though, as it's a busy route and they pack the minibuses pretty tightly...
In Fergana I can recommend the Hotel Ziroyat - it's cheapish, has plentiful hot water and, if you're lucky, a balcony. Plus there are other travellers about, which makes a change from Tajikistan. I paid $12 for a basic room with bathroom; a French couple apparently picked up an a/c room for $7 each, for which I was quoted $24, so it's probably worth haggling.
I just got back from TJk.
I thought you post was funny! my own ride from Khojand was 22 hours, due to the fact that when we were in the middle of the trip, a row of 14 taxis and 4x4s were stuck, some construction was going on and they were removing rocks from the road...the reverse trip I took the plane and everything was fast- although I didn't understand the point of them writing me a seat number on my ticket, when it was basically a free-for-all.
my experience with customs as a little different- I had a friend of a friend drive me to Oybek. It was really late at night (midnight) and the Tajik side I got through no problem- I wasn't trying to go to Fergana though (went before I left for TJK), I had to go to Tashkent. Ridiculous taxi drivers trying to tell me it was $20 USD to go Tashkent (no transportation costs 20USD anywhere in Uzebkistan)..so instead of paying or bargaining, I told the guards on the Uzbek side that I'd wait till the morning when the shared minibuses start coming at 5. So since the borders were closing for the night, I ended up sleeping in one of their cars (they gave me the keys), and when morning came I caught a shared minibus to Taskhent.
Fergana- I also stayed at Ziroyat, although I didn't see any other tourists in the hotel, I also paid $12 and had a balcony.
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