We have the good fortune to be going to Uzbekistan, and the bad fortune to having to go there at the end of June and beginning of July. From what I read, this may be the warmest place on the planet I have ever been.
Can anyone provide some advice for how to travel in this region in this time of year (aside from the obvious: sunscreen, sunglasses, light clothing, drink water). We thought we'd cover Bukhara/Khiva first at the end of June, since this part of the country seems to be hotter than Samarqand/Tashkent. Also, it seemed that Nurata might also be cooler and more elevated (we wanted to go camel treking at Yangikazgan).
How many hours a day in summer is Bukhara simply too hot to move around in ?
Finally, if anyone has done the camel treking at Yangikazgan, could you tell us how this is best arranged ahead of time?
Thanks
I was just in Bukhara a few days ago. Though it's only May, it was HOT! June will be even worse.
From about 10 am, possibly 11, to 6 pm every day, I spent sleeping in a cool hotel room, because it was impossible to move. In my opinion, the afternoon hours between 3 and 5 are the hottest. But the sunlight is strongest from 11 to 3. The heat is persistent, it doesn't start to go away until after the sun is down. But there is a very long twilight, at least a couple of hours where you can walk around and do stuff before it gets dark. In Bukhara things don't close down until about 10 pm, so you can still buy supplies or get something to eat until well into the evening.
Wear a hat or bring an umbrella to block the sun. It will fry you. I got the worst sunburn of my life in Bukhara and I was wearing 60 SPF sunblock. (by the way, it is possible to get pretty good sunblock for about $2 in this little store next to the internet cafe on the south side of Labi Hauz. (not the internet cafe that is next to the bookstore, the other one). It's in an orange box and costs 4500 sum. Pretty big tube too.
Thanks for the great advice. Sounds like a long novel is an important piece of equipment for a place where you can't go outside for 7 hours a day.
I was travelling through Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in July last year. It was very hot, but I still found it ok to go out sightseeing during the day. I wouldn't worry too much; there were quite a few other backpackers also in the region at that time, and they were also out sightseeing. I recommend wearing a hat, loose white linen clothes, obviously wearing sun-screen, and drinking lots of water (bottled water for sale everywhere and cheap).
If you are in Tashkent, a few of the top hotels have open air swimming pools which you can pay a fee and use for a day - I didn't do this as I was going to Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, but if you have time and are not going anywhere else to swim, I'd recommend that! There's also one nice hotel in Fergana with a swimming pool.
I suppose it depends on your heat tolerance. I'm a wimp when it comes to heat, admittedly, but even the toughest people in my hostel (guys who do long-distance desert cycling) preferred to nap in a cool room in the afternoons..
No joke about needing sunscreen. I now have a second-degree sunburn on my arms (blisters and all) and I avoided the sun as much as possible...if I had it to do over again I would have brought a loose long-sleeved shirt.
Samarkand is near mountains and is greener and cooler than Bukhara.
The tourist Yurt Camp near Yangigazgan (spelled many ways) is run by a Tatar family. There are about 10 authentic large yurts in the desert outside of Yangigazgan which is a ways outside of Nurata which is a while north of Navoi which is on the main highway between Bukhara and Samakand.
Usually a stay at the Yurt Camp, if you want to do it as independently (and inexpensively) as possible, consists of having your hotel find out how to call the Yurt Camp folks and make a reservation for you as a solo on some night when they have other folks coming in. This way, you can arrange your own inexpensive shared taxi transport to Navoi and from Navoi to Nurata. IIRC, the cost for the camp, meals, camel ride, and Lake Aidarkul visit --- including the driver starting in Nurata -- was about US$30. But this was several years ago and my friend might have gotten a special deal.
Your Navoi-Nurata shared taxi driver can call the Yurt Camp driver -- BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR HOTEL GET THE PHONE NUMBER YOU SHOULD CALL WHEN THEY MAKE THE RESERVATION -- while you are on your way from Navoi and the driver will meet you at the Nurata bazaar where the taxis arrive, where you should plan to arrive in late morning. This same driver will be taking you everywhere during your stay.
You will be taken to a home in Nurata where, after everyone arrives, you will be served a traditional lunch in a shaded garden. Then everyone take a bit of a siesta before heading out to the yurt camp. At the yurt camp in the late afternoon, everyone gets about 30 minutes to an hour on a camel (about 3-people at a time) led around by a camel guide. (Be sure to ask someone to take photos of you because they don't seem to do it automatically.) Also, you get acquainted with your yurt and the camp.
Everyone meets for a good dinner at tables under shade. After dinner, there is authentic Kazakh music and some other ethnic entertainment. The next day, everyone heads for the shore of (artificial but huge) Lake Aidarkul. Bring a swimsuit, if you want to take a dip. After a while, a picnic lunch is served at the lake. Then the drivers take the group for a brief visit to the tiny desert village of Yangigazgan, where you can interact with some of the people from the village.
Then, in the afternoon, back to the Nurata bazaar and you take shared taxis to Navoi and, from Navoi to either Bukhara or Samarkand.
I second the calls for a good shirt and hat. Check out REI and other such places for a shirt and a brimmed hat, both with fabric that has UV protection. I had the classic Tilley hat and it worked great. And use sunscreen on your hands and face and neck and ears anyway. Also, invest in an inexpensive but sturdy Chinese folding fan. Very, very helpful.
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