Im only in Urgench for the night and off to Khiva tomorrow. Urgench is only about 400 years old cos it was rebuilt when the Amu-Darya river delta moved. You see it is here cos of the water cos the place is surrounded with desert. I crossed the Kyzylkum desert to get here and will have to cross back in a few days to get to Bukhara. It is supposed to be a transit stop cos you get here on the train then have to get shared taxi to Khiva. I decided to stop and have a look around. The city looks fairly new with lots of newish looking buildings in the centre. There is a park along the edge of the river and there are statues and monuments everywhere. I have been walking around and tacking pics but I have no idea what the stuff is about. It seems to be a pretty cool city and Im glad I stopped here, even if only for a hot shower. You start to appreciate the small things like a hot shower.
The train was like the ones in India and China. The big difference is here they have 2 bunks where the others have 3. We had a nice white table cloth on the table and a tea pot with 4 bowls and I thought "how civilised?" but we had to buy the tea bags and get the water from the end of the carriage. Later they gave out new sheets and pillow cases. Not bad for about $17 with the 20hr train ride. I had a drama on the train but I wont go into it now cos it will only give boy some more ammo for sarcastic remarks. Lets just say the dunny door opens in NOT out.
Im off to Khiva tomorrow and will stay for a couple of days.