An 0800 start today as we have an 8 hour, 450km, drive from Khiva to Bukhara along roads that, whilst pretty poor, are still in a better condition than Britain's ice-damaged motorways!Mind you, our new driver Mormin, whom I suspect will be called Mimi from here on in judging by Maria's attempts at breakfast to get his name right, was doing his best Colin Macrae impression to avoid the potholes, drains, pedestrians, bicyclists going against the flow of traffic a...

We start our desert tour of Uzbekistan today be getting up at 0400 for the 0500 departure to the airport for the flight to Urgench.I'm all ready by 0425 then, in a bit of a panic, tell Maria that breakfast is in 20 minutes time; she's just getting up.For a reason known only to RIP Van Winkle we set the alarm way too late and only gave ourselves 45 minutes to get up, get ready and pack.We normally allow 90 minutes; we do have to do our hair you know! Rusty kn...

Hooray!It's 12 o'clock and Akbar and Rusty are here to rescue us from the hell hole that is Raddus JSS to take us to Hotel Bek, 10 minutes across town.If only the Bek was available for our entire stay in Tashkent instead of our present style Alcatraz masquerading as a guest house!Our new accommodation is lovely with a double bed bigger than a small European state and the staff are friendlier than an Italian politician at election time.Oh, not forgetting the fre...

We empty the shopping bag containing last night's groceries, transfer the damp laundry and Maria heads off to reception to get it thrown into the tumble drier.Two minutes later I am met in the room by a female Hulk blowing more steam than an underwater volcanic vent.'2000 Som my arse!Can you believe they want 2000 Som per item, even for one sock?!'.A quick calculation reveals that the cost of drying our clothes alone would have been more expensive than the unfort...

The sign outside the hotel promises 'High Quality Service.Well, still no wifi and the decor could be improved but let's see how breakfast goes.We get downstairs to find no breakfast, literally.We do find lots of empty plates with a cockroach doing his utmost to squirrel away the last surviving crumbs of cheese and lots of tables covered with used cutlery, crockery etc from the group that obviously beat us to it.Bankers!!!We tell the staff, receptionist and hous...