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 knocks on our door at 0430 to check that we're up so we feel a little extra pressure to sort ourselves out but are at least reassured in the knowledge that he's asked the staff to put something quick together for our breakfast as we only need some coffee and croissant.We rush to the dining room ready to wolf down what little we can before heading off and find that the entire room is prepared as if the whole hotel is checking out early.Absolutely everything is laid out; hot and cold drinks; pastries; yoghurts; bread; eggs; meats; cheeses; salad; biscuits; jams!We stick some cakes in some napkins, grab a slurp of coffee and rush to the car, scared that we're going to be late for the flight.

Akbar rallies through the empty streets and drops us off some 300 yards from the terminal (cordoned off for security) so I grab the two heaviest bags and leg it to departures in what I think is 800m pace but see Maria looking back at me thinking come on slow coach.Relieved, we reach the terminal.The empty terminal.The terminal that's emptier than BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling platform! The terminal that's emptier than Greece's bank account! It's 0515 and we wait to board our 0705 flight.0705 comes and goes.We hear that we're delayed an hour.So glad we rushed this morning!! (Just before we departed Uzbekistan Rusty told us that the delay was due to mechanical problems).

Finally, finally we're at the gate, and for some bizarre reason they're boarding the bus to the aircraft by seat number so, being in seats 3D, 3E and 3F, we push the aged Germans out of the way, get onto the half empty bus and head to the aircraft.We arrive back at the terminal. We seem to have collected 2 Americans going to the Fergana Valley which is 400 km from Tashkent in the opposite direction to Khiva (pronounced Hiva not Kiva).We drop them off and try again.

We arrive at the gleaming Tupolev 154, which we know is an ex Aeroflot fleet aircraft but hope the Uzbeks look after it better than the USSR did.We wait at the bottom of the steps for...well goodness knows what.Maybe the gaffa tape holding the wings on is peeling off?We get the nod, climb the stairs and find our seats.Oh my God! Is this an Aeroflot jet or what?The seat buckles are made of lead and weigh 50kg each.I struggle to pull the strap through my buckle and half succeed before giving up.Maria's won't budge so she sits in her seat wishing she was 20 stone heavier.'Look at this' she says as she pushes the folding seat in front of her forwards a little.'In all my years of travelling I've never seen such a thing'.I try the seat in front of me and find that it too moves forwards so am relieved that it's not a case of 'Maria's seat' having sheared free from the floor fittings.Clever, I think.It gives passengers more room to get to their seat and sit down instead of trampling all over the poor sod sat in the middle.I happen to notice that the seat tray is held in place by 2 rusty screws just as the safety demonstration starts.I watch amused as even the stewardess struggles to adjust her demonstration seat buckle.She gives up and discards it on the seat on her right.My confidence in the airworthiness of this flight is growing by the minute!.Mid-safety demonstration, Rusty decides to see if the seat in front of him moves forward too.Wallop, as he pushes too hard and the seat crashes down in front of him.We can't control our contagious laughter despite the harsh looks of disapproval from the cabin crew.

The flight's only one hour and the aircraft comes to a stop at the airport gate at Urgench, about 35 km from Khiva.We sit and wait to alight from the aeroplane.We wait. We wait a little more.Why is nobody moving?'Please, please', encourages the stewardess looking at us.Apparently, the whole flight is waiting for us to get off first as they have it in their heads that we are VIP delegates from the ongoing Asian Development Bank (ADB) conference, the purpose of which is to establish if Uzbekistan is worthy of massive financial investment for the ailing infrastructure network, especially the roads.

We wait ages again for the bags to arrive then wait even longer for them to make their way around the conveyor belt that is moving at a glacial pace!We wait even longer for the arrivals' staff to check-off each luggage label with the corresponding luggage tag.Very thorough but a tad unnecessary we feel.

We meet our driver Mormin and he safely delivers us to the hotel which is 100m from the ancient city of Khiva.We freshen up and hit the oppressive heat ready for today's walking tour of this citadel first recorded by Muslim travellers in the 10th century, although archaeologists assert that the city has existed since the 6th century.

Khiva is split into two parts. The outer town, called Dichan Qala, was formerly protected by a wall with 11 gates.Itchan Qala (literally 'internal fortress') forms the inner city of Khiva and is encircled by a clay wall over 2,200 m long, 7-8 m high ad 6-8m wide.The foundations are believed to have been laid in the 10th century.The present-day crenellated walls, however, date back to the late 17th century and are fortified with semicircular towers.The city contains more than sixty architectural monuments including palaces, mosques, madrases, minarets and mausoleums and paints a fabulous picture of what other cities of Central Asia may have been like so many aeons ago.Legend has it that Shem, the son of Noah, instructed that a well be dug (Kheivak Well) and when he tasted the extraordinarily tasty water he exclaimed Aiwah, meaning Oh My God.The city then grew up around the well and its name changed over time to Khiva.We even saw the big well which is still in Ichan-Kala.

Before entering the inner city, we stopped outside at a huge map displaying the ancient silk routes and Maria and I quickly totted up the locations that we have either been to, or will visit during this trip.We were pleased to note that, with the exception of Iraq and Afghanistan for obvious reasons, we can pretty much tick them all off.Very satisfying!

Next to the map is a statue of Abu Abdulloh Mohammad Ibn Musa al-Khorazmiy, known commonly as al-Khorazmiy as, let's face it, it's bit of a mouthfull.Born in Khiva, the exact dates of his birth and death are not known but it is established that he flourished from 813-833 and probably died around 840 A.D.So why do I even mention him you might ask?Well, it turns out that Al-khorazmiy was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer and was the founder of several branches of mathematics including the production of solutions to linear and quadratic equations, which thus established him as the founder of Algebra. The very name Algebra is derived from his book Al-Jabr va-al-Mifuqabilah.He explained the use of zero, developed the decimal system ('algorithm' or 'algorizm' is named after him) and introduced the Indian system of numerals (now generally known as Arabic numerals).The development of astronomical tables by him was a significant contribution to the science of astronomy and his contribution to geography is also outstanding, in that he did not only revise Ptolemy's views on geography but he also corrected them in detail.

Anyway, hope you're still reading after the science lesson.Before entering the inner city proper we had to wait for a couple of camels that came running out, their owners desperately hanging onto their leads trying to calm them down.The camels clearly were having none of it and looked decidedly anarchic; the best efforts of the owners to control them were fruitless.We had a little chuckle as, no sooner had they exited the city gate in their camel huff, then they turned around and went rushing back in, dragging their struggling masters behind them.So now that the Western Gate was clear we walked on through the arched door and commenced our day's walking tour of this magnificent city.

Despite the obvious freshness of the city created by the non-stop renovations aimed at ensuring the town remains attractive to tourists, the feel of the place is nevertheless charming and not at all kitsch like Dubai.Sure, it's new and very little of the original city remains, but the size of the place and the sheer volume of historic monuments on view make this a special site and definitely one not to miss if visiting Uzbekistan.So, I'm afraid, the only way to create a feel for our day is to provide a shopping list tour of what we saw. So here goes:

After stopping briefly beside a colourful blue-tiled map of the Itchan Qala, Rusty began describing the Minaret Kaltar Minar (Short Minaret) constructed in 1855.It was conceived as the largest in the whole Muslim East, with a diameter at its base of 14.2m, but the building was halted at a height of 29; it was planned to be 70 to 80 meters tall.According to legend though, the Emir of Bukhara learned about the construction of a unique minaret in Khiva and decided to build a similar one in Bukhara so made an agreement with the craftsman that he would do it after completing his current job.Khiva's Khan learned about it and gave an order to kill the craftsman immediately after the construction was finished.The craftsman picked up this news and fled leaving the minaret unfinished.The more likely theory though is that the Khan realised that the completed tower would overlook his harem so decided to halt the project before his privacy was invaded!

The Short Minaret is slap bang next to the Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasa built in 1855.The madrasa is the largest two-storey madrasa not only in Khiva but in Central Asia and in addition to being an important spiritual school it also housed the registry office of the Highest Muslim Court.It's pretty impressive with a lovely courtyard surrounded by the comfortable two-roomed residential 'cells' on the ground floor, as well as having 'dorms' facing the outer facades on the first floor.The Madrasa facades are decorated with the usual glazed tiles and we have to say it seems like it would have been a delightful place to go to school.Sadly though, it is now a rather expensive hotel and also houses a tourist agency, exchange office and cafe.Rusty thinks, and we have to agree, that such misuse of so important a religious building is sacrilegious and, to reinforce his point, he recounted a story from a previous tour.Khiva can get hot, very hot reaching 40°C+ in Summer so tours can quickly become pretty tiring.One afternoon, Rusty gave his group some free time to visit the madrasa and during that time he guiltily told us that he sat down in the madrasa to rest.He was so tired that he fell asleep and when he woke up he couldn't move.'It was like somebody was holding me down', he said, 'but there was clearly no one there'.He thinks he was being 'scolded' for being so disrespectful in such a holy place!If that's the case then we can only imagine what kind of sleep the hotel residents experience each night!

A short walk down one of the many alleyways took us to the Kunya Ark fortress (17th to 19th centuries).Construction of Kunya Ark began in 1686-1688 and by the end of the 18th century the Ark was known as 'a town within a town' and was separated from Ichan-Kala with a high wall.It housed a fortress, khan's residence, supremecourt, powder factory, arsenal, mint, kurinyshkhana (khan's reception office), winter and summer mosques, divan registry, harem, kitchens, stables, guardroom and arena for ram fights, etc.The mint workers were ordered to always be clean shaven to prevent them from hiding gold in their beards when they left work each evening!The existing Ark complex was rebuilt, however, at the beginning of the 19th century. There was a single gate, measuring 13 by 8.5 meters and 5.8 meters high (the remaining part) giving access to the complex and the square near the Ark's entrance was used for military parades and field training. There was also a special place for executing criminals and a prison adjoining the eastern walls of Kunya Ark.In the middle of the still visible Reception Yard is a round platform where a yurt was set up for the khan to receive envoys of nomadic neighbours.

As we quickly realised during the day, nothing is free in this world, especially Uzbekistan sights.Every 'attraction' had an entrance fee and extra charges were levied for still and video photography.We stopped short of taking video, well I could covertly use my DSLR for filming that unmissable event if necessary, but we had no problem paying for photos.We even paid a little extra to climb to the top of the Ark's watch tower to gain a pretty dramatic view of the entire Itchan Kala.It was just such a pity that the light is so tricky when figuring out what camera settings to use; full auto was useless as it did not compensate sufficiently for the brightness of the sun and skies combined with the deep shadows.Any suggestions from budding camera bods is welcome (Simon included)!

Tash Khauli Palace was next which was built by Allah Kuli Khan from 1830 till 1838 starting with the harem living quarters, then the place for official receptions followed lastly by the courtroom.It's good to see the Khan had his priorities straight!Entrance to the harem is through a series of secret corridors that ended in a small door, the secrecy required so that nobody knew which one of his 'flock' the Khan would be visiting.The courtyard's southern side is occupied with small rooms, each ornately decorated in totally different styles to match the temperament of each of his wives.Sadly though, and according to Shariat, a man could not have more than four wives; poor sod!A room at the end of the courtyard was for the Khan to have his wicked way and consisted of another beautifully decorated room where the 'chosen wife' washed before the nuptials, and this room was connected by a door to an austere room simply decorated with clay brick and whitewash!The bland nature of the room was to ensure that his wife remained focussed clearly on the task at hand and did not get distracted by the wonderful decoration that festooned the ceilings of the Khan's other rooms.

Close by was the Friday, or Dzhuma Mosque, built in the 10th century but the mosque as it now stands was built with money donated in the late 18th century.The mosque is unique in structure as it does not have any portals, domes, galleries or a courtyard.It can, however, be accessed from three sides and the large hall inside has a ceiling resting on 213 wooden columns, a few of which are original dating back to 1316, 1517 1788 and 1789.Allegedly, every single pillar is visible when standing in a certain spot, so designed for the imam to see if prayer makers are taking their spiritual duties seriously.However, I stood in the alleged spot and swear blind that there were at least half a dozen pillars hidden from view!!Light is provided by small openings in the ceiling and a structure looking for all the world like an ablutions area stands in the centre of the mosque.Apparently, though, the construction is not for washing but is instead an oven, and was used to secretly feed the men once they had completed their prayers, after which they would return to their wives for more food!

The opening on the northern side of the mosque leads to the oldest minaret in Khiva, the Dzhuma Mosque Minaret.It has been restored in situ after the original minaret collapsed in the 12th century and is different from other minarets in Khiva in that it hardly has any decorations.It is 33 m tall and has a foundation diameter of 6.5 m.In contrast, the Islam Khodja Minaret inbuilt in 1910 stands 56.6m high with a base diameter of 9.5m.It is decorated with bands of brick masonry alternating with bands of glazed patterning and is the tallest minaret in Uzbekistan.

There was loads more to see but, to be honest with you, once you've seen a couple of mosques and madrases, you've seen them all, so we wandered sedately through the narrow clay-walled streets, taking in the mass of trinket stalls and fur hat stands.We were stopped politely by a young woman from Urgench who asked Maria where she was from and, as we got chatting, learned that she was an English teacher.We guess she wanted to practice her English!We were having fun as her friends stood on the sidelines, seeming to want to move on but not having the heart to tell her to get a move it and, as usual, that awkward pause arrived when the conversation has come to end and they want you to offer up your email address, mobile number and inside leg measurement.'Can I have your email address' she asked!We duly handed out our less-used contact details but actually don't mind if she does get in touch.She was very pleasant and Rusty took a shine to her so maybe we'll pass on his details too.

Dinner tonight was at a local home within the city, albeit it has been licensed to serve tourists for years.We sat upstairs on a balcony, watched and listened to the group of Germans below, and had a thoroughly enjoyable 4-course meal; salad; soup; main; desert.

I popped out at night to brush up my night time photography skills as the city was nicely lit with multi-coloured lights.Not sure how successful I was though!