Khiva: Charming sand castle or maddening labyrinth?
To visit Uzbekistan is to visit four cities: Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva, usually in that order. Of course, you could be more adventurous and hit the smaller towns. Or you can be rushed and skip one or two, although that would be a shame. Or you could- stay with me here- try to figure out a way to accommodate visits to neighboring Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, while hitting the big four. In my particular case, I had made arrangements to begin a tour in Turkmenistan on my birthday. I would have to cross the land border near Khiva on June 2nd and exit via the Bukhara land border 4 days later. The logistics involved meant that I would have a couple of extra days either in Bukhara or Khiva while waiting for my tour to begin. Not the worst thing that could happen, as I'm always finding myself running out of time wherever I am. At least that was my thought process. After a couple of days in Bukhara, I took an old Russian sleeper train to tiny Khiva. It was part transportation/...