Uzbekistan - Central Asia - page 220

handed in upon departure). The customs form
is necessary for changing travellers cheques
and will smooth your departure, so don't lose it.
Declare every cent of every type of money you
bring in on your customs form, or face possible
penalties.
AIR
if arriving by air, your grand entrance into Uzbek-
istan will most likely occur at Tashkent Interna-
tional Airport ( % 71-140 28 04, 71-140 28 01).
A few lights from Russia arrive in regional hubs
such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench.
The numerous aviakassa (private ticket
kiosks) scattered around major cities can help
book international tickets on national carrier
Uzbekistan Airways (www.uzairways.com)
and other airlines.
Uzbekistan Airways has convenient booking
oices in Tashkent, but frustratingly in most
cities you'll need to buy domestic lights in the
airports themselves, as they were not available
online or through aviakassa at the time of writ-
ing. Pay for airline tickets in US dollars only.
LAND
To/From Afghanistan
The Friendship Bridge linking Termiz with north-
ern Afghanistan has been opened to tourist
traic since 2005. While Afghan oicials seem
happy with this arrangement, the Uzbeks have
been known to close their side of the border for
security reasons or other concerns. Contact a
reliable travel agency in Tashkent to make sure
it's open before setting out.
To get to the tamozhnya (border, or 'customs
house') from Termiz, take marshrutka 21 from
opposite Yubileyny Bazaar (800S, 20 minutes).
The bridge is 10km south of town. There's a fair
bit of walking involved to get between the vari-
ous checkpoints on the Uzbek side, and then
across the bridge. From the Afghan side you're
looking at about a 30-minute, US$10 taxi ride to
Mazar-e-Sharif.
To/From Kazakhstan
Despite their very long common border
there are just two main places to cross from
Uzbekistan into Kazakhstan: Chernyaevka be-
tween Tashkent and Shymkent, and the remote
Kungrad-Beyneu crossing from Karakalpakstan
into Kazakhstan's far west. There's also the sec-
ondary Yallama crossing, 60km southwest of
Tashkent and the railway crossing at Saryagsh
just to the north of Tashkent.
Crossing at Chernyaevka is the easiest from
the point of view of public transport, but it can
sometimes involve long lines, and waits of up
to six hours in extreme cases - go early and be
patient. To get to Chernyaevka from Tashkent
is a 30,000S taxi ride, or you can take a shared

taxi (5000S, 20 minutes) or marshrutka from
Yunusobod Bazaar.
if you have your own vehicle, Yallama is where
you should cross, as private cars cannot cross
at Chernyaevka. To get to Yallama, you can take
one of the frequent local trains from Tashkent to
Syrdarya, gulistan and havast, all of which stop
in Chinaz, or take a shared taxi from Sobir Rahi-
mov metro (10,000S, 50 minutes).
The other crossing is by train or road between
Karakalpakstan and Beyneu in western Kaza-
khstan. Train 917 departs daily at 9.20am from
Kungrad, about 225km southeast of the border,
to Beyneu (10 hours). other trains crossing
this border include Tashkent-St Petersburg
(weekly), Tashkent-Saratov (twice weekly) and
Moscow-Dushanbe (three weekly).
A new high-speed train service between
Almaty and Tashkent, due to be introduced in
2014, is expected to cut journey times between
the two cities by one-third or more.
To/From Kyrgyzstan
The only border crossings into Kyrgyzstan
that are open to foreigners are at Uchkurgon/
Shamaldy-Say (northeast of Namangan) and
Dostyk (Dustlyk), between Andijon and osh.
They are generally hassle-free, although long
lines do occur.
Most travellers use the osh crossing. in Andi-
jon, frequent shared taxis to the tamozhnya at
Dustlyk depart from a stop on Babur St about
400m southeast of the train station (8000S, 40
minutes). Walk across the border and pick up
public transport on the other side for the short
trip to osh.
Limited public transport and taxis are avail-
able at the Uchkurgon crossing.
To/From Tajikistan
There are two main border crossings between
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: oybek between
Tashkent and Dushanbe and the Denau-
Tursanzade crossing in southern Uzbekistan.
The very handy Samarkand/Penjikent crossing
has been shut for some years now, and showed
no sign of reopening at the time of writing.
Those heading from Tashkent to Dushanbe
normally drive to Khojand via the pain-free
oybek border crossing and then take a shared
taxi from Khojand to Dushanbe (US$20). To get
to this border from Tashkent take a marshrutka
or shared taxi from Kuyluk Bazaar to Bekobod
and get of at oybek (marshrutka/taxi per seat
20,000/10,000S, 1½ hours), about 35km shy
of Bekobod, near Chanak village. An ordinary
taxi between Tashkent and oybek costs about
US$30. once across the border take a taxi to
Khojand (US$15), or a taxi to nearby Bostan
(US$1) and then a minibus to Khojand.