Today we got another lesson regarding the disadvantages of tall vehicles. The good German road of yesterday was no where to be seen as we wound our way over rural roads back to the main E40 highway, and then along a very rough road to Urgench the largest city in the area. Fortunately Urgench has a ring route that was evident on our GPS map and so we were saved the struggle of navigating the center of the city. From Urgench to Khiva the road was very good except for the fact that an electric trolley bus service operates on that road and the overhead wires that provide power to the buses vary in height from 5+ meters (which is plenty high enough for our truck to clear) to under 3 meters (which is defintely NOT high enough for our truck). So we had an interesting 20 km drive into Khiva trying to avoid low electrical wires and other traffic.

Entering the main street of Khiva we encounered the now familiar sign telling us that trucks are not allowed and so we set about finding a way through the back streets towards the location of the hotel we had booked. Again more low wires made this an interesting exercise. Eventually we got to the hotel but only after driving down a one way street the wrong way for a couple of hundred yards.


The Hotel Sorbir Arkanchi is about 200 meters from the North gate of the walled city. It has plenty of parking space both on the front apron of the buildiing and also down the side inside a gated area. The services or facilities leave a bit to be desired. No internet, hot water that is at best luke warm, and also water that is often turned off altogether. After being there a few days we deduced that this is the hotel for buses and their drivers. There always seemed to be a good number of large and small buses parked at the place and at breakfast each morning the room seemed to be filled with bus drivers. We did not see other tourists in the place even once. It seems that it costs $20 per night to park a motorhome without a room.

There are some other possible parking spots for travelers with vehicles. The Asia Hotel (close to the south gate of the city looks like a possibility - there is a sign to this hotel pointing left at the entrance to the town on the road from Urgench). In addition there is a large area near the west gate that mgiht work.


After settling in to our hotel room we ventured out to explore the walled city. We were surprised to find that there are many family homes inside the walled city and the the north and south ends of the inner city feel more like an ordinary neighbourhood than a historical area. The tourist area (renovated historical buildings, cafes and souvenir shops) mainly occupy the middle section of the town between the east and west gates.

We had dinner at a restaurant in the tourist area where we got talking to a Czech couple from Prague.

I neglected to explain the photograh of the little grey creature above. This morning when we woke Nina found a little gray bundle on the steps of the motorhome. Thinking it was aleaf she tried to brush it out the door only to discover it was alive - infact a bat. After some effort she managed to pick it up and place in on a rock outside. After a few minutes it seemed to recover some of its strength and vanished. We have had a few birds come into the camper through open windows but that is the first time we have had a visit from a bat.