The young man at reception in Taskent did not appreciate me arriving from Bukhara and checking in early, I found him to be almost nasty. After the friendliness of the other lads previously I was more than a little taken aback by his behavior, I had not seen him before. Perhaps he just did not like European ladies. He asked for payment for breakfast despite the fact that breakfast comes with the room, but because it was an early check in, I felt that it was possibly justified, despite the fact that when I had checked out a few days earlier I had missed breakfast because of leaving early, Oh well! Asking the cost of a late checkout the following day he quoted such a huge amount that I did a double take.
Telling new friends about it, they said they also had a late checkout planned and the cost was very little compared to what this guy quoted. Google is a friend indeed, when you can check costs on hotel websites. The next day I spoke to one of the other lads who arranged a late check out for me at less than a third of the original quote.
As if this was not enough, he had tried charging me for a bottle of water that he said I had on an account. Something I never do, as well the overpriced water was too expensive. Sitting speaking with a couple of other guests they also made comments about this young man and his manner. They were also European ladies. His was a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ manner and not very customer orientated cast a pall over what would have been a great stay.
A day spent seeing more of the sights between visits to the Police station on visa matters. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum and Amir Temur Park. In the museum, I attached myself to a small tour group who had access to the room containing the man’s eyebrow hairs, beard and other sundry personal stuff.The museum, I thought was awesome, and beautiful inside, fee (about$2.40nz) leaving my bag at the counter I walked up the wonderful spiral staircase to the displays.
Simply stunning in my view, the graciously painted walls, the soaring dome and decorations was worth the entire ticket price alone. The displays well done, and as I had seen most of the model buildings displayed, it gave clarity to everything I had seen over the last week.
After wandering through the park, it was back to the Metro and on to the hotel, I am getting used to the metro after discovering they do have an underground map. As well as knowing the locality a lot better… After half the day spent walking kms,a rest was very much needed.The evening spent packing bags for the flight to Moscow, rearranging suitcases to suit the occasion.