Blackbird From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (6 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 2159 times:
Don't say anything political... they've been known to dunk political dissidents into boiling hot water (Uzbekistan).
The US also has done extroardinary renditions-- basically abducting people suspected of terrorism (To my knowledge, not all were guilty) or something off the streets, blind folding them and flying them to countries that allow torture (to circumvent our torture laws)-- to Uzbekistan, among other countries as well.
Airxliban From Lebanon, joined Oct 2003, 4492 posts, RR: 55 Reply 5, posted (6 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2123 times:
Back in the day my dad used to fly to Tashkent all the time from Beirut and it would be on TK through Istanbul. This was on A310s at the time (mid 90s I think just before we moved to Istanbul). It was a pain in the ass connection particularly because at that time the new Ataturk did not exist so the international terminal was what is (i think) the domestic terminal. I assume that since you're a 737 pilot they are flying 737s there now?
TurkishWings From United States of America, joined May 2006, 1412 posts, RR: 9 Reply 7, posted (6 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2107 times:
Quoting Pilotaydin (Thread starter): Hey there, my flight schedule just came out for may and i see i have a 3 day stay at TAS, has anyone been there? what's there to do and see?
I did that 3 day stopover in 2000. On my second month of flying.. Yes, we were lucky back then And we also got a lot more money on our layovers than you do today
We stayed at the Inter-Continental. It probably is still the same....
Quoting ThereAndBack (Reply 6): How long is the flight from IST? Can the 737 do that non-stop?
The outbound was 5 and inbound was 6 hours as far as I remember. I also very well remember encountering terrible turbulence while descending to IST and hitting my head to the ceiling and falling down between the two lavatories at the back Thank God, we had cleared up the cabin or it would have been a disaster....
So what to do in TAS? Hmm... I remember that our stay was not really fantastic The hotel is very nice and I do think there is a casino. I definitely remember the hot Russian receptionist though We were picked up by a yellow old Mercedes and taken to the Turkish Consulate or something for a drink.. Those guys there are just too bored. They love it when they see other Turks around.. I remember the dodgy building and the elevator that I refused to take. I said I had a fear of heights and of course had all the looks from the crew
You don't need the metro. Just go outside of the hotel, to the main road, wave to any car passing from the street and they will take you to anywhere for a dollar or two.... Uzbekistan is the poorest country I have ever seen in person... The money they make in a month was about 10 times less than what TK paid us to spend in 3 days We had a fantastic dinner one evening.. the 6 of us paid around 30-35 USD all together...
We also visited downtown for a few hours.. Had their traditional "horse meat on rice" meal, not very tasty Did some shopping right and left... There were artists in the streets who drew portraits, some of the crew had this... I bought a few fake CDs. This is all pretty much what we did really... As I said, not a very interesting city unfortunately....
Maybe things have changed in the last 5 years. The city has probably improved a lot since. One other problem we had was with the food. We couldn't really eat many things... I fed on the sandwiches I got from the plane (oops) and had ice cream from the room service. I would suggest you to take along some biscuits or cakes and sandwiches just in case....
It is one long boring flight so good luck and have fun!!! And be nice to the cabin crew hehe
BAxMAN From St. Helena, joined May 2004, 671 posts, RR: 3 Reply 8, posted (6 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2097 times:
Really, there is not too much to tell about Tashkent. I found it pleasant. Welcoming, even. But not very inspiring. There are a few decent museums about good ol' Tamerlane and I thinkit was the History Museum which had some superb English translations describing how some of the old Emirs met their demise. 'A perilous fall from a rookery' was a memorable one.
Tashkent was the first city I went to where I surmised that the quality of the dictatorship would correspond to the number of fountains around town. Tashkent has a lot of fountains.
I would reccommend taking a day trip away from Tashkent, if at all possible. Tashkent offers nothing that you can't see in any number of much more beautiful Asian cities. Soviets and earthquakes are probably equally blamable.
Delta767300ER From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2559 posts, RR: 14 Reply 9, posted (6 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2095 times:
Islamic Architecture is amazing. I would love to visit a Mosque sometime. I doubt I will make it to an Islamic county anytime soon though Do Mosques in the U.S. have tours for Non-Muslims? I would be interested in that.
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We had a fantastic dinner one evening.. the 6 of us paid around 30-35 USD all together...
From St. Helena, joined May 2004, 671 posts, 
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