Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.. Its been a long over night journey to get from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and a full day on the train. I have been reading the whole day. Slightly off genre of Central Asia, being a heart throbbing romance by Millisa Hill, called  “A gift to remember” but I love it! Running my index finger down the spines of all the books in library on board the train, I found a novel that caught my eye, having a pretty wrapped present covered in love hearts and my favourite pastel blue colour all over, it suited me perfectly. I am already half way through, its quite thick actually, I’m pretty proud of myself not worrying about how many pages there were before starting! Reading It really makes me miss Julien though. Hopefully soon I will be able to somehow get in touch just to say all is well and not to worry about a thing. Considering this trip is a little out of the norm, travelling to all these unwesternised countries, i cant blame him for being concerned. However i’m sure he knows I am in good hands with mrs G.

Getting off this afternoon we were happily greeted by a young Russian lady that spoke excellent English. This time having our own guide and car, we ventured off into the heart of Tashkent. Firstly stopping at a statue of a man and his wife holding their baby in their arms , on the corner of a busy intersection. Oh my was it big, also vey beautiful and touching seeing how all the people came together in the 1966 from a horrific earthquake.The majority of the Soviet-style city was destroyed from this 8’’’ destruction but from determination and the help from the people in the surrounding parts of the country,  they built Tashkent back to civilisation. This statue was built to remember the difficult times from mother nature.

Next stop we explored a very beautiful Mosque that held the worlds oldest

Koran, dating back over 500years. Learning about the religion and soaking up the breathtaking architecture, I had to speak out loud my thoughts, ‘How peaceful this place is, I love seeing these children running around the gardens of the ginormous mosque grounds’ looking around to the pink sky, seeing the sun going to sleep, the children finishing school and getting some play time in before dinner, I felt so happy. It truly reminded me of when I was their age. Coming back to Quambone street where my family home was growing up, running home from school and playing in the gardens with the other children in my neighbourhood. It really made me get that homely’ feeling. It was a perfect late afternoon and I couldn’t feel more at peace.

This evening on board the train Mrs G and I decided to carry on the conversation we were having with some fellow travellers in the bar car.  We have been up until 2am debating about brexit, Trump, hillary and multiple other political issues going on in the world. It was hilarious seeing Mr littler saying goodnight to us then walking the opposite direction to his cabin. He walks back through the bar car looking embarrassed while we were all laughing, him saying “this is my train and I don’t even know what way to go’. A few too many wines I think Mr Littler! We all made a joke to put a sign up for when he walks out of his cabin in the morning, saying ‘Mr Littler, this way’ with two arrows pointing the opposite direction. He sure is going to feel horrible in the morning!