KUL-DUB

 Mon 24/8/26

We would be taking a 9 day trip, starting from Dublin to Wicklow, Portmagee, Killarney, Lisdoonvarna (near Doolin), and back to Dublin We would spend a half day in Dublin before returning to Kuala Lumpur  with our flight back scheduled at 815 am. For this trip, we booked our tickets through Qatar Airways, part of the OneWorld alliance. In this trip, we transited at Doha (DOH)  before arriving to Dublin (DUB), Republic of Ireland. We bought our ticket about a week before the departure date (24 Aug). Our return trip ticket cost RM 9202 per person. 

Traffic was building up, we arrived at KLIA at after 1 hour 20 mins (normal traffic would take 45 minutes). After checking in and immigration clearance using the MyBorderPass app, we made our way to MH's Golden Lounge at the airside, after taking the aerotrain. We went to the Platinum side where there were less people so we had a bit of time to relax and enjoyed dinner of mushroom soup, oxtail soup and pan seared seabass before it was time for boarding. We departed on time at 9.50 pm.

pan seared seabass

mushroom and oxtail soup

We chose seat 3E and 3F at the centre.  We were given the Diptyque amenity kit and pajamas. For inflight meal, I chose the spiced lentil soup as starter, seared chicken breast with mushroom as main course,  and ice cream for dessert . For light snack, I had beef pastrami and cheddar sandwich.  I had mint tea for the pre departure drink. 

3E

centre seat 3E and 3F

salmon appetiser

seared chicken breast with mushroom

ice cream

beef pastrami and cheddar sandwich

We arrived Doha at 11.35pm. We had about 8 hours of layover time before our next flight to Dublin at 8.00am so we made our way to Platinum and Gold lounge (we bought the business lite ticket so we don't have access to Al Mourjan lounge) to have our prayers, shower and have some meal of croissant, omelette, latte and arabic coffee (given with Qinwan dates) which were not served in flight (because it was a night flight). 

breakfast at Platinum and Gold lounge

We then made our way to the boarding gate and took the bus. For the morning flight from DOH to DUB, we were seated at 5K and 6K with privacy doors, but not a Qsuite. For breakfast, I chose greek yogurt with mixed berry compote, cheddar cheese omelette with chicken sausage; and smoked salmon on sesame bagel for light meal.

seat 5K by the window

the new Diptyque kit

privacy door

6K

greek yogurt with mixed berry compote

cheese omelette with chicken sausage

smoked salmon on sesame bagel

We landed Dublin on time at 1.30 pm. Immigration was smooth, just a question on our itinerary. 

We then picked up our rental car (Avis, at the rental car parking) which we had to take the shuttle bus from Terminal 1. Our car was a Suzuki Swift. The rental cost RM 2772 for 9 days with full coverage and unlimited mileage.

our Suzuki Swift

We opted for 15 day Maxis roaming for RM99 per person 

It was 2pm when we left the airport and made our way to our destination today, Wicklow with a stop at Lidl to buy groceries. Dublin was cloudy today with a temperature of 19C

Tashkent

Tue 9/6/26

Today we only ventured out at 9am as we were still tired from late night arrival yesterday.

From our hotel in the train, we walked to the metro station Tashkent and took the metro to Chorsu station to do some shopping at Chorsu Bozor. The metro ride was very cheap at UZS (RM 1) per person per way regardless of how many stops to reach the final station. We tapped our card at the turnstile during entry only and is not required at exit.

Tashkent metro station

We had breakfast of plov, shashlik and a pot of tea at a restaurant at Chorsu Bozor for UZS 70K (RM 21) paid by cash. After that we bought 1 kg of macadamia nuts (UZS 100K or RM 31), 1 kg cherry (UZS 100K or RM 31), 1 kg (UZS 130K or RM 40), halba sweets (UZS 30K or RM 10), a big bread and small bread (UZS 30K or RM 10 ), 10 fridge magnets for (UZS 100K or RM 31) and a traditional Uzbek long vest for UZS 65K or RM 20.

Chorsu bozor

breakfast of plov and shashlik

bread

Since our backpack has become heavy from the shopping items, we decided to return to our hotel and unload them in our room and rested for a bit before venturing out again, taking the metro to Yunus Rajibiy station changing line at Oybek to Ming O'rik to take pictures of the historic Hotel Uzbekistan with its Soviet brutalist architecture and then sitting on the bench at Amir Temur square park eating the bread we bought just now.

Tashkent metro station

Yunus Rajabiy metro station

Hotel Uzbekistan

Amir Temur and Hotel Uzbekistan in the background

resting at the bench at Amir Temur park

After it became too hot to endure, we made our way back to the hotel, but stopping by at Kosmonavtlar station to take pictures. 

Yunus Rajibiy station

Kosmonavtlar station

We went out to have late lunch at 3.30pm by taking Yandex to Glinka Besh Qozon restaurant for UZS 20.5K (RM 7). We had wedding standard plov and choykhona plov set, salad and soup with a pot of lemon tea for UZS 164836 or RM 56, paid by credit card. We initially wanted to order only 1 large set of plov as we were not that hungry but the waiter insisted that each person should order a plov. I did feel really full from all the rice taken.

wedding standard plov and choykhona plov set

lunch at Besh Qozon

After lunch, we went back to the hotel taking Yandex which cost UZS 17K (RM 6) and then packed our luggage, rested and waited until 8.30pm to leave for the airport for our flight back to KUL scheduled at 2350. The Yandex from Tashkent train station to Tashkent airport costs UZS 25K (RM 9).

We didn't get any lounge access at Tashkent airport for Batik Air's business class so we used the remaining of our UZS cash to buy a cup of hot tea for UZS 25K at one of the airport cafes after clearing immigration. Although the café displayed prices in EUR, we could still utilize our UZS cash. All the duty free shops after immigration displays the price tag in EUR. 

Our flight departed on time and we arrived KUL earlier than the scheduled time at 10am. However, we had to wait a while for our luggage, and then there was a drama with the KLIA taxi driver who insisted that the ride to our home should cost RM99 instead of RM 91. All the numerous times we took the KLIA airport had always cost RM 91, which I showed my receipt as proof (the latest trip being in April 2026), but the driver kept on insisting for us to go back to the counter which had cost us another 30 minutes. Perhaps next time we would consider to take Grab again.

late night snack

idli breakfast

briyani breakfast

good morning

Thank you Uzbekistan for the wonderful memories. 

Samarkand to Tashkent

Mon 8/6/26

Today we would be taking the train from Samarkand to Tashkent which would take 3 hours and 45 minutes. The train ride cost UZS 200060 (RM 135) per person and bought online from the Uzrail app. There is the bullet train Afrosiyob and Jaloludin which would take half the time, but unfortunately cannot be purchased with a foreign card on the Uzrail app. We did also try to purchase from the web and tried a third party website but there was still no option for foreign card. The only way is to buy the ticket at the train station in Uzbekistan.

Before breakfast, we ventured out to take pictures at the Registan Square in the morning but saw that there were chairs being arranged for John Legend's concert. After that we-revisited Bibikhanum mosque, Hazrat Khizr mosque and Siyob Bozor. However, Siyob Bozor is closed on Mondays. Only a few stalls were opened. Then we returned to the hotel for breakfast at 8am.

Registan Square with chairs arranged for a concert

Hazrat Khizr mosque

Our train is only scheduled to depart at 1923, so after checking out from the hotel at noon we just went for prayers at Khoja Zudmurud mosque, had lunch at Chorraha Milliy Taomlar (national dish) restaurant and then had afternoon tea at Chorraha bakery, all situated near our hotel as it was too hot to venture far.

At Khoja Zudmurud mosque, there was no prayer room for women so the mosque caretaker allowed me to perform my prayers inside the imam's office.

Khoja Zudmurud mosque

Khoja Zudmurud mosque imam's office

After prayer, we had lunch of beef soup, vegetable soup, shashlik with a pot of tea which cost UZS 175K (RM 53) paid by cash. 

beef soup and shashlik

vegetable soup

We returned to the hotel and lounged at the lobby for an hour, and then went to Chorraha bakery to have beef and pumpkin samosas, baklava, apple crumble with cappucino for UZS 58K (RM 18). 

coffee and desserts at Chorraha bakery

Again we went back to our hotel and lounged around until it was time to go to the train station at 6pm. Our Yandex ride cost UZS 32k (RM 11 ) and took about 20 minutes.

Our train departed a bit late at about 7.30pm and we arrived in Tashkent train station around 11.10 pm.  We walked to our accommodation Qo'noq Railway Hotel located inside the train station since we didn't want to take a Yandex taxi late at night. The hotel cost RM 585 for 2 nights without breakfast, paid by card. It was then time to retire for the day.

Haft Kul

Sun 7/6/26

We have booked a day trip to the Seven Lakes (Haft Kul) in Tajikistan with the hotel and paid USD 250 by cash for 2 pax. Since we didn't bring USD, we had to withdraw cash in UZS from the ATM and exchanged it with the hotel. USD 100 is paid to the Uzbekistan side, while the balance of USD 150 was to be paid to the Tajikistan side.

We departed after breakfast at 9am where our Uzbek driver Mahmoud drove us until the Uzbekistan border control at Jartepa. After clearing the Uzbek side, we had to to immigration and customs at the Tajikistan side and have our passports stamped. 

our Uzbek car and driver

After clearing the Tajikistan immigration, our guide from Tajikistan was already waiting for us with our names on the placard. 

our Tajik car, guide and driver

We stopped by at Panjakent bozor (central market) for our guide to change currency from USD (the money that we paid to him) to Tajikistan Som to be used for our lunch reservation. We didn't change money to TJS as our tour have already included lunch and transport from our hotel and back.

Panjakent bozor

To enter the Seven Lakes, we had to pass through a security post as there is a gold mine nearby the Seven Lakes. The gravel road started after the village of Shing and the ride started to become bumpy along the Moghiyondaryo river and Shing river.

We stopped by at all the lakes, starting from the First Lake (Mijgon), Second Lake (Soya), Third Lake (Hushyor), Fourth Lake (Nofin), Fifth Lake (Khurdak), Sixth Lake (Marghuzor) and Seventh Lake (Hazorchasma). The Seven Lakes are located in the Fann Mountains. They lie at elevations ranging from approximately 1,598 metres above sea level for the first lake to around 2,400 metres for the seventh.(wikipedia)

First Lake (Mijgon)

First Lake (Mijgon)

Second Lake (Soya)

Third Lake (Hushyor)

We stopped by for lunch at a restaurant at the Third Lake. We had plov with cherries and tea. 

lunch by the Third Lake (Hushyor)

Fourth Lake (Nofin)

Fourth Lake (Nofin)

Fifth Lake (Khurdak)

Fifth Lake (Khurdak)

Sixth Lake (Marghuzor)

Sixth Lake (Marghuzor)

For the last lake i.e. the Seventh Lake, our driver parked a bit further so we could do a little hike to the Seventh Lake and we spent about 40 minutes here to enjoy the panoramic views and taking pictures. You could hike further to access up until the 10th lake which is could not be accessed by vehicles.

trek to Seventh Lake (Hazorchasma) with views

views during short hike to Seventh Lake

short hike to Seventh Lake

stream from Seventh Lake

stream from Seventh Lake

Seventh Lake (Hazorchasma)

Seventh Lake (Hazorchasma)

At 3.45 pm, we left the Seventh Lake to return back to our hotel in Samarkand. The ride on the gravel road took almost 1.5 hours with 1 toilet stop. We reached the border at around 6pm. After clearing immigration on both sides, Mahmoud the driver from Uzbekistan side was already waiting for us and swiftly drove us back. We reached our hotel around 7.30pm

We were tired from the excursion today so we called it a day and cancelled the plan to catch the laser show at Registan Square (which didn't happen yesterday).