The bag and beyond...

Just a little post-script to our time in Uzbekistan, with ‘Bek’ our UzBek guide, who goes together with his ‘magic’ bag. It goes most places, sometimes gets left unattended, lying around casually. Its weight varies, it contains paper of different textures and consistencies. It’s helped most of us out, and out of pocket, and been the cause of much amusement and discussion. We’ll leave it at that and you can let your mind wander and wonder about the magic bag and its contents!

Fraser and The Bag

The Bag having a dance

The Bag having a drink

The Bag doing some sightseeing (with Paul S)

This will be the last you hear from us for a while as in Turkmenistan our internet access will be limited, and in about 6 days we’ll be embarking on our journey across the Caspian Sea, or at least starting the lengthy process.  You won’t hear from us until we’ve crossed successfully, and if you don’t hear from us, you will know we haven’t yet! ‘See you’ in Azerbaijan.

Living it up in Bukhara & Khiva

If there is one way to sum up our time in Bukhara it would be self-indulgent.

Part of our time was taken up with the walking tour of the old city seeing the various mosques mausoleums and the obligatory carpet shop.  Once again we followed our Uzbek guide, Beck, around these sights just the same as the coach loads of German tourists on their one week whistle stop tour! Having had our fill of the coach tour lifestyle the rest of the time was taken up with exploring the city and beyond without a guide, relying on sense of direction, non-existent Russian and many hand gestures which found us spread all over the city.  Lots of haggling was the order of the day with the various traders in the streets selling all kinds of wares; intricate knives, decorative paintings, silk scarves, tapestries, embroidered jackets, ceramics and hats in various styles.  Some of the group decided that having spent seven weeks on the road they were a little grubby, even after spending 5 nights in hotels with varying degrees of hot water, ranging from tepid to boiling.  So it was off to the hammam for a decent scrub down, including Alison, who was especially filthy after helping Simon change the oil in the truck. The experience was not what the western traveller may have expected, but was  one of  time honoured local tradition and not so private.  Despite this fact it was greatly enjoyed and the feeling of cleanliness was much appreciated.

An overload of information from our local guide - when there is around  5,000 years' worth of history, there is plenty to talk about!

Markets

Listening intently

Stunning mosaic tiling, a photographers' paradise!

Ann H

Andrew E

Cathy

Teresa

Ann H and the photo stance again!

The more discerning members of the group enjoyed delights such as the tea at Silk Road Spice.  Here they serve a variety of delicious spiced teas and coffee accompanied with a complimentary selection of sweets, sugars and nuts.

Anne W

Nigel H

Nigel H & Jacq

Shisha was discovered at Minzifa café and enjoyed while sat on the roof terrace while looking out over the city sky line of domes and minarets.  We were tended to by their excellent and attentive staff.  The group enjoyed their evening meals here, tucking in to tasty Plov, flaming kebabs, succulent salads and fruity desserts. The reappearance of vino classico wine was met with jubilation from a select few, and the restaurants small supply was rapidly consumed.

Phil & Annie

Once our time was over in Bukhara it was just a matter of 10 hours’ drive on intermittently terrible roads to Khiva.  Beck, who is used to travelling in the style of our German friends in air-conditioned coaches complete with microphones, let it be known he was suffering a great deal on this journey and not just because he had to raise his voice. I’m not sure if this is related but he left us once we arrived in Khiva and we met our new guide for the next day’s tour, Mohammed.

The old town of Khiva is set within the ancient wall and in times long passed served as a minor fort and Silk Road trading post. It now contains many sights for us to visit and all in a short distance of each other.  Similar to Bukhara there are many vendors peddling their wears in the streets who as normal quote extortionate prices leading to the now usual game of haggling. Many of us decided to leave the confines of the walled tourist corral and head outside for some more local experiences and cheap food for lunch which although small in variety the quality was excellent.   Our presence was met with a warm welcome from the locals, some even offering to share their vodka. After a pleasant day it was an early night for most in preparation for the border crossing to Turkmenistan the next day. 

Ann S & Anne W

Mosaics, Mosques, Minarets, Museums, Mausoleums, Medressa

Mosaics, Mosques, Minarets, Museums, Mausoleums, Medressa – they’re all here in abundance in Uzbekistan.

Tashkent is a fairly modern city as a result of largely being rebuilt after an earthquake in the 60’s. Among other attractions, it has a great bazaar, some nice parks to wander, and a metro system to get to these places. The metro was designed as a nuclear shelter and unfortunately no pics are allowed so we can’t show you the pretty designs inside some of the stations.  An introduction to the great buffet breakfasts to come throughout our stay in Uzbekistan, plov (a version of pilaf or fried rice) for lunch, and Vietnamese, Indian, Italian or local dishes for dinner – take your pick. A few of us attempted to hunt down a once ‘Lonely Planet rated’ Syrian restaurant,  a mission that took us round back streets of Tashkent, walking kilometres and working up an appetite in the process. Unfortunately we found it had closed down, perhaps when Syria also closed down? Anyway, a blessing in disguise as it led us back to a great Italian restaurant called Amaretto, complete with live violinist, Vino classico, soon to become legendary, and good pasta and pizza.

Jacq's curious fan club

Nigel H

Tashkent's Chorsu Bazaar

Next stop was Samarqand with one of our best hotels of the trip thus far – and 3 days to explore. You’ve heard about the wine tasting, which was the beginning of a super evening and a fun start to our time in Samarqand, despite the pretty terrible wine.

Ann H

Ann S & Teresa

Anne W

Cathy & Toby

Next day saw us walking around the city sights, starting with the Registan Square - medressas and mosaics, once the commercial and trading centre of Samarqand, it’s architecture and design is beautiful, inside and out. The striking turquoise domes are decorated on their inside with finely detailed designs, often in gold.

The history of the area is rather overwhelming and hard to keep up with, for some of us, but the sights are no less magical. The Bibi-Khanym Moque, Ulugbek’s Observatory, and the Shah-I-Zinda and Guri Amir Mausoleums. Such grand burial chambers. What was particularly moving about the Shah-I-Zinda was to see the graves of citizens alongside the tombs of the rich and famous.

We had another fun couple of nights out and in, in Samarqand. Some discovered an Armenian restaurant that served the biggest kebabs to date, and at the invitation of a rather glamorous lady also enjoying a night out at this particular restaurant, we joined her on the ‘dance floor’ in the small area between the tables.

My, what a big kebab you have there Nigel C!

Jacq’s birthday was also celebrated in Samarqand with a cheese and wine (or snacks and drinks, leave out the Uzbek wine) in the courtyard of the hotel.

Nigel H, Jacq, Norm, Al & Simon

Toby, Paul S, Nigel C & Andrew P

From there it was on to Bukhara, with Calypso sporting a lovely new front window after a small incident with a stone...

Simon affixing the new window

Salaam from Samarkand

We arrived here in the late afternoon, and after hearing nothing but good things about this new city, everyone in the group was eager to start the explorations as soon as we got settled.

It was decided en route to make the first evenings activity in the wonderful city of Samarkand, wine tasting.  Our Uzbek guide, Bek, told us it would take 30 minutes to walk to the wine tasting “factory”, but our eager legs carried us there in 20. 

Before tasting could commence, we were shown around the small museum dedicated to the wine history of the region.

Hoping for a delightful array of different whites and reds to tantalise our taste buds they were instead assaulted by incredibly sweet liquids that increased in alcoholic content as we moved along the board. The lovely old man who was leading us through our wine tasting adventure proudly told us that wine number 7 was given as medicine to the victims of Hiroshima and more recently the Japanese tsunami disaster due to its “blood cleansing qualities”.

Wine tasting, Uzbek-style

Jill, Fraser and Toby assessing the nose and colour

Jill doesn't seem convinced by the taste...

A few members of the group purchased some bottles, one of which would meet an unfortunate end toward the latter part of our evening’s escapades.

It was soon time to soak up all that we had drunk with some traditional Uzbekistan grub which fortunately was available at the restaurant next door!  As we entered the grand hallway and walked through to the main dining hall we were greeted by a troupe of belly dancers dancing between tables.  The disco lights were flashing and the music was banging!  

After ordering food, Momma Anne W kicked off her shoes to dance with the locals, she was joined by Jill, Alison, Anne H and Cathy, Ann S and Toby. Annie, Phil, Norman and Jacq also made a (brief) appearance.

After some lovely food and much merriment, it was time to head for bed.  On his way out through the grand entrance hall, poor Norm lost his tenuous grip on his treasured purchase from the earlier wine tasting and it came to a sticky end on the polished marble floor.

Even so, an enjoyable evening was had by all, Samarkand gave us a glimpse of the culture we were about to experience and we gave Samarkand a hint of what it has to expect from our band of merry travellers!