Awoke with sun blazing through tent window so quickly got up and out. Bit of excitement as Andrea found two scorpions. They were fairly insignificant looking but am sure would have given a nasty nip.
The border crossing went smoothly although it was very hot as it was mid-day as we were waiting for Calypso to be processed. After lunch it was a fairly short drive to Khiva where we were staying in a Medrassa. As we drove into town the mood of the truck lifted as we saw the old town wall and the lovely tiles on the buildings and the minarets. I knew I would love this town. After a welcome shower in our comfortable hotel, some clothes washing and visa form filling, I walked around with Sandra and Keith until it was time to meet for dinner. The open air restaurant was lovely and we sat at Eastern style tables which look great but are not that comfortable for western legs. The aubergine salad was delicious as was the ravioli type dish with yoghurt although a bit of the Turkish oil and spice dressing on top would have enlivened it a bit.
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| First photo in Khiva |
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| First dinner in Khiva |
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| 50 Euros in Uzbek money |
The hotel breakfast was good and the walking tour interesting if a little hot. The umbrella purchased in Ashrabat came in useful. The city is amazingly photogenic and round every corner there was a more scenic view. In the Kuhma Ark we saw the harem although it is a little difficult to imagine how it would have been in days gone by. The summer mosque was open-air and had beautiful blue and white plant motif tiling and wood roof of red, orange and gold. Khiva’s token camel, Katya, waited to be photographed outside the Medressa’s south wall. Near the hotel was the fat turquoise tiled Kalta Minor minaret which was never finished. We saw the Sayid Alauddin Mausolleum, The Juma mosque with its 218 wooden columns supporting the roof was mysterious and atmospheric. There were other medressas that we visited but the names became a blur. The Pahlavon Mahmud mausoleum which was a Persian-style chamber under a turquoise dome holds the tomb of Mohammed Rakhim Khan.
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| Katya, Khiva's token camel |
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Summer mosque with wonderful high Aivan
for cooling breezes |
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Zoastrian Tiles symbolizing good thoughts,
good words and good deeds |
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| Kalta Minor Minaret |
After all the walking I took a quick trip back to the hotel to collect my computer but internet connection was hopeless so after a lunch of delicious aubergine salad and beetroot salad went back to hotel to cool down. Another walk round town ended back at internet café where I was the only one and so had good access.
Dinner was a delicious meal organised by Mirza, our guide. We ate the banquet outside under the trees. It started with nuts and dried fruit, followed by various meze – two different eggplant dishes, a cabbage dish and a beetroot dish, then soup with a meatball in it followed by either dumplings or plov. Whilst I would not normally choose a rice dish the plov was wonderful with some very tender strips of lamb on the top. Then came a fruit platter with cherries and little green apples and green tea. The best meal since we left England. I definitely think I will have to write a cookbook of aubergine recipes from around the world as we have eaten some truly delicious ones. Perhaps instead of overlandsal, I should be auberginesal!
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| Suzanni Embroidery |
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| One of the many beautiful ceiling in Khiva |
An early start for a very long hot day which saw Lucy and I sitting in the cab as Jim had flown to Taskent to get our visas. The scenery consisted of scruby sand or sandy scrub with very little to enliven it. The morning was spent chatting with CJ but as time went on my eyes began to droop and my head listed sideways until we hit a bump and I jerked awake. There were various stops for loo breaks and police control and for lunch which was late as we wanted to get the worst of the road over and down with before we stopped.
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| Listing sideways on long hot journey |
Our hotel in Bukhara was beautiful – spacious rooms and and good airconditioning which was just as well as I was like a limp kitten when we arrived. The Lyabi House Hotel, right in the centre of things, was an old Jewish merchant’s house with a high Aivan where we had breakfast and parties! When I had recovered sufficiently to go out, I met some of the others eating at a restaurant near the pool which is the centre of the town. This was a very lively setting and full of families and tourists eating. Afterwards we met back at the hotel for a party for Colin’s birthday.
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| The Square in Bukhara |
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| Suzanni wall hanging in my room |
Breakfast was wonderful with curd filled pancakes among other things. Merza took us on a walking tour of Bukhara which at first sight did not seem to have the charm of Khiva but the shops were fantastic and the Medrassa ornate and wonderful. It became quickly apparent that this was a place to spend money! We visited many craftsmen working on their trade – painters, woodworkers, jewellers but my aim was to buy a Suzanni wall hanging and we saw some beautiful ones. Fortunately the clouds had come over making it more pleasant to walk around and while we were in the Ark there was actually some rain – wonderful. Lunch was chickpea soup and salad, a visit to the internet took up some of the afternoon and then Melissa and I went for a special afternoon tea which consisted of a pot of spicy chai tea and nibbles of helva, sesame biscuits and dried fruit and nuts.
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| Majolica Tiles |
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| One of the craftsman in Bukhara |
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| Two little boys wanting bonbons! |
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| Medrassa in Bukhara |
The following day was Suzanni shopping. Colin, Wendy and I spent about four hours going in and out of every shop learning a lot about the types and style of wall hangings. It is amazing that four days ago I knew nothing about this art and now I feel quite an expert! Wendy bought a lovely one with open pomegranates which I might have bought if she hadn’t seen it first but ended up buying a larger one with very close ornate pattern which I absolutely love. Just hope I have a wall to put it on one day.
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| My Suzanni |
Wendy went off to the Haman so I dragged Colin (without much persuasion I have to add) off to go wine tasting. It was a really interesting session. The lady, who has been a winemaker for 40 years and won many medals in German wine shows, spoken phonetic English so had obviously learnt from a book. She spoke quite fluently in this very strange language but was unable to answer any questions as she did not understand them. I asked her if she exported to Australia and she replied that Australian wine was very good! The wine was all delicious – much better than the Georgian wine although they do use some Georgian grapes. We ended up buying a bottle of white each and a bottle of heavy dessert red to share. Dinner was mushroom pizza at the local Italian restaurant.
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| Aiofe & Lucy in the Italian Restaurant |
Disaster Day! Woke up feeling unwell and was really sick. Had a cup of tea and a crumb of bread for breakfast and then it was a drive to Samarkand. I wasn’t feeling the greatest and unfortunately was sitting at the front of the truck and was suddenly and explosively sick all over myself and half the truck. Everyone was very kind and lent me clothes, cleaned me up and cleaned and disinfected Calypso. I was able to lie down on the front seat and wished I could die but made it to Samarkand with only one more stop to be sick again. This bug has been going round and I had prided myself on my strong stomach. Pride goes before a fall…..!
Awoke feeling slightly better but after breakfast and two crumbs of bread knew there was no way that I could do the tour so crept back to bed where I slept for most of the morning. I was feeling very fed up as I had particularly wanted to see Samarkand having read so much about it.
We had a meeting at 5.00 p.m. when C.J. dropped a bombshell. Tibet is not allowing any tourists in this year due to it being the 60th anniversary of its independence or something. This does quite dramatically change the trip as it means we cannot go to Nepal, Tibet or India but will be spending more time in South East Asia and China. I am disappointed as it means I will probably never see Everest but we will get to see the Terra Cotta warriors and the giant pandas as well as being able to take a train trip to Beijing to see the Forbidden City. For a lot of people base camp of Everest was going to be a highlight of the trip so there was much upset in the group but unfortunately the Company has no control over foreign powers. Some people are talking about flying in to Katmandu but I will stay on truck whatever happens. The advantage is that we will stay with Calypso until Singapore now although people were also commenting about the heat travelling in a non airconditioned truck through South East Asia.
The following day I was marginally better but only managed one cup of tea and one crumb of bread. Enough is enough so started taking a course of anti-biotics. Took taxi to The Registan where I feebly walked around taking a few pictures. It is an amazing site with its Medressas, mausoleums and Majolica tiles – all very peaceful and beautiful except for the large stage that was being erected in the middle of the place for a concert due to take place in August. They certainly believe in the motto “Be Prepared” here. The highlight was an old lady rushing over and grabbing me by the arm so she could have her photo taken with me. As I felt and looked like a total wreck, it was quite flattering. A taxi ride from a driver who had no idea where he was going took me back to the hotel where I crawled back into bed and stayed until 4.00 p.m when a few of us went to see the Avenue of Mausoleums. More beautiful tiles and amazing buildings but I think we all ready now for a bit of bush camping. Managed a cup of soup before another long night’s sleep.
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| The Registan |
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| The Registan |
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| Avenue of Mausoleums |
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| The Avenue of Mausoleums |
Our time in Uzbekistan is nearly over but it has been an amazing place to visit and I can highly recommend it as a destination especially if you have time to visit the countryside as well as the cities. It is amazingly cheap even though we had to carry large wads of money around – dinner for instance is often 12,000 som (less than £4.00) and the beautiful wall hanging I bought was less than £40. You can tell I have lived out of Australia for a while as I am now converting everything back to pounds!
So two nights in Tashkent and then bush camping. More next week!
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