Back to Tashkent and then Home

Saturday 05 October

Our last site of Samarkand was Gur Emir.  This is the mausoleum in which Temur, Ulugh Beg and a few other family members were buried.  It was designed by Temur’s grandson who died before it was complete, so Temur himself supervised the finally build.  The gold bling of the inner sanctuary was gorgeous.  It was also the most crowded room I think we’d run into this last fortnight.  

We then sauntered up to the Registan to drink coffee and view the wedding spot before  a 4+ hour taxi ride to Tashkent. It was not the most exciting trip I've had, but I still love watching the villages, apple stalls, melon markets etc pass by.   I was slightly alarmed when we rounded the peak of a hill on a dual carriageway to find a farmer herding his goats across the road...

Our last night in Tashkent was at a lovely local hostel.  We should have stayed here the first time we were here but there you go.  It was family run and one of owners asked if we could pop into an English class he was running as he was pleased to have a native speaker to hand.  So JC and I popped down and we chatted for 10 or so minutes.  They are taking six hours of lessons each week.  Once my MSc is sorted I might pick up another language too.  Easier said than done I know.

Ate out at a restaurant we'd found the first time in Tashkent.  It really did do the most awesome fruit tea.

Sunday 06 October

A stupid early start.  I was awake at 0300, up at 0330 and out by 0415.  Uzbekistan Airlines doesn’t offer online check in so we wanted to be at the check in desk 3 hours before the flight to beat the queues.  It was then a pretty standard trip.  5 hours to Istanbul, an enormous walk from one end of terminal leg B to leg D via some Turkish delight tasting in duty free then 3 or so hours to London.  

Observatory, Daniel's Tomb and a Beautiful Necropolis

Friday 04 October

We caught a bus up to Ulugh Beg Observatory (1400 SOM/~15p) and explored what remains of Ulugh Beg’s 15th century observatory.

There is little left except for the entrance and underground grooves of the quadrant which must have been massive!

Ulugh was an amazing astronomer like Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe and his works were published by  Oxford University in the 18th century.  There is a museum on site detailing his life and works.  He was the grandson of Temur, a founding emperor of the Temurline Empire.  When the line of power came to him on his father’s death he, apparently, didn’t lead in the valiant and victorious manner so expected of him (science and education were his passions) and after two years one of his sons had him murdered.  And to drive home the point his son razed the three storey high observatory. 

It was raining.  We weren’t expecting it and although it was hardly of British proportions it was enough. We had coffee whilst it passed.  I was quite amused by the size of their beer bottles - at least equivalent to 1L of water.

Next to do was Daniel’s tomb, he of the Biblical Daniel and the Lion’s den (he is buried in numerous places according to wikipedia).  The only impressive part of this visit was the tomb.  Followers believed that he was still growing and enlarged his tomb accordingly so that when he rose from the dead he’d be full height.  The tomb is now 18 metres long.

The Museum of Afrosiab was worth visiting for its 2 m high painted frieze.  The rest consisted of terracotta pots in various stages of re-assemblement, skulls and other bones and a Zoroastrian altar which looked remarkably like a toilet seat.

We next visited the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis.  This was beautiful.  As with other mausoleum sites a holy man is buried and then other eminent leaders are laid to rest there and/or erect memorials for their loved ones.

There are some pretty old mausoleums including the first seen use of mosaicing tiles in Samarkand. The lace carved patterns are intricate.  

As ever at these stunning sites, there are various visitors.  Some are what I’d consider ‘travellers’ (like us) - those who visit a site with a guide or guide book and discover as much history about the place as they can.  Others are pilgrims for whom these are important and personal excursions.  The type of visitor I found irritating are the Instagram visitors - those who pose, pout and twirl in front of any grave or sacred site for the camera.  They didn’t seem interested in where they were, just that they looked good in the resulting image.  Perhaps on branding them too shallow, and everyone has different reasons for visiting a place, but without an explanation of your surroundings it is a bling only experience.

The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering the streets.  A local supermarket unearthed a miscellany of fruit and veg, fizzy drinks but no water, pasta galore, cooked meats and empty bread shelves.  It rained heavily this evening.  That was certainly not forecast nor terribly Uzbek.  However, being a true Brit, I’d packed my waterproof so we headed out to a local restaurant with Thai dishes too.  It had good reviews and the menu had more than rice and fried veg for me but service and the food let it down.  Ah well.  One not to revisit.

Samarkund - Day and Night

Thursday 03 October 

Another day dawns and my breakfasts are getting smaller.  Today we had bread, fruit and porridge.  I’m sure the porridge wouldn’t have killed me but my stomach was a little fragile and I wasn’t sure if warm milk would have helped or hindered.  I dug into my stocks and had two rice cakes and a banana with my coffee.

We started the day by trying and failing to buy train tickets to Tashkent on Sunday.  We kicked ourselves as we should have bought them a week ago when we were at a train station.  You can’t buy them online unless you can navigate a Russian website which, when in its English mode, doesn’t let you buy anything. Bum.  We’ll need to get a cab.  We successfully changed more USD for SOM then started our sight seeing.  

We started at the famous Registan.  This is the jewel in Central Asia’s crown being the most venerated square in the region.

It is truly beautiful.  Unlike the lovely buildings in Khiva and Bukhara, all three Madrassahs are fully tiled.  Usually just the front and perhaps minarets are decorated but here no tiles have been spared and they are covered from ground to sky in blues, whites, greens and yellows.

It is testament to the Soviet input that these buildings have been restored to their former glory.  Built in the 15th and 17th centuries then ravaged by campaign after campaign and left to ruin, the Soviets seemed to undertake a huge amount of rebuilding from the 1920s.  Looking at the state they were in - minarets leaning at 70 degrees, arches crumbled, domes collapsed - it’s quite amazing.  We spent an hour or two visiting each of the three Madrassahs.  We also hit our wedding record with four bouffant white dresses spotted at once.  To be honest, if you’re going to have a decent backdrop for your photos this is the place to come.  

After lunch of fried veg we visited Bibi Knanum Mosque.  This was built at the turn of the 14th century and had the tallest pishtak (portal) known soaring to 35 m high.

It was built in a bit of a rush and redesigned mid-build resulting in a fragile construction which started dropping its bricks on the first worshippers.  Earthquakes helped its demolition.  This is a photo of a display board showing how it was before any rebuild.

The Soviets once again reconstructed what they could in 1974 but only redid certain parts leaving one end waiting for a stiff breeze before it comes tumbling down.  

After this we explored the bazaar. Again a mix of breads, fruit, nuts, spices.

We spent sunset and mid evening at the Registan. It’s lit up until 2000 whereupon they unsubtley flick a switch and knock half the lights off. With a steady hand and long exposure you can get some great shots.

We dined where we’d had lunch as it was convenient and there was little choice around our area. It was a bit of a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude and they had no vegetable soup, no rice and no pickles. So I simply had fried vegetables. Again. Again.

Desert to Samarkand

Wednesday 02 October

It was naturally a chilly morning but I’d managed to shed the fleece by breakfast and had my standard fare of eggs, a slice of cheese and rice cakes - I’m so glad I brought these with me!   

Our driver then took us down to Aidarkul Lake.  It’s a freshwater lake containing fish and a natural magnet for birds.  We wandered along the shore line enjoying the tranquility of a still lake, reeds, sand etc. The water was v clear. 

The lake is obviously slowly diminishing as evidenced by the salt-encrusted tree roots seen along the water’s edge.  We found a flock of sheep.  There were cloven hoof prints all over the beach.  They appeared unshepherded but I imagine your flock is not going to disappear into the arid desert for long before heading back for a drink.

We had lunch by the lake, provided by the tour company who produced plastic tub after plastic tub of provisions from a van.  I was pretty stuck food wise as today’s lunch was non (bread), pasta, salad, fruit buckwheat and stuffed peppers (stuffed with meat).  I eventually settled on the buckwheat, which is actually not a wheat despite its unhelpful name, and the outsides of the peppers.  As usual I avoided the salad and fruit which is sad but sensible.  We then headed off on the 4.5 hour drive to Samarkand.

Our route took us south and parallel with the lake for a couple of hours.  A dry, desolate landscape was our view and a bumpy jittery ride was had.  We sometimes were close to the Nuratau Mountains which host, amongst other things, a walnut tree nature reserve.

The roads evolved into smooth tarmac, and the single carriageways into dual.  As the road condition improved the traffic increased.  The last couple of hours were therefore smoother under-tyre but more swervy as we vied for road-space with the other vehicles. Our B&B was tucked behind a tall wall in the city centre.   This wall was apparently erected by the local council keen to keep the old city intact and shielded from the modern eyesores of a 21st century city.  At night this wall is lit externally but internally it’s just whitewashed.  The old city is a labyrinth of narrow streets and now the government has kindly ensconced it in a high wall blocking any view.  It results in the feeling of being ghettoed.