Bukhara - Plov, A Working Ferris Wheel and Wine Tasting

Saturday 28 September 

A day of the 5 m’s today interspersed with some Ruth light relief. 

The Ark was interesting.  One of the oldest buildings in Bukhara it started life as a fortress in the 5th Century.  Over the decades it was variously destroyed and rebuilt by invaders/settlers before succumbing to fire in 1920 rendering about 75% of it out of bounds.  The khan left in the early 20th century so there was no pressing need to restore.  The Soviets invaded in 1868 and later hung their red flag from the Ark and stuck a statue of Lenin in the square in front of it.  Unsurprisingly the statue disappeared when the Soviets did. 

Inside we found a mosque, reception area and throne room.  This room contained the aforesaid throne with visitors enjoying their moment of power. 

On the way to the next mosque we saw some camels and, even more exciting, surveyors in action!

We visited this ancient mosque, still working so we did not enter. It has the largest iwan (entrance facade) in Bukhara and is highly impressive with a cascade of colours and styles. 

I had my first plov! This is the national dish of Uzbekistan consisting of rice, carrot, raisins, chickpeas and meat. I’d been wanting to try it for a while but in Khiva the meat was mixed in which the rice so I avoided.  Here the Bukhara version has meat placed on top so I had a meat free version. 

We walked down through a park resplendent with children’s amusements, a zoo park of concrete animals and kiosks selling warm coke.  This is a Soviet era playground complete with its obligatory Ferris wheel. Unlike the ones we saw in Tashkent and Khiva (which had three) this wheel was still functioning. 

The cube mausoleum of Bukhara Samanid was beautiful.  Its woven like brick pattern is identical on each 10.8 x 10.8 m face and its walls 2 m thick.  It survived destruction at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century by lucky virtue of being half buried in the sand.  The light shadows inside were lovely and I learnt a new word - squinch.  A squinch is a construction term by which a building moves from a square like structure to dome.  In this case the 4 walls were topped by an octagonal wall onto which a 16 sided brick edge was added.  Eventually the dome emerged and the building squinched from a square to a circle. 

We explored the nearby bazaar. Piles of biscuits, soap and bread, sacks of pasta, flour and lentils; bags of aubergines, courgettes and onions; heaps of apple, pomegranate and spices. We found some satsumas which were a rare treat. And I loved the spice towers created by the stall holders. 

We wandered some more in the east side of the old town. Having the guide book with us was essential as the buildings had little no information about them bar their name and, without a tour guide, we’d have meandered aimlessly.  The Madrassahs and mosques all look similar unless you know what you’re looking for.  The tiles are unique in each mosque, the colours of the minrab (wall showing direction of Mecca) individual and the pillars, domes and layout the same but different.  And each one has a unique history - usually involving a rebuild or two along the way. 

As we drifted along we espyed a wine tasting offer.  That sounded fun and it was.  We sat in a small cellar, accompanied by our national flags.  Well they didn’t have Luxembourg so JC elected to be Dutch.  I tried 8 different wines, 4 white, 3 red and a port.  Uzbek grapes produce very sweet wine so to vary their wine they have imported drier grapes from Georgia and other European regions.  Their whites are still far too sweet for my palate but their reds are good and, to be frank, when in Uzbekistan drink Uzbek. Cheers!

Khiva to Bukhara by Train

Friday 27 September 

A prompt but not unreasonable start as we left the hotel at 0800.  We’d preordered a taxi which wasn’t there. When we asked the guy at reception he disappeared, then reappeared in a car a few minutes later. He grinned at me “yes, on reception, taxi driver. I’m the little brother.” 

We were in economy class on the train from Khiva to Bukhara.  It’s such a new line that no guide books mention it and even some online guides still say it’s in construction.  So for 8 USD we had a trip in air conditioned reclining seats watching Uzbekistan trundle past.

Once past Khiva and Urgench we had hours of flat desert/brushland interspersed with a couple of crossings of the Amu Darya River.  The guidebook map suggested we were heading into Turkmenistan but in fact we stayed north of the border.  JC was extremely disappointed by this.  

I was quite intrigued by these regularly spaced short straw-like plants.  I believe they are planted as sediment control, to stop the sand encroaching any more onto the rails.  Our journey was interrupted by the odd stop at a platform in the middle of nowhere awaiting a passing train.  The platforms serve no one as the access roads are still being built.  And I saw no sign of dwellings anywhere near them in the arid desert.

We pulled into Bukhara just before 1500, haggled for a taxi and sped into the old town.  We dropped our bags and headed our for beer at a local cafe/pond affair.  No idea if this boy ever caught any fish here.  

We wandered with little purpose save as to getting our bearings.  Friday night is party night here and there was a strong man throwing weights into the air and bouncing them off his chest, and a cornet lead procession down to the square whereupon we were regaled by an Uzbek pop singer.  JC was a little surprised at the change in Bukhara over the last 18 years.  The haphazard stalls and bazaars have been cleaned-up and somewhat sterilised.  Old crumbling buildings have been demolished and lookalikes built in their place.  Uneven hazardous walkways have been replaced by sensible pavements.  It’s kind of lost it’s romance now.  However it’s still Bukhara and has its crafts, stalls, cycle rickshaws and all 5 m’s (mosque, Madrassah, museum, minaret and mausoleum).

We struggled to find somewhere to eat again as the coaches block book all the local eateries, so we scouted smaller venues and ended up with a good meal of rice and veg (yup) and wine.  Well that was my version. JC’s was chicken stew, chips and coke.  We were serenaded by a local musician whose dvd was set onto loop until the restaurant owner was also driven potty by the 10th rendition and switched channels.  We finished the meal with British pop songs. 

Castles in the Desert

Thursday 26 September 

Today we were real grown up tourists having organised a driver and guide for the day.  Desert Fortresses were on the menu for today.  These mud fortresses were built from the 1st Century and variously invaded and destroyed by marauding Mongols, Turkmen and other enemies.  These forts, built on small rises of the otherwise plateau landscape, appeared to have one major fail - they all relied on water sources from canals external to their walls.  So incoming unfriendlies would simply besiege them and wait for them to thirst themselves to surrender.  Alternatively, if they did have a siege-water plan, their enemies would think longer term and reroute the canal leaving the once verdant fields parched.  Eventually the lack of water forced the occupants out and they became deserted of the desert.

Our guide and driver were lovely.  I quizzed our guide on all things Uzbek.  I learnt that they manufacture Chevrolets in Uzbekistan which explains their prevalence.  I asked about taxis, trains, crops, local goods, climate etc.  Melons appear to be the national fruit with an annual melon fest held in Khiva late this month.  Cotton is grown a lot here which, considering its semi desert, is a hard one to keep going.  

The first fortress was Kyzyl Qala.  This is one of the closest to old Urgench and therefore the early warning system for Topra Qala, the larger nearby fortress.  Smoke signals alerted other citadels to attack.  This fort is being significantly refurbished to arrest its decay.  The walls in Khiva are made of mud and straw whereas these fortresses are just mud which makes them more vulnerable to environmental erosion.

Our second fortress, Topra Qala, was much larger containing a large area for residents’ dwellings.  A single double gated entrance was the norm, then a temple and the chief’s quarters.  

Apparently lunch was part of the price so we were taken to a local cafe.  After a bit of negotiation our guide convinced the chef to cook me a vegetable kebab and chips (rice didn’t appear to be on the menu) so whilst the others ate meat skewers, bread and a random savoury donut with minced meat, I ate their onion garnish and my veggie kebab.  The chilli was a bit of a surprise

Before our next fort our driver took us past an incongruous local site.  It’s a Russian jet of unknown vintage.  No idea how or why it’s ended up in suburban Uzbekistan...

Our third fort was Ayaz Qala.  This is a massive construction, again with a nearby small garrison fort which, being lower down, was easier from which to repel attackers.  We climbed up to the main fort from the yurt village near its base (strange little garden hut here).  Then we returned to visit the smaller fortress.

On our return to Khiva we pulled in at a melon market.  We watched the laborious process of unloading the melons one-by-one and sorting them in size.  Our driver bought us a melon and we stood in the market eating the fresh melon.  Superb.  Our driver bought four bruised and leaky melons.  Before I could ask our guide smiled and explained “they’re for his sheep”.

There was a lot of sand to wash off on our return (I emptied my trainers outside the hotel) then a pack and supper out.  JC wandered off to take night photos for which I have limited patience.  So I decided to have a drink and read whilst he took the shots.  Admittedly he takes excellent photos, they just take a while to shoot as they require tripod set up and various 30 second exposures in different apertures. And then it’s a photoshop job to combine the best of the images to obtain what the eye sees.

Khiva Diva

Wednesday 25 September


I slept 11 hours last night!  I think the early start yesterday and the heat and walking ran my batteries low quickly.  But I slept well and long.  That’s what holidays are for.

Breakfast was an Asian treat of stewed apricot, melon, cheese, bread, omelette and coffee.  Eaten whilst sat on cushions on the floor.

Then we were off.  We had a quick explore of the city walls.

Before diving back into the melee of Khiva.

Our traipses were more of the same as yesterday.  Our ticket was a two day entry so we finished off the 10 or so sights we’d had our eyes on, explored some odd places, such as the Museum of Musical Art which was pretty much devoted to famous Uzbek musicians from the last century.  And explored more mosques and madrassahs.  The more you see the more you are blown away by the amazing tiles.

Oh, and some souvenir clay birds.

A replica yurt.

Pakhlavan Makhmoud Mausoleum 

Floor to ceiling tiles. Awesome.

Stunning.

When the sun goes down the monuments get even more awesome.

It was a phaff finding somewhere to eat as the places we tried were block booked by coach parties and the place we’d dined yesterday was unexpectedly shut.  We did eventually alight on a roof top restaurant and I wined and dined on veg and chips whilst JC munched his way through another kebab.