Oops ... 50 km from Bukhara, we realized we left our passports at the hotel ... interesting feeling traveling in a country with so many checkpoints without a passport ... all good.
Amazing how green Uzbekistan is compared to Turkmenistan ... lots of fields, lots of donkeys and carts, trees. The cars on the road seem to all be tiny and either GM or Daewoo ... apparently, the only two brave car companies that have built factories here. Gas stations are like ghost towns and very old ... most only have gas with octane in the 70's ... our bike needs 89! ... grateful to have a huge 9 gallons tank full of good old high quality Turkmen gas ... maybe we can find good gas in Tashkent, the capital.
This is generally a poor country (the poorest so far) but it seems to be moving forward. Also, interesting to note that compared to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan really has no police presence to speak of ... we have seen very very few ... and they seem to not bother weird looking people on big motorcycles : ) Again, everybody is very friendly, honking and waving everywhere.
The UNESCO sites in Samarqand are just as impressive as in Bukhara but even bigger and over a bigger area ... this being low season, we had the place to ourselves. We also ran into a market that was like a Mexican "tianguis" with people from around, in traditional dresses, selling their fruits and vegetables. Children kept coming to Alexandra asking her to take their pictures. This country feels good.
Tomorrow, we ride to Tashkent, the capital ... and to look for gasoline.
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