We delayed our ride to Samarqand by on day to spend more time in Bukhara ... we visited every major mosque, madrasa, mausoleum, monument, caravan-saray, trading dome, plaza, fortress, minaret, and market in the old city and its surroundings ... just amazing! Such an important area of the world for the development of commerce, math, science, astronomy, knowledge, libraries, religion ... a lot of it having fundamental impacts in our lives today ... why is it that all of this gets so little play in the western world?
People in Uzbekiztan are more lively, fun, and outgoing than in Turkmenistan. Restaurants are loud, music, groups of freinds and families laughing and playing ... with a very distinct culture preserved throughout a turbulent history of conquest - Greeks, Mongols, Russians. Their traditional dress is unique and unique crafts are alive and well - carpets, metal work, ceramic, textiles.
Uzbekistan has gone through some inflation over the last few years - today, there are no coins in use and the largest bill is 1,000 SUM (about $0.30) ... bricks of paper currency are needed to pay for things.
We had a nice afternoon talking to Narvisha and Murod about Uzbekistan and a great dinner at Shaucat's roof top restaurant (mispellings are possible : )
Tomorrow, we ride to Samarqand ... another major stop on the Silk Road.
Hi, Rene and Alex-
ReplyDeleteI ran into Pam this morning on Douglas while I was walking. Your tiny dogs scared my 80 pound Golden Retriever!
I'm curious. How do you meet the local people, i.e. Narvisha and Murod? Did you arrange it ahead of time or did you just start talking to them wherever you happened to be?
To me, the most fun part about traveling is meeting people you meet along the way. What a fun trip!
Stay safe!
Louise (and John who got us hooked on your blog)
Thanks for your message. You know, I never thought about it but we just usually walk up to people and start talking ... Or the come up to us and we figure how to communicate. Agree, this is the best part of traveling. On this trip, we have a general sense of the route but we are figuring out the details one day at a time. For example, we are in Tashkent today and we intend to go to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) tomorrow but we do not have hotel reservations or know where we are staying ?.. or whether we will make it all the way to Bishkek ... We will see : )
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