Silk Road III Day 7: Bukhara sights

This morning we were meant to go to the bazaar and visit the animal market. This is something that I had seen in Kashgar, and I wanted to have another chance to see people trading sheep and cattle, and perhaps even camels.

But first, I make a quick stop at the Bolo-Hauz Mosque, the place where the emir used to worship. They used to roll out carpet from the gates of the Ark so that the emir could walk to worship with the common people. The woodwork here is really nice.

On the way to the bazaar we pass by the Ismail Samani Mausoleum. The architecture here is pretty unique, and as it was covered with sand at the time of Genghis Khan's invasion, it was spared from destruction.

We run into a little girl who was dressed up and just looooved to be photographed. She was very cute and tried to strike up simple conversation with me in English, and her English was pretty good for her age!

Batir led us on a bit of a hike through people selling various types of used junk, in the search for the "animal bazaar". Evenually we realized that what he meant was the place where people were selling pets, such as rabbits, ducks, chickens...etc. This was a far cry from what we had expected to see, and we were a bit frustrated by the time we were wasting.  We headed back to the covered part of the Kolkhozny Bazaar, where I picked up some more fruits such as melons, apricots and peaches. All were very juicy and yummy.

On our way back to the van, we passed by the Chasma Ayub mausoleum. A spring exists here which locals come to drink from for his magical properties. Legend has it that Job struck his staff on the ground and out came the spring. That Job really does get around, since I remember visiting somewhere in Oman where his presence was also found...

Last stop of the morning was the Ark, the royal citadel dating from the 5th century where the emirs lived. We can still see the throne that the emir used to sit in to watch the procession in front of the gates. We visited the museums inside to get a bit more color on the history and culture of the region.

We are back at Lyabi-Hauz for lunch, this time sitting inside an air-conditioned room. We order up some plov, which was pretty good although not as good as what we had in Samarkand. We also had some beef meatball and chicken shashlik. Of course, no lunch is complete without Sarbast beer...

After a break to avoid the midday sun, we retrace some of our route yesterday and visit the sights around the hotel. First stop was the Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa, which is undergoing some restoration. Across the road was the Ulugbek Medressa, the oldest of the three so-named and predates the one at the Registan Square in Samarkand.  We wander off to the Maghoki-Attar Mosque, reputed to be the oldest surviving mosque in Central Asia, with a beautiful portal dating from the Middle Ages. It is now a carpet museum.

Eric and Stan did a bit more shopping for souvenirs, and we ended up at the Kalon Mosque. It is a beautiful structure, with an octagonal lectern in the courtyard. After walking around the halls, I decide to pay 4,500 Sum for the privilege of climbing up to the top of the Kalon Minaret. I am really glad I did, because the view was spectacular. We had a full view of the old town through which we wandered yesterday. We can also see our hotel next door, plus the Ark and other monuments nearby. And I took lots of pictures of the Mir-i-Arab Medressa across the square, which is still a working medressa and therefore no tourists are allowed to enter. It has two beautiful blue domes. Later on I learned that in the old days, executions were carried out here by hurling the prisoners from the top of the minaret onto the square below. Pretty gruesome, but I must admit that it seems convenient...

It is now sundown, and I decide to go back to the Ark to photograph the outer walls as well as the main gate with the warm light. I did manage the catch the last bits of the warm light, but it would have been better to show up half an hour earlier...

We had a bit of a tough time finding a place for dinner. We walked around the area of Lyabi-Hauz but found no restaurants which looked appetizing. The Russified Korean restaurant, Kochevnik, was not open. It would have been quite an experience to see how Korean cuisine was adapted to local tastes!

In the end we got a tip to go to Caravan, which is in the new town. The two main dishes we ordered were different types of beef jiz - one looking like a normal plate of beef, but the other was stir-fried with sesame and looked downright Chinese! And the funny thing is, it did taste Chinese as the sauce was definitely made of soy sauce. The food was pretty good here, and we continued to drink more Baltika...

After dinner, I once again took my tripod out and photographed the Kalon Mosque, Kalon Minaret and Mir-i-Arab Medressa. The blue domes of the Medressa are particularly striking, and the almost-full moon in the backdrop against the minaret also made for a good picture. As the lights of the Mosque were turned off at 11:30pm, I packed up my gear and went back to the hotel to crash. It's gonna be a really long day tomorrow.

Silk Road III Day 6: wandering in Bukhara

Woke up early this morning and walked to the Registan Square by myself. The streets were pretty empty, with some people going to work early. The sun wasn't very high yet at this time, so it was pretty comfortable. I chit-chat a bit with the lone guard at the square, who was disappointed that I had already climbed up the minaret since this deprives him of the extra 4,000 Sum...

We are driving to Bukhara today. There is not much to see en route except the remains of one caravansari and sardoba, the supply stops of ancient caravans. Just before arriving in Bukhara, we make a quick stop and snap some pictures of the Vabkent Minaret. This is a very pretty minaret, one of a series built along the route of the caravans and used as lighthouses in ancient times.

Time for lunch again! We stop at Ismoil on the outer edges of town and sat out in the garden. Starting with the usual assortment of salads, we also had quail eggs for a change. When we saw the staff lift out a batch of roast lamb from the oven, we immediately decided to order up some. It was dry and crispy on the outside - very yummy and satiated our appetite for lamb. Afterwards we each had a little roast quail, and more quail eggs. For fruits we decided to go into the garden and pick apricots from the trees. They were not as ripe and sweet as the ones we bought from the market, but were still very delicious.

After checking into Hotel Zargaron right next to the Kalon Mosque, we went on a walking tour in the old town. Our hotel location was quite ideal, since it was smack in the middle of old town and within walking distance to basically everything. We walked through all three of the covered bazaars in the area - Taqi-Zargaron (jewellers), Taqi-Sarrafon (money changers) and Taqi-Telpak Furushon (cap makers). We even went inside a hammom to take a look, but decided that none of us could bear getting a massage inside a steam bath in this weather.

We took our time strolling through the narrow alleys of the old town, visiting the Jewish quarter with its synagogue, and examining the construction methods used by the locals. It's actually very interesting to be able to walk around in residential neighborhoods in an old city. We pass by Char Minar, with its four blue-domed minarets which symbolized the four daughters of the original builder.

We go back to the hotel for a quick shower and a break to drink some beer. We have finally lined up three cans in the Russian Baltika range - Nos. 3, 7 and 9. We do a taste test... No. 9 has the highest alcohol content at 8%, while No. 7 was probably the winner in terms of taste.

We stroll to Lyabi-Hauz and have dinner by the pool. Menu was pretty limited - in fact they didn't have any - so we ordered some beef and chicken. Apparently there are more Tajiks in Bukhara and they are not big on mutton! Unbelievable! The food was so-so but the shurpa was good, and came in individual ceramic pots. We call an early night and prepare for a full day tomorrow.

Silk Road III Day 5: The bumpy road to Shakhrisabz

Today we head to Shakhrisabz for the birthplace of Timur. At the statue of Timur in the center of town, we run into a few couples who were getting married. Apparently the marriage registry is just next door, and all the newlyweds will walk around the monuments and take pictures and video. The bride’s gown, which apparently cost anywhere from USD 200 to 1,000 a day to rent, were pretty hideous and remind me of something from 30 years ago.

Next to the square is the remains of Timur’s Ak-Saray Palace, of which not much is left. We make our way to Kok-Gumbaz Mosque, still a working mosque with gypsy women sitting on its front steps and asking the faithful for money. The courtyard houses a number of very old and beautiful trees, and we see many old local gentlemen coming for their noon prayer.

In quick succession we also visit the mausoleums of Sheik Shamseddin Kulyal and Gumbaz Saidon next door. A hop and a skip away are the Tomb of Jehangir - Timur's eldest and favorite son - as well as Timur’s Crypt which he built for himself so that he could be buried near Jehangir. Ultimately he could not be buried according to his wishes, and ended up in Guri Amir in Samarkand instead.

After a quick lunch of shee, mantay and some more mutton (of course!) we head back to Samarkand on the very poor roads by which we came. It's very clear to me that all the vans of the travel agencies will have poor suspension after having been on these types of roads for a while.

Our final stop of the day would be the Shah-I-Zinda and the Avenue of Mausoleums. Here we walk through a street lined with dazzling mausoleums on both sides. Shadi-Mulk Oko Mausoleum was simply dazzling inside, and it was even highlighted with spotlights inside. This was built by Timur for one of his wives.  After seeing a few more beautiful mausoleums, we come to the inner sanctum and find the Tomb of Kusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed who was credited with bringing Islam into the region.

We also walk around in the cemetary of Afrosiab, and get an introduction to Soviet-style tombstones with the person's image etched onto black granite. We see many couples buried together, and some tombstones have one side left empty while one spouse waits for his/her partner to join them in the after life.

After another break to freshen up, we walk a few steps to the Restaurant Astoria for dinner. This is not a cafe or chaikhana - there was nice silverware and cystal glasses on the table - so we expected the bill to be a bit higher. The food was supposedly a mix of local and Russian, but frankly it was just OK.

Aside from a small selection of salads we chose, there was also a dish with chopped calves' liver, beef and onions. Interestingly this tastes very similar to the Milanese version of calves' liver which I had at Cipriani's in Hong Kong. There was also a chicken dish with a tomato-based sauce - not very interesting. The worst is that they don't even serve Russian beer! We made do with a bottle of vodka instead...

Silk Road III Day 4: The majesty of Samarkand

First site of the day was the Guri Amir Mausoleum, where Timur was buried along with some of his sons including Ulugbek. This was just a short walk from the hotel. The main chamber was richly decorated in exquisite, glittering detail befitting the great ruler and his descendants. and the green jade (Timur’s ) and marble markers lie in their places in the middle. Next to the main markers lies a separate marker with a tall, thin tree trunk hanging a bunch of horse hair over the marble. Apparently this is the way that graves were marked in the open field in ancient times. There was already a marker on the spot when this mausoleum was built by Timur for his offspring, so they simply incorporated it in the design.

We encountered a group of Uzbek women who wanted to take pictures with us, since we were so foreign and therefore a curiosity to them. After a round of photos inside the mausoleum, we found ourselves back in the action in the courtyard outside. The people are truly friendly, but now we are starting to feel like zoo animals that people are always curious about…

Now we come to the highlight of the Uzbekistan portion – Registan Square. The place is grand and made up of three medressas on the east, west and north sides of the square. These buildings have survived numerous earthquakes, and have gone through some restoration. The Ulugbek Medressa, the oldest of the three, has a leaning minaret which one can climb up (for a fee, of course). It is unfortunately a bit scary, because it is presenting leaning to one side as a result of an earthquake years ago, although it has been “reinforced” by Soviet engineers.

Once you enter the medressa, you find that all the rooms have basically been turned into souvenir shops. We will see this time and again when visiting medressas which are no longer in operation – the enterprising locals have rented the space to profit from tourism.

Moving to the Tilla-Kari Medressa, it is immediately apparent why it was named the Gold-Covered Medressa. The mosque glitters in blue and gold, with the flat ceiling having been painted in such a way that it appears to be a curved dome. It's very, very bling, but I like it. The last of the trio, the Sher Dor Medressa, isn't as interesting and is completely plain inside.

We break for lunch, and we are taken to a really nice restaurant for the dish that I've been dying for - plov. I didn't take down the name of the restaurant, but the food was really delicious - possibly the best meal we had in Uzbekistan. We started with a number of small salads, which were brought to us stacked on a large tray. We picked a few of them, such as deep fried cauliflower and fried eggplant. This was accompanied by the best non we had on this trip, which looks like a giant bagel without the hole. We also got more shashlik - minced lamb, chunks of lamb, and even beef wrapped around lamb fat (a great invention, I must say).

But the piece de resistance was the plov. This is a dish mainly served at lunch, and resembles the 抓飯 of the Uygurs that I had in Xinjiang. Our guide Batir ordered four portions, and it came on a huge plate. The rice glistened with all the oil used in the frying process, and it was topped with generous portions of lamb in addition to the chopped carrots, gourd/squash and raisins. I just couldn't resist having several portions of this in spite of a full stomach... It was just awesome!

After lunch we head to Siob Bazaar for some shopping and sightseeing. It was colorful as one would expect, selling a variety of fruits, vegetables, snacks as well as other knick knacks. We bought a load of red and yellow cherries, two types of apricots, plums and a big watermelon. We had these over the next few days, and with the exception of the watermelon (due to this being only the start of the season) everything was ultra-ripe and sweet. There are principally two reasons – the fruits get plenty of sun so the sugar level is high, and the farmers only pick the fruits after they have ripened fully, expecting to sell them quickly.

The heat becomes unbearable, and we head back to the hotel to cool off. Later in the afternoon we head to the unimpressive Ulugbek Observatory, where we see the remains of the curved track of the quadrant built by Ulugbek to look at the stars. We also pay a visit to the Afrosiab Museum, located next to the ancient ruins of Afrosiab – ancient Samarkand. Among the ruins we see two young men herding sheep, and get a glimpse of the famous fat-bottomed sheep for the first time. I do have to say that the bottoms are indeed very big and fat…

We head back to the bazaar and enter Bibi-Khanym Mosque, built by the Chinese wife of Timur. It has fallen into disrepair, but I went inside despite warnings from Batir. Back in the garden outside, I pick up a couple of white mulberries that had fallen onto the grass. These were incredibly sweet. I must admit I had never seen white mulberries, and the sight of these on the green grass seemed pretty.

One last stop for the day – back to the Registan for sunset pictures. I pay the guard 4,000 Sum for the privilege of climbing the leaning minaret of the Ulugbek Madressa, for the best view in Samarkand. The climb to the top was steep and tough, considering that I’m lugging my bag full of camera gear. After stopping a couple of times to catch my breath, I reach the top and wiggle the top half of my torso above the small opening. It’s an interesting perspective and I’m glad I did it, but it’s not a spectacular view that you get.

For dinner we head to Karimbek, the Samarkand branch of Bek. This time we tried different soups. Shurpa came with sliced beef with potato and tomato, very much like my mom’s version of borscht with a clear broth. The other soup had thin noodles in a chicken broth, and this was pretty good. We had our first taste of jiz, which was the Uzbek way of stir-frying chopped meat. We also had visitors from the next table. They were going off to work in Seoul and wanted to celebrate, and insisted that we drink some vodka with them...

After dinner I went back to the Registan and Guri Amir Mausoleum with my tripod for more photos…since these monuments are lit up at night. After a very long day, I finally get back to my room just before midnight.

Silk Road III Day 3: Tashket to Samarkand

First stop of the day was the Crying Mother Monument, with an eternal flame to commemorate the Uzbek soldiers lost to WWII. The pretty niches on both sides of the flame are separated by individual Uzbek regions, with the names of soldiers from each region inscribed on giant metallic books. The layout of the place, especially the carved wood structures on both sides, was very nicely done.

The Independence Square lies adjacent and is connected. It’s a vast, green area with fountains and yet another monument – a mother holding a child. The pedestal is where the statue of Lenin used to stand, since the square used to be Lenin Square during the Soviet era. Flanking the square are the new Senate building as well as the Ministry of Finance. We leave the square via its front gate, and enter into the Tashkent Metro system.

The Tashkent Metro system has some very beautiful stations. I would dare say that they don’t necessarily lose out to the some of the best stations of the Paris Metro. Out of the four stations which we saw, three had very striking interiors, even though the passenger turnstiles (probably dating from 1977 to 1982, when these two lines were built) were a bit Spartan and dated. These were the Mustaqillik Maydoni (Independence Square), Alisher Navoi (named after the great literary figure) and the Kosmonavtlar (decorated with murals of famous Soviet Kosmonauts).  After we exit the Metro, we paid a short visit to the Museum of Applied Arts, with fine samples of local arts and crafts displayed in a beautiful house.

Lunch break is at the restaurant Bek, where we have our first of many sticks of shashlik. There were some salads of tomato and cucumber, which is apparently what tourists usually get when they ask for salads. We also had nice bowls of shee - a tomato-based soup with lamb meatballs - which reminded me of Hungarian goulash since it was served with a bit of yogurt or sour cream on top. The various lamb shashlik were pretty good, but somehow not great.

After the hearty meal, we head to the Barakhon Medressa. This has been turned into a series of little shops. After making a quick round and deciding not to buy anything, we took a quick look at Timur’s Quran. According to legend, this was one of the 6 original copies of the Quran which were made after Mohammed’s death, and the only surviving copy – making it the oldest Quran in the world. It was large and the pages were made from animal skin, and one of the pages has the blood stains from Ulugbek as he was beheaded while reading the Quran.

We needed to get to Samarkand for the next leg of the tour, so we hopped in the van and went on the highway for the next 4 ½ hours. The landscape was pretty boring for most of the trip – flat and rural with only a little hint of basic industries. We discussed the resemblance of the area to the landscape portrayed in the Mad Max series of movies. But at least Mad Max got to speed around on good, paved roads. I cannot say the same for some section of the road we were on.

As the people become more prosperous, the traditional houses with mud bricks and flat mud roofs gradually get replaced by housing with corrugated asbestos roofing. Did anyone ever tell these guys about the long-term health effects of asbestos?  Guess not... As we got close to Samarkand and entered the mountain ranges, the landscape changed and became a bit more interesting. 

We checked into the Hotel President, a modern-looking place that is one of the best in town. Again, rooms were clean and the bathroom here was even better than the one at Dedeman Silk Road.

We went out for dinner, and ended up in a restaurant with an open courtyard. We tried out other staples of the Central Asia diet, such as laghman (noodles with tomato-based soup with meat) and mantay (dumplings with onions and minced lamb). Both are dishes which I’ve had in Xinjiang, and I especially enjoyed the mantay. Of course there were more sticks of shashlik.

The highlight tonight was a visit from people at the next table. They insisted on saying hello and came to sit with us, trying to communicate through our guide Batir. They were very, very friendly and stayed for quite a while. We would have similar experiences over the next few days.