Trip to Uzbekistan Part 4 - Tashkent

Our taxi's picked us up at 6:00 a.m. to take us to the train station.  We got there and through security and waited for about thirty minutes until we boarded the train to Tashkent.  We were on a train from Russia that looked like it was full of workers coming back to visit home.  The train was old and soviet style, so we felt right at home.  Our trip was about five hours, so we laid down and rested and had snacks  while we traveled. 

Waiting for the train.

When we got to Tashkent, we unloaded our bags.  Our rolling bag's wheels were broken.  We think the taxi driver broke the wheels when he was loading it.  The bag has been with us since our first year in Kazakhstan.  We've taken it back and forth to the US at least once a year, to southeast Asia a number of times, to Europe (multiple times), to Russia three times, and to Georgia and Uzbekistan. I also used it on most of my conference trips to the US.  That bag has some miles on it!

It meant that it had to be carried, which was a job.  We took the subway and then walked to our hotel.  It was about a mile worth of walking, so it was plenty of exercise.  Our hotel was on a side street and was very nice.  It was the most like a real hotel of all the places we stayed.

We needed to get money to pay for food and stuff, but had a devil of a time finding an ATM that worked to dispense money.  Bukhara was nice in that sense.  There were only a couple of ATMs, but they all worked with foreign cards to dispense money.  In Tashkent, there were only a few that accepted cards other than the local ones.  We did finally have success getting the money we needed, though.

Outside our hotel.

We decided to go the "Harry Potter" cafe for dinner.   The decorations were nice and the food was yummy.  It was the most expensive place we ate the whole time we were traveling, but we had a lot of fun and the kids loved it.  We also got dessert for Yulia's birthday a few days earlier, so win-win!

Harry Potter cafe.  Salads for the grown ups.

Kids getting their food in fancy bowls.

Dessert!!!!

Saturday morning we started exploring Tashkent.  We started at the orthodox cathedral, the seat of the orthodox church in Central Asia.  It was interesting to compare it with the mosques we had been visiting.

Cathedral

We walked from the cathedral to an outdoor train museum. The museum had a lot of old soviet steam engine trains that you could climb up on and around.  My great grandfather was a machinist for the Union Pacific railroad and worked on the big steam engines (later diesel) so it was fun to show the kids around the trains.

Starting our train adventure.

After we had seen the trains, we got on the metro and went to the "Plov Center" to eat.  We had heard from our friends that it was the place to go.  We were not disappointed.  The scale of cooking was really impressive, and the restaurant was highly efficient, very cheap, and built to serve thousands at a time.  It was our cheapest meal and nobody left hungry.  We had nice salad, some bread, and a big dish of plov and some horse sausage (something we are very acquainted with from Kazakhstan.)

One of the many big vats where they cooked plov.

The main dining room (it was full, so we were taken to the overflow.)

Eating plov in the overflow.  Notice we also had a regular boiled egg and a quail egg as well!

Plov, in all its glory!!!

After we had our yummy plov meal, we took the metro to the main "Chorsu" bazaar.  Lina and Lexa both got their souvenirs there from a guy.  We had an interesting conversation about religion with the man who was selling.  The bazaar itself was huge and a bit overwhelming (especially for me), but we turned out okay.

We headed back to the hotel on the metro.

Sunday morning we took two taxis to the airport, checked in, and flew home without incident.  We arrived in Kazakhstan and took the bus home where we found that all was well.  Yuki had gotten a tick while we were gone, but Yana, one of my basketball team girls who was watching her, had seen it and gotten her to the vet without problems.

We had a wonderful time in Uzbekistan. Yulia had been a bit leery about going, but ended up very glad that we went.  It was a unique opportunity.  We are more likely to get to Europe again, but we may not have more chances to spend time in Central Asia.

Trip to Uzbekistan Part 3 - Samarkand

Our train didn't leave Bukhara until late afternoon on Tuesday.  In the morning after breakfast we went one last time to the market.  This is where Nika helped Sophia buy her outfit. See below. Sophie got the floor model of an outfit and really bartered her way to a price that was more affordable. Nika bought a similar outfit when we were in Samarkand.

The outfits are quite striking on both girls.

Sophie with her prize!

Sophie and Nika in their outfits.

After visiting the bazaar, we hung out on the plaza for awhile, got some lunch, and then got picked up by our cab driver from the day before and got taken to the train station.  The train station was full of foreign tourists getting ready to get on the fancy train to Tashkent.  

Our train was a slightly less fancy train.  When we were getting ready to get on the train we saw a group of returning sportsmen who were met with a band (horns and drums) and great fanfare.  The sports group had loaded up with bread in Samarkand, which is famous for its bread.  It was quite a sight.

Waiting with a bunch of tourists. There was a big group of American tourists who were going through Central Asia with their last stop in Kazakhstan.

On the train to Samarkand

In Samarkand we got two taxis to our hotel.  They got split up, but we managed to meet at our hotel which was centrally located in town.  The hotel itself was interesting.  The floors were covered in rugs and the clientele mostly seemed to be religious folks from various areas of the world.  We had a room on the first floor and the girls had a room on the second floor.  It was about 8:00 p.m. and dark when we arrived.  We checked in and then walked out and found a restaurant to eat in - a little Italian cafe a few blocks from the hotel.

Upstairs where girls had their room (lots of nice rugs on the floor).

We had nice breakfasts at all of our hotels.  Lots of good fresh fruit.

After we woke up, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then went out walking to explore.  We had mapped out our day, planning on having a relatively light day of walking and seeing since we had gone quite hard in Bukhara for three days.

Our hotel was in the center of the city and so walking to the main sites was very convenient.  Our first stop was at the statue of Timurlan (Tamerlane), who was a warrior who became the most powerful Muslim Leader of the 14th century.  His statue was in a traffic circle near our hotel and his mausoleum complex was just a few blocks away.

The Mausoleum was very commercialized - a number of tour buses pulled up at the time we were there, so it didn't have the same feel as some of the complexes we saw in Bukhara, which were quieter and more reverent.  Temirlane was a pretty horrible human being, so maybe reverence was the right feeling anyway....

At the mosque/mausoleum complex.

After visiting the mausoleum, we walked to "registan", the old center of the city which was the area of the kings.  The whole complex included a number of mosques and Madrasahs as well. We were really impressed with the parks and walkways throughout the center of the city.

Walking to registan.

Looking out at Samarkand.

Approaching Registan.

Amazing inlay work on the restored buildings.

Registan from the front entrance.

Mosque.

Lexa and Papa resting on a bench.

More amazing tile inlay work inside a mosque.

Nice inner courtyard in the rear mosque complex.

Furniture and other crafts.

Mama and Polina posing.

Veronika posing (one of just a handful pictures of her since she was our main photographer for the trip).

We really enjoyed the registan complex. We learned that one of the leaders, Ulugh Beg, had built an observatory in the 15th century. His work was the basis for a lot of later astronomical work by astronomers in Europe, including Copernicus. There was a really neat museum with displays about the science and about his life.

We saw a bunch of weddings while we were there. In fine Soviet tradition, the wedding party goes and gets photographs at all the landmarks.  If I was getting married in Samarkand, I'd go get my picture taken at Registan as well.  I got my picture taken with my wife, but it was 17.5 years too late!

After walking through the complex, we stopped at a little outdoor cafe and bought ice cream and water to eat.  Everyone was very happy about that.

Ice cream break. Notice the nice park behind us.

After our ice cream break, we took a walk to the main bazaar in town: the Siyob Bazaar.  It was down a nice road.  It had everything that we wanted and needed and we loaded up on treats (nuts, fruits, and local candy) for us and for others.

The bazaar with a selection of nuts and fruits.

We ate lunch with the locals at a local shwarma place and walked back to the hotel.  After resting for a few hours, we went out for dinner.  Yulia had looked up a restaurant, but we couldn't find it, so we went back to where we had eaten the night before.  We saw a sign for "KFC" and were curious.  A woman came out of the cafe and told us that they had KFC there.  We took a chance.  We were the only customers and it was a bit dark.  We were not sure because the prices seemed high (they were for massive portions it turns out).  We ordered KFC (which was just fried chicken) and some other dishes.  We ended up with a nice meal for a good price and a very interesting experience.  We have real KFC in Kazakhstan and I'm not sure that they want their name appropriated this way in Uzbekistan!

"KFC"

Our "KFC meal"

Famous Samarkand bread.

After dinner we returned to our hotel.  We had an early start scheduled for the next morning.  Our whirlwind stop in Samarkand was over.  We really enjoyed the sites there, but felt that one day was enough to see them.  We  were glad to have the more authentic experience for longer in Bukhara, but Registan and the parks in Samarkand were truly beautiful and impressive.

Trip to Uzbekistan Part 2 - Bukhara

For our second full day in Bukhara (October 1), we divided the day in two.  During the first half of the day we walked to see the sites that we hadn't yet seen in the downtown area.  In the second half of the day we arranged for a taxi driver to pick us up and take us to three sites on the outskirts of town. The day was beautiful - around 75 degrees or so and sunny and we had a lovely time.

Arabic writing on a plate on display.  Versus from the Koran were inscribed everywhere.

We walked back to the area of the Ark, and just around the corner to the prison.  The Zindon.  We hiked up the steps and paid to take a tour of the prison complex which really made us appreciate modern jails that are not in the form of pits into which prisoners were thrown for months and years on end.

Zindon jail from the outside.

Up close view of the fort.

Our climbing prisoners!

Scenes of prisoners.

Punishment!

A museum of different tools they used for punishment/torture from the late 19th and early 20th century.

The pit for the debtors.

Enjoying a bright sunshiny day!

We next walked to the Bolo-Hauz mosque.  It is still a working mosque.  It has a lovely pool out front (that they were repairing) and beautiful wooden columns and wooden porch.  This mosque was still working during the revolution when Bolshevik troops came to occupy the city.  We really enjoyed the spirit of the place and tried to be as respectful as possible since there were people coming to pray.

Taking a picture in front of the mosque.

Looking at the front of the mosque with its decoration and columns. 

Papa and Lexa.  I injured my elbow in our bathroom the first night!

After the mosque, we walked down through a park (with a Soviet style "Luna Park") to an old mausoleum from the 14th Century: Buyan Khuli Khan Mausoleum.  The mausoleum was made of bricks that were really interestingly done.  There was a lady there who was trying to make people pay to see it, so we just peeked in and looked at the outside. It was worth it and the park itself was very lovely.

Park complex.

Walking down the avenue.

Mausoleum.

After the mausoleum, we walked back through the bazaar to give the girls a chance to do some souvenir shopping.

These lovely outfits and cloth are famous.  Sophia and Veronika bought outfits for their souvenirs.  Lina bought a neat wooden box.  Lexa got a bracelet and some other small jewelry.

Musical instruments for sale.

Nika looking at the instruments.

Lexa resting in the shade.

After resting for an hour at our hotel, our driver came and picked us up.  The first place he took us was the Bakhautdin Naqsband Mausoleum.  It was outside the city a ways, but one of our favorite places.  The complex had a mosque, a madrassa, and lots of gardens.  It had a very sacred feel to it and we really enjoyed being there.

beautiful inlaid tiles with some different colors than usual.

Mausoleum.

This was the actual mausoleum.

The miniature tower like the one in downtown Bukhara but shorter.

Walking through the complex.

Beautiful garden pathway.  There were lots of people here.  It is a site of pilgrimage for Sufi Muslims.

The complex had a pond that had geese, ducks, and swans swimming in it.

Our next stop was the Sitora-i Mokhi Khosa, or the summer residence of the region's emirs.  The residence was modeled after the summer palace in St. Petersburg, but on a much smaller scale.  It was built a few years before the Russian revolution and is being restored as a museum complex.  There were different displays, including a collection of vases, a collection of clothing, and other interesting items from the life of the emir.

Outside view of the residence. Porches on a smaller scale.

Inlaid with stone and metal. Fake Fireplaces.

Vase collection.

Different items from the emir.

This was a tower from which they could watch swimmers in the pond.... and keep an eye on all the Emir's wives.

Pond at the palace.

The last site we visited was that of Chor Bakr.  It is the burial site of a couple of 10th century holy men and has a  few mosques, an extensive cemetery and various areas where pilgrims used to be accommodated. We liked this site, but it was at the end of a long day so we didn't stay too long.

Down the walkway were various doors that led to courtyards with burial grounds.

Grave sites within the complex.

After we had visited all the sites for the day, we stopped at a little cafe near the Chor Bakr site.  It is the area that is supposed to have the best "Shashlik" or lamb kebabs.  We were the only non-locals there and they sat us outside by ourselves.  We ordered salad, bread, and shashlik.  It all was very delicious.  We arrived back at our hotel at around 5:30 p.m. or so and spent the rest of the night resting our weary bones.  We felt like we had seen the sites in Bukhara and we had a wonderful time doing it.