Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Early this month we traveled to Uzbekistan for a 9 day vacation with Santosh from Exotic Expeditions. This was our 8th trip with him and it once again confirmed our decision that we would travel with him to whatever destinations he covers as his trips are exactly what we both like: a mix of the touristy stuff followed by a lot of experiential travel. Experiential travel is not everyone’s cup of tea because during it you are not guaranteed to have luxury stays or 24×7 vip treatment and pampering, it is more about experiencing the local life, food and culture by getting immersed in them. As an example, in one of our previous trips with him we stayed with the king of a head hunter tribe, in another we stayed at a local farm. Most of the places are clean and lovely but can be quite basic at times. Other times we have had really awesome glamping setup etc. So if you keep your expectations correctly, Santosh is a great person to travel with. I talked about this in a previous post: Some Tips to make your travels more fun and convenient. If your expectations and the reality don’t match then you are setting yourself up for disappointment, This is especially true if you are traveling in a group. I recommend reading the feedback from other travelers & if possible talk to the organizer to understand what you can expect. Like I said, we only do group trips with Santosh because that works for us (might not be true for others, so ensure you do your research before you start).

When I first told my team that I was traveling to Uzbekistan the most common reaction was: Why? and my answer was usually Why not? It is an amazing country with a rich cultural heritage.

The trip started on the 28th March where I flew out from Bangalore and Jani flew out from Chennai to Delhi where we had a connecting flight to Tashkent. The Indigo flight was nothing special, it felt like we were flying domestic only because they didn’t serve any food or alcohol during the flight. There are other airlines that connect to Tashkent but this was the only direct flight available. We reached there at 12:30am local time and the Immigration was quite smooth. (Indians need to apply for eVisa online and it can take 3-5 working days for it to clear).

Aerial view of Tashkent at night as we approached for landing

This group was a bit larger than Santosh’s usual group size at 14 (including him) and a large part of the group flew there in the same flight and we got to reconnect with some folks who we had traveled with in earlier trips and that was great. (This is a common occurrence in his trips). Once we landed everyone was busy converting cash to the local currency and getting a local SIM, but I prefer to withdraw money using the ATM at countries where tourist from India normally don’t travel. This way we avoid a double conversion charge that is going from rupee to dollar and then dollar to the local currency. My first attempt to withdraw I thought I will withdraw 200 thousand som thinking it will be enough but got a single note, so wisely decided to withdraw more which was a good decision. (as we ended up having to withdraw more later in the trip)

After everyone was done with the conversion and the local card we all came out and met Santosh who had hired a 14 seater bus to take us the 9 of us to the hotel. But he had underestimated the amount of baggage we all had gotten so the last two rows we just suitcases and backpacks. Immediately ordered another car and we all got to the hotel. The hotel was nice and clean but one interesting thing was that instead of the regular towels in the room they gave us disposable towels instead, which was a first for me. We all were pretty exhausted by the long day so we crashed pretty quickly once we got the room.

As we had arrived a day before the official start of the trip we had the day to ourselves to explore the city. Jani and me got up just in time for breakfast (as we are usually prone to do) before heading out to Charsu Bazaar which is the traditional bazaar located in the center of the old town of Tashkent. Uzbek doesn’t have Uber but instead uses Yandex Go which gives a much better experience and absolutely minimal waiting time before pickup. The longest we had to wait for a cab the entire trip was about 8 mins and the fares are quite reasonable as well. Contrary to the stereo-typical expectation one might have about cities in Uzbekistan, the major cities looked like any European city with skyscrapers, wide & well maintained roads. Interestingly, this has all been built up over the last decade… When I was researching the location I found a blog post from 9 years ago where they mentioned that the entire city of Tashkent has only 2-3 ATM’s so advised people to keep cash with them when traveling. Now there was an ATM pretty much wherever we went.

Group pic at the front of Avant Hotel where we were staying

The market was a typical Asian/Indian/Middle-eastern local market where you could buy anything from Gold to perfumes to detergent & soap. Like all old markets the shops are tiny and the pathways narrow. The group split into multiple sub-groups here as everyone has different tastes. Me, Jani, Vijay, Jaclyn and Santosh roamed around exploring the area. We picked up some tea, tried some local drinks & a local dish made from flour that looked like a deep fried dumpling but was extremely bland. Got a lot of nuts as well which were extremely tasty and reasonably priced. We could have spent a lot more time here and actually planned to come back here on our last day since we had time (but didn’t end up going there again) but decided to break for lunch.

We wanted to try the local food and headed to Besh Qozon which is one of the largest Plov place in Uzbekistan. We again took multiple cars and due to a misunderstanding with Santosh’s driver he ended up at a different branch of the restaurant with a few of the folks than the rest of us. It took the both of us a few minutes to figure that out and it was amusing once we did figure it out.

Uzbekistan is a not a country that traditionally has a lot of vegetarian options as their primary food is meat, meat and more meat (At one place we asked if they had dishes with no meat and were offered chicken & Fish options). There are veg options available but not many so if you are a vegetarian it can be a bit challenging at times. If you are ok with Salads, potatoes, bread, cheeses and assorted side dishes then its not too bad, otherwise it can be a challenge. Unfortunately for us the a la carte menu items were not available so the only option for veg folks were salads, soup and fries along with bread.

Jackie, Jani, Vijay and me at Besh Qozon

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to gel with this group as well as we usually do when traveling with Santosh. Pretty much every other trip we have done we have come back with some new friends, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen this time. In fact this group was the first one where we consistently had folks sit at separate tables for meals (Other trips we had sometime broken into groups because people wanted to try different food) in the same restaurant. The four of us (Me, Jani, Vijay and Jaclyn) took a separate table and ordered our food. The salads we ordered were quite good and that was the case throughout the trip but I don’t think I have eaten that much salad in years. The specialty of this place is their Plov and the meat for that is cooked in these gigantic vessels for hours at a time which makes it quite tender. Interestingly, the rice on the other hand was undercooked as per Jani & Jackie.

Post lunch we headed to the Holy Assumption Cathedral which is a Russian orthodox church to meet up with Santosh and the rest of the folks. Due to a bug in the Yandex Go app we were dropped about 15 mins walk from the church and since the weather was nice decided to walk the rest of the way instead of taking another cab. This part of Tashkent has a lot of outdoor cafes and is lovely to walk in the evening after a good lunch.

The Cathedral is more properly known as the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and was built in 1871. It was expanded in 1990’s and the interiors are fantastic. Unfortunately, like most places of worship photos are not allowed inside the Cathedral so I couldn’t take pics to show how beautifully the entire structure is decorated inside. We all took lots of pics outside the the church and the surrounding grounds as they were very well maintained and serene.

Jani and me at the Entrance

Jackie, Me, Jani, Santosh & Vijay in front of the Church

Group Pic near the Church

A few of the folks wanted to go for an Opera after we were done with the Church but the rest of us wanted to have a coffee enjoy walking around the area. So we walked back the way we came and stopped at an outdoor cafe for a coffee & snack break. I ordered a mocktail & pastry that was very tasty. Jani & Jackie were not that impressed by their Cappuccinos as these folks served it warm instead of hot. Adding a shot of Americano to the drink helped but not that much. Sitting outside with good friends and a nice drink was a wonderful experience.

Post finishing our snack break we headed over to the Amir Timur Square. Me, Jani and Vijay were in one cab and the rest in the second one. As I was paying the driver I managed to drop my phone in the car without realizing it and only figured it out a minute or two later after the cab had left. We immediately called my phone and thankfully the guy picked up the call and came back to hand over the phone.

Jani had a work meeting in the area so while she was at the meeting, me and Vijay walked around the square and checked out the sights and the stalls. We walked up to this really tiny shack that served Thai food and had one of the best Thai noodles I have had in a long time as the guy made it extra spicy & customized it for us. The temperature had been falling quite rapidly since the sun set (it went down to ~4 Deg C at night) so it was not that pleasant to sit outside for too long once it got dark. We explored some of the clubs in the area and then ended up sitting at this place called Mr smokey as it was warm and had good beer. Jani finished her meeting and joined us over there as well and the three of us spent a good amount of time just hanging out over there till we realized that it was late and we had to wake up early the next morning to catch a train. We got back to the hotel and promptly crashed for the night.

Amir Timur Square at night

The next day was the official start of the trip and we had to catch a train so we all had an early breakfast and drove over to the train station to catch the train to Samarkand. The train was a CC (Chair Class as they call it in India), quite comfortable & roomy. While the compartment was old it was well maintained. The journey was about 3 hours long and quite non-eventful. Throughout the trip the pantry service kept bringing food snacks and drinks for purchase. Most of the people either slept for the duration of the trip or talked to the people next to them; I caught up with my reading.

Us in the Train to Samarkhand

When we reached Samarkand we had limited time to disembark from the train so we kept all luggage ready and just kind of threw everything off the train… To be honest I was a little worried that we might accidentally get someone else’s luggage along with our groups as we didn’t really recognize everyone’s luggage yet, but thankfully that didn’t happen. The station itself was quite picturesque and we clicked a few snaps while Santosh coordinated the vehicle pickup and then we drove over to the Hotel (Samarabonu Hotel).

At Samarkhand Station

Jani and Me outside the station

By the time we had checked in and freshened up it was time for lunch so we most of us decided to head into the town for food and a little bit of walking around. We split into two groups as one set wanted to eat Indian food and the rest of us wanted to try out the local cuisine. We got to the central part of the city and were walking around enjoying the sights and spotted a restaurant named ‘Asadbek Lazzat’ which looked very nice so we after checking that they had some veg options we went in for lunch. The food was quite good and both the Wine & beer that we ordered were very nice as well. Jackie and me couldn’t finish the whole bottle so kept it for later.

One really funny incident that happened during lunch. Sayan wanted to get change for 10,000 Som as he wanted to pay some of the folks back, so he asked the waiter for change and handed him a 10,000 Som note expecting change back. But due to language issue the waiter thought that he was getting tipped 10k and kept thanking him… After trying to correct him a few times Sayan gave up and chalked it to a learning experience. But it was hilarious to watch 🙂

Post lunch, we walked around the main street, had local sweets and coffee and just basically hung out for a while. We didn’t visit any of the monuments or attractions as we were planning to do that the next day with a guide anyways. We also picked up some snacks and then headed back to the hotel. After getting back we all spent some time freshening up and then took over the dining room (where they didn’t serve any meals except breakfast and even that was made elsewhere) to hang out and enjoy the company. The temperature drops quite drastically once the sun sets so we were happy to be sitting inside instead of outside as we had originally planned (Even though the outside garden and seating was gorgeous)

Chilling at night with drinks and snacks

We had some of the leftover food from lunch, others heated up Ready To Eat meals & soup. It was a fun evening and most of us there for the late night hang out had traveled with Santosh before so we were prepared for the evening full of fun, laughter & teasing. We could have stayed up all night but we had to leave early in the morning for the city tour so finally had to call it a night a little after mid-night. We cleaned up the room, stacked all the used plates & cups in the corner and called it a night. (more on this later).

The rooms in the place were lovely and thankfully they had given us nice thick blankets because the heating in the place didn’t really kick-in till early in the morning the next day even though the guy at the desk told us to put the AC on heat and that would control the heating in the room. The breakfast was decent but nothing special so we finished that quickly and met Zara who was our guide for the day to explore the ancient city of Samarkand.

In front of Gur-e-Amir

We started off with a visit to Gur-e-Amir (“Tomb of the King” in Persian) which is the mausoleum of Amir Temur. He was buried here on the behest of his grandson Khalil-sultan
even though he had explicitly requested that he be buried at his native city of Kesh because it was winter and the passage to Kesh was blocked with snow & ice. It was originally designed to be the tomb of Temur’s favorite grandson & heir but was converted to a family mausoleum over the years.

The architecture was grand enough that I missed having a SLR with a proper lens after a long time. The came in the S24 Ultra is good enough that for most purposes I don’t miss not having a SLR but places like this I felt that it would have been nice. But that said, they are a pain to manage and setup, if you are in a group then it is not always feasible to spend the time to properly take a photo because of time constraints. Plus I have realized that I prefer more candid photography so SLR’s don’t really work well in those situations for me.

Zara was a constant fountain of information about all the places we visited and I would highly recommend connecting with her if you are visiting Samarkhand because just looking at the structure is not enough, you need to hear the history and the legends around it as well. This is why me and Jani always get a guide whenever we are visiting such places because they make the whole thing more vibrantly alive. The story of the construction and the politics behind it are quite interesting so I would recommend reading up about it if you are interested in history.

After Gur-e-Amir we went over to Registan Square which was originally a place to hear royal proclamations, and a place of public executions. It is framed by three madrasahs (Islamic schools). When it was not in use for either of the above purposes it was a thriving marketplace and is considered to be the hub of the Timurid Renaissance. The name comes from the sand that was spread across the square for various purposes including ease of maintenance and cleaning.

The full group in front of Registan

The three madrasa’s around the square are called Ulugh Beg Madrasah, Sher-Dor Madrasah, and the Tilya-Kori Madrasah. Studying at any of these was a prestigious task and graduates from these went on to take senior leadership roles in the government. As such the students lived (on the 1st floor) and studied (on the ground floor) in the Madrasah with a dedicated teacher for every two students. The place has a max capacity of 100 students at a time and their rooms have now been converted to souvenir shops.

Group pic at Tilya-Kori Madrasah

There is so much history here that I can’t really do justice when I write about the places so I am not really going to try writing about all the history. These cities were part of the Silk Road and thus are ancient with amazing history and stories. I could very easily spend a month there just listening to the stories and history.

By this time it was nearing lunch time and we were all starting to get hungry so we again split into two groups, one went to an Indian Restaurant and the rest of us followed Zara’s recommendation and went to ‘Samarkand Restaurant‘ which is one of the oldest restaurants in the area. It is also a very popular place where the locals visit to celebrate important events such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduations etc. While we were there a family was celebrating their grandmother’s birthday with the staff performing a lovely song with musical accompaniments etc.

The atmosphere at the restaurant was cozy and the decorations were fabulous. Zara helped us order the food and pretty much all of it was fantastically tasty. I loved the cheese platter which had this pink colored cheese that was a local specialty. We also ordered a bottle of local vodka which ended up being very strong so even though we were quite tempted we didn’t finish the whole bottle because if we had finished it, we would have had to be carried out. Post lunch we all were disinclined to move because we were full but had to leave as we still had a lot of places to visit.

We met up with the rest of the group and then drove over to see the Hazrat Khizr Mosque which is the oldest mosque in the area. According to the legends it was built in 712 AD by Muhammad ibn Vaso who was a companion of Qutayba ibn Muslim (he captured Samarkand). There was an existing Zoroastrian temple at the location which was demolished to make way for the Mosque. Post this victory Islam quickly became the dominant religion in the area and the Zoroastrian religion declined to the point of near eradication. The mosque is on a hill so it give you a nice view of the city.

When he passed away in 2016, the First President of Uzbekistan Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was buried in the territory of the “Hazrat Khizr” mosque and a mausoleum was built to mark the site. It was completed in September 2017 and was opened to the public on January 30, 2018 (the 80th anniversary of Islam Karimov’s birth).

A five minute walk from the mosque takes you to the Bibi-Khanym Mausoleum, which was built by Amir Temur for his favorite wife and her mother. She was of royal blood and since Temur was not from a royal family this marriage is what allowed him to declare himself as the ruler of his empire. More details on the Mausoleum are available here. There are claims that this site used to host a madrasas for girls even back then but other than the main dome the rest of the structure has given way to the sands of time.

Right opposite the Mausoleum is the famed Bibi-Khanym Mosque which is the largest of its kind in Central Asia. It was built in the 15th century from the spoils of Timur’s invasion of India which included 95 elephants used to transport materials. Unfortunately the mosque was built extremely quickly and was very ambitious so it began to crumble even before construction was completed. According to legend, the architect for the mosque fell in love with Bibi-Khanym and refused to complete the job unless he could give her a kiss. This kiss left a mark and Timur had the architect executed. From then on all women were ordered to wear veils as to not tempt other men.

Group pic at Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Group pic at Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Group pic at Bibi-Khanym Mosque

The mosque is partially restored and as expected is quite grandiose. We spent a good amount of time inside learning about the history of the place and took a lot of pics as well.

While I was walking around it mosque it suddenly stuck me that we (modern Indians) don’t really comprehend how rich India was in ancient times before it was looted by various invaders. The riches from India financed projects across Asia and other continents and still there was enough left over for the British empire to loot.

After we were all done with the photos and exploration of the mosque we walked over to the Siyob Dehqon Bozori, which is a famous local market. Most of the group was eagerly waiting for this visit so that they could explore the local market but unfortunately the market was closed as it was a Monday. So we didn’t spend much time there and drove over to the next stop in the itinerary ‘Shah-i-Zinda’. The name ‘Shah-i-Zinda‘ means ‘Tomb of the Living King’ and it holds the grave of 7th century Qusam, the cousin of the prophet Mohammed. The necropolis consists of grand tombs resembling palaces which are decorated with colorful tiles and geometric patterns. Among the many monuments is the Shadi Mulk Aga Tomb built in 1371 that retains most of the original decorative pieces remaining intact.

At the ‘Shah-i-Zinda’

Like I mentioned earlier Uzbeki people are very friendly and really like Indians a lot. We actually had random groups of people walk up to us and ask to take photos with us, which was a different experience as that doesn’t usually happen for us. This happened here as well and a group of Uzbek ladies approached Vijay and me for photos. Vijay had a sudden uncharacteristic attack of shyness and escaped after a pic but I enjoyed the experience and took multiple pics with them. 🙂

Getting my pic clicked with the locals

We explored the monument for a while and then assembled outside once we were all done to bid adieu to Zara as this completed the tour and the planned itinerary for the day. We wanted to pick up some snacks and drinks because the next day we were heading to a village where no options would be there for shopping, so we went to a local supermarket and kind of went nuts while shopping for things. We bought a whole lot of munchies, cheese etc and some drinks so that we were set for the next few days and headed back to the hotel to relax. (Some of the folks wanted to explore further and did go out but we just wanted to relax so did exactly that)

We got back to the hotel and got an unexpected & unwelcome surprise. The staff had locked the dining room area and refused to open it to us because the night before we didn’t wash the dishes (plates & cups) after we were done. This is the first time in any of my travels I have been asked to do the dishes when staying at a hotel or B&B. I would have understood if this was a AirBnB where owners can ask such things but not at a proper hotel. Santosh spent a good amount of time with the owners and others to get access to the room and we finally got access when he personally guaranteed that we would do the dishes.

After this minor hiccup was resolved we settled down in the dining room for drinks & snacks followed by dinner. We didn’t order food like the previous night as it took over 3 hours for it to get delivered but Shruthi & Hari were kind enough to get food for all of us. Plus we had the leftovers from lunch as well. We finished the local vodka and sampled some of the other drinks as well till late at night before crashing.

The next day we had a bit of a drive to get to a mountain village in the Nuratau mountains after crossing Nurata town where we stayed at the ‘Nuratau Mountain Village Homestay’. The drive was long and shortly after we left the city the road went from the usual six to eight lane highways we had been seeing to a two lane road. Outside the major cities the roads were not as well maintained so it was a bumpy ride but still enjoyable. We stopped on the way at a lovely Tolga café for some hot coffee and somsa (local-style samosas). As we had been warned in advance not much veg options were available at these small cafe’s & hotels but we made do and enjoyed the break from bouncing around. 😉

A few hours later it was lunchtime and we arrived at the Nasiba Restaurant, where we had a hearty meal — a spread of pickled vegetables, refreshing chaas (buttermilk), salads, soup and lots of types of bread. This was the first time I had so many pickled vegetables at the same time and I loved it, especially after I added salt to it. After everyone had their fill we got back on the road. A little while later Bhaskar realized that he had left his phone back at the supermarket he had visited so while their car went back to collect it we stopped in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed the landscape. Unlike other places Uzbek is not a very fertile land and most of the landscape looks very barren and fit for sheep/goat grazing. In fact, pretty much all the trees we saw were in enclosed areas next to a farmhouse instead of growing wildly. Even then the landscape has a rugged beauty with the mountains in the distance and flowering shrubs across the grassland.

Santosh hard at work coordinating the trip to ensure we have the best experience at the trip

All too quickly the other van caught up with us so it was back to being bounced around. We reached the farmhouse around 4:30pm and dumped our stuff in the rooms before quickly heading out for a hike as we wanted to do it before the sun set. The hike started through the village but very quickly the houses and animals were replaced by orchards of cherry, almond, apricot, apple, and berry trees. The lighting was perfect for taking photos so we took a lot of them (also it gave an excuse to catch our breath without being too obvious about it 😉 ).

Admiring the view from the top of the hills

Group pic at the top

All of us posing at the top of the hill

A short climb brought us to the Nuratau Nature Reserve, which is a protected area known for Sverdlov’s argali (a rare wild sheep). We got lucky and spotted some argali briefly before they all quickly scampered away. We spent a good amount of time there taking photos, I took more landscape & candid pics while Jackie ensured that everyone got a couple of good pics. As the light started fading we hiked back to the village coming in from the opposite side from where we had started. The villagers were quite friendly and inspite of the language barrier we exchanged greetings and they took a lot of pics with us.

That is a lot of sheep

On reaching the homestay we found that our luggage had not yet been off-loaded so we requested the folks to help with getting the luggage down. The farm is a family owned enterprise and even the kids who could not have been more than 5-8 years old helped with getting the luggage down. In this place the setup was more of a dormitory style setup with each room hosting up to 4 people. Jackie, Jani and me took one room and the rest of the rooms were allocated similarly. The property was amazing but had a small downside. For some reason they only had 3 toilets/3 baths for 5 rooms (~20 people). Which made things a bit challenging in the morning. 😉

Having Dinner in the open in freezing cold temperature

We freshened up and walked over to the other cabin where the team had setup for dinner in the open. It was pretty cold outside as it dropped down to about 3-4 degree Celsius overnight but the food was so good that none of us minded. Shodmon who was the son of the owner sat with us for a while and shared some local vodka with us which was one of the best Vodka’s we had tried so far. Unfortunately, we all got so busy chatting that we forgot to note down the name of the Vodka. During dinner we also got the chance to meet other guests staying at the venue who were from France and were traveling across the entire continent while of a sabbatical. Even though we tried to brave the cold we couldn’t sit outside for long after we were done with the food so retired to the dining area inside one of the cabin for further conversation.

The rooms were not heated but the blankets were warm enough that we all had a good comfortable sleep. As we knew that there would be an issue in the morning for bath & freshening up we got up early at 5am to get ready and then climbed back in bed till the sun rose and the temperature rose enough that it was feasible going outside without freezing.

Openair seating for breakfast with freshly made dishes

The breakfast was served right outside in the open amongst flowering trees, a small stream and lots of birds & small wildlife. Lots of eggs, cheese’s, breads for the vegetarians and bacon, and other meats for the nonveg folks. Post breakfast we all packed up our luggage (not that we had really unpacked many things) and while the rest of the folks were getting ready just roamed around the property taking photos and enjoying the natural beauty.

Pretty soon it was time of us to start on the next leg of the journey towards Bukhara. So we get the folks goodbye and started another long bumpy ride.

The plan was to stop for lunch on the way to the ceramic factory but pretty much all the restaurants we check out on the way didn’t have any vegetarian options. In places where language barrier exists you need to be very careful about how you phrase the question, in one place we asked for dishes with no meat and were shown dishes with chicken. (Because for them meat is things like horse beef bacon etc basically red meat not chicken which is white meat).

Recently saw an online post that was titled “scams to look out for while traveling as a vegetarian” and this issue was one of the things that they highlighted. This is not a scam, it is a miscommunication. You just need to be aware of it and watch out for miscommunication. What I realized was that vegetarian options are available in most of the cities and it is the smaller shops/places you find on the highway where this can be an issue. Even then you need to be willing to try local veg options.

Due to these issues we finally found a good place to eat only after we entered Gijduvan which is famous for its ceramic pottery. Had a lot of salad, cheese and bread for lunch along with some veg kebabs. Post lunch we went to the one of the local pottery workshops where the artisans have been practicing their art for over 260 years. During the soviet rule the current generation’s grandfather hid samples of the art and instructions on how to make it at considerable personal risk to prevent its destruction, after the fall of the USSR they were once again able to practice their art and train the next generation in it’s making. The artisans are UNESCO certified and the pieces they had on sale were gorgeous.

We finished up with the visit after some of the others in the group bought quite a lot of items from the shop and then headed over to Bukhara where we checked in to ‘Hotel Shams’ which was a lovely little place with a nice courtyard and a small pool right there on the main road itself. The place is walking distance from the old city but none of us had the energy to walk around after the long travel.

The rooms were nice but there was no elevator which made getting the luggage up to our room ‘fun’. When I asked them about the elevator the guy just pointed at himself and said “I am the elevator, to get your luggage upstairs”. We were up on the 3rd floor and after getting the luggage all the way up we freshened up a bit and decided to take it easy and just hang out in the room itself. A few of the others had more energy and went out to explore but I was content to laze around in the room itself, especially since the next day anyways we had a full day tour planned and would be going to the see everything anyways. Shruthi and Hari went out and got some Indian food for all seven of us and our room quickly turned into the hangout spot with drinks, food, and plenty of laughter and old stories being shared.

Dinner & Drinks in the room

The next day we started at the usual time post breakfast for a city tour of Bukhara, which is widely regarded as Central Asia’s holiest city with monuments dating from the 8th to the 18th century. We met our guide Niso in front of the hotel and headed over to Ismail Samani Mausoleum which is located just outside the historic city center in a large park. Highlighting the intersection of new and old right near the mausoleum there is an amusement park built there during the Soviet era. The structure is the oldest funerary building of Central Asian architecture and there is some dispute on when it was actually built.

Jani and me in front of Ismail Samani Mausoleum

From the Mausoleum we walked through the park to Chashma Ayub where the legend says that one of the prophets was moved by the drought in the area and stuck the ground with his staff to summon water. You can still drink from the fountain but Niso warned us that the water might not be fully fit for human consumption as it was unfiltered. The entire region is dry and desert like which made this stream a literal lifesaver during the Aral Sea crisis.

As we came out of structure we noticed that there is a stork nest near the monument and Niso explained that the stork was the national symbol for Uzbek and after she said that it was impossible to miss the design everywhere we went. We bought a pair of small scissors designed to look like a stork and lusted after other stork souvenirs that were available.

Fortunately for our wallets we didn’t stay there too long before we walked over to the Bolo-Khauz Mosque. There are multiple legends about the construction of the Mosque. One states that it was built in 1712 by order of Emir’s wife, another states that Emir Shakhmurad built it for public prayers, because he liked to be among common people. The mosque is situated next to the Bolo-Khauz (“Children’s reservoir”) which is the oldest part of the complex. It was originally used as a source of water for the area but was drained as it was also a source of disease in the ancient times. It was been refilled now but is no longer used as a source of drinking water (thankfully).

Selfie at Bolo-Khauz Mosque

The mosque was a few mins walk away from the next location in our itinerary; the Ark Fortress also known as the ‘Ark of Bukhara‘. This is a massive fortress built in 5th century AD. It was the seat of power over the years where government meetings, coronations etc took place. Currently only a quarter of the structure is restored/maintained and is open to the public, the remaining 3/4th is an active archeological dig site. The structure is massive and there are lots of souvenir shops and even though I tried to resist ended up buying a beautiful painting from a local artist.

Posing with the locals

After the overview we were given time to explore on our own so we walked around the structure and near one of the outer wall there was a setup to take a 360 degree video so all 7 of us took one each. (I am pretty bad at posing so am not going to post the video 😉 )

Soon after we took a lunch break at Labi houz, which had this really cool water side setup with fountains and an outdoor seating. We ordered a whole lot of food and pretty much all of it was quite good esp the wine. The service was a bit slow but none of us minded as the location was phenomenal and we just chilled over there for as long as we could. Post lunch we walked around the old markets and stopped by Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah amongst other places and with that the official part of the guided tour ended. Some of the folks headed back to the hotel at this time but Jackie, Vijay, Jani and me wanted to do a bit more shopping and Niso very graciously volunteered to help us find what we were looking for.

She took us to this small shop that has been working on creating knives, scissors and other blades for over 7 generations and believe me it showed in the quality of the work they showed up. They had everything from a small butterfly knife to a foot-long knife that is used for butchering. Both me and Jani bought a butterfly-knife each with our names engraved on it and I was so tempted to get the foot long knife but managed to resist the temptation. Since I had mentioned that I love paintings, Niso took us to another shop that had the most beautiful paintings I had seen so far and I ended up getting another painting for my collection. Shortly after that we were done for the day and bid a fond adieu to Niso and headed back to the hotel. Afterward, we picked up dinner from an Indian restaurant, and as usual, our room became the hangout zone where we all just hung out and chilled.

At the Wine Tasting

The next day we had the morning to ourselves since we were taking the bullet train back to Tashkent in the afternoon, so we (Jackie, Vijay, Jani, Hari, Shruthi and me) went back to the old market to explore more of it. We found this tiny hole in the wall kind of shop that did wine tasting so we all went it. Pretty much all the wines we tried were amazing and we all loved it. The host was this old chap who kept cracking jokes throughout and even though we had a slight language barrier the love of wine (and the fact that we all were buzzed) allowed us to connect with each other.

As we had to catch a train we couldn’t stay for as long as we wanted and had to head back to the hotel to check out and drive over to the train station. The train ride back was fine initially but shortly after we started the AC in our compartment started giving issues to the point where it almost became claustrophobic. The staff kept trying to fix it throughout the ~4 hour journey but they only got it to work in short stretches at a time. Finally they opened up the doors on both sides of the compartment so that the AC’s from the other two compartment helped cool ours as well.

The food service on the train was quite good as well and we ended up getting quite a few items from them every time they came by. For me I was focused on getting something cooling as it was quite hot, Jani on the other hand quite enjoyed the heat. The long duration of the journey gave us ample time to enjoy the landscape we were traversing through. It had a certain rugged beauty but was quite bleak at times as well with just grass and shrubs with hardly any trees. In fact the only trees we saw were in walled courtyards/farms.

Thankfully the train was on time and we reached Tashkent station in one piece (but slightly broiled). We drove over to the hotel and checked it. Jackie hit the jackpot and got the best room amongst all of us and our room wasn’t bad either. Originally we had planned to go out in town and explore the night life but by the time we checked in and freshened up we all were fairly tired so instead we walked over to Dudek which was right next door to our place. It is a high-end restaurant known for its outstanding food and cocktails. Pretty much everything we ordered was good, in fact I would go as far as to say that it was one of the best meals of the trip.

Dinner at Dudek

The dinner marked the end of the official trip even though a lot of us were going to be in town for another day as our flight back was the next day at midnight. We booked a single three person room for the next day (for the 4 of us) so that we had a place to freshen up and relax. The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and then checked out from our rooms and the 5 of us moved to the new room before heading over to one of the local malls where we had lunch and Jani bought some stuff for work.

Grabbing a quick bite at an outdoor cafe

After we got done with that we came back to the hotel dropped off the stuff and then walked over to a nearby alcohol shop where we all picked up some local Vodka. As we were walking back we saw a nice cafe with outdoor so stopped there for a quick snack. Then headed back to the hotel and hung out with Santosh till it was time for him to head out to Kazakhstan where he was starting another trip the next day. Our airport drop was a few hours after his leaving so he gave all the contact info for the drivers to us and then headed out for the next adventure. We all just hung out in the room till it was time to leave for the airport. The flight back was pretty uneventful and it was a good way to end a wonderful trip.

Thanks again to Santosh for organizing this trip and looking forward to our next adventure together.

– Suramya