Hotel Nazira Bukhara

... from up close and personal. <br><br> Our next stop is the Sandoba water station. It has been totally reconstructed and in doing so, the workers somehow damaged the flow of water. They can't figure out how to fix it so while during the caravanserai times, the water was clean and clear, now it is kind of yucky. The caravanserai across the street is just a façade now and our ...

... and it looks quite grand and the walls are impressive. The front area in front of the Ark is the Registran Square where important announcements, executions, and such would be held. Over the entrance to the Ark is a balcony where musicians would gather to play music which announced to everyone that something was happening and if they didn&#8217;t want vile things to happen to them, they&#8217;d better hasten ...

... turquoise domes, leaning minarets and hallowed halls of medieval medrassahs, mausoleums and mosques. This is where the magic and mystique of the Silk Road truly comes alive.<br><br>Being at a loss for words, I might better use this time to give you a bit of history on Samarqand. One thing that all tour guides in this region could learn is to precis. I have stood in the hot Central Asian sun for a few too many hours listening to some very long winded ...

... to feed the silk worms), the fields themselves are full of cotton crops. There is so much cotton to be harvested that all university and college students are expected to help in the harvest for 30 days each fall! This is actually something the students look forward to; they are expected to pick 15 kg a day, and if they meet this quota, their accomdation and three meals a day are provided free of charge. A good novice cotton picker can usually accomplish this by mid ...

... s mausoleums, mosques and medressas (particularly after Timur's ruling). Whilst in Bukhara James was reading the third book in a series about the life of Genghis Khan and was talking about how much destruction he wrought on the cities of the Silk Road. Fortunately he was so impressed by the huge Kalon Minaret he ordered it spared from certain destruction.<br><br>We continued down the road a little and found a deserted market place. Within moments a man appeared with a bouncy little ...

Even leaving Turkmenistan has turned out to be a massive hassle &#8211; countless forms, signatures, interrogations, officials, declarations, offices, inspections and confusion &#8211; just to leave the country. They clearly didn't want us to get in the first place, so why are they so reluctant to leave. In fact, I'm not sure we'd have been allowed to leave at all if Chris hadn't wooed the ...

... for the Khan. The Russians finally beat him in 1868.<br><br>The Kalon Minaret, that looks like a really tall pepper grinder is an amazing piece of work. 47 metres tall with 10 metre deep foundations including reeds stacked underneath for earthquake proofing this is in perfect shape having never need repairs after 850 years. Jenghis Khan was so impressed that he ordered it spared. This building was the first use of the blue ...

... the time during our meal feeding the numerous stray animals, it was a truly delightful and atmospheric place to dine and relax. <br><br>The next morning I woke up to an unmentionable bout of food poisoning. Was it the blow flies&#8217; sticky feet at the desert restaurant or had I caught something dreadful from the stray animals at the chaikana? It didn&#8217;t matter. All I knew was that I was REALLY sick.<br><br>Our first morning in Bukhara introduced us to the entrenched police ...

... of Naim&#8217;s Daewoo travelling and swerving around craters at over 140 km per hour. At one time we were horribly close to being wiped out head on by a car travelling straight at us. It was SO close it was impossible to see how we could have missed. Naim thought the driver must have gone to sleep. It certainly kept us awake.<br><br>We love desert landscapes. This desert however was not totally devoid of vegetation. Tough gorses, thorny succulents, desert grasses ...

... and had already hurt her knee. Anyway she's gone -- signed herself off the trip and caught a train back to tashkent on the hope that she gets a plane back to the Uk today. There weren't any seats but she was on a reserve list and decided it was worth it. She lasted all of 4 days and was only due to be on the trip for a couple of weeks - such a waste. Looking on the bright side it meant we were an odd number of women and I was looking forward to having a single room occasionally ...