Uzbekistan--From a Distance

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  Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Monday, June 9, 2008

It's only now that we are in a new country (Kyrgyzstan) that we can begin to reflect with some distance on our experiences in Uzbekistan...and what experiences they were! We have so little time to do justice to our trip on this blog. Here are some particularly memorable things that you may or may not have read about yet (a little hard to coordinate with all four of us blogging separately):

--Marshrutka (shared taxi) rides: as the minibus speeds down the street, watch for the little number sign on the dashboard. If it looks right, flag it down (usually comes to a screeching stop). Get in, pay a little money, try to figure out where the heck the route goes, and where we'd like to get off. Eventually, get off!

--Walking through madrassas: Samarkand and Bukhara are both full of historical and sometimes still operating madrassas (religious schools). Many of them are within spectacularly cavernous mosque complexes or shady fruit tree-filled courtyards. The bottom classrooms or dorms of the older ones have now mostly been converted into small bazaar-type stalls, with craftspeople selling everything from silk scarfs to freshly engraved plates and jewelry-even papier mache puppets (more on that below).

-- The baths: I'm sure someone will write an entire entry on this. It definitely deserves one. Late one evening in Bukhara, we walked into a lobby in the winding streets of the old city. Bending low to fit through a dark narrow stone passage way, we were blasted with hot moist air. The passage gave way to a large circular dimly-lit room. We were heated and doused in a very specific routine during the next hour or so...all in the middle of 16th century subterranean baths...

--Jewish Cemetery in Bukhara: Followed some twisting roads towards the Soviet part of town and discovered an enormous cemetery for the Jewish families that persist in Bukhara today.

--Lyabi Hauz: "Hauz" means pool in Bukhara and Lyabi Hauz is the center of the old city-both geographically and in terms of human energy. Chaikanas, or cafes, ring the murky waters of a stone pool; cats beg for food; dogs play; humans talk; and everyone eats. Oh, and there's a 600 year old mulberry tree as well.

So much more-but it is after midnight and we are getting kicked out!!

And now we are off to trek through Kyrgyzstan with the Kyrgyzstan Community Based Tourism Association for a few days! Back online from Kashgar, China, most likely....

Zoe

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