Episode 15
Off again on the train we were. Well, if we thought all the trains ran as effeciently as that fast train had when we came to Samakand we had to adjust our thinking, Not that I'm big on thinking, I leave that to L, she isn't much good at it either really, just thinks she is. See what I mean.
We arrived at the station to find those that had left much earlier to catch a different train were still waiting, theirs had been delayed an hour or more. Ours at least arrived on time, but, it then just sat in the station for almost an hour. It was really hot inside and stuffy, L says like sitting in a sauna fully clothed, sweat pouring off us, me too, but it was L's sweat.
Finally we left but there was still no breeze that you could notice. The train would rattle along for a bit, slow down, sometimes stop altogetther in the middle of no-where and sometimes, just now and again, it go up quite a lot of speed, but not for long. The journey that should have taken just 3 hours, took 6, so we were all much relieved when we arrived at the station near Bukhara.
Took a taxi the 13k's into the old city and he got lost, had to phone up the hotel and get directions. Still, we got there eventually and were soon installed in a nice room. A shower seemed to be the first item on the agenda. Then as it was well into the evening a meal soon followed. It was most pleasant sitting outside in the cool evening air enjoying a cold beer after our hot stuffy journey. Andy, from Hong Kong, who had been on the same train in a different carriage had found it equally hot and stuffy.
Bukhara is a lovely old city, quite compact and easy to get around and see the sights, although it still got feriously hot during the daytime
.Once this city had 20 pools fed by canels where people used to gather water for domestic use, there was also 26 bath houses where people went to bathe. The water was terribly contaminated though and desease was rife, life expectancy 32 years. When the Soviets came to power in 1918 they immediately drained all the pools, though how they replaced the water supply wasn't mentioned. Perhaps they dug wells, because the instance of desease dropped dramaticly. Now the lifespan is similar to that in any developed country.
There are several markets, bazaars, spread around the city. In former times each one had a different speciality such as carpets in one, jewelery, in another, embroidery and silks in another, and so on. Now each one seems to have a bit of everything. We saw the most beautiful silk carpets, fairly large ones from about $1800 US, upward, depending on the quality. Small ones from about $1000 US. Probably could bargain those prices down some, but as my lot aren't in the market for a carpet so they say, they didn't indulge in any bargaining.
A popular household item all through this predominantly Tajik region, both in Tajikistan and here is the large hand embroided wall hanging called a 'suzane'. Most probably the origin of that name. Every girl child starts making one as soon as she can manage a needle and thread, and all the female relatives are pulled into finishing it off, if it isn't already finished, before she marries. It's a sort of never ending project until she marries.
There is really only one or two building that pre-date the Mongol invasion, one is an 11th century minaret that Ghengis so liked that he let it stand and the other is a lovely small mausoleum with fancy brick work. Actually we aren't sure if that mausoleum predates the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century. Near the old minaret is a working medressa where many famous Islamic scholars have been educated, present and past, probably quite a few infamous ones too, but they don't publize those. By the way, for those of you who don't know a medressa is an Islamic school, boys only of course.
There is an old castle here, Ark, that is mostly re-constructed. The exterior wall is quite something. Built with stone and mud it is the colour of the desert it sat in, and the shape of the walls resembles that of sand dunes. It is from the 1400's but when the soviets took over they bombed it extensively and only a couple of interior pieces survived. The mosque has been rebuilt and the throne room was left intact though now there doen't seem to be any throne on display. The stables area survived too, and the room where they kept the musical drums. There are several small museums that house archeological finds from the castle such as pottery, clothing and coins. Even some old photos taken before and after it was bombed.
A fair walk on a hot day took us to the edge of the old city to the house of a former wealthy merchant whose son became a political manipulator at the time of the Soviet revolution. He cosyied up to the Soviets to oust the local Emir and become the president of the Bukhara Peoples Republic. Then in 1938 Stalin took exception to him and had him liquidated. It is a fairly large house with some beautiful tile and painted decoration and large courtyards. Big basement areas were used for the storage of merchandise during the time of the merchant.
Along our regular route between hotel and city centre we passed a synogog and one afternoon we were invited in for a look. It is a very tiny synogog, one of two in the city serving the 280 Jewish residents here. Inside we were shown and allowed to photograph a 2500 year old Torah. L was quite surprised that she had been invited in wearing just shorts and a light shirt. Dare I say it, but in some ways the Jew and the Moslem are quite alike as both faiths like to have the women wearing far more conservative dress in places or worship.
After a pleasant couple of days here a share taxi was arranged and along with Hans from Germany who had also been staying at the same hotel we set out on the 6 hour drive to Khiva.
My lot and Hans all paid a little extra that way we all had more room for the journey. Soon we left the irrigated farmland behind and came into sand dune country with plenty of prickly low growing scrub, some sort of salt bush probably.
It was a pleasantly cool overcast day and we did run into some rain about midday, midway through our journey. The driver took a lunch break at a small roadside cafe but the rest of us just stretched our legs, well not me, I was still in L's back pack. Soon after setting off again we came to a spot where you can look across the flat desert into Turkmenistan. Not that you can really see anything but as it seem expected that a photo should be taken my lot obliged.
As we approached Urgench we again came into a vast irrigated region. The Oxus river passes this way and forms a delta that was once marshes and a wonderful habitat for birds and animals. Now the marshes have been drained and it's all farmland covered in corn, melon and cotton mostly. Very few birds and almost no native animals have survived. Plenty of humans of course and breeding well too.
This Oxus river is the same river we travelled beside back in the Wakhan valley in Tajikistan, here it's no longer the rushing mountain torrant, but gently flows on towards the Aral Sea, though now it seems that almost none of its water gets that far.
Soon we came into Khiva and saw the almost pinkish hue of the old city walls in the late afternoon sunshine. The walls here too are shaped in such a way that they somehow resemble sand dunes. We were delived right to the door of our chosen hostel that is very near to the main west gate of the old city. It had been chosen for that very reason.
There were huge puddles of water everywhere and when we came to walk through the less touristy parts of the city where tarmac roads are a dream of the future we found our way blocked by big boggy areas so we retracted our steps.
We did climb up to the top of the wall at the north gate and walked as far as possible, first towards the West gate, then back and around to the East gate. These walls are built of mud brick and there were big puddles up here from the mornings downpour. Much of the wall is in dire need of some restoration as it is becoming badly eroded by the weather. We later learned that this was the first rain for three months.
Although one can walk around the old city at ones leasure anytime, people live within the walls and there are a number of hotels as well as working schools and mosques, there are a number of attractions that can be visited on one ticket. This ticket can be bought at the entrance and for $13 US my lot got a ticket each and one for the camera, again it seems that I didn't need one. L's says it's one of the advantages of being a stuffed toy. Still I did cause quite a sensation whenever I was spotted riding in L's backpack, I got my head pulled, my ears pulled, my neck twisted, I tell you, It was quite traumatic for this stuffed toy. Several people wanted me to go off with them, L quickly pointed out that I was not going anywhere without her.
So, ticket handy and camera at the ready we set out to see the sights. Our first call was the torture chamber of the Kuhna Ark (castle). That even gave me the shivers. All the torture instrument hanging on the walls. Then we went into the Ark proper and saw the Summer mosque with it's blue and white tiling. Beside it was the mint where we saw some coins on display, but the most interesting thing to see are the bank notes that are printed on silk.
The oldest part of the castle dates from the 12th century though most of it is much more recent, 17th century. There is also an open air throne room that is decorated with tiles and has huge wood pillars supporting the veranda roof. The ceilings are beautifully decorated too. For a small extra fee we climbed to the top of the watchtower and got an even better view all around than we had from the castle wall that is much lower.
There were several Medressas that we visited, each one a litte different, most had beautiful mosaic tile work on the front. Many also has a small museum. One was dedicated to music and had an display of musical instruments. Another was a fine arts museum with paintings and other art works, another a small natural history museum. Most had a few archeological items on display too. In one we was a two headed baby (1976) preserved in formaldahyde one presumes, while in another where there was something about 20th century diseases, we saw a boneless child born in 1972. Not sights for those of a sensitive disposition.
One old mosque has a roof supported by 218 wooden pillars, a few of which are 10th century originals apparently. In another buildings courtyard we saw an old brick cistern, underground, where rain water was collected and stored. An old palace also had a high veranda supported by tall wooden pillars and some equisite tile work, and a throne room that was completely tiled too. The ceilings here too, are beautiful.
Many of the roads and passages were lined with stalls selling all sorts of souvenirs. Plenty of local pottery that is quite attractive and L might have been tempted to buy a particularly nice plate she saw, except that it is far too difficult to carry without the car to put it in. Feather light silk scarves make in Uzbekistan are another popular item, we tried to find out where is the centre of the silk industry in this country but in that mission we failed. We just kept being told Uzbekistan, well, we knew that already. We have seen mulberry trees growing everywhere including at the railway museum in Tashkent, but not yet seen a silkworm.
Knives seem to be another speciality, we had seen a couple of knife maker in Bukhara and we saw one or two more here. The craftsmen etch patterns onto the blade.
In company with Hans and Metti (from Belgium) we took a trip to visit three of the desert fortresses. This made an interesting day trip. Took us about two hours to get to the first one, Ayaz Kala, and we were lucky enough to have almost finished here before the masses (big bus and mini bus) arrived. This one consisted of a hugh upper fortress on a bluff overlooing the plain, and a small one, halfway down towards the plain. It is more than 2000 years old and is very badly eroded as it is only built of mud brick. Our driver told us that the erosion seems to have been even worse over the past 5 years or so. All the fortress seem to have two levels inside, living quarter sunderneath and open areas, paradgrounds etc, on top. Although the hills they are built on don't seem high, the views are extensive.
The last we visited was the smallest and the newest, being only 1500 years old. It was also the one that is undergoing extensive re-building work. The exterior mud brick walls are being rebuilt with freshly made mud bricks and to a thickness of 2 metres or more. These new walls are already very high and when one sees the scaffolding the workmen are using one realizes that health and safety issues don't rate in this part of the world.
On our way back to Khive on a very hot afternoon we stopped and purchased a local melon from a road side stall. The melons grown in Uzbekistan are possibly the best in the world. There are several types, the biggest are the water melons, and they are so sweet and juicy. Then there are the bright yellow ones, with pale yellow flesh, also tasty and juicy, and one that has skin similar to our rockmelons at home but are football shape (not soccor ball) with pale yellow juicy flesh. Two of the brigh yellow ones were bought, one for 15cents, the bigger one for 30cents. It seems that this year has been a really good year for melons and there is a glut so prices are low. Even in Tashkent we could buy a good sized one for less than $1US.
With the option of either waiting a couple of days for the overnight train back to Tashkent or taking the taxi back to Bukhara then the overnight train from there to Tashkent we took the second option and the same group of four of us shared the taxi back to Bukhara, we delivered Meti to a hostel in Bukhara before we arrived at the train station. It had not been as comfortable a trip with four of them and me as it has been with only three humans. Too much extra baggage with the extra person, never-the-less we all survived. It had also been a very hot day.
My lot had opted for the 1st class section of the train though once we boarded none of us were sure why they had bothered as it wasn't much different to 2nd class. Still, it wasn't a bad trip and we all arrived refreshed early in the morning and all went off to Sunrise Caravan stay.
My lot then enjoyed another day in Tashkent before we took the new fast train to Andijon in the Fergana valley not far from the border and Osh in Kyrgyzstan.
This isn't a fast train like the one to Samakand, it's just faster than the normal one which must be quite slow, Queensland standard. We also think it follows a new route and maybe through a long tunnel. All the blinds were pulled down so we couldn't see out for quite a way, apart from the fact that we were in mountains when they were closed we know little else except that it seemed like we were passing through a tunnel. What could be so important in a tunnel that no-one is allowed to look at?
Andijon was very hot again, hotter than Tashkent. We found a nice hotel and L enjoyed a swim in the pool in the more post part of the hotel across the street. We were staying in the peasant section, but still it was very nice, well above hostel standard.
We crossed back into Kyrgyzstan without any problems or drama, that was to come later, and flew from Osh back to Bishkek, a most enjoyable flight over the mountains. We all got a great view of the patchwork of agriculture and the never ending string of villages through valleys. Even saw a couple of glaciers high up on the mountain sides.
Now we are back in Bishkek at Tunduk hostel. Rosie the car has been retreived and perhaps we shall soon head off.© Lynette Regan 27th September 2016