Today I had a mammoth 9 hour drive from Khiva to Bukhara so lots of time to kill chatting with my driver Anvar. Fortunately he spoke very good english so it made passing the time quite easy.

We practically told each other our life stories and family histories. I had tried to play my music cd that was burnt for me in Khiva but because it was a DVD disc and not CD disc we got an error message.

Anvar went to university in Turkey for four years and can speak Russian, English, Turkish, Tajik, Uzbek, and Farsi, as many of the languages mix in different towns. He is from Samarkand which has a large Tajik speaking population. His son was born two days apart from my nephew.

As we were leaving town there were also overhead tracks for a trolley bus. This still runs from Khiva to Urgench hourly even though its 1970s technology. These were phased out in Toronto by the 1990s.

I asked why they dont go back to arabic script now they are independent. At the end of the 19th century before the Russians came they already changed to Latin. The Soviets changed to Cyrillic so they changed back to Latin after independence. It was felt Latin would be better for trade with more countries.

I also wondered how the Soviets were able to take over Central Asia. With the American Civil war Russia lost cotton markets in the US so looked to Central Asia and built relations. By the 1920s the Bolsheviks attacked to increase Communist influence.

Road conditions were very dry like driving thru the Utah desert. The road would stretch across the horizon and at times the landscape was completely flat as far as the eye could see like in Western Canada.

The road was also in poor shape in some parts. For the first half of the journey half the road was not paved and is still being constructed. The plan is to build a modern highway from the Kazakhstan to Afghanistan border. The road is planned to be completed by 2015 and will cut the 9 hour journey in half.

We also passed thru several police checkpoints. The reason for this is each province has its own border controls. They conduct random checks for counterfeit goods but we were only ever stopped once. Also no photography is permitted at any of this check points.

Our route ran parallel to the Oxus River which is the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. We could see a long bridge on the Turkmenistan side of the river.

Locals fought in the Afghan war during the Soviet invasion and were not happy about their family members dying. I didnt probe too much about how they felt about attacking a fellow Central Asian country.

People speak highly of the Soviet era and what it has left behind. They have a good infrastructure of roads, railways, and the metro. People are highly educated and speak a variety of asian and european languages. Also they are very multi ethnic, tolerant, and multi religious, and not just homogeneously ethnic Uzbek, so more sophisticated than other countries that never experienced this.

At the Uzbek restaurants in Korea I only see the ethnic Uzbek people but was now starting to see the variety of nationalities that make their home here. In addition to many Russians that stayed behind there are German, Polish, Mongols, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Tatars, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Jews, and even a sizeable ethnic Korean population.

We now needed something to eat so we went to a local truck stop. Normally he does not take tourists here but since I was of similar asian background and have travelled quite a lot he was confident I would be freaked out by such a place as some other novice tourists might be. They also had raised platform style group seating where you sit cross legged but we took the western style tables.

I was worried about hygiene and stomach problems in a place like this but since we were ordering fried fish I didnt think it would be a problem. I wondered where they got the fish from in such a desert and that I'd never seen fish before in Uzbek restaurants.

Anvar said they eat lots of fish and I think it comes from the Oxus River beside. It was very hot having been freshly made. There was also a bowl of tomatoe soup that was very spicy. There was thick fresh bread which we never get in Korea so I was making the most of the opportunity and dipping it in the tomatoe soup.

Lunch came to 17,000 Som and my portion was 8000 Som ($4). I also tried the toilet in the rear. Not only was there no running water to wash your hands, you couldnt even flush the toilets. I suppose this is expected in such barren conditions and they probably flush once a day.

The afternoons drive was not as bad, the road seemed to be paved better, with less construction. We had also passed some gas fields earlier in the day along the Turkmenistan border. Gas is piped in across the country to some of its neighbours.

We were also comparing some similar words. The words I understood Anvar explained were actually Farsi words. Darvaza/door, Char/four, Hazar/hundred, Lekin/but, Aziz/good friend, Mumqin/possible were a few words I recognize.

Unlike Xinjiang China where I undestood about 20% of the Uyghar language I could only understand about 5% of the Uzbek language which is part of the Turkic language groups.

I was also wondering if things were dead in low season right now. Anvar explained many Russians still come. They have two weeks off for the Orthodox Christmas and arent bothered by the cold.

There is also the Nawroz Spring celebration at the end of March. In addition there is a Spanish built high speed train that runs from Tashkent to Samarkand. Many Russian businessmen do weekend trips to Samarkand to explore the historic city.

We were also passing many shepherds with cattle herds. I wondered if anything lived in this desert but Anvar said lots of animals do and we passed by many herds.

They also know of bollywood movies and get them dubbed. Bollywood filmed Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves in Samarkand in the early 80s and he knew about this film. There is also a flight for the nine hour drive from Khiva to Bukhara but the flight only runs once a week

I also learnt about the car industry. Aside from Russian Ladas that still run fine there is a Chevrolet plant in Eastern Uzbekistan. All the Chevy made cars seen on the roads are made in Uzbekistan which are also sold to other central asian countries. They took over a bankrupt Daewoo Korean car plant and is now seen as a source of national pride.

Lada car parts can be imported from Russia but are getting harder to find. The family size car we were driving in costs $15,000 USD with all modifications which is more than half the price what it would cost in North America.

Another interesting thing I learnt was about Turbans. Aside from being mandatory and a symbol of status they were used to wrap a persons body in when they died. The reason was that a person should not be indebted to anyone upon death to have to even ask for a burial cloth. It seemed strange to be wearing the cloth you're going to be buried in as your turban.

By late afternoon we made it to Bukhara with still time to walk around. The hotel was in the historic old quarter and my book showed a Jewish cemetary nearby. I was surprised to know of a Jewish presence this far east and Anvar said they have Synagogues too which the Israeli tourists like to visit. I wanted to see these as well during our full day tour tomorrow.