I am sorry to break it to you like this, but I have received massive Djemolidine Abdoujaprov news from a local Samarkand taxi driver. Previously, I had thought that the Tashkent Terror, hero of the Uzbeks, and second in local historical stature only to Timberlane (the only Uzbek ever to murder over 1,000,000 people and still have statues erected in his honour) was a legendary figure for local school kids to look up to. But no. It turns out that Abdou turned hi...

Samarkand is proving to be not the most attractive city but not the most unattractive. Undoubtedly the countless Mausolea are beautiful and the Registan - the tilting, 15th-century Medressa - is breathtaking. People have been nothing but charming, interested and welcoming. But the architecture of the fairly modern city that has developed around the historic monuments is rather unexciting. Neither unpleasant nor attractive or even stylish. Very plain. We are stil...

Hello from Samarkand. Before telling you about the wonders of the jewel of the old Silk Road, though, an administrative matter.... Check out the album on this website. It's got about 50 of our photos - view them as a slideshow and you can read the anotations. Even if I say so myself, there are some right crackers on there! Ben, thank you for your help in getting these up on the site. Anyway, back to the travels. Last you heard, we were in Khorog, in south ...