Today is our last day in Tajikistan so there is another border crossing to go. After the rainstorm yesterday we woke to a hot sunny day.

Started the day with a visit to the Ancient settlement of Old Panjakent. Ancient Panjakent is an archaeological site, so do not expect to find anything beyond sun-baked walls. The local residents call this place "Kainar" which is also the name of the nearby water spring. In the spring of 1932, a sheep nearby the Zeravshan River accidentally fell into a pit. While trying to help it out, a shepherd named Jurali found in the pit a half-rotted basket of willow rods with fragments of documents in an incomprehensible language. A similar story to the Xian Warriors in China who were found by a farmer. Because of the special soil in this mountain gorge, the documents written on leather, parchment, and Chinese paper had been perfectly preserved in the ground for 13 centuries. Initial excavations were undertaken but interrupted by WW2. In 1946 archeological excavations began in earnest. As a result, a separately standing citadel with Divashtich (the last ruler of Panjakent) Palace, two temples with extensive yards, streets, shops, workshops, markets, fortifications, multiroom two- and even three-story dwelling houses, the richest of which were decorated with wall paintings and wooden statues, were found. But the most famous in the ancient settlement of Panjakent is the picturesque and colorful wall paintings which have survived in spite of their 1,300-year stay in ruins. The subjects of ancient Panjakent artists were different. There were ones showing heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, and other planets of the solar system), reflections of ancestors' cults, water elements (river Zeravshan), and Hinduist gods (Shiva). The paintings display battle scenes, feasts, hunting, sports, playing musical instruments and backgammon, dances, and distributions of harvest. Also found were the remains of carved wood and clay monumental sculptures in the ruins of temple buildings. There is a small museum near the entrance to the ruins, featuring a handful of artifacts but the best of them have been taken to Russia!!

As we head towards the Uzbek border, some 15km west of Panjakent, we stop at another important archaeological site - Sarazm. Discovered in 1976 by the Soviet archaeologist Abdullojon Isakov, it is remarkable for both its size and its antiquity. The name 'Sarazm' means 'where the land begins'.
Sarazm was founded around 3500 BC and is most likely the oldest city in Central Asia. The people here became adept at agriculture and producing goods for trade, so it became an important and wealthy centre in the region. Sarazm's most important archaeological finds were spirited away (this is becoming a familiar story in this region!) but a small collection is still housed in the attached museum. The artifacts demonstrate this was a well-developed city with sophisticated agriculture, craftsmanship, and metallurgy (bronze, copper, tin, and precious metals) and that it had trading partners as far afield as Iran and India, where metal objects from Sarazm have been found in turn. A highlight is seeing the skeleton of the "princess of Sarazm" who was buried in the 4th century BC. The princess of Sarazm is surrounded by other bodies and rich funeral deposits, indicating a hierarchical social structure of the Sarazm people.

Our final border crossing was at Jartepa. We have become quite adept at lugging our suitcases in the searing heat so we said farewell to Dee and after going through passport control set off over the 350 metre no man's land to enter Uzbekistan. Of all the crossings this one was the quickest and there was our new guide to meet us. Her name is Abdullaevva Mekhribon but thankfully she told us to call her Mickey!! We then boarded the bus for a 4-hour drive to our first stop in Uzbekistan, Bukhara.

A long drive saw us reach our destination of Bukhara at about 6.30 pm. But we were certainly not finished for the day!! We quickly dropped our suitcases at the hotel and were then whisked away to a rooftop restaurant for dinner and sunset views. We walked back to the hotel past mosques and minarets and markets.

We are looking forward to exploring Bukhara tomorrow.