SAMARKAND - Friday, September 17

 CFT in front of the Registan

 The Registan

 Registan detail

 Suzani-maker in a shop within the Ulugbeg Medressa

 Registan interior courtyard

 Ulugbeg and Tillya-Kari Medressas

 Tillya-Kari Medressa

 Tillya-Kari Medressa interior

 Tillya-Kari Medressa

 Ulugbeg Medressa

 Tillya-Kari Medressa

 Ulugbeg Medressa

 Tillya-Kari Medressa

 Sher-Dor Medressa

 Bibi-Khanym Mosque

 Bibi-Khanym Mosque

 Ulugbeg's Observatory

 Scott at Ulugbeg's Observatory

 Women selling bread on street corner

 Registan at sunset

 View of mountains from city

 Sign at entrance of Shakhi-Zina Memorial Complex

 Shakhi-Zina Memorial Complex

 Shakhi-Zina Memorial Complex

 Shakhi-Zina Memorial Complex

 Women who cooked our delicious dinner

 Shakhi-Zina Memorial Complex

Today was a magnificent weather day; blue cloudless sky with brisk cool winds. Everyone is talking about the "October" weather that we're having now in September. We'd expected to be sweltering until the blazing sun and instead we're trying to find areas of sun to stand in for warmth.

At last we saw Samarkand. For me Samarkand is a kind of mythical city having heard about it so much from my aunt Eze. I had to pinch myself this morning as I stood in front of The Registan, a complex of three medressas: Ulugbeck (a pioneering scientist of his day), Sher Dor (the Lion) and the Tilla-Kari (Gold-Covered). These religious schools were built in 1420, 1636 and 1660 respectively. I have many many photos which I can't upload to the blog right now due to high internet fees at our hotel, but I will add them later on. But imagine three massive buildings around a square (picture Lincoln Center) with domes, minarets and facades covered entirely in beautiful turquoise tiles.

Next we went to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque which is largely crumbling but atmospheric nonetheless. It was interesting walking toward Bibi-Khanym along an "avenue" of glitzy shops that the government has obviously set up, knowing that all tourists will walk this route. The only time we stopped was to look at adorable school children (there seemed to be several schools along this route also) in their uniforms at play. Children are very curious and enjoy approaching us and having their pictures taken.

After a lunch that lasted far too long we headed out again for Shah-i-Zinda, an "avenue of mausoleums". Although it was restored in 2005, I thought the tiles and restoration work was lovely. We climbed a long stairway and then traveled from mausoleum to mausoleum inspecting the different tile work on each. There was a tiny mosque somewhere inside the complex where we had an opportunity to see prayer. It's amusing when, in the midst of prayer, someone's cell phone with a crazy ringtone goes off. Obviously they were supposed to have turned it off before entering.

Last stop was Ulugbeck's Observatory, "one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th century". His 30m astrolabe, designed to observe star positions, was part of a three-story observatory he built in the 1420s. Ulugbeck really rocked.

Dinner at an old local home. Food wonderful; many veggies and lots of vodka. House had been taken format he family during the Soviet period and the grandfather somehow was able to buy back the home and now it remains in the family. The granddaughter is earning money by hosting groups and serving home cooking. Very nice evening.

Samarkand to Pendjikent, Tajikistan - Thursday, Sept 16

 Textile room in the tiny museum in Pendjikent

 Waiter pouring vodka at lunch, and yes, to our group!

 Imam at local mosque

 Interior of local mosque

 Bazaar in Pendjikent

 Bazaar

 Scott in his deluxe raincoat in the monsoon

 Monsoon in downtown Pendjikent

 Street vendor, Pendjikent

Mosque exterior



Winter came early to Central Asia today. This was quite a surprise since when we left the mountainous areas of KZ and KG we were told we could jettison any cold weather clothes we had brought. Many left items behind for the local people. I didn't really have much to leave; what I'd brought I wanted to keep and boy was I glad to have it today! Woke to rain and very chilly weather. I wore a fleece sweater, my super-warm ScottVest and a waterproof rain jacket all day long and was stiff cold.

Today's program was a drive across the border to Tajikistan, with a visit to the nearby town of Pendjikent. It rained all day long and was overcast and gray, so we couldn't really see the mountains that give Tajikistan the moniker "the Nepal of the 'Stans" which were close by as we drove. At the very end of day the clouds broke a bit and we caught a glimpse of fresh snow on the mountain tops.

Much of the day was spent doing border crossings. When you depart UZ you have to tun in a customs declaration form that itemizes the amount of money you are departing the country with (each type of currency must be itemized) and this gets tricky because there's the possibility they might randomly search you so you must be carrying what you declare. Having everything on you is important because when you re-enter UZ later in the day, you will fill out another identical form. This form has to be presented again when we depart for Turkmenistan in a few days. The amount of money declared today cannot be less than the amount we have on us at that time or we could be thought to be illegal traffickers of some kind or having sold things and received payments. All of this form-filling-out wouldn't necessarily be so complicated except that we were standing outside in the rain trying to fill these forms in with nothing to write on. Plus there's a set of TJ forms to deal with. there's one set of forms to fill in and then when entering TJ another set. I forgot to mention you also have to itemize each electronic device you've got so this (for me in particular) took a bit of extra time.

Each customs and immigration booth was really a small cinder block building. There were many humorless officials inside wearing camouflage uniforms. One man would check your visa and give you a stamp. He was in one building. Move on to the next in the cold and rain and the next man would have another look at your passport and write things down. He'd pass you on to the next station where they'd inspect your customs declaration and sign it in a flourishing script, circle areas, stamp the front side, then do the same on the reverse. We had to fill out two copies of each so this goes on for both copies. Obviously this took quite a bit of time for 24 people to complete. Our feet in particular were very cold standing there waiting.

In the town of Pendjikant, streets were a river of water. We visited the town mosque and got the opportunity to meet its Imam who welcomed us warmly. Walked through the very interesting bazaar where Scott bought pistachios. In general, those who could speak English seemed interested in striking up a conversation. People were very friendly. I enjoyed seeing the local women. They wear multi-patterned housecoats and headscarves. The currency of the area appears to be gold teeth which are seen often in both men and women. A peculiarity I noticed was a liking among several older women for a prominently drawn-on "uni-brow", a la Frieda Kahlo. This plus all of your front teeth in shining gold makes for an intriguing look. Had a tour of a small museum where I photographed many suzani.

Lastly visited the archaeological site of Bunjikath, a Sogdian (early Persian) city that predates the arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century. Normally I would have done the entire 30 minute walk with my umbrella, which Scott did, but given the rain and the cold I looked over the edge and called it quits.

Couldn't wait to return to a warm bus after going through the immigration process to return to UZ. Of course, just at that moment the weather began to clear and we witnessed a spectacular sunset as we drove back to Samarkand. One moment that will be forever in my mind's eye (because we couldn't really stop the bus to take a picture) was the biggest field of sunflowers I'd ever seen, entirely BACKLIT by the setting sun. Their faces were oddly turned away from the sun and petals were ablaze. It was magnificent.

Lunch was at a huge "Friendship" restaurant large enough for local wedding parties. Main course was essentially beef stew. Dinner at the hotel.

Tashkent to Samarkand - Wednesday, Sept 15

 Busses to haul cotton-pickers

Rode the Tashkent subway this morning and added six or seven tokens to my travel shrine. The tokens are clear blue plastic and I though they were pretty fab. The subway reminds you somewhat of the DC tunnels in that they're wide and the ceiling arches overhead. We are FORBIDDEN from taking any photographs anywhere near or in the subway so don't expect to see any. We exited at a subway stop dedicated to Soviet and Uzbek cosmonauts with paintings of different cosmonauts dotted around that looked a bit like men in washing machines. I was a bit puzzled by the scarcity of people on the trains or platforms between 9 and 9:30 am. When in rush hour in this country? Where is everybody?

Next we visited the Museum of Applied Arts today which had lovely suzanis, ceramics, jewelry, woodwork, reconstructed rooms and a have few saddlebags. Fortunately it allows photography and in fact the room guides seemed delighted at I wanted to take a picture of every hat and textile. Think I might have gotten a few decent ones. Shops nearby yielded disappointing results and left empty-handed.

A note about Tashkent women and their fashions: they are clearly having fun with western clothes (especially shoes) and styles. Young women wear crazy outfits; painted-on jeans, sparkly tops, with oversized pocketbooks and stiletto heels just to walk around town! It's like a 14th St fashion parade. Like the Japanese, women have very straight black hair. Unfortunately some are beginning to experiment with haircuts (not in a good way). I saw some young women yesterday whose hair and clothing made them almost appear to be Japanese. They had long shag hair styles and were wearing pouffy oversized tops with tight jeans and the overall look was rather baby doll. Back to sparkles; outside the mosque yesterday we saw a women wearing a hot pink sequined head scarf, pants and shoes. Did I mention the entire outfit was pink? I should mention that although the vast majority of the population of Uzbekistan is Muslim, the practice of wearing the veil was banned in 1926. So while older women dress more conservatively, young women in the city are following contemporary trends.

In the afternoon rode from 1 to 7 pm to get to Samarkand. The countryside is completely flat between the two cities with the exception of a mountain pass that served as a funnel into and out of Tamerlane's kingdom. We heard a story that Tamerlane used to count the number of men in his army by having each man a rock as he went to battle and then pick up a rock when he returned. The number leftover were the number of men killed in battle.

Passed zillions of fields of cotton ready for picking. We saw picking going on and an endless line of light green busses parked at the edge of the road, waiting to take the pickers back home. Pickers are teachers and students; government forces them to work two to three days a week picking cotton and they are bussed out to the fields. Cotton is the most important crop here.

Staying at the Regal Palace Hotel.