Bukhara, Samarkand, Shakrisabz

Just a word more about Khiva-Though the twon itself was a let down in some ways we took a car oput to the Kyzylkum desert in the republic of Karakalpakistan-home to the fast receeding Aral sea to check out some ancient silk road fortresses. Pretty astonidhing that these sand castles, palaces back in the day, are still standing. They are totally exposed to the elements and are built of nothing but mud. Despite supposed UNESCO Heritage classification visitors are free to scramble up and down them and there is little sign of any protection.

Bukhara- Before getting on to the place itself, the minivan ride over is worth a mention. We shared the vehicle with about 16 men, all of whom got stuck into to a bottle of vodka within minutes of setting off. It was 10:30 am. Victoria and I took turns staying awake to make sure the driver didnt partake. Fortunately he turned down their offer. He was wild enough as it was, casually overtaking at blind turns driving at 140km/hr on terrible roads and screaming at whoever dared get in his way. Not a pleasant man- he gave a hearty laugh after we hit and killed a dog...

Anyway, one of the highlights of Bukhara was Friday night dinner with a Bukharran Jewish family that we caught up with sa they were leaving shul. I saw a guy with a kippah on and shouted shabbat shalom across the street. His immediate response, in broken hebrew was 'over to my house for dinner. lets go!'. Although we had already eaten this was just the sort of opportunity we had in mind when we read of Bukhara's 2500 year old jewish community and off we went for a wonderful spread. WE spoke in hebrew, russian and english. More orthodox than any dinner ive been to but thoroughly welcoming nonetheless.

We also had a good time wandering around bukhara under the guidance of Azamat, a bukharan guy we met in the train station at tashkent, who showed us all the sites, bargained for cut price admission tickets, and showed us the good places to eat. Another highlight was the trip to the local hamam (turkish bath house) - a 500 year old structure, where we had to enter after official hours through a latched door, as clearly admitting mixed couples into a traditionally male hamam had to be done (for a considerable profit) on the quiet.

Samarkhand - another nerve wrecking journey, this time with a female driver (probably the only one in the country) who drove at manic speed - in fact similar in most respects to our dog murdering minicab driver - who frequently had her eyes and hands on her apparent female lover in the passenger seat. This was quite suprising to observe openly in a society where male homosexuality is illegal, and female homosexuality is not acknoweldged to exist.

Samarkhand, of course, has many beautiful old buildings, all (again, of course) substantially restored to their former 14th century plus glory. Pleasingly our hostel also had a shady courtyard with bed/cushioned seats prolific in Uzbekistan (perfect for lounging on) and ample supplies of chai and water melon. so we had a good spot to chill out of the sun and away from the sights. we also found it amusing to flick through the 700 channels on the cable TV, to find rare gems - did you know for example, that the Pentagon has its own TV channel? Neither did we! we are sure it is a source of sound unbiased information and of course will be seeking it out at home...

Shakrisabz - We decided to escape the city and the sight-seeing palava with a trip to this southern town, which has easy access to the Zerafshan mountains and , when the government allows the Hissar ange as well. Alas, the latter is off limits thanks to various political goings-on and we set our sights on what was marketed as a sublime, remote mountain lake where we could chill out and cool off. Having paid over the odds for the trip out, arranged through the homestay, our suspicions were aroused when we drove along the flat plain , 15 minutes out of town and got out at what appeared to be the irrigiation water basin, and overflow from a nearby village, Some curious pondlife too. This didnt deter the crowds of men, some of whom totally starkers, who did little to hide their excitement at the prospect of a western woman taking a dip. All in all not conducive to a a very relaxing swim, so after a quick dip (didnt want to offend the driver), with victoria in all her clothes we headed back for a long shower.

Today we went for a hike in the mountains, declining the offer of an arranged tour from the hostel and paying a fifth of the price by going it alone. Good to get into thje mountains and our appetites for the Fan range in Tajikistan, where we head tomorrow has been whetted.