Friday, the 11th of May
Instead of driving on to Nukus, we decided to have ourselves a day trip, towards the town of Muynac. Muynac was once on the edge of the Aral Lake, at the time the 4th largest lake in the world. However, some serious water mismanagement ensured the gradual disappearance of Lake Aral:
(Not that gradual either: 1960s to 2000s.)
To save diesel, we took a shared taxi from Kongrad to Muynac, about a 100 km. We paid just 3 euros, which made it cheaper to take the taxi than driving there ourselves!
Muynac’s only claim to fame is that it was once the main fishing town on the border of Aral Lake. It’s now about 200 km from the nearest water, so we read that a lot of people have been moving away, and it’s supposed to be an economic disaster. Still, when we got there, it seemed quite busy, if a bit boring. First we visited the local museum, which had a mishmash collection of crazy stuffed animals, information on the disappearance of the lake and even a whole floor of art:
Afterwards, we set out towards the old port. The only thing to be seen now is sand, some shrubbery, and some very eerie rusted boats:
While we were there, we ran into two German guys which we met on the ferry across the Caspian Sea. They’re using public transport and hitchhiking to try and get all the way to India. We didn’t know it at the time, but we’d be seeing them a lot more in the future…
After taking the bus back towards Kongrad, we drove towards Nukus, capital of the Uzbek region of Karakalpakstan (try saying that 5 times in a row!).
Saturday, the 12th of May
After running into the Germans again at the hotel (second time), we visited the local art museum in Nukus. It’s supposed to be the most elaborate art collection in the whole of Central Asia, but we mostly found it a bit boring. More interesting were the snogging couples we saw on the way there. After the prudishness of Iran, we had to get used to people being themselves again out in the open!
We still had to pay the hotel. Needed to exchange some money first though. For 500 dollars we got 4 million Uzbek Som. This shouldn’t have been an issue, except that the largest note the bank had, was for 5000 Som. So we received 800 bank notes, or 8 neat stacks of a 100 notes… Even worse than Iran! And we were lucky, because the larger notes were introduced only a few years ago. The biggest one used to be for 1000 Som, at which point we would have been able to fill half our backpack with money…
The way to Khiva was quite uneventful, except that the road started degrading into a potholy mess again. We also crossed some sort of pontoon bridge which didn’t look that thrustworthy:
The old town of Khiva was just beautiful, if a bit touristy. We had to get used to the large groups of (French and German) pensioners again. The sunset from the city walls:
We had a very good dinner on a rooftop terrace (manty, which is some sort of pumpkin dumpling!). While waiting for our food, we found the time to harass people in Belgium through Whatsapp ;).
Sunday, the 13th of May
Khiva’s old town is quite small, as we noticed when we set out to explore. It’s basically a walled area of maybe 2 square kilometers. Combine this with it being a Sunday (= foreign + local tourists), and you’ll understand when we say it seemed the hordes of old had invaded Khiva again…
Still, the sights more than made up for this:
(Climbing the minaret turned out to be quite the challenge…)
(This guy is the last Khan of Khiva. He only ruled nominally (Russians were the real boss) in the beginnning of the 20th century. He was deposed by the Bolsheviks.)
(Traditional Khivan headdress.)
Tom felt like quite the movie star: all the young Uzbeks wanted to have their picture taken with him! He was even more popular than Katya the camel. We later learned this happened to all the foreigners though…
Of course, we also ran into our favourite Germans again (third time). In the evening, we had another great dinner with the nicest setting:
Monday, the 14th of May
Today a sand castle tour! The Elliq Qala, or Fifty Fortresses, comprise a range of fortifications dating from the 4th century BC to the Middle Ages. A lot of them were constructed by the old Khorezm Kingdom, which ruled these parts before the advent of Islam. Now only great mountains of sand remain, with the occasional wall sticking out:
Also: camels! Baby camels!
Tom managed to make small talk with the driver in Russian, mostly talking about cars, children and Uzbekistan… He also really wanted us to stop at a nearby lake. Which was just a… lake? Nothing beautiful about it? We presume lakes are kind of special in these parts, because he kept asking if we have them as well in Belgium.
Tuesday, the 15th of May
Mostly driving from Khiva to Bukhara. We tested a new application, which we got to know from other travelers, to find a spot for lunch. It’s called ‘IOverlander’, and it seemed to work out pretty well, because we ended up here:
We also tried to find diesel with the app along the way, but the places that had some were a bit too expensive, so we’ll look further when we leave Bukhara. While trying to find our hostel in Bukhara, Maps.Me (navigation) sent us through the back streets again. Tom almost managed to get the car completely stuck. With the help of a few locals, we got it out again. But not without the first scratch on the hood of the car 🙁 We still want to sell the car again in Belgium, so have to avoid doing that!
First impression of Bukhara was not so good. In the evening, we went to the center for a bite, but were greeted by flashy LED lighting, loud music and loads of tourists again…
Wednesday, the 16th of May
Lots of noise and light in the hostel we stayed at, so not a good night’s sleep. While visiting the sights in Bukhara, we ran into our Germans again (fourth time).
To celebrate our 8th anniversary, we went to a nice rooftop restaurant, had a good bottle of wine… We’ve been on the road for 2 months now, but it doesn’t feel that way. Still have that holiday feeling. Hopefully it stays that way! 3 more months to go 🙂 🙂
We also talked quite a bit to our hostel host. Sanjar has lived for 10 years as a jeweler in London, but had to go back to Uzbekistan (work permit expired?), where he started a family. Still dreams of going back to London though. He was very warm and welcoming, like most people we met in Uzbekistan!
Thursday, the 17th of May
Part two of our visit to Bukhara. We took things a bit more at ease (= more stops to drink), as it started to get quite hot outside.
First stop was a meeting with Kevin and his brothers and sisters, silk caterpillars:
Friday, the 18th of May
Drive towards Samarkand today. First we found a gas station that had some diesel. (We later learned from other travelers that this year is ‘a good year’ for diesel, and good quality could be found relatively easy everywhere. So we wasted some money on a diesel filter and additives 🙁 .) Turned out we didn’t have enough Uzbek Som left to pay, though. Solution: go to the bank to exchange dollars together with the gas pump guy!
After having a last lunch at the hostel (homemade Plov! Delicious!), and paying with lots of cash, we started driving.
We’d decided to camp half way to Samarkand. IOverlander mentioned a nice spot, in a nature park with some Bronze Age petroglyphs. The drive there was scenic:
We set up camp, prepared dinner and watched a movie. Sleeping proved to be difficult for Wafa though, with all the noises around the tent…
Saturday, the 19th of May
After being woken up by some Uzbeks that decided our camping spot was going to be their lounge area for the day, we went further into the valley to explore the petroglyphs:
By this time, Suzy was getting nasty again (tree sap from Khiva + dust from off-road = sticky mess), so another car wash! Third one in 2 months, Suzy’s getting spoiled! And then on to Samarkand!
Sunday to Wednesday, the 20th – 23rd of May
The monuments in the city of Samarkand were mostly built by Timur, or Tamerlane, and his descendants. Timur is one of history’s great conquerors. At the end of the 14th century, this guy forged himself an empire that rivaled the one conquered by the Mongols almost 200 years earlier. In western culture, he still has the reputation of a bloodthirsty maniac, but in Uzbekistan he is revered as the patron of a Golden Age for the arts. Samarkand, being his capital, was the focus point of his efforts, and where he brought in countless artisans to work on his grand monuments. Some of the more important ones:
(Gur-e-Amir – Timur’s mausoleum.)
(Bibi Khanum – a mosque supposedly built by one of Timur’s wives.)
(Shah I Zindah – an avenue of mausoleums for the extended family.)
(Registan Square – three medressah’s, the left one built by Timur’s grandson Ulugbek, the others some 200 years later.)
While visiting the city, we ran into our Germans again, of course (fifth time). We decided to team up and go do a local wine tasting. The most prestigious (and only) ‘wine factory’ of Samarkand is housed in a 19th century industrialist’s palace, which proved to be the perfect setting for tasting 3 normal wines, 4 dessert wines and 3 brandies. Yummie! After grabbing ourselves a sashlik dinner (= kebab), we spent the rest of the evening drinking wine and playing card games in the hostel of our German friends. We finally got to know their names as well! (We forgot to ask before, and found it awkward to ask after 3 or 4 times of seeing each other. The wine helped to find the courage!)
A few bottles of wine later, we tried to find a taxi back to our hotel. In the end we got a lift from the owner of the restaurant next door. The guy was friendly enough to drop us off on the other side of town, for nothing! So of course we promised to go eat at his restaurant the day after…
On Monday, after a late start (maybe a tiny wee hangover), we spent some more time in the city. Tuesday, however, was a day to forget: after drinking a (boxed!) fruit juice, Tom got really sick and so we spent the rest of the day in the hotel. Tom mostly sleeping and vomiting, Wafa browsing her internet.
Wednesday Tom started to feel better, so we set out again towards the city. We had hoped to explore some old city neighbourhoods, but this didn’t turn out to be worthwhile. So we snuck into Shah i Zindah again (Mausoleum Avenue). This time it was sunny, and everything looked completely different.
(Meanwhile, Tom felt like that plant next to him.)
We had heard that the son of Turkey’s president, Erdogan, was visiting the city (the Registan was closed off for this reason), so imagine our surprise when we ran into him near the monuments! We’re pretty sure we ended up in a couple of official photos, hopefully nobody took offence to our shaggy appearance…
After strolling around the city for quite a bit, we had ourselves some ice cream. And we ran into Mattias again, the other Belgian on the boat across the Caspian. The longer we’re on our Silk Road trail, the more we notice that you keep running into the same people. And then you meet their friends, and their friends’ friends. It’s like everybody has more or less the same idea, whether it’s bikers, motor bikers or car travelers. And so you end up running into the same faces again. Which is quite nice; sharing news, experiences and ideas.
In the evening, we went to the light show of the Registan, which was supposed to be quite spectacular. We were quite bummed when it turned out it was closed off for the night, being rented out to a group of tourists. Using Wafa’s charm, we managed to bribe an official to get in though! Turned out the light show consisted of a short movie being projected onto the buildings, which we thought was neither very original or well done…
Thursday, the 24th of May
On our last day in Uzbekistan, we went to Sharisabz, Timur’s summer palace town, some 90 kms from Samarkand. The monuments in Samarkand itself have been extensively renovated. We read that the palace and mausoleums in Sharisabz were still a bit more ruined, or authentic, you might say. So we were a bit disappointed when the Uzbeks had already cleaned everything up in Sharisabz as well… Still, the old gate to Timur’s palace, Ak Saray, was still very impressive:
(The whole complex at Sharisabz is supposed to have been as impressive, or even more so, as Samarkand itself. Nothing much remains though.)
The only other thing we found interesting, was the original tomb of Timur, which was only discovered in 1963:
(Timur was intended to be buried here, but ended up in Samarkand instead, as the mountain pass was snowed shut and they couldn’t get him across.)
In the evening we met up with Mattias, Susi and Thomas (some other boat Germans) to have dinner and a bottle of wine on the cemetery of Samarkand, with a view over Mausoleum Avenue. Had a really good time!