Bukhara & Samarkand

November 5, 2023:

We continued our adventure by stepping on the train towards Bukhara. Like Pippin and Merry waited for the rest of the party at Isengard, Jefris and River already waited for us at the Khiva train station. Shortly after Reinhard joined as well. The Uzbek train is probably even more comfortable than the Hogwarts express, as we could relax in our top bunk beds, undisturbed by fellow travellers. It also offers access to hot water to make noodles and tea (potentially better lunch than liquorice wands). We filled the 6-hour journey with conversations, music, an episode of Witcher and a nap. When we arrived, the taxi drivers attacked us like vulcras in the fold and had the same range of vocabulary as the seagulls in Finding Nemo. They were not leaving us alone and were all offering absurdly high prices. In the end, we managed to get a taxi for a decent price which we shared with Reinhard. Our first evening in the ancient city we spent exploring the old town and indulging in a traditional dinner.

November 6, 2023 We started our following day with a proper hobbit style breakfast at the guesthouse, before setting out to explore the city. Bukhara is full of old madrasahs and mosques decorated lavishly with blue and white tiles.

However, we made it through the main sights before noon. Lacking the long endurance of Legolas and Aragorn, we grew tired and made our way back to the guesthouse. There we had a lunch of porridge before delving into some long-term planning and rebooking some flights. At nightfall we again walked through the enchanting streets and even explored the streets outside the centre. At that point we wished we could perform a bubble head charm, as the air was full of smog. But on a more pleasant note, we had our first taste of Plov there (which we started eating a lot from that day onwards). The night concluded with our nightly routine of news and stretching before a well-deserved rest.

November 7, 2023 Next morning we packed our bags before heading to the Ark fortress. Generally its a fascinating blend of archaeology and historical structures. Yet it has a quite special nature department: the topics, design and order of the different rooms seemed to us as well done as Trelawney’s predictions. Just to give you an idea, the themes of the rooms were dinosaurs (with the occasional elephant), the relevance of oil & gas, water scarcity and environmental protection, the importance of cotton, and general fauna (displayed by stuffed animals). Afterwards we headed to the bazaar for some lunch. However, compared to the previous day, it was deserted, resulting in a meal next door. In the afternoon, we again shared a taxi with Reinhard to get to the train station. As it happens, Jefris and River were also taking the same train to Samarkand as we were, completing our party once more. However, unlike the fellowship of the ring, we are not planning to meet again, it just always happens. After a two-and-a half-hour train ride, we again faced the quest of getting to our accommodation. Inspired by Sam: we called a Yandex for River and Jefris over our app. Yet, the driver did not accept the payment in the end, so they came back. As this has never happened to us or anyone we’ve talked to before, faith obviously wanted to teach us the lesson to not be that nice again. Reinhard and us two then tried to make our way to the hostel via public transport but we turned out to be equally unsuccessful. After not properly reading the email of the hostel we got onto the tram 1 instead of the bus M1, which consequently did not go in the right direction. Eventually, we got off and walked the rest of the way (was just an hour…). We were all glad to reach the hostel in the end.

November 8, 2023

The morning in Samarkand was dedicated to relaxation, laundry and research for a potential visit to the realm of dwarfs at the beginning of the following week. Shortly before noon, we started exploring Samarkand in the rain. Our way led us first to a mausoleum and to a local restaurant for some Plov. Later we marvelled at the impressive Registan Square, adorned with three grand madrassas and intricate blue tiles. For us, this place looked like it once housed ancient wizards like Merlin. The afternoon led us to the bazaar, where a merchant felt sorry for us when we just accepted the price, she asked for one eggplant (it was 2000 so’m which is around 14 cents). To our defence, we were a bit lost on how to haggle without any common way of communication. So, she gave us one more and four peppers. Our inner hobbits were very happy about this as this meant a bigger dinner.

November 9, 2023 - Day of the Weirdly Wondrous ways This day had some surprises ready for us. With train tickets and a hostel secured for our stay in Tashkent for the following day, we left our hostel. Our first stop, the mausoleum of first President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, Afterwards we wandered through an impressive yet slightly eerie cemetery, where gravestones painted life stories with pictures. The place was definitely haunted by ghosts and barrow whites. In the middle of cementery lays the Shah-i-Zinda, a big mausoleum complex.

Definitely on purpose, send there by our near perfect sense of direction that can match the one of Dori, we walked around the complex getting a view from above. From our elevated spot, we spotted our friends, Jefris and River, exploring the same area at that time (at this point we are considering whether they are secretly ring wraiths detecting the one ring which we carry around everywhere). To further investigate this possibility, we are now planning a trip with the four of us to the Chimgan mountains. The vibrant Silk Road bazaar beckoned next, which weirdly reminded us of a mixture between Madam Malkins shop and Weasleys Wizard Wheezies: clothes everywhere but also very chaotic and colourful. Lunch at a nearby restaurant filled our stomachs and fueled our spirits for the adventures yet to come.

Our next quest was reaching the mausoleum of David which proved more challenging to our party than expected. Google Maps and Maps me failed us, both leading us to dead ends and sudden drops. But we eventually finished the quest by making our way to the serene park next to the mausoleum where we took a small break.

Area in the middle of the city.

our trust in maps me to lead us back to the hostel. Yet, the story repeated itself and we once again found us led down unconventional roads: in the middle of Samarkand there is a isolated area that is as hilly as the shire but otherwise resembles the dothraki steppes. The only NPCs we've encountered were a farmer and his goats. But it was still a nice route as we probably found one of the best spots in the city to watch the sunset. Possibly maps me did not lead us an official way as it involved climbing over a wall to get out of the steppes. Finally, exhausted from the day we made it back to our hostel.

November 10, 2023 Our last day in Samarkand had a sad start as our new oats were infested with some kind of bug, so we had to get new ones before our first breakfast. But the weather was beautiful so we downloaded a bunch of metal and folk records for a nice long walk through the city. We had Plov and freshly baked bread for lunch, and sat in the sun to write this blog post. In the evening we headed to the train station for the journey to Tashkent, but this is the story of the next chapter.

Our traveling party