Bukhara

Doug and I flew to Bukhara, a city in central Uzbekistan with some friends from the Embassy a couple of weekends ago. This trip is my favorite trip so far. Samarkand is much more popular a city, but I liked Bukhara much more. We had a little more time to spend there - we stayed two nights - which helped. Bukhara is a mix of the old which has been restored and the old which stands in partial ruin. It's interesting to see the difference.

Bukhara is much cleaner than Tashkent. My housekeeper, Irina, noticed this when I was showing her pictures. She has never been there. The people were so friendly. We were often greeted by children and students. Doug and I both had a rock star moment. He was practically accosted (I was watching his backpack!) by a group of students who wanted their picture taken with him. The same thing happened to me, though a little rambunctiously. This picture is of a kindly old man offering candy to a little girl and her brother (off camera) who were traveling with us.

Shopping was much more comfortable here than in Samarkand or Khiva. The vendors were not in our face pushing things at us. They were helpful and patient. Many spoke some English. We were working with one young woman who switched from Uzbek to English to French while we were in her shop. Someone asked her how many languages she knew. She laughed and said she didn't know.

We had a dinner and entertainment on our first night. The weather was perfect as we sat outside and enjoyed front and center seats for traditional Uzbek music and a presentation of traditional dance mixed with a fashion show.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to a puppet workshop. They hand make puppets using paper mache, sticks and paint. They demonstrate the process while your there, give you a short showing of what the puppets can do then tell you to wander the store and play with any puppet you want. No pressure to buy! The adults had as much fun as the children. A friend of mine gave me a puppet from Bukhara which I wasn't sure what to think of at first. Now I have quite an appreciation for it.

Our hotel was nice. We had airconditioning! They even had cold Pepsi when we arrived which I managed to resist. The staff was friendly and cared that we enjoy Bukhara. It was within walking distance of many bazaars where we shopped. Across the street is the former walled in town center so, again, old meets new. Here are pictures of the courtyard in the hotel followed by the view across the street and the road leading to the bazaars:

Our next trip will be over Memorial weekend to Lake Issyk Kul in neighboring Kyrgistan.