Sunday,
24 December 2017
I
woke up early and went to the lobby to access WiFi. Nit and I then went down
for breakfast and my, what a lovely spread it was that awaited us! I’m a firm
believer of breakfasting like a king and ate accordingly. We then met up with
Elzod and began our tour.
Breakfast spread. Note the ceramic plates by the wall. The teapot, tea and coffee cups and even plates bear cotton motifs (cotton is the white gold of Uzbekistan). They do love their meat and the humble nan bread (in the basket) accompanies all Uzbek meals
We
crossed over to The Ark which is a massive fortress which was a mini-town way
back when. It was the used as a fortress to protect the city until the Battle
of Bukhara when the Red Army invaded the city. There is a mosque, a hall to
receive guests, stable and some museums. We also had a good view over the city
from the fortress.
After
spending some at The Ark, we crossed over to Bolo Hauz Mosque (bolo means
children) and had a look inside. We then made our way to Chasma Ayub Mausoleum.
After that, we walked past Saminid Shrine before taking two taxies in our
search for Plov rice, which is the national dish of Uzbekistan. Alas, it being
a Sunday, we were not successful and finally we had an inadequate lunch at Moxi
Chechri Xamon Restaurant. The restaurant was clearly expecting a large group of
diners but was unable to cook up any substantial meal for us apart from some
soup and salad.
We
took a cab to the bazaar and spent about an hour there before returning back to
the hotel. The day had started turning overcast by now. We ventured out again
in the early evening and had dinner at a restaurant near Bolo Hauz Mosque. It
was here when I heard the call to prayer for the first time (Isya’ prayers) in
Uzbekistan. Elzod had told us that call to prayers are not made loudly over
there due to government regulation. How sad when Muslims made up the majority
of the population! We had a satisfying meal, including a plate of noodles
cooked according to Uyghur style; however, I had a lot of wind in my tummy and
had a tummy ache not unlike gastritis and did not particularly enjoy my dinner.
As there were leftovers, we asked the restaurant to pack the chicken and
noodles for us.
Monday,
25 December 2017
We
were supposed to leave early this morning so we went down for breakfast at 7.
Nit brought down the chicken and noodles from the previous dinner and asked the
kitchen staff to help heat them up for us. We left just after 8 – Nit was
running late as usual and I had to help wheel her suitcase to the stairs and
asked Elzod to help lug it down (no lifts in the hotel). It was an overcast
morning. We drove to Bakhautdin Naqshband (Bahouddin Nakshbandi) Mausoleum just
outside Bukhara. He was an important sufi figure who established the Nakshbandi
sufi order. We spent about 45 minutes here before driving on to Samarqand,
stopping twice for restroom and then to refuel.
We
arrived in sunny Samarqand at 12:30. Samarqand is the third largest city in
Uzbekistan but is more crowded than Bukhara. We were caught in the lunchtime
rush hour and it took a while before we reached Konstantin Hotel. Our travel
agent back in KL had advised that our hotel in Samarqand was supposed to be
Regal Palace Hotel but I didn’t say anything as I thought the plans had
changed. We had checked in and enjoyed some hot tea and coffee when Elzod told
us that we had checked into the wrong hotel. The hotel he had on his info sheet
was Konstantin Hotel. Elzod then spent some time discussing with the reception
and on the phone with his office to settle the issue. Finally it was decided
that we would spend one night there and check out the next day.
We
then took a cab to a very near Zafar Restaurant for lunch. There were a lot of
people in the restaurant and a few of them even got up to dance to the music.
After lunch, we went to a nearby supermarket before crossing over to the Museum
of History and Culture. Elzod was keen to bring us to the bazaar but having
experienced the bazaar in Bukhara just the day before, we were not too keen to
visit another one. Besides, we would be visiting a bazaar in Tashkent and the
museum is just around the corner from our hotel that it’d be a shame if we
didn’t visit it. We could learn a lot from museum visits too. So we paid 17,000
Uzbekistani Som (UZS; USD1 ~ UZS8,050) for the ticket and an additional UZS5000
each for our cameras. We spent about an hour in there before returning to the
hotel.
We
ventured out in the evening in search of dinner. We went to Zafar Restaurant
but left shortly after. Elzod then told us there would be some strippers coming
to the restaurant and he didn’t want to be a part of it. We finally had dinner
at Bogishamol Café. It looked like a fast food restaurant but still served us
soup, salad, nan bread and lemon tea.
To
be continued
|