Silk Road Cities of Uzbekistan - Khiva

A nice long journey from Tahskent to Khiva began unexpectedly. Looked like I had a carriage to myself, popped off the train for 2 minutes to get a drink and the carriage had been invaded and a very large and not so friendly looking lady was sat on my seat, taking up the whole bed. Seems that the provodnik had let on some extras to earn a little extra money for himself and stick them with me.. Anyway after letting them know I had a ticket for that seat, I got a place back (but not mine, an upper berth now as the big old lady would not stay up there!). Turned out they were quite friendly in the end and not as grumpy as originally seemed, though she did keep talking and talking and it was also very, very hot as the a/c did not work, which is a little inconvenient when the temperatures are high 30s, though the ladies did have some lovely green tea.

Khiva's old town is an ancient walled city, with many olding many old medrassas, mosques, minarets and museums designed in the Amur Timur style light blue and white tiles, huge arched entrance ways and beautiful artwork designs. The bazar on the edge of the old town is another great Central asian bazar, which on Sunday morning was busier than ever. As well as the amazing architecture, it is memorable for the lovely, friendly children who like to say 'hello mister' and 'how are you'. Many times if they catch you with a camera they will ask for a photo, some of which I printed for them the next morning, found the kids and gave them the photos. One sweet girl in paticular kept asking for a photo by signalling a photo taking action, seemed slightly shy and hardly said a word. I took a photo, showed her my camera, she looked, smiled and kissed her own picture on the display, how sweet. I found someone to translate to her that I would get it printed the next morning and to wait around that area tomorrow evening. She was there waiting with her sister and when I gave them the photos, they screamed, jumped up and down and ran off home carrying the buckets of water they had collected for their homes in one hand, photos in the other with big, big smiles.



Left: Camel in the old town 'Ichon qala' .
Centre: Mohammad Rakhim Khan Medrassa.
Right: Entrance to one of Khiva's medrassa.



Left: Dome of Kultimurodinok Medrassa
Right: Bazar melon stalls along the old city walls.

One evening I dined at a cafe just outside the old town next to where a large wedding party was taking place. Soon after I finished my meal I was invited/dragged to a nearby table and made to join a group of locals, share some more food, a few beers and guess for most of the evening what on earth they were talking about as they spoke mainly only in Uzbek or Tajik, whichever it was.

The next evening I joined a traditional Uzbek dinner/dance evening in the old town where a traditional Uzbek food of Plov, breads, yoghurts, fruit, salads and green tea was accompanied by Uzbek dancing and music in teh courtyard of an old medraaa, not bad, but I won't rush back..




Left: Old medrass/museum of Khiva
Right: Traditional Uzbek dance evening !



Fortresses of Uzbekistan

A day spent travelling around various fortresses of the Amu Daryu Delta, saw some ancient Khorezm forts and stayed overnight in the desert overlooking one of the fortresses and a lake.



Left: The yurt camp at which I stayed in Ayaz-Qala.
Right: Ayaz-Qala hill fortress.