Uzbekistan 2014

So for October break this year we decided to head to the doubly landlocked (yeah, never knew that was something a country could be before either), Silk Road thoroughfare, post-Soviet, country of central Asia which is now called Uzbekistan. It turned out to be a really interesting holiday with lots of history and as the boys will tell you, lots of mosques, madrassas, and beef, beef, beef. I can't say they didn't miss the pools and beaches that are normally part of our trips, but we still had a good time and learned a lot.

After flying into the capital, Tashkent, we spent one night and then headed back to the airport to fly to the ancient city Khiva, a UNESCO heritage site. 

The black things stuck to the wall are silk strands that have been dyed, but are not yet dry. They throw them up there and then they fall down as they dry. 

Wooly hats

Our hotel was in a converted madrassa. Very cool experience and the one thing UNESCO is mad about in this town. They want it restored as the original madrassa, but the local government says it's "good enough." The florescent lights look cool at night, but gotta say I kind of see UNESCO's point.

From Khiva we had an 8 hour drive across the Kyzylkum Desert to the town of Bukhara. We all decided Bukhara was our favorite of the towns we visited. 

This was the view we had from our lunch restaurant. It was amazing how uncrowded everything was. Tourism truly is in it's infant stages in this country. 

The people were so interesting looking. A mix of Russian, Asian, and Turkish. They speak Uzbek first and also learn Russian. Hats are a huge part of their attire with the men wearing skullcaps, and many of the women wearing scarves which are just a fashion statement, not part of being Muslim. Multiple times we were told the stories of women collectively burning their veils in the 1920's and the repercussions it had at the time. In pictures we saw of those times the women looked like women today in Afghanistan, covered from head to toe. Many were stoned to death by their brothers, fathers and husbands. As a result of their activism, women today do not have to cover their head or faces.

Dominic and Jack trying out the skull caps

Wedding photos in the park. Our guide here told us that most marriages are still arranged and that social status, money, and education play a big part in who marries whom.

From Bukhara we drove four hours to Samarkand and took in the local bazaar (market). That's always one of our favorite experiences in a new town. We love seeing how the locals shop and what they shop for.  In Samarkand there was a lot of dried fruit, nuts, spices, traditional breads and melons, which they are famous for. I was dying for some variety in veggies on this trip. I pretty much survived on cucumber, tomato, watermelon and cantaloupe, along with a lot of bread. 

My dad loves (cue sarcasm) the open air meat markets we see in our travels. And for a reminder of that love, I give you this picture Dad. You're welcome.

The money was hilarious because the biggest bill was a 5000 som, which is about two bucks. This is the stack of cash we had to pay for about a $35 dinner. There are also very few ATMs, so our driver moonlighted as our black market money changer. The stacks of cash changing hands made me laugh every time along with the way they would have to count the cash at the end of every meal or purchase. 

The boys had their names written in Persian on leather by a local artist. He's the one next to Kenny.

This was the dining room in our hotel in Bukhara. They had remodeled an old merchant's house and the parts they left as original were really beautiful and interesting. The big part of the dining room was for the men, and where you can see Jack pulling back the rug on the wall there is a small room for the women. Our guide told us that dinner parties are still kind of that way, but by choice because she said the men drink too much and are too loud and rowdy. When I asked what type of alcohol they drink she said, "Everything."

The food was really interesting and good at first, but by the end we were all sick of so much meat, oil and general heaviness of the cuisine. Another testament to the lack of variety was that a lot of the places had no menu. The waiter or owner would just tell you the choices (generally 4-5 things) and you strained to figure out what he was saying in his broken/accented English, nodded a few times and hoped you had enough snacks in the car to get to the next stop. This was from our stop on the drive across the desert.

This man was baking a kind of meat or veggie pocket in an open air fire pit. I had the potato and onion pocket and they were really good. Soup was also served at almost every meal.

It was an amazing trip (I say that about every trip, I know) and I'd love to check out some of the other "Stans, but I think next time I'll have to promise the boys there will be some type of pool or beach along the way.