We have met with a local ‘fixer’.
We drew up an itinerary of our own last night and sent it on to Bekzog this morning. We met with him and he was amazing in his suggestions and alterations to our first-blush plans. We feel we are in good hands and await his revised trip version tomorrow morning. So, we’ll have one more day (tomorrow) in Tashkent before heading off first to Kokand near the Tajikistan border.
There will be days with a driver and guide in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva to come over the next couple of weeks or so. Some train travel, some car travel and a flight back to TK before heading home the day after.
With a high of around 34C today, it was tolerable, and even quite lovely in the shade. The direct sun is punishing and weighs like an anvil by the afternoon. Bekzog mentioned we were lucky we didn’t arrive even a week ago when TK was recording temperatures of 49C and 50C. That just seems unreal.
So, today we didn’t do so much. Just meeting with our fixer, a visit to the Applied Arts Museum (Islamic weaving, painting and carving), having a quick look at a famous Soviet-era hotel and then back to our hotel. I started off strong today, but again was so bagged by 2pm that I flagged for the remainder of the day.
Islamic ‘arabesque’ woodwork on a door near the Chorsu market…
Entrance to the Applied Arts Museum. The capitals of the wooden columns I found particularly amazing.
Applied Arts Museum interior:
Applied Arts Museum interior:
Row of miniature paintings from the Applied Arts Museum:
Typical day-bed for discussions or family get-togethers:
Soviet-era Hotel Uzbekistan.
Timurlane (Timerlame, TImr Lame) before the Uzbek Hotel. Although a brutal ruler in his day, Timurlane is much revered in Uzbekistan today.
