Silk Road - 29th September (Friday)

Woke up early this morning, morning call was at 7:10am. We went down for breakfast and it was quite a good one. There were lovely crepes being served and some sort of local cereal. We also found that the group rather enjoyed the Opera they went to. The entire cast and orchestra out-numbered the audience three to one. In the intervals, they were also brought to a tour of back stage. The performance itself was dazzling in terms of costume and singing but not exactly in acting. Chris also complained that there seems to be parts of the story missing. But all in all, I think everyone had a rather good time. At 7:45am, we took our bags and checked out.

All of us were on the bus by 8am and ready to go. It will take us around 5 hours to reach Samarkand. Ross slept most of the way. Part of the direct road was closed because it crosses over the border, so we had to go by the longer route.


On the way, we saw lots of people picking cotton on the cotton fields. This was the harvesting time for cotton. There were lots of kids helping out. We were told too that the land is very fertile and produces lots of crops and fruits. The fruits are also well-known to be very sweet.

We reached Samarkand at around 1pm. Samarkand is known as "The Jewel of Islam" with a population of 404,000. The town looked clean, tidy and organised. We stayed in Hotel Zarina which was a very nice place. The rooms were very homely though the bathroom was a bit small. The hotel was in a very good location and The Registan as well as some other sights were very near it.


We headed out for a quick lunch before needing to gather at 3pm. We were taught the shortcut to take to the main road. The restaurant we were recommended to go to had pretty fast service and good food. We had laghman and kebabs which was very good.

At 3pm, we gathered to meet the rest of the group. Valentina had been giving us an introduction along the way, in Samarkand, we were pleasantly surprised to know that she was our local guide too. She turned out to be a very good one too. We first visited the Guri Amir Mausoleum. This is where Timur, 2 sons and grandsons were buried. Timur is respected as a great conqueror, although also a butcher who used the skulls of his enemies to build walls. Nothing prepared us for the magnificent and stunning sight that greeted us when we entered the Mausoleum.



Our next stop was The Registan. It is an ensemble of majestic, tilting medressas, the centerpiece of the city and one of the most awesome sights in Central Asia. Together with Claire, we went up to the top of the minaret for 2000Som each. It was a tough climb up (dark corner, high steps, tiny steps) but we finally made it. We stayed there until it was dusk and caught the sunset on the tiles. It was simply beautiful.

The group gathered again at 6:45pm for dinner at a home. It was a huge place and another tour bus was already there. It was not turning out as homely as we thought after all. The inside of the dining area was very nice and grand and already laid with lots of food. There was also a selection of drinks we could get at a price. It certainly had a more commercial feel about it.


On the table, there was a fruit basket, rolls of bread, chickpeas, sugar, 2 dishes of vegetables, and another dish of raw vegetables (tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber). Ross and Chris shared two glasses of vodka at the beginning. I had one with them at the end of the dinner.

Our first course we had was a dish of fritties, dumplings and pies shared among two. It was very tasty. The second dish was a clear soup. Third was a huge plate of pilaf. The final dish was some sort of cheesecake. All of us had simply stuffed ourselves. At the end, they also served us green tea.

Right outside the house, there were grape vines grown along the whole street.


After dinner, we were dropped off at our hotel. A group of us, the two Chris's, Shirley and the both of us walked over to where The Registan is. The lighting was not as impressive as we thought. We walked back and pottered around before resting. The room did not have a TV and there was a water shortage in town. We have had no water running from our taps since checking in. There was nothing much to do and quite a few people (Chris, Claire, Carol, Dave and Roz) were out at the veranda, lying on the day beds. The veranda had a long table in between. We would also order drinks or chai here.

I was keen to get some good couple photos from Dave’s camera. So I took the computer out and took it out on the veranda. I tried to download the photos from connecting a cable from his camera to my computer but my computer needed a driver. The other option I could try was connecting Dave’s harddisk to my computer. I had the impression that Carol was worried about me accidentally deleting the photos they had on the harddisk and decided to wait for them to send us the photos through email instead. They are very argent photographers and each has very good cameras, so I sort of understand their concerns.

Excited by the audience I had, I started showing them our wedding photos. I was especially excited about the professional photos we have gotten.