Hot Bukhara

On Wednesday we took the popular Sharq train from Samarkand to Bukhara. After 2.5 h in a hot wagon with a Russian action film about the Russians in Afghanistan (any airline would discard this film from its selection) we arrived in Bukhara. It was even hotter in Bukhara than in Samarkand.

Bukhara's old town and touristic hot spot is located around Lyabi-Hauz, a place with a big pool. We stayed at Mubinjon's Bukhara House. Mubinjon, a former Olympic sprinter, is a funny and eccentric guy. He doesn't 't speak any English but we did understand him anyway. His way of communication and humor is "fantastic" (he loved this word). His guesthouse is in an old Bukhara house. The decoration of the rooms is "fantastic" and we saw the same decoration later again in the Emir's Summer Palace. Unfortunately, his guesthouse does not have any shower but on the last day he took us to a public bath with 30-minute massage. "Russian madame, Moscow, massage, fantastic" was his description. It felt so good to have a shower after 2 days in hot Bukhara.

Mubinjon's Bukhara house

We met Darek from Poland in Samarkand already. He wanted to visit Bukhara at the same time. So we stayed the 3 days in Bukhara together and visited the different sights and restaurants. The medressas and monuments in Bukhara are not as huge and impressive, not as shiny and newly renovated as in Samarkand. Everything is more authentic, smaller and close together. This gives the city a different, very nice flair.

It was so hot in Bukhara that you could see only tourists in the streets in the afternoon. All locals stayed at home, enjoyed green tea and took a nap. Yesterday we came back to Samarkand and now we actually enjoy the 'cool' 39°C here in Samarkand. Tomorrow we'll be back on our bikes heading for Tashkent - the capital of Uzbekistan. You'll hear from us once we are there, which should be sometime end of the week.

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