Tashkent and Samarkand

Oct 4 to 7;  Wednesday to Saturday, #3

Met Mehmet and the others - a mixture from the US and Australia, one of which is a travel writer collecting info from this area for her next story.  All have been on at least 1 - 3 of Mehmet’s tours before.  

We’ve been to some wonderful local markets in Tashkent and Samarkand that don’t have any tourists so our group of 10 is  the excitement of the day for the locals.  Went into one family’s home where the hostess showed us how to make Pilov, a local dish like Paella, which we ate there while listening to her husband explain the 400 year old history of their home.  Have had fun interacting with all of the people.  

Evening shoots are out to capture the setting sun over the special Mosques and Medresahs (ancient schools);  beautiful 1000 year old buildings. Unfortunately in Samarkand the weather turned very cold (8*C) and rainy but by the time we left Samarkand 2 days later  it warmed up to 28 - 30*C in the day.  Several evenings in the last 4 days we have been able to eat on outdoor terraces.  

Registan Square

Arches

Samarkand was the ancient capital while Tashkent is now the current capital of Uzbekistan.  The Russians fought to take over the country in 1865, damaging many historical buildings in the process.  When the country became independent again in 1991, the Soviets only left behind their shoddy apartment buildings.  What historical building that are left are all painted cream with white trim; which shows some of the character of the buildings.  

University Law Library

The Romanov Palace is still intact and just lovely.  Many new government buildings are very modern, all done in white and glass.  Main roads are 8 to 10 lanes wide with treed boulevards and underpasses for pedestrians to cross and everywhere there are police or military guards by all government buildings.  Mike was taking a photo of a beautiful mural on the side of an apartment building when a fellow in camouflage uniform stopped him to say he couldn’t take a photo of the military building which was beside the apartment complex.  Mike tried to explain what he had taken when the guard insisted in seeing the display on his camera.  When he was satisfied we were shooed us away.

Earthquake Damaged

Long Time Traders

The people speak both Uzbek and Russian (Thank you = Rakhmat and Spasibo) with more young people learning another one or two languages in addition.  Kids go to school 6 days a week and all wear uniforms; look very smart.  Most go on to university with the top 30% in marks getting full scholarships.  

 

Smiling Eyes 

Traditional Dress and Modern Cell Phone

Being under strong military rule for over 100 years, the people quickly learned to never step out of line, consequently there is still very little crime and no litter on the streets.  Such a delight, and you really do feel safe if you are out walking in the evenings.  There is quite a mixture of dress from long full face hijab, long coats and head scarves,  and to modern trendy western wear.  

Modern dress

Fashionable Gold Capped Teeth

Stay tuned to see what it is like away from the cities and along the real Silk Road.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Sept 30/Oct 1, Saturday/Sunday

Flew Turkish Air into Tashkent, Uzbekistan, arriving at 1:30 AM.  Had to clear the visa dept; money exchange dept; filled in some forms TWICE, declaring how much money we were bringing into the country; then finally cleared customs by 3AM.  Thankfully the driver that our guide Mehmet had arranged was still there waiting. 

Oct 2, Monday, Tashkent

Needless to say, with our internal clock so out of whack with the 12 hour difference in time we slept most of the day. 

(A side note here on the money situation.  We were told not to exchange too much  US money into Uzbek Som (pronounced soom) until we could see how far it could go, so I changed $25 US and at 8000 som to the US dollar, got back 200,000 som.  No typing error here, folks.  Fortunately it was in large bills. i.e.: several 50,000, 10,000 and 5000 but found it daunting as we still didn’t know how far this would take us.   

Our hotel is a 5 Star and is more appropriate for business men on company budgets so we wanted to go to a more unique little place for dinner.  Found a little trendy Bistro up the street; Mike had ordered a burger and to his surprise a pair of black latex gloves came with his meal, which surprised both of us until we noticed others who had burgers were wearing them.  On they went and he quickly found out why because their burgers were so juicy that it was dripping all over his hands and plate.  No alcohol was served in the restaurant so both had tea.  Total bill came to 104,000 som or $13.00 US.  Another shake of our heads!  Such good food and for so little.  

Back at the hotel we changed another $50US but this time the girl only had small bills; i.e.: 1000 Som.  So our $50 gave us 400,000 Som!  Came in 4 wrapped bundles of 100,000 som each, or 4 inches high!  Now we understand why a ‘man purse’ became necessary.

Mosque at sunset

400,000 som

200,000 som or $25.00!

Vancouver to Istanbul

Sep 28, 2017 to Sept 30, 2017

The trip started off with a bang!  A 7 hours delay due to “mechanical problems”.  Finally they sent everyone home, that is if you had a local home.  Visiting tourists were put up in hotels, but as far out as Abbotsford. as "no room at the inn" closer to the airport.  Our taxi to Ladner was $60 one way and the Abbotsford ones were $225, without commuter traffic; I’d hate to see what their return trip cost.  Lufthansa promised to reimburse everyone for their expenses.  Found out later the mechanical problems were due to two Canada geese that got into the engines as the plane was landing the day before and they needed to clean them out.

Sept 29/30, Friday/Saturday

Due to our delay we missed our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul but did get there a full day later.  We lost one night of the two we had pre-booked for the Istanbul hotel so will try to claim that as well.  Our room had the same fantastic view of the Blue Mosque as my previous visits but the lighting was poor this time with heavy mist and rain.  Still went out to give Mike a chance to see The Blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia, then the next morning walked in the rain down to the Golden Horn and the Spice Market.  Wonderful smells, sounds, lively action.  Yes the vendors were shilling and trying to entice you into their shop with some free Turkish Delight or a glass of Apple tea, hoping you would feel obligated to buy.  We did get caught once but quickly got out of it when we were led into their back room to take look at their Turkish carpets.  Got out of the market without making any enemies.  Worked  our way back up the hill through a maze of little alleyways, including  a few dead ends, but eventually got back to the hotel, where we picked up luggage and off to the airport.  

Istanbul has a very vibrant vibe and like Paris, has lots of young people out at all hours and most spoke some English., if not very well.  Rain was no problem for them.  We noticed that very few people wear runners - - - men wear stylish leather shoes and even with all the cobblestone roads the ladies were in fashionable high heels.  No Gore-Tex jackets here!  Elegant evening wear or smart suits for work.  There is lots of construction going on, particularly high end condos along the waterfront.  City looks very prominent, much more forward looking than my last visit here 12 years ago.  Would have loved to stay here much longer as there are so many unique things and places to see.

The Silk Road

Less than one week to go till we leave for The Silk Road!  Or in this case, Istanbul, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.  The moniker was given to the route the camel trains used to take from the Orient travelling west across China, through the area of the current "Stans", then over to Istanbul, where their market was.

My husband, Mike and I will be joining a small group of 10 on a photo tour to The Stans and our leader will be Mehmet Ozbalci, my trusty partner in the previous tours I organised to Turkey.  Not many people are going to Turkey these days as too many of the wonderful locations we previously went to in the southeast of the country are off limits now due to the extensive Syrian refugee camps spread out across the plains.  So a few years ago Mehmet extended his photo tours out to a few of the Stans.

To break up the 26 hours of traveling time to get there we decided to make a 2 day stop in exotic Istanbul (I only wish it were more time), before moving on to Uzbekistan.  The old city of Istanbul (previously known as Constantinople) is easy to get around on foot, very much like the West End of Vancouver, with the waters of the Bosporus and the Golden Horn wrapped around the wonderful treasures within.  Seeing the 550 year old Topkapi Palace with it's 86 carat pear-shaped diamond; the gold and emerald crusted dagger as well as a visit to the Harem, where the Sultan's wives and concubines lived, could keep you busy for a full day alone.  Or should we explore the Blue Mosque, Aghia Sophia, the Underground Cistern, as well as the Grand Bazaar? However, a day in the Grand Bazaar, with 61 covered streets and over 4000 shops, would hardly get you anywhere.  How can I show all this to Mike in only 2 days?

The following are a few images taken on previous trips to Turkey.

View of the Blue Mosque from my room

Underground Cistern

A Native Villager who asked 

to  have her photo taken 

Soaring over the Hoodoos in Cappadocia

We'll be on our own in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for another 2 days before joining the official tour so hopefully we'll be over our jet lag by this time (they are 12 hours ahead of Vancouver).  How we get around with all the signs in Cyrillic letters will be a different story!  Stay tuned folks.