Last Day in Bukhara; prep for 4 a.m. train to Khiva

Final Greetings from Bukhara on a positively beautiful blue sky.. cold but wonderful.

We had already decided that we would take a taxi about 50 kilometers to the town of Gijudan (population about 19,000) to see the ceramic studio of the Narzuelleva (sp?) family’s ceramics studio. They still use methods that are at least 1,000 years old and the family has been doing traditional ceramics for seven generations. The drive to Gijudan was in the direction of Samarkand and was the road we had driven ourselves a few days ago. Anyway, we arrived at the complex which is about 18 years old. Prior to this, the father and uncle worked out of their home. I get the feeling that one of the sons (they are probably in their 40s) is a bit of a marketer and figured out that they could set up a complex to show the ceramics process and also set up a shop.. and have rooms for tour groups to have lunch and to sit through “lectures” on the ceramic process. Anyway, since it was only Mike and me they walked through the process fairly quickly, and we asked a lot of questions (brought back memories of taking a ceramics class at Pratt – not my favorite, but I did understand all the steps involved).

We then had some tea with the son, whose English is halting, but I think we got the whole story. He is the seventh generation and his 10-year old daughter who was actually painting some of the pots is the eighth generation – although she plans to be a doctor and not get involved with the family business. But he has two sons and is hopeful one of them will carry on the family tradition. When it comes to crafts, men do ceramics and women do embroidery, he explained.

After tea, which was served with a little platter of nuts and candies (their pistachios are quite different from what we know as pistachios in North America), we made a pit stop at the local madrasa and mosque complex. And then we headed back to Bukhara; met up with Feruzi to try on my vest and shirt/jacket which needed a little bit of adjustment… so then we strolled around the old section of town and returned a few hours later to pick up my package. Great job.

Just finished dinner at Old Bukhara Restaurant (fair to middling — definitely don’t come to Uzbekistan for the food). We sat at a table adjacent to some Uzbek businessmen (or so we think) and they were joined for a while by a local cop. We’re hopeful the culinary options will move up the scale when we get to Azerbaijan. Anyway, we are taking the overnight train to Khiva (leaves at 4:20 am). We are a little concerned about maneuvering our bags (especially with me still a bit incapacitated) into the station, onto the train, into our rail car cabin, and off the train at the end. We’re assuming there will be lots of “men” willing to help for a small fee. Still, I think it will be complicated, especially while we will be half asleep. We had no choice with regard to day or time. The train from Bukhara to Khiva only goes twice a week and it’s just this one ‘night train” at this time of year. Indeed, this reality sort of shaped part of our travel plans. So we get to Khiva at 11 am (half-dead) on Thursday (tomorrow) and we leave Khiva on Saturday through another crazy travel logistic nightmare. More on that later.

One thing we were curious about – especially given how cheap eating is – was salary levels. A bit of research on my part indicates that the annual median wage for particular professions (in Tashkent, the capital) is as follows… physicians: $13,000 (that’s annual!); architects $7,500; lawyers: $6,700…. And so it goes. About 25% of professionals in these fields earn about 20% over that median amount. To give you a sense of costs, beyond the price for dinners that I’ve mentioned already…. Our taxi ride today (50 km in each direction/ 100 km total – 60 miles), including waiting time… resulting in a total of about 3.5 hours, cost the equivalent of $15. But if the driver had just 2.5 times our trip today ($37.00), he’d make an annual salary that is higher than dentists, lawyers, engineers, etc. Of course no guarantee that his taxi will be consistently occupied.

Next post from Khiva..

Best –

Fer