Bukhara. January 7/8, 2020

Greetings from icy cold Bukhara.

Got a bit of a late start and headed out to breakfast/lunch nearby … and then our plan was to head to Samanid Mausoleum and Bolohauz Mosque Complex. These two were a bit further out so the idea was to take a taxi to the furthest point and then walk our way back. I’m ok if I take it slow.

As we headed to find a restaurant, we ran into Feruzi and she said she was ready for me to come into the little shop (Mike says it’s even smaller than the measurements I gave yesterday) to have a fitting to be sure they cut the pattern correctly. So, we went into the shop and she noted some adjustments… and then we headed for lunch (no more breakfast); the vest and shirt jacket will be ready tomorrow. Amazing! They both look great and she matched the ikat patterns on the seams beautifully… 

Many restaurants weren’t open yet as they start with dinner. But a restaurant on the main square looked good; we learned that the restaurant is called Lyabi Hauz.. and thus the restaurant connected to the Lyabi House Hotel is actually called Ayvan (??!) Anyway, it seemed we could eat either in the front room or the more inner room. While the outer room looked better, the inner one was warmer so we opted for that. All of the tables sat a minimum of 6 people so we were quite spacious. We ordered from the menu… I ordered a portion of yogurt and a plate of fruit and some green tea; Mike ordered three skewers of shish kebab – one chicken and two vegetable. Throughout our trip the skewers had four small pieces of meat on each and a similar amount of vegetables. When our order came, we nearly fainted…. I think if you sit at a table for six (that was the smallest table inside) your order is for six people. Thus when the fruit platter arrived it was quite beautiful, but had the equivalent (all sliced) of about six oranges, four different kinds of apples, three pears, grapes, four kiwis, and more. The yogurt was the equivalent of three containers of very fresh homemade yogurt (and came with thinly sliced huge radishes (Their radishes are green and are about three inches in diameter.) Then came the skewers. Each skewer was filled to the brim and each skewer was about 20” long. We did the best we could but there was no way to eat all of this food. In addition to all of this we had two pots of green tea and a very large bottle of sparkling water. The bill was $14.00. Then we went on our way to the mausoleum and the mosque which were truly exquisite and different from the others we’ve seen… and several hours later we strolled back to the hotel at about 5:00 pm.

Once again we took the walking route through the four trading domes (becoming a regular). Along the way, we stopped in a few shops including a forge that has been in the family for seven generations, where they make knives and scissors… and we checked out a little stand that sold old Soviet pins – many celebrating Lenin. People were very friendly and several times people with camera phones asked to take our picture. Some took selfies with us in them; others just wanted pictures of us. We are exotic here – or else a lot of people are part of the Uzbeki Secret Police. Mike made some little kid’s day when he agreed to purchase a refrigerator magnet with Uzbeki images that he was selling… and Mike also made an old man’s day when he purchased a Russian military hat/cap which he plans to wear when he walks round Lake Merritt… watch out.

One funny thing — a young boy who was selling goods (or watching his parent’s stall) was staring at my iPhone. Then I saw him make a very quick call on his phone to someone and in seconds another kid showed up who also was eying my phone.. and then I heard the second kid say to the first… “iPhone 11 Pro!”… so I guess one kid noticed it but wasn’t sure of the model, but the second kid was the local expert.

Since we plan to take a taxi to a village about 30 miles from here tomorrow, we spent some time packing and I also put in some work time (I’m committed to work about three hours each day on some projects (mainly our project in Maui). 

At about 7:45 we strolled back to Ayvan (the restaurant at the Lyabi House that is not called Lyabi House Restaurant) where we had eaten on Sunday night. On our walk today, we ran into the waiter who remembered us and reminded us of our reservation. It was another extremely good meal – herring and potato starter followed by soup (Mike – pumpkin; Fern- chicken) followed by pasta Bolognese (really good) followed by a thick steak that we shared (we had to stress that we wanted it cooked rare, which is very unusual here and most meat is served well done. We had homemade local bread, a bottle of red wine, and a large bottle of sparkling water…. Our bill for the dinner was $28.00. Unreal.

We had a long talk with the waiter who is an engineering student at the technical university. He’s majoring in oil and gas engineering and will be graduating this spring and looking for a job. We got the history of the “house” that is now the restaurant. It was built 135 years ago for a wealthy merchant who lived there with his family. A little hard to understand what room was what but the main room (living / dining ??) had ceilings that were about 20’. The house was taken by the government during or after the Russian Revolution (or so I think, based on his explanation) and from then until just recently it was used as a hospital, a school named after Karl Marx, a child care center, a communal house for the military… a few years ago the government put it up for sale and a Tajik business man purchased it and turned it into this restaurant. We also learned that while the young waiter knew about global warming and alternative energy sources his program of study does not discuss this. Also, while he says it is a very good university, his curriculum is not accepted for graduate study at too many universities. Because Uzbekistan is not in the EU, its educational programs are considered inferior to European programs. His program is accredited in Uzbekistan, Russia, and all the Stans… He also explained his living situation in a dormitory which seemed not so different from dormitory living anywhere.

Another interesting thing to note is that it is not easy to get cash. The ATMs often don’t work and when they do the maximum they disperse is 500,000 Som… which sounds like a lot but is only $50. So you have this huge wad of cash (they mostly disseminate in 20,000 Som denominations. Even though things are inexpensive, the amounts we spend add up… Also, our credit cards are really only good for paying for the hotel and in “good” restaurants. Most hotels want to be paid in dollars, not som.

More tomorrow or the next day.

Best –

Fern