Khiva & Bukhara

“Tell me what you saw”, they asked as the traveller returned, tired and dusty. They sensed in him a calmness they had not felt before.


Yo, not the way to start a proper sentence I know but there we are. There are a lot of things that are not proper but they exist, the road from Khiva to Bukhara for example. Well what will be the road when it is finished. At the moment it rather resembles a stage of some imagined torture gameshow from Japan where contestants sit in a boiling hot truck and take as much road punishment as they can before bailing. We lasted 10 hours and reached our destination before anyone bailed. And a number of the Calypsoites are suffering a cleansing of the guts, if you know what I mean. A really hardy bunch of overlanders we have become...no road can scare us, no temperature is too hot or cold...we have our sights set on Australia!

So we were in Khiva and had a great time. Fantastic hotel, great guided walk, fab group meal and a comfy bed in a hotel. I will chalk that one up as a result, oh and Jim headed off again and secured visas for onward travel...brilliant.

Aged beauty

Art in action

Doorway through to the secret garden

Emily in Khiva

Evocative buildings conjure up dreams of far flung places

History in the heat of Khiva

Khiva in a nutshell

Stunning Khiva

The only way is up... or down if you are naughty

We then set off early to Bukhara, arriving weary but ever ready we sprang (well crawled off) the truck and parked her up. We washed and ate or ate and washed before settling into the hotel courtyard for a celebratory drink, Colin turned 21 again. A good night was had and sore heads the next morning were proof of such, should it have been needed.

Colin, the birthday boy, and Wendy

Bukhara, the scene of the bug pit, Stoddard and Connely, The Great Game and the like was the focus of the guided walk as Mirza fired out more facts than anyone could hope to retain. Bukhara is a fantastic mix of architectures with minarets, mosques and The Ark, or citadel, throw in a monster minaret that “the guilty” were thrown off, tied in a bag with wild cats and there you have it. The tour was followed by lunch then we all retreated to internet, sleep or shop as we so desired.

Bukhara digs

Jewish merchant's house cum hotel

Mirza, our regal Uzbek guide

Natural and man made beauty, Bukhara

What you looking at?

 
I will, once more, let the photos explain the places..now these are not the best shots as they will be coming on future blogs as the photo stick is currently doing the rounds with the group. I will sign off for now and enjoy a day when we have no visas to chase, ferry to catch or...well nearly anything...there is always something but today we are having a rest! Samarkand is calling and we will heed its call....tomorrow.
Laters, CJ, Jim and the Calypsoites

CJ sitting down on the job

Jim asleep on the job