Bukhara by daylight and Gulia

Bukhara by daylight and GuliaOctober 15, 2009 We have a delightful breakfast the next morning in this delightful fully decorated room with wall paintings and vases in niches. It's very pretty and we have a great breakfast with yoghurt and a real fried egg. Our room is not so wonderful though in the bathroom department as it is just a wet room meaning a shower head but no shower stall so you have to be careful taking a shower or the whole room gets wet including the toilet paper. Gulia is to be our guide for our time in Bukhara. She is a small woman with a whole lot of energy. She tells us she just left a group of Stanford University people at the airport in Tashkent last night, hoped on the overnight train and is there for us this morning. What a gal! We go first to the very small and very beautifully decorated mausoleum of Ismoil Samoniy. (Don’t get after me about any of the spellings because I had our guide spell each and every place for me. Then I see they are all spelled different in the guide book!). This mausoleum was built around 905 and is probably the oldest one around. It looks as if it could have been built yesterday as the restoration has been so good. It wasn’t totally ruined because over the years it got covered up and buried by sand and dirt. So when Genghis Kahn came through with his rampaging Mongol hordes, they totally missed this little jewel. Back then, the decorations were solely done by using bricks in artful ways. Gulia pointed out the round decorations that look exactly like a loaf of the round bread that we buy. Next we are visiting the mosque of Bolo-Hauz. This was a 1718 mosque and built by the Emir. Its main part of glory was its 20 columns in the front holding up the outside ceiling. There was a very skuzzy pond in front of this mosque and at the point when it was built and being used, this pond was probably clean and lovely and thus this mosque became known also as the mosque of 40 columns because its columns were reflected in the pond. Well, the columns are still reflected in the pond but it’s anything now but clear and lovely. Walking across the street is the Ark or citadel. This is where we learned that most of Uzbekistan with old mosques, Madrassahs, mausoleums, and fortress has turned them all into shops if they are not still being used for the original purpose. And the Ark was no exception. It is being restored but the front part has been finished and it looks quite grand and the walls are impressive. The front area in front of the Ark is the Registran Square where important announcements, executions, and such would be held. Over the entrance to the Ark is a balcony where musicians would gather to play music which announced to everyone that something was happening and if they didn’t want vile things to happen to them, they’d better hasten to the square and see what was up. A group of older men got up and came over to some of the tour members and organized a photo shoot of themselves with the Ark entrance in the background. These people love to have their photos taken. Gulia gives us the history of the Ark as she guides through the ruined and half restored rooms. In each of them are ladies guarding the treasures which might be photos or clothes or whatever and each lady has items to sell as well. Seems like everyone has a job and then makes and sells handicrafts as well. We had time to look around and bargain for things we wanted to buy. I love doing that but I sure don’t need anything else to add to my house. It’s getting to be small museum-like as it is. We are towed through the town in Gulia’s wake and hanging on every word as we twist our heads this way and that to see all the sights and venders and gypsy beggars as we pass. Our guide has told us to ignore the beggars but they don’t ignore us and soon we are followed by some who tug on our clothes and try to get our attention. Seems a shame to ignore them but you can see others lurking just waiting for a friendly handout and then they apparently all come after you. Pretty much the same with beggars everywhere. Usually I try to make a donation to some organization that I feel confident spends the money to help people like this. I didn’t find one in Uzbekistan yet. We did get steered into a carpet place to have the usual tea and presentation of carpets available to buy. Let’s see, I have 3 carpets from Turkmenistan, 2 from Turkey, 1 from India and 1 from China and at the moment, I have no house to put them. Ohhhh how I would love to get one but I might risk my marital bliss should I cave. One of the tour members is interested though and I attach myself to him like a leech so I can get my carpet buying fix. After lunch, Gulia takes us to the summer palace. As we get there a young bride and her groom are making their way from the parking lot into the palace. She is just stunning in her white gown. As she gets close to us, she suddenly bends at the waist and I thought, OH MY GOSH, she’s going to pass out! It was rather warm and she looked tightly corseted into that dress. But rather than passing out, she was bowing to us. For some reason, she has to recognize that we are there. She bowed three times and then they went on into the palace. We ran into brides 4 times and one tour member had a record of getting photos of 7. They all wear fantastic gowns that would cost tens of thousands of dollars in the U.S. Have no clue what they cost here. Something to research. The summer palace was fine and showed a nice collection of gifts that the Emir had received from foreign dignitaries and such during his time here. But it also had a lot of ladies selling items they have made. You get almost a complete overload on all these embroidered items and carpets and puppets and book stands after awhile. You like them all and you like none of them. It becomes a muddle in your mind. Luckily I can resist most of these items, I think. Back into town and goodbye to Gulia for today and to a restaurant in the open for some dinner and to the internet for a few emails and then to bed.