Bukhara-i-Sharif (Bukhara the Noble)

(6/12)
Bukhara is the first city that I've seen in over a week. Nukus was a frontier ghost town and Khiva was a museum city, but Bukhara actually has people. And loads of tourists by comparison.

The internet here is slower than molasses. Or a snail. Or a tortoise (one that does not beat any hare). It's ironic that I'm finally in a city and everything moves so slowly. I'm also on a quest to find a working USB port so I can update my blog. So far, no dice. Although I suppose if you are reading this you: a) don't need glasses and b) this problem has been resolved.

Thank you to all who sent me birthday wishes, tried to call, or better yet, sent me something on facebook. To the latter group: I will have to wait until I leave this censorship big brother country and get to Kazakhstan to read anything on facebook. Here's a contest: you send me a website suggestion and I'll tell you whether or not it is blocked. What are they afraid of? A facebook group that says "Karimov tortures Muslims?" Or "Karimov is corrupt and Starmanbashi loves him." Someone should start one of those if they don't exist. I just can't fathom how facebook is a threat to national security. I can understand blogspot I guess, but not all these other sites.

Here's something interesting that I noticed related to my rant above. In Turkmenistan very few people were willing to discuss politics or Turkmenbashi (some were not even willing to utter the name). Yet, the internet was free. I'm sure they read my emails (or had the ability to), but I didn't encounter a single blocked site. Here, everyone will tell you what's wrong with the government or how much they dislike Karimov or how things were better under the Russians, but you can't surf the net freely and you don't have public free speech or press. I find it interesting how different countries and regimes control information.

So Bukhara. The city had a couple of golden ages, but all were a long time ago. I guess the city really flourished when it was a major stop along the Silk Road. But most of the architecture from that time is gone thanks to Jenghiz Khan. He did, however, leave the Tower of Death (doesn't that sound like a good monster truck name?). It's a 47m tall minaret which functioned essentially as a lighthouse for
approaching caravans. And thanks to some very sadistic Khans/Emirs, it also functioned as a method of execution.

Bukhara also has its claim to fame in the Great Game. With both Russia and Great Britain vying for supremacy in the region, the various Khans of Kokhand, Khiva, and Bukhara fought each other and thus didn't always realize what was going on around them. Although they weren't particularly fond of either the Brits or the Russians.
One Brit, Stoddart, rode through Bukhara on his horse – apparently something only the Khan does – and he was thrown into the Bug Pit. I got to see the Bug Pit today. It doesn't have scorpions and snakes anymore, because as my guide pointed out we don't feed them anymore. Anyhow, soon enough another Brit joined him in the Bug Pit. His name was Connolly, but the Khan thought his name was Khan Ali. I just think that's funny.

Reminiscent of its trading days, Bukhara has loads of Caravanserei, which were trading depots and hotels for merchants. Today, most of these Caravanserei have been converted into craft shops. Some are better than others. I think I might go and but a sword from one. But how does one tell a good sword from a bad one? In addition to these Caravanserei there are also these covered markets or Bazaars. One of them had a great spice shop where the owner also owns a ChaiKhana (Tea House) that has spiced tea. I didn't get to have any today, but I'm sure I'll be going back to try some tomorrow. Whitney, if you're reading this, I got you something cool to help you design apple pie. It's what they use here for designing bread.

Another cool thing I did today (on my 4 hour walking tour) was visit the 10th century mausoleum built for Ismail Samani, the founder of the Samanid Dynasty. First off, it has very intricate brick work, which is something rather unusual. Second, the base is square the top is round. To do this, above the square room are 8 arches and above that are 16 smaller arch-like structures and then the dome sits atop of that. It's the beginning of calculus (so says my mother). But speaking of math, how could I have forgotten to write this about Khiva. One famous Khivan was a mathematician and philosopher and scientist names Al Khorezem (as in the region where Khiva is found and the Kingdom which was there). Say it quickly and it sounds like Algorithm. Yes, they are named after him. He also invented the quadratic formula*. Khiva has a great big statue of him and school children around the world curse him.

Another great thing today was our guide. She was very knowledgeable and that was great, but not the thing I'm thinking of. She kept on saying how religion was discouraged and not banned. I must have heard this 4-5 times during our tour. Ok, to some extent that's true. Then she showed us where there were three hidden mosques. Hmm, if it was discouraged, then this doesn't add up. Something's awry. Perhaps forcible discouraged?

Money. Money is such a problem here. Changing it that is. I knew this in advance and thus got no bills larger than $50 and every bill I got from the bank was in mint condition and post 1996. My mother has been having the toughest time changing money. One of her bills had a pen mark. No good. Another was in mint condition, but it was an old $20. No good. My AMEX travelers checks that are issued by Citibank. No Good. Changing my mother's travelers checks? No money. Not during these hours. Come back again. Today we went to change money. My mom changed a 50. Then I went to change a 10. Just one second after her. "Sorry, we're out of money." Really? My mom cleaned you out? We ran into Jerry, the Canadian and he tried to change money 2 minutes later. They still had no money. So I guess they weren't lying. There is just a severe money shortage here. And of course there are no ATMs. Tomorrow I'm hoping to resolve these issues. Visa: it's not everywhere you want to be.

To further my Bukharan culture I opted for another night activity. Last night it was the dance and fashion show. Tonight it was a puppet show about traditional Uzbek/Bukharan weddings. It went something like this:

Bride's Father: I'd like to marry my daughter to your son
Groom's Father: Ok, that'd be fine, but here's a list of things that need to be in the dowry. (Including, but not limited to, 100 gold coins and 40 camels)
BF: That's a lot. It's hard work raising a daughter
GF: It's hard work raising a son
Audience gets shown gifts that are included in dowry: jewelry, clothing, etc Friends of bride are super psyched about their friend. They try on all her clothing. Bride is upset. Friends dress up bride. She looks nice. They dance some. They practice bowing. She'll need to bow a lot to her husband. He is the master. Then the wedding happens. Groom pushes Bride to show his ownership and control. They all live
happily ever after. The End.

The funny thing is, it was part puppet show, part acting. The scene with the friends and the bride was acting. And all this at the National Uzbek Puppet Theater. If only you could have been there. We watched on the mini stage as there were only four in the audience (us and an Aussie couple). It was very interesting. They sang and danced and puppeteered. Then afterwards they made us dance. I did learn one really cool dance move involving pinky fingers. I will pull out this move when the time is right. Be patient.

* Mrs. Raucher should give me an A in Math History