The morning we were leaving for Bukhara, we had breakfast at the Samarkand hotel which was much nicer than the one in Tashkent. There’s a video on my Instagram of the breakfast buffet spread. I would recommend staying at this hotel if you don’t mind taking taxis to sites.
On the way to Bukhara, I thought I saw cotton pickers in the fields! Also, I saw two smoke stacks reminiscent of the opening scene of The Simpsons. The people in Bukhara looked and dressed unique from in Kyrgyzstan. When we stopped for a break at a gas station, they were as curious about us as we were about them.
We arrived in Bukhara at around 11 am. Everyone was anxious to get sightseeing since the day before we weren’t able to see the Bibih mosque or visit the Bazaar as scheduled.
We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and took a short ride to a nearby site. We walked through a Soviet style amusement park to an ancient building.
There was a Bazaar behind the building that we didn’t get to explore. Also close by was a building with special water that allegedly has healing properties. After, we saw a beautiful mosque with souvenirs being sold outside (cover photo).
Lunch was plov with beef, chickpeas, quails egg, raisins and carrots and pumpkin.
We then walked to the main square where we saw 4 or 5 weddings. The dresses were big and pouffy. The area is laced with souvenir stores selling silk scarves, ceramics, colourful hats, Uzbek designs.
I met this guy outside of the main square. He is in charge of selling drinks and snacks, his wife the ceramics, and his daughter the scarves. (I had a feeling that he would give me a better price than his daughter.) He proudly showed us two photos that a Brit took of him, and later sent to him. He had me take down his address and asked to send him this photo. I hope he has internet and knows about my blog...
Our guide told us that these scissors were special to Bukhara (I did also find them on Amazon for $2 though and I paid WAY WAY more than that.) They cut aluminum and paper.
I was told that the silk scarves in Bukhara are more likely to be 100% silk than in Tashkent. The sun also set a bit later in Bukhara so we had more time to sightsee.
On our way to dinner, I knocked on the door of a store selling Uzbek silk jackets. It was locked but she opened it up just for us. In the back, they make silk, silk and cotton blends and just cotton fabrics. She said a custom made jacket would take about 2-4 hours. We tried on about 30 jackets in total and ended up taking a few home as well. It ran us about $50 USD each. Down the street, they were selling similar ones for $25 USD (pre-haggling!! ugh) but the designs and quality were a bit different.
We walked home after having dinner at Restaurant Dolon. There were 3 or 4 souvenir stores still open but mostly the streets were empty. It was a totally different feeling than when we had walked there that morning.
Our hotel in Bukhara was so centrally located you really couldn’t complain. There was a beautiful courtyard and there were rooms that opened up into the courtyard. The wifi was a bit spotty and it wasn’t as new as the hotel in Samarkand but the location was spot on.
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