Bukhara, Uzbekistan Aug 3, 2019 The trading domes in the old town dating back to the Silk Road days, still have shops. But these now sell handcrafts, most very beautifully made. Suzanis and carpets, embroidered table-cloths and cushion covers, jackets and dresses, hand-painted miniatures vie with handmade knives and swords made by master craftsmen. What … More A Shopaholic’s Delight
Bukhara, Uzbekistan Aug 1, 2019 The oases of Samarkhand and Bukhara have always been major stops along the Silk Road and are no less so these days on the tourist trail. Justifiably famous for its well-preserved medieval monuments, Bukhara is a delight. I happily did my tourist duty and wandered around the old town re-visiting … More An Oasis of Medieval Grandeur
Surkhondarya, Uzbekistan July 29, 2019 My questions about sites I wanted to see around Termez, met with bafflement immediately followed by a string of excuses. Either unknown or too far or not accessible or not permitted. I could only go to the ones firmly on the tourist radar. Given time, I suppose I could have … More When Bactria was Buddhist
Termez, Uzbekistan July 28, 2019 My wanderings in Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan were intriguing because of the wealth of history this part of the world is steeped in. And frustrating because I could not travel easily or see the many sites that I wanted to. But Bactria of old had boundaries that stretched beyond Amu … More In Bactria Again
Termez, Uzbekistan July 27, 2019 Imagine it is 1st millennium BCE and you come across a small settlement on the right bank of a meandering river. The kingdom is Balkh or Bactria and the river is Amu Darya. The settlement is called Taro Maetha in Bactrian, meaning “settlement across the river”. Fast forward to 1st … More City Across the River
Termez, Uzbekistan July 26, 2019 Getting off the train, I ran the usual gauntlet of taxi drivers. The backpack may scream “tourist” but fending them off is simple. A couple of words of Tajik and they just write me off and turn to other potential customers. Unable to remember most of the Uzbek I had … More Welcome to Termez
Samarkhand, Uzbekistan July 19, 2019 In days of yore, camel caravans would arrive in Samarkhand or Bukhara with heartfelt relief. If traveling west, they had survived the dangers of the Taklamakhan desert, battled the robbers in the passes of the Hindu Kush and traveled the dry high deserts of the Pamirs. They would arrive in … More The New Silk Road
Samarkhand, Uzbekistan July 17, 2019 Imagine a long train of Bactrian camels laden with spices and silk, gold and jewels, letters and documents making their slow way from distant Xi’an in China, on its way to Constantinople. Rarely did any one merchant travel the entire distance; instead, the goods were passed on in a series … More In a City Named Marakanda
Tashkent, Uzbekistan July 14, 2019 I visited Uzbekistan in 2015 but this time around it feels like a whole new country. Gone are the rigid rules for declaring everything at entry. I remember the anxiety of exiting Uzbekistan but all that is a thing of the past. Gone is the thriving black market, which was … More In a Whole New Country
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 