We woke up and had another good breakfast at the hotel. Today we would leave for Samarkand but we had all morning to spend exploring.
Brian and Emily wanted to buy a rug for their apartment and we wanted to do some shopping too so we agreed to go out together...but first I needed to figure out how to buy tickets for the fast train this afternoon using a mostly Russian website. After several attempts and about an hour later I managed to figure that little puzzle out.
We packed up our bags and headed out. There are merchants throughout these large dome structures and you can walk along and duck in and out of shops. It’s still pretty early so it’s not super hot yet and we stop at a shop that is selling Brass Aladdin lamps which is what Fiona really wants as a souvenir. The man that owns the shop is very friendly and speaks very good english he invites us in to see more of his brass work and his rugs. Everything is beautiful, the craftsmanship is remarkable.
The girls pick out some beautiful brass dishes and Fiona gets her Aladdin lamp. Brian and Emily also find some rugs that they really like in both silk and wool. They decided to look further down at other options before starting the haggling process.
I’ll say that I’m a bit disappointed by the haggling here. In most countries where haggling is expected you can get a real back and forth going, it’s part of the fun and the game of it. Here, they don’t really move on their price and they will Not chase you if you walk away. I had read conflicting stories about this in books but I’d say after experiencing it for a few days, that you can expect them to come down a little bit on price, but not half or more like you can expect in other places like Africa or India or Mexico. I like a good haggle so found this less fun, and ended up losing out in a few things I wanted during my learning curve.
Brian and Emily went back to the first place to buy the rug they liked their and we left them to their haggling while we wandered off in search of other treasures. I really wanted some beautiful Christmas ornaments but lost out on those, but Cadence and I successfully haggled a pair of harem pants for her. We finished off with a coffee and then headed back to the hotel to get our things out of the room by noon.
We’ve managed to secure one room with a late check out so that at least we have some place to store luggage and get away from the heat until our train departure.
We decided that the lunch spot yesterday was so good, and didn’t make anyone sick, that we go back again. It doesn’t disappoint. They also put on the masters which seems to at least give the illusion that it’s cooler.
After lunch we head back to the hotel together our belongings and wait for our cabs to pick us up.
Our cab driver from when we arrived has arranged to pick us up and take us to the train station. He also has arranged transportation for us once we reach Samarkand. I’ve hung onto his information for anybody visiting these areas in the future. He was really great and said that he could’ve organized a lot of other transportation for us in the Stans had we not already organized something.
We arrive at the train station and after a short wait they begin loading. This is a fast train that is supposed to go over 200 km an hour. They tell us that the travel time should be about an hour and 40 minutes. However we notice that the train doesn’t hit it’s 200 km an hour speed until very late in the trip. We actually hit 230 km at one point however the train is very much delayed. It takes us well over two hours to arrive.
After we de-train in Samarkand it feels somewhat cooler, I’m sure that’s not the case but I’ll take it anyways. Our taxi drivers are waiting for us as planned. We load up and head for a hotel. Samarkand seems quite nice at first glance. It is much larger than Bukhara.
We get dropped off at our hotel which is tucked into an alley. It’s not a five-star hotel but it does have a lot of character. After we drop off our luggage we head out to sightsee. We don’t have a lot of time in Samarkand as we are being picked up to head to Tajikistan tomorrow morning. It’s always nicer to sightsee in the evenings anyways and we do have a lot of daylight left.
Right behind our hotel is the Registan. It is magnificent in the light of the setting sun. We unwisely follow the first few uncles over the barricade so that we can get a closer look. We notice the security guards eying us and it’s not long before they track us down and tell us that we need to pay the entry fee. Whoops!
As we wander around the site a group of young teenagers approach us and ask if they can interview us. They are students learning English and their mission is to find English-speaking tourists to ask them about themselves. It’s very cute to hear them speaking english. So earnest!
We stroll through Amir Temur park and head to the Plaza hotel to take out money. This continues to be not super easy here but the machines work and we take out what we need for dinner and manage to withdraw some USD. We don’t want to get stuck with too much of one currency as we can’t always exchange it easily when we cross a border.
We carry on until we reach the restaurant we were suggested for dinner. It’s a pretty modern spot and the food is really good. We’ve been well up until now so fingers crossed that we stay healthy....foreshadowing....we don’t!
We grab a taxi back to our hotel and unfortunately the power is out in half the place which means no AC. Cadences room has AC so we move the girls in there for now. Cadence has been bunking with her uncles Erik and Robert. I’m sure they are being a terrible influence! They went out looking for the nightlife scene so their beds are not required just yet.
They get the power back on for us shortly thereafter. It’s no surprise that power is an issue here given the demands that must be on the system to run all the air conditioning units.
Our AC works so well that night that I’m actually freezing! I hear the for others it didn’t work so well. The beds are not super comfortable and unfortunately this will be the theme for the next while. They appear to prefer thin sleeping pads that honestly make me feel like I’ve slept on a bed of stone. I’m officially missing my bed.
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