Uzbekistan, Bukhara and the West

Tea stop west of Samarkand, on the way to Bukhara.

Saki, a New Zealand motorcyclist, joined us for the trip.

As did Achim, a German-New Zealander, his travelling partner, on their way west.


Entering Bukhara, Central Asia's holiest city, that has buildings spanning a thousand years of history. The old city centre hasn't changed in two centuries. It is one of the best places in the Stans for a glimpse of pre-Russian Central Asia.

We're on the Silk Road.

Merchants and their wares.

Local ladies.
Mother and child at lunch.

The Kalon Minaret, built in 1127, was at one time the tallest building in Central Asia. 47 meters tall with 10m deep foundations in 850 years it has never needed any but cosmetic repairs.

The Ark, a royal town within a town, is Bukhara's oldest structure, occupied from the 5th century right up to 1920.

Carpet shop.
Uzbek Haberdashery.

The Kalon Minaret, with 16th century Kalon Mosque on the right and with its luminous blue domes, the working Mir-i-Arab Medresa to the left.


At the night market.


Petrol stop west of Bukhara. Gas was not readily available at the stations and we had to buy it on the black market.


Simon expressing his opinion of the drive through the desert conditions in the 40 degrees C. heat.
The terrain was dry.Where there was irrigation the land blossomed.

I encountered more tire problems in this area and decided to backtrack east and north on the better roads rather than go up the rougher tracks by the Aral Sea to Russia with Simon and Monica.