Day 142 (Uzbekistan): rest day in Buchara

Note: my apologies for the number of posts that you are receiving all at once if you are subscribed to the newsletter. I am trying to catch up as I am finding myself 800km further up the road in Tashkent.

It was a good thing to start slowly. I was up early though and tried to work on some things on the web before finally meeting up with Feruz who had only arrived just after midnight. Given that his family lives half an hour away from Buchara we hadn’t had the chance to meet up anymore. It was a strange night … here I am, sleeping in a bed in a comfy hotel room and when I woke up it was the first time when I couldn’t outright say where I was. This usually doesn’t happen - but it seems like the whole biking-on-end-thing has taken its toll.

We did a bit of the tourist thing … given that I had seen part of Buchara before we took it easty which suited me just fine and after getting money from a bank (one which I couldn’t have even entered I am told) and some sightseeing we had lunch and after some more sightseeing actually drove out to Feruz’s home. Here are some of the pics …

Being invited to his home was - for me - the highlight of my time in Buchara. It was great to see where and how Feruz had grown up. Coming from a small village in a place like this, it is all the more challenging to head into the academic world as he has done.

We visited his family’s farm and I got an introduction to the cotton industry and especially the farming part of it. The Uzbek state is heavily involved - taking half of the production at a set price. Farmers are only allowed to sell the other 50% at market prices. Sounds like a sweet deal for the Uzbek state to me.

The local market … the only one in the village, which consists largely of two families.

It was then back to the house and for some traditional food - plov. Rice and a whole lot of other goodness. It was greatness and the welcome warm and comforting. To my surprise we ended up staying in his house for the night. This was not a bad thing at all, just a surprise. A good one at that. Here is Feruz with his niece …

Funny thing, those rest days … there are more pictures over at the flickr site.