Trips

Sun., 9/30/18 - Khiva and Overland to Bukhara, and the Kyzyl Kum Desert

Today we have a long drive of 8 to 10 hours to Bukhara, about 283 miles. Leaving Khiva we drove through miles of cotton and wheat fields. The government still owns all of the land. The “co-op farms” or “collective farms” are now called union farming. The system has not changed. Jalol described again how cotton was picked in Soviet times and now. It is still a form of slavery. Nurses, museum staff, university students, etc. still are forced to pick cotton.

Nice shirt	Interesting upholstery pattern
Picking cotton	Building design
We crossed the Oxus River again. It is only one third the size it was 1500 years ago. Petroglyphs show ships with sails on the Oxus.	Hay fields
Patient donkey and its cart	Tree trunks are painted white using calcium hydrate to protect trees from sun burn, which can cause the bark to crack allowing insects to enter.
Kyzyl Kum Desert	Border with Turkmenistan
The river forms the border with Turkmenistan	A map lesson
Lunch today was really a picnic at a tour bus rest stop in the middle of nowhere. Several long tables were set up with chairs, a plate, cup, and fork for each person and each group brought their own food. Jalol and Sue went to the same market we used yesterday and bought a large salami, a large hunk of the cheese we had last night, chips, bananas, apples that have to be peeled, cookies, chocolate and Snickers bars, a large jar of pickles, and some soda. I used my knife and cheese cutter and made small work slicing cheese and meat. Jalol bought the round flat bread from the hotel owners and we had a very satisfying meal.
	Western toilets but no water to flush them. Thank heavens for the ability to squat and the use of hand sanitizer!
Water pump	Soccer field
Donkey cart	Donkey cart
Donkey cart ride for some of our travelers	Dumping and spreading dirt
Bukhara traffic	A sign in English
Counting his soms - probably less than $10 worth	We arrived in Bukhara and checked into the boutique hotel, Amelia. The place was once a rich Jewish merchant’s house with rooms around two courtyards. Each room has a unique Arabic decor. Our room is small and is called the “mirror room.” There are mirrors on the walls behind elaborate carved plaster designs. We took a quick orientation tour of the historic part of town. We stopped in a puppet shop and learned how they make puppets by hand and how the stick puppets work. The shop puts on puppet plays and sells traditional puppets.
Courtyard outside our room	Dining room
Food vendor
	Old guys playing a game
Another vendor
Puppet workshop	Puppets in the shop
Making puppets	Making puppets
Making puppets	Dinner was at a local restaurant with another folk entertainment - two dancers and two musicians.

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