Bukhara and the "lengendary Samarkand".....................

Bukhara continued - Bukhara is full of puppets and storytelling.  I met a puppet maker called ZoZo (though he was not a puppteer) and we had a long talk about puppet making and he showed me how he makes his puppets.  He kept talking about "my master" then Iskandar "the master" appeared and interestingly he was not a puppeteer either but a puppet maker.  He has some of his puppets in both the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, and the Horniman Museum so when I am back I feel a little trip to London coming on.  Later that evening I went to the Puppet Theatre of Bukhara to see a very lively performance telling of a village wedding with the two fathers not agreeing the bride price.  The bride's mother bossing everyone around and the bridegroom only appeared at the very end.  The part of the bride was part puppet and part young woman (who was also a puppeteer).  In the middle of the story all the puppeteers came to the front and gave a lively performance of a traditional wedding with lots of singing and dancing.  At one point it was quite sad as all her friends completely took over the wedding presents and started trying the jewellery on, wearing the scarves and generally excluding the bride altogether.  This was a sort of little tragedy as the bride was sad that she was leaving her friends and all they were doing was admiring her presents.  However all was made up and they all sang a song about how sad they were that she would not be with them anymore.  After that the young women went behind the screen again and they became puppeteers and completed the show.  They work really hard as when I spoke to one of them afterwards (the daughter of the puppeteer who had trained them) she goes to college in the morning, then works in the afternoon and in the evening she does the puppet shows. 

Zozo - the puppet maker

The moulds for the puppets

And the puppets he makes!

In the middle of Bukhara you will find a large pool surrounded by restaurants and mulberry trees, this is a great place to eat - either sitting on a traditional daybed type table or more conventional tables and chairs.  Set slightly back from the pool up some steps is a treelined square and there is a statue of the Hodja Nasrudeen on his donkey!  

The "Hodja" on his donkey

Then we were on the road again and this time it was to an "Overnight homestay in yurts in the Kyzylkum Desert with Uzbek families".  Actually it was not quite this as I checked with my guide because everyone seemed to be speaking Russian but a very enterprising Russian who has an "yurt village" where people can stay.  That was magic and the camel ride was not to bad either though rather alarming when the camel sat down when I was totally unprepared for that! 

The Yurt Camp in the Desert



The yurt camp



Waiting for the caravan!



A look of disdain!



A desert sunset



A few moments later .........



A few hours later!



The morning after the night before - a rather quiet breakfast!



A view over the desert

Packing up, leaving camp and ........



on the road to Samarkhand..........

Samarkand - Yesterday (which I think was Tuesday) was a tour round the sights of Samarkand - and what sights.  The Registan Sqare which has maddressas on 3 sides - all of them beautifully restored and decorated with tiles the whole way round the exterior walls as well as the insides.  Last night a small group of us went to a local production of a "wedding story" (not disimilar to the puppets) done with fantastic energy by a group of performers.  I got some great photos from this.  But when it comes to the buildings the highlight for me was the Mausoleum of Amu Timur (or Tamberlane).  Quite simple from the outside but inside richly decorated with gold.  His tomb is surrounded by other Timurs including Uleg Beg (the astronomer who was murdered by his son who did not approve of his astromical research).  Timur's tomb is plain black stone, very simple but to oneside and high on a pole is a horse tail the sign of his people or clan.  The atmosphere was very intense but at the same time very quiet and truly awesome. 

Next off to Taskent so there will be more to write from there.

IMPRESSIONS:

• Steppe at last - very flat covered with low bushes and grass tufts - grey with patches of bright green.
• Stopped at a Caravanserai - the water supply a domed building on the other side of the road. The trading dome an octagonal raised platform and the supporting arches just low plinths to mark where they were.  All those lives, stories, trading, merchants, goods, luxury and bartering that went on there.
• Yurt stay- lovely dawn with a few pink clouds in the sky.
• Listening to overnight rain in Samarkand pattering down.