Postcard from Bukhara

A short busride from Samarkand is the city of Bukhara which is famous for cruelty and Great Game politics between the British and Russians. We arrived after our fun bus ride and quickly found a great place to stay called Komil's B&B. Komil was a very friendly guy and spoke great english. He told us that the place we stayed at in Samarkand, Kamila is the female version of his name so we had to stay at his place to complete the pair.

We did a walking tour around the city since it still has a lot of old buildings. In fact, it is over half old buildings in the old section of town and doesn't feel too modernized at all. We were really amazed at how much it felt like going back in time a bit. You could still imagine the city as it was hundreds of years ago.



Here is Stephen standing next to one of the many traditional doors still dotting the area. Amazingly the people aren't all that short. They just build the doors that way.

After wandering around the city for a while looking at different architectural stuff, we made our way over to what is left of the Ark. The Ark is the royal fortress of Bukhara and is build on a slight rise in the ground that gave it great strategic fortifications.



This is the front gate of the Ark. The ramp you see in the picture continues winding and climbing up till you reach the level at the top of the walls. This is the height of the palace. You can almost see Gandalf riding Shadowfax up the ramp trying to rally the troops in Minas Tirith. Okay, maybe I've read it too many times. Anyways, about 70-80% of the Ark was shelled to pieces when the Soviets took over the area in 1920. There are still a few remaining buildings to see inside and it is well worth the look.



These are cannonballs pulled out of what was the Ark. The big ones are over 12 inches in diameter. Earthen defenses proved to be no match for these combined with airplane bombardments.

Around the back of the Ark is the prison where Connelly and Stoddard were held.



Stoddard was sent as a British envoy to Bukhara in 1838 during the Great Game but didn't follow proper protocals like bringing a gift, riding his horse up into the Ark and bringing a letter from the Governer General of India instead of the Queen. The Khan was not impressed and tossed him into prison, more infamously the "bug pit."



The bug pit was so called because it is a large hole in the prison where tons of lice, scorpions and other bugs were infested. It was reserved for less favored prisoners. His would be rescuer arrived two years later in the form of Connelly but he was promptly thrown in the pit as well. The Khan grew tired of waiting for a response to his letter to the Queen of England who he considered his equal and with the British defeat in Kabul he figured they weren't very important players. He had Stoddard and Connely marched out of the prison, forced to dig their own graves and executed. Stoddard was in the bug pit for three years.

Also in Bukhara are some covered Bazaars which are like intersections with markets in them and many more Medrassas. We began to realize that Samarkand was neat but not nearly as neat as Bukhara. Also there is the Kalon Minaret.



It was built in 1127 and is 47 meters (154 feet) tall. Kalon means great and it has 10m foundations with straw as earthquakeproofing. In fact, it has never needed repairs except cosmetic repairs like when an airplane hit it in 1920. Supposedly even Jenghiz Khan was so amazed by it he didn't destroy it.

We also stopped in one of the largest Medrassas in Uzbekistan. This is Stephen walking alond the many arched covered areas. It was used by the Soviets as a warehouse and is truly huge.



Finally we wandered over to where what is left of the walls are. We caught it right as the sun was setting which ended a great day of exploring an ancient city.



Next up we were headed to Khiva which had been preserved by the Soviets as a "City Museum" so it promised to be in nearly original condition. Fun!