Today total distanced traveled 320km
Peaceful evening in holy Bukhara
Bukhara has always been regarded as Central Asia’s holiest city spanning thousand of years of history.
Caravansary of the ancient Silk Road
Bukhara was the last major city we visited in Central Asia before crossing the Caspian Sea into Baku, Azerbaijan.
Our drive brought us passing one of the few surviving Caravansary. A caravansary is a roadside inn or way station, an inn located on the various connecting roads making up the ancient Silk Road. In general, the main structure within a caravansary was a long rectangular stone-built wall with one large gated opening. The opening had to be large enough to permit the entry of camelsstacked high with tall packs and led by their very long-distance traders. The entryway opened up on a large courtyard, the corners of which included additional buildings for sleeping and other.
Look at the diesel pumping station. Right from the ground!
Sharing Penang Global Tourism notepad with local boys
We put up in a small hotel near to the Lyabi- Hauz (or Lab-e hauz, Persian: لب حوض, meaning by the pond) Ensemble (1568–1622) , a plaza built around a pool in the 17th century.
The atmosphere here is something we never felt before. We can feel the liveliness as if we were travelling back in time. The covered bazaars and restored medressa were beautifully maintained as original as they were built hundreds and some a thousand year ago.
After lunch, most of us choose to take a short rest back in the hotel while some decided to make full use of our time to visit as many places as possible in Bukhara.
Maghoki- Attar, Central Asia's oldest mosque from the 9th century
Probably one of the holiest spot in Uzbekistan, the oldest surviving mosque in Central Asia Maghoki- Attar has a lovely 9th century façade. Under it is the 5th century Zoroastrian temple ruined and an earlier Buddhist temple. There were pending excavation works during our visit. The only thing we saw was a large hole about 3 meter deep which looks like the excavation works had been abandoned for years now.
Present day craftman in Taki- Zargaron bazaar
We walked further east of the Taki- Zargaron Bazaar (covered bazaar) and came about Central Asia’s oldest medressa, the unrestored Ulugbek Medressa built in 1417.
Ulugbek Medressa (left) and 16th century Abdul Aziz Khan Medress (right)
Abdul Aziz Khan Medress
Thereafter, our team re-grouped at 1700hrs and the first place we visited was the Ismail Samani Mausoleum. This is the world second oldest Muslim mausoleum built in 905 AD. The world oldest surviving mausoleum is allegedly in Baghdad, built in sometime in the 8th century.
The Ismail Samani mausoleum was covered entirely in sand dune when the Soviet discovered it back in the 1930’s and it survive without restoration (except the dome) for 11 centuries mainly thanks to its almost 2m thick walls and protection from the weather.
Our next visit was to the Ark, a royal town- within- a- town, occupied from the 5th century till the last emir in 1920, Alim Khan.
The Kalon Minaret was the tallest structure in Central Asia when it was built in 1127 at an incredible height of 47m tall with 10m deep foundations.
Legends have it that Genghis Khan ordered it spared because he accidentally dropped his Mongolian hat on the floor when he tried looked up the top of minaret (it was so tall that he lifted his heads up high). When he bended to picked up his hat from the floor, he realized that it was the first time he bowed in his life and it was because of the Kalon Minaret!
After the Kalon Minaret, our guide showed us the way to a local carpet shop where we learnt a trick or two on different types of carpets in the region.
Beautiful carpet shop assistant
Our day ended with Cher’s ‘Penang Hokkien Mee’ dinner, thank you very much Cher!
