Ubiquitously Uzbekistan – First Impressions of Bukhara
We were greeted with exceptional hospitality as soon as we arrived at Bukhara. By the time we checked in to the Oasis Boutique, it was dusk hour. On our way to the restaurant, we met a group of ladies from four generations of a family. They greeted us enthusiastically, and although we did not share the same languages (the only foreign language they spoke was Russian and we could only do English), we tried to communicate with each other in a combination of hand signs and whatever simple words we could do to convey our meaning.
They started singing and dancing with us. The air was incredibly jovial. We held hands and sang in a circle, clapping together but with much clumsiness in our steps. We could not tell what the tune was, but we sang and clapped along. There was immediate, unspoken but fully understood rapport amongst us.
The lady who was the youngest in the group told us that her grandmother was 84 years old, her mother was in her 60s, and she herself was about 30 years old. She had her young son with her this afternoon, but he was too young to speak English to us. We noticed that the Uzbeks did not find questions about one’s age a taboo. We gladly shared with them how old we were.
In essence, Bukhara greeted us with a spirited celebration of womanhood.
Dinner at the Restaurant Mavrigi
We parted our ways with the family and went on to Mavrigi for a much-needed supper. From Google Map Reviews we learned that this restaurant was known for its rudeness besides the fair quality of its food. And true to its name we got some rudeness and some good quality food as well.
Perhaps I will let the restaurant’s food and the ambiance here speak for itself. We would not go there again, as there are a million choices of food in the Old Town, but the experience was not nearly so bad as the Google reviewers suggested.
The Beginning of Buhkara
Legend has it that Bukhara was founded by Siyavush, a Persian prince from the Pishdadian dynasty. He ended up in Samarkand after his own evil stepmother accused him of seducing her. There he married the daughter of King Afrosiab. Part of her dowry included the vassal state of Bukhara. He eventually met an unfortunate fate, as the King Afrosib accused him of plotting to overthrow the king. The king had him executed.
In 329BC, Alexander the Great made his way here too. By 6th century BC, Bukhara was thriving as a city along the ancient Silk Road. Before the Islam era, which began when Arab invaders came to Uzbekistan in 7th century or so, Bukhara had a period of celebrated religious diversity, where people of many different faiths established their presence and practices, including the worship of the Iranian goddess Anahita, the Nestorian Christians and the Manicheans.
The successful Arab invasion ended the religious diversity here, but it did usher in a golden era for Bukhara in the 9th and 10th centuries, where Bukhrara was known as Bukhoro-I Sharif (Bukhara the Noble), and “The Pillar of Islam.” In 892 AD the Samanid ruler Ismail ibn Ahmad moved the capital from Samarkand to Bukhara. There was trade and with it came wealth, with the resultant glory of cultural and architectural developments.
When the Samanid era ended, Bukhara became the subject of attack by many brutal invaders, the Karakhanids, the Karakhitai, the Khorezmashah, and the most fierce of all, Ghenghis Khan’s mongols. These invaders typically razed Bukhara to the ground, Ghenghis Khan and his mongols, in particular, slaughtered all of Bukhara’s troops and destroyed all things in sight in the ancient city.
The Oasis Boutique Hotel
For three nights we would be staying at the recently-renovated Oasis Boutique Hotel. It was conveniently located close to the Old Town, within which stood both well-known and unnamed but state-protected old buildings. This is the center of Bukhara, radiating the energies of daily life for the ancient city once glorified by the Silk Road trade. The hotel is small but offers exceptionally clean, swanky new rooms for its customers. The breakfast was also very good, with a wide selection of snacks for you to take for your day’s sightseeing.
Some Other Preliminaries
Generally speaking, the sites in Bukhara are pretty centralized. You may walk to the most-commonly visited tourist sites. With the exception of the ride to Sitorai Mokhi Khosa, and a failed attempt at finding the animal market, we did not have to call taxis.
As it turned out, we would be getting the best money exchange rate in Bukhara in this trip. At Asia Hotel Bukhara, ask for directions to get to the money exchange desk, which is somewhere in the basement. As Uzbekistan is very much a cash-based society, it is a good idea to prepare a little bit extra, in case you see something nice you like for a souvenir, or to splurge on any kind of unexpected luxuries on the trip.
Sources
Sophie Ibbotson, Uzbekistan, Bradt Travel Guide (2020).