Today’s our last day in Samarkand before taking the train back to Tashkent in the afternoon. We saved the Gur-e-Mir, or “Tomb of the King” for the day of departure since it’s just a 5-minute walk from the hotel. By the time we got there at 10am, the place was hopping, so we opted to … Continue reading Gur-E-Mir and Russian Town →

Instagram hasn’t quite destroyed the travel experience to Samarkand, yet. There are plenty of people in the popular sites in town, but influencers would have made this city unbearable like many of the European cities that we actively avoid these days. Tour buses still disgorge plenty of people at each site, and when a place … Continue reading Shah-I Zinda and Registan Light Show →

All the major sights in Samarkand can technically be covered in one day with a tour group, two days if you want to spend more time at each site. We have 4 days, so we’re visiting one site a day plus exploring other parts of the city. Bibi Khanym Mosque is perhaps the largest mosque … Continue reading Bibi Khanym and Old Jewish Town →

When visiting historical sites, it’s often easy to marvel at the beautiful architecture in front of us and forget that all these buildings have been painstakingly restored over the years. Thankfully for photographic evidence, we’re able to see what the structures looked like in the recent past. As for how it looked like 8-10 centuries … Continue reading Registan →

Samarkand is an hour and 45 minutes away from Bukhara by Afrosiyob HSR. Since we had time to spare before our train was scheduled to depart in the afternoon, we went back to hang out at the Ulugbek madrasa. The Arabic script on either side of the entrance translates to “The aspiration to knowledge is … Continue reading Evening in Samarkand →

The impetus of the Silk Road started when China needed steeds to fight off the northern Mongols. In return, China traded silk with the steppe nomads. Over time, the flow of goods extend into Iran, India, and Russia with Bukhara and Samarkand serving as halfway points. Fruits such as grapes, apples, and pomegranate made it … Continue reading Small Bukhara Packs A Punch →

Finally time to embark on the highlight of this trip. Left our hotel at 6am to catch the 4-hour train ride to Bukhara. The Afrosiyob high speed rail, noticeably slower than the Taiwan HSR, but a much better option than the local Sharq train that gets you to Bukhara in over 6.5 hours. Interior Free … Continue reading Tashkent to Bukhara →

Located in Old Town Tashkent, the top sight in city is the Hazrati Imam (“Holy Imam”) Complex named after the 10th century scholar Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi. It consists of the 16th century madrasah, the mausoleum of Abu Bakr, the library, as well as the more recently built mosque. This is a good place to … Continue reading Hazrati Imam Complex →

Uzbekistan, the land of Amir Timur who claimed to be the descendant of Genghis Khan, is where all the international tourists are. The city of Tashkent is even more cosmopolitan than Almaty. If Almaty is Brooklyn, then Tashkent is Manhattan with all its modern gleaming high rises. The 1966 5.2-magnitude earthquake destroyed all historical structures … Continue reading Tashkent →