Day 9: Bringing the Cultural Part of Journey to a Close

Morning: Traditional Hammam Experience

One of Bukhara’s attractive features is its centrally located and reputable hammam, Bozori Kord. In the morning, we set off and forked out the 400,000 som for a sauna and massage. The hammam experience was anything but ordinary. Without giving too much away, the masseur’s technique was robust, far from the gentle Thai massages we were used to. However, they happily accommodated cautious tourists with a lighter touch.

While the conflicts caused by arbitrary colonial border drawing in Africa and the Middle East are well known, few people will be aware of the disruption caused by Leninist redistricting in Central Asia. Over tea after our massage, we had an interesting conversation about this topic with a fellow ‘hammomite’: a Tajik diplomat on holiday in Uzbekistan. He explained how the death of former president Islom Karimov led to a thawing of relations between the two countries and greatly eased the burden on Tajiks with cross-border relations. (He also shared some questionable conspiratory views on the recent terror attacks in Moscow, which made the conversation no less memorable.)

Afternoon: The Summer Palace and a Goodbye

We spent the rest of the day wrapping up our sightseeing with some outlying sights, such as the Emir’s old summer palace, and enjoying a slightly more elegant lunch at Ayvan in the old Jewish quarter. The next day, our friend, who had accompanied us on the trip so far, was going to leave for Germany, so we recapped our past week of holiday over Georgian pizza and some live music. (Avoid the restaurant for anything other than its central location and view.)

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Day 10: The Journey into the Hissar Mountain

Morning: Arraning Travel Logistics

In the morning, we embarked on the least prepared stretch of our trip: we planned to go hiking in the rugged southeast of the country, close to the Afghan and Tajik borders. We decided on the town of Boysun as our base. Relatively easy to reach by train from Samarkand, there is no direct connection between Bukhara and Boysun, so we asked our hotel to book us a private taxi. At a cost of $120 for a 500km/7h drive, this option wasn’t cheap but the drive was very comfortable and safe with seatbelts available at all 4 seats – by no means a given in Uzbek cars, and a ‘luxury’ we had specifically asked for!

Afternoon: Arrivial in Boysun

We arrived in the afternoon at Hotel Gaza, by all accounts the most popular option for foreign travellers, so booking in advance is recommended. They are not on the usual Western booking sites but you can find them on mybooking.uz. Our booking hadn’t gone through though, so we were lucky there were vacancies; if you speak Russian, we suggest calling in advance to confirm.

The rooms are clean and comfortable, and the kitchen was a true delight: the chef showed us how to cook lamb tandoor and excelled also at other Uzbek staples, such as lakman soup. In a town that is largely devoid of hospitality infrastructure, the Gaza Hotel restaurant seemed the best option in town.