And now for fairness...

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I will laugh at an English tourist...

You set off for a 6 week trip. You decide on day 1 that you're so homesick that you want to go home. What do you do? You give up and go home almost immediately.

Well this one did, but not before coming out with:

"so this is raw onion?"

and

(passing by the mausoleum of Ismail Somoni)
Me: "Somoni's really popular in Tajikistan, they've even named their currency after him."
Him: "What's their currency called then?"
Me: "Um, the somoni."

The Somoni mausoleum was restored to shiny newness, like almost everything of antiquity in Uzbekistan. At the same time as restoring the buildings, they've removed any normal city life from anywhere near them as well, so much of the time it feels really sterile, like being in a very large museum.

Samarkand was a bit of a disappointment because of this. The Registan, which I've looked forward to seeing for years, was lifeless, its minarets only slightly wonky after lots of rebuilding and straightening works. A photo display in one of the medressas showed the same buildings with markets in amongst them, and lots of busy life amongst the romantically rough-at-the-edges antiquity. Such a shame.

Bukhara was a tiny bit less sterile, because there is still life in the old centre; in Bukhara's case though it has all been taken over by tourist-oriented businesses.

Khiva is like a cross between the two, eerily quiet but with some homes within the city walls and a market just outside the walls.

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