Medressas, Mosques, Minarets and Mausoleums

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We thought we were going to be home free after reaching Bukhara as we were back in civilisation which meant being able to drink cold water. Well, things aren't that simple around here! As hard as it is to believe, it is also actually hotter here than it was at the yurt camp, I am guessing the thermostat has edged over 50 degrees...And the search for cold beer and water led us halfway around the town and it was only after stopping at 7 shops that we were able to find colder than room temperature drinks!

Even as the sun goes down, relief is still not in reach as the warm air rises from the ground and makes it feel even hotter than when the sun is out! During dinner last night, we all struggled to hold a normal conversation as we were all so delirious! Luckily we are staying in a place with air-con in the room, and I've thrown my environmental conscience out the window and have been sleeping with it on full blast!

Bukhara is known as Central Asia's holiest city. There are numerous mosques, medressas, mausoleums and minarets here, and this is the case for most of the cities in Uzbekistan. I guess I should give an explanation of these so...

Mosques

Islam dominates Central Asian architecture. There are 3 types of mosques. The first is known as a local mosque which serves the local community. The second type of mosque is a Friday mosque, which have been built to hold an entire city congregation each Friday (our Sunday). The third type of a mosque is a festival mosque which may be used for special occassions. The way you can tell is apparently by looking at the number of balls on the spire above the dome construction.

Medressas

These are islamic colleges or religious schools. They are set around a cloistered courtyard, and normally house a mosque, a lecture room, as well as living quarters for teachers and students.

Mausoleums

These were either built by rulers to ensure their own immortality or to commemorate holy men. Most consist of a prayer room and the tombs are housed in a central hall or underground in a side of the building.

Minarets

Minarets are tall tapering towers designed to summon the faithful during prayer time. They were also used as lookouts to spot invaders.

Dav, our tour guide has an incredible wealth of knowledge on the history of Uzbekistan, and has spent hours telling us about it all. Basically at some point in the past, the country has been ruled by just about everyone except the Romans. There were the Turks, the Arabs, the Chinese, the Mongolians (led by Genghis Khan) and more recently the Soviets. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country has tried to retain some traditional customs and values, and there is evidence of this. However you can also see the development that has occurred and now the country is a mix of old vs new, traditional vs modern culture and it's really interesting to see both sides.

I am finally starting to be able to differentiate the Russian and Uzbek languages and am picking up some phrases here and there, which is making things more interesting when talking to locals. But it doesn't stop there unfortunately, now there is another language to add into the mix! Uzbek laced Tajik - which is Farsi is spoken by Tajik people, one of the nationalities in the Central Asian region, that not only live in Tajikistan. Tajiks are also found in parts of the other stan countries, but mostly in Uzbekistan. Apparently Uzbek and Tajik are completely different, but I really cannot tell the difference! I thought Dav was talking to our driver in Uzbek this whole time, only to find out now that they've been talking in Tajik!!! So the whole language thing is a never ending thing, as once we head to Kyrgyzstan, of course the people speak Kyrgyz! I am feeling comforted somewhat though as Uzbek IS similar to Kyrgyz, and they understand each other. Hooray!!!

We are heading to a remote village called Sentab in the mountains between Bukhara and Samarkand. There we will stay overnight in a local guesthouse and hopefully we'll get to sleep under the stars!

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Photos

view of minaret at Miri-iarab Medressa
this was taken from the top of the Kalon Minaret

Kalon Minaret
towering minaret standing at 45m tall

prayer time
these clocks show the times that muslims are called to prayer each day

don't mess with me
Dav playing with a very sharp knife

local girls
it's really hard to get candid shots of local children as they always want to pose for the camera.

bling teeth
it's fashion here, and many people inc women have gold capped teeth. not just one either, the whole lot!

playing around
this cute little boy entertained us for a long while!

proud taxi driver
this taxi driver was polishing his car for about half an hour