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Bukhara
Kalon Minaret
What do you talk about with your travelling companion when you are both waiting for various visa's and stuck in Tashkent? Well in my case our conversation somehow led to something I had heard once from some backpacker on another trip of mine. He told me that there was this theory that everybody in the world was seperated from Kevin Bacon within six degrees. Ricky actually had heard of this theory and so the ball started rolling. Now in my case I have concluded that I am seperated from Kevin in four degrees. How so? My mother used to work as a stewardess for Scandinavian Airlines System, one of her colleagues was called Christina who ended up marrying Roger Moore and I am guessing that at one point in time Roger would surely have met Kevin, even if it was in passing at one or another film festival; and so one arrives at four. Ricky is thus seperated from Kevin in five degrees, as is every other person I have met in my life. And here I have to apologize to Kev since that includes a whole bunch of unsavoury figures that I have happened to run into during my life
Bukhara
Dinner in Bukhara with aquaintances we met in Mashhad and again in Merv so far. I have since looked up this theory and it actually refers to other actors, but who cares? I am still only four degrees away from Kev and that must count for something!
As it turned out, my close connection to Kev didn't count for anything at the Chinese embassy, mainly because it was closed when we arrived to apply for our visa. As for the other ones, well the Tajik one went smoothly, and the Kyrgyz one involved a lot of waiting, five days to be exact. We decided that waiting any longer in Tashkent was not going to be pleasant, especially since we were staying in what the Lonely Planet described as the darkest hole in Central Asia. Instead we ventured to Samarkand and that is where I am still. Here I spend my days sipping tea in a fine courtyard in a very pleasant homestay only a stone throw away from the Registan. I have stayed here before, than it was winter, now it is spring going on summer and the trees are green, the weather warm and the tourists out in huge numbers.
While sitting here I have contemplated and the discussed the
Tashkent
Jama Masjid or in other words Friday Mosque at sunset
virtues and vices of Russian dubbing. You see on the train over I was treated to several films which were dubbed by the same man. Not only that, he in fact dubbed all the voices in those films, whether girl or boy, man or woman, child or baby, and he did so in the most monotonous voice I have heard in my life; there was no emotion conveyed whatsoever. Imagine a woman screaming for her life in the real film and then imagine the voice over being a deep voiced man basically just reading the script like a monologue. If I closed my eyes it was as if this man was reading the most boring book in existence. It was thoroughly fascinating and entertaining and as such worth a good discussion with other travellers.
Apart from the various topics of conversation I have touched upon in this blog, I also made a day trip to the unpronounceable tongue twister name of a town where Timur was born, the man who was fond of stacking skulls. He was also fond of big buildings, and in his home town he built the biggest of them all, a colossal palace of which
Tashkent
Navoi Opera house
only the impressive entrance gate now remains. And so Ricky and I have passed the time till that bright day tomorrow when we can return to Tashkent and pick up our Kyrgyz visa and try our hand on the Chinese one once again. I am not sure whether I will mention my close relationship with Kevin Bacon or not. Will it help or will it unexpectedly blow up in my face?
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Eelko
non-member comment
4 Degrees for me as well!
Since I know your mom directly, I'm as close to Kevin Bacon as you, haha! I wonder how close we are to Nicholas Cage though. Much more interesting...