May 20 A day driving in Uzbekistan

After a day drinking in Uzbekistan I am in love! Donkeys pulling carts with huge loads trudge city and country roadsides. What amazing beasts they are.  Leafy boulevards, badly potholed roads and highways carry wee mini busses and tiny old cars the likes of which I haven’t seen for 30-40 years.  Everywhere there are lush vineyards producing fruit for the table, for drying and for the wine markets. And everywhere we encountered friendly generous people and bountiful fresh food. Orchards, grapevines, market gardens and pistachio trees. Mountains surrounded us - huge and rocky, steep sided and imposing, reaching to stony jagged peaks where we saw eagles soaring. 

Many vineyards lined the road

The border with Afghanistan is in the distance

Sheep may safely graze!

Uzbekistan has 13 regions/states (although only 12 stars appear on their flag). One of them, the region of Samarkand where we were, is surrounded by mountains. Over one mountain range to the southeast lies Tajikistan, beyond another to the south is Shakhrisabz and 250 km further south lies the Afghanistan border, and over the mountains to the north lies Kazakhstan.  The valleys are simply beautiful - wildflowers everywhere, pistachio trees covered in small green fruits - just out of reach!  The rather awesome rocky monoliths, one looked to me like an old volcano with its side blown out.

Rivers rushed through the valleys washing down rocks which were collected for road building

A pistachio tree with small young fruit

In the mountains and hills, towers of beehive are stacked precariously among banks of wildflowers. And young boys, budding cocks of the roost, sell garlands of flowers by the roadside and swagger by on horseback!

Of course we bought a garland!

At strategic and scenic spots along the road, village markets offered mountain and village food - dried fruit, nuts, seeds, huge bundles of fresh herbs, baskets and packets of dried herbs, dried yogurt (which I wanted to buy but was advised against), dried fungi and ginseng plus plus. 

Wonderful views over the valley and distant ranges - and a vast array of food

A busy stopping point with wonderful views over the valley and distant ranges - and a vast array of food. We bought dried apricots and dates. Along the way we passed fat goats grazing by the roadside herded by men with long sticks and past sleek cattle tethered on long ropes munching the lush grass and flowers.

Later ...... Bukhara hundreds of kilometres west is surrounded by the Kyzylkum Desert. Such a contrast but rather awesome with its distant horizons and spiky vegetation, dark subtle colours and stones and occasional groups of camels wandering along the roadside. 

The camels were fearless of the traffic

Splonked here and there along the road into Bukhara, natural gas plants belch out malodorous vapours. Smelly eyesores but essential to this fragile economy (unsurprisingly Russia reaps the biggest returns on their gas). As a matter of interest, Turkmenistan, where were heading next, has the fourth largest natural gas reserves. They have cut ties with Russia and forged a partnership with China in order to get a better deal. Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also have large natural gas fields and Kazakhstan has the third largest oil reserves. 

Keep your eyes on Central Asia! The world's great powers certainly have. China is the new high-stakes player for control replacing the half-century long Great Game between Britain and Russia for regional domination in the C19. These fights for dominence have always been at the expense of the local people whose cultures were once almost crushed - most recently by Soviet annexation. Such is the history of this ancient region .......