More of Tajikistan as we drive to Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Today we basically spent the day in the bus as we drove from Khujand, Tajikistan to Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It took us eight hours, but we made many stops along the way. When I first looked at this day in the itinerary when I signed up for the trip, I was not happy. It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful day. It was so good to be out of cities and see how the people lived in more rural areas. We also drove through spectacular mountains and valleys. The mountains were the Pamir mountains. We drove up the Fergana valley, crossed a 10,000 foot pass and descended through the Zerafshan valley along the Zerafshan river. Zerafshan means gold. The valley is known for apricots and other dried fruits, also gold and coal mines. Tajikistan is a major trekking destination.

So toilets here are mostly squat toilets. So when we go into the restroom area, we can’t tell which kind of toilet we are having to deal with. So it was really exciting when we went into a bathroom where they had signs on the outside. in the toilet where there was a seat there was also another funny sign.

I have seen women do this in China. As it turns out, in cultures that are used to squad toilets when presented with the actual seat, women will stand on the seat and squat.

On the outskirts of Khujand, we stopped at a fortress that had a number of statues on the outside

Continuing on our journey. Many of the pictures that I’m posting were taking from inside the bus so there might be some glare.

Notice the geological formations, which are similar to Easton, Oregon. These are most likely caused from cooling lava flows. But I might be entirely wrong too.

The bus stopped here for us to take some pictures. This is the highest point, and we will start our journey down from here into the Zerafshan valley.

Notice the road that we will be going down.

Beautiful Canyon carved out by the river

We stopped for a potty break in a small village. Here’s a picture of three young boys.

This village had really cold water coming down from the mountain, and they used it to cool soda that they sold to passing motorist.

Here is that same cold water coming out of a pipe

Lunch was basically rice pilaf which is the first time we’ve had this on the trip. It is one of the national dishes of this region.

We stopped at the Sarazm archaeological dig and museum. The archaeological excavation was started in 1988. The site dates back at least 5500 years.

In the background is a two-story pottery kiln. The rest are housing complexes.

A rock that contains a considerable amount of copper.

A replication of a possible village of this time.

A picture of what the settlement could possibly look like

Princess of Sarazm. Again, just a possibility of what an individual could look like.

Left is a circle building and hallway like construction.

You are now at the border crossing on the way into Uzbekistan.

We arrived at Samarkand, settled into our hotel and had dinner. Dinner was not much to write home about. After dinner, we walked out to see the major Madrassah complex lit up at night. it was located just a couple blocks from the hotel.