Baking in Bukhara and a menage a trois.

• Queenietord's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Bukhara

Trip Start May 15, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 24, 2008 Next
Entry

  Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Saturday, July 12, 2008

Hi Folks from an extremely hot and sweaty Victoria.
It has to be around 40 degrees outside and local time it is just after 6pm. I came looking for internet around 4ish and eventually found this one but there was no electricity and i was told in a very ex Russian way "Come back in an hour" (Like we are bothered!!) I then tried to find somewhere in the shade to spend an hour and now I am paying for it. I'm so red they could make borst soup from me.I have seen my map for the first time in a while and it looks like it has gone crazy with red lines shooting in every direction. I have spent ages trying to rectify the map pins but the interent is so slow and this site is like wading in porridge so I think I will probably leave the errors and put them right when i get back to the UK or a reasonable internet connection.
We got into Bukhara this afternoon after completing our journey through the Kyzylkum desert. It has been ridiculously hot. Yesterday we drove out into the desert on our way from Samarkand, which is an oasis in the middle and with all the truck windows open it was like being in front of an electric fan on the highest setting. We stayed at a yurt camp site last night and when i got there I just collapsed on the mattress on the floor. I lay there feeling sorry for myself and eventually I looked at my face in a mirror. Despite only being in the sun for pee stops on the way I was burnt to a cinder by the sheer wind power. Thank god I bought that wonder skin serum from Boots before I came out. Last night's meal was included - no restaurants in the middle of nowhere so just as well - and on the table they provided between every 4 people a bottle of vodka, a carafe of wine that tasted more like port and water. We couldn't finish all the vodka - several of us were under the weather so we took them at the end of the night and put them in the truck's fridge. Couldn't do that with the wine so we drank that.
The loos were the usual longdrops but these had resident stag beetles - or should that be dung beetles as they were at the bottom of the drop and living in the poo. When I went to the loo quite late on I thought the ones I could hear was a rat as it rustled about in the paper below me. No exaggeration it's body was at least 6/7 cms long, as seen by my head torch. At least it wasn't a rat. There was a complimentary camel ride included too but I think only one person took up the offer. It was only for 30 minutes and I couldn't be arsed to get on a camel for such a short time. From previous experience I know that the worst time is getting on and off the beast so to do both within half an hour - NO NO NO!!!
More truck gossip for you. A woman called Margaret joined the trip in Tashkent - rather a large lady who asked me on the first day how i managed with getting on and off the truck. (Me because I'm the oldest godger she could ask I suppose.) She said she was having difficulty and had already hurt her knee. Anyway she's gone -- signed herself off the trip and caught a train back to tashkent on the hope that she gets a plane back to the Uk today. There weren't any seats but she was on a reserve list and decided it was worth it. She lasted all of 4 days and was only due to be on the trip for a couple of weeks - such a waste. Looking on the bright side it meant we were an odd number of women and I was looking forward to having a single room occasionally so i could luxuriate in my solitude. Nic and I used to upgrade to 2 rooms occasionally to stave off the need to garot someone but no such luck since Kashgar. Anyway we arrived here today having slept 4 to a yurt last night and i was praying tthat my name would come out of the proverbial hat for the single room. No such luck!!! There's also an odd number of men so Bex asked which one of us would share with one of the men. It went down like a lead balloon. There are a couple of blokes with whom the situation would be okay as we have known them since the beginning of the trip but Richie's dad has come out and they are obviously sharing so despite Richie and George being fair game they are off limits. There's also Phill who would cope with the situation well but he is now sharing or should I say lumbered with the Demented Dane Kim. He most definately has problems and has developed the need to sleep with Phill at all times as he likes the routine so Phill is also off limits too. That leaves us with Dave who took away my will to live this morning when he said "Name a country - go on name a country and I bet I have a photograph on my iPod of it." If I get like that please feel free to get out your automatic pistols and shoot me at dawn. Wow was that the noise of guns being cocked!! There's also Rob who I have equally known since the start of the trip but would be horrified at having to share with one of us - a very private man is our Rob - and then there's Raz. He seems a nice enough bloke but I just couldn't share the confines of a room with a man who looks more like a rat looking through a loo brush. It would bring on my rat phobia. So instead of having a room to myself I am now in a treble and sharing with 2 women instead of one. Come on Universe- sort this out for me. Its difficult enough co-ordinating your farts when one person goes into the bathroom and you can run round like mad to dispel the gas but i think they may well put me in with the Demented Dane if I start that behaviour when there's someone in the room with me.
Anyway this place looks fantastic- very photogenic. Its not as over restored as Samarkand, the Russians basically left it alone so I'm looking forward to the tour tomorrow as long as it's not too hot. I may well get up around 6ish and see a lot myself before the sun bakes.
Hope this blog didn't have "too much information " for you- if so blame the sun!!!
Lots of love ,
Victoria.
xxxxxxx

Share

Previous Entry Next Entry