Jill Will Go...

Today we headed to Dushanbe, with a stop in a lovely little town... ...where some of the locals posed for me.... ...and there were smiles all around... ....and one shy little guy tried to play the "if I can't see you, you can't see me" game.... ...at the market... ...this lady took my picture with her cell phone, and when I asked her for a picture, she proudly showed off her meat while tucking her cell phone into her pocket... A whole wing for bread! Heaven. These little devices are placed on a baby's private parts (depending on what parts they happen to have) and the drain is threaded through the hole in the cradle so the pee falls into the bowl below. Better than diapers! We made our way through the mountains towards Dushanbe. The pretty side of the vi

There was one last glimpse of the Registan as we said goodbye to Samarkand. Better yet were the waves and blown kisses of commuters in a passing bus. I blew them kisses right back. I loved this city in all of its restored glory. We stopped for special Samarkand bread for the drivers to bring back to their wives. Our guide joked that it was their "passport" back into the house as proof that they had really been working in Samarkand. The bread here is so specific to regions that that people can glance at a round piece of bread and know where it came from, what's in it, and the quality of it. Add the bread stamps to the equation and you are practically wearing the story of your life on that bread. It was a long driving day, with a border crossing looming. The border crossings here keep you humble, and this one was no different. But first, in anticipation of a two to four hour wait, we had to the facilities - such as they were. I've mentioned my prior restro

The Ragistan is a magnet. I can't help but go there and just sit and watch it. It is all fresh, and rebuilt. The Russians had a lot to do with the preservation of this place. Our guide said that Uzbekistan has had to learn a lot about preservation techniques since the Russians pulled out in the early 1990's.  I couldn't have asked for a better sky today. Inside one of the mosques, there were photographs of what the Ragistan (and other parts of Samarkand) looked like before the restoration. On the way to dinner, we stopped at a few Christian churches in town. Homemade plov, the best yet.  Samarkand by night.