Off on an adventure in Uzbekistan! (page 2 of 6)

Well there! I thought I’d clicked "follow this thread," but turnss out I hadn’t. So I was just sitting in the first taxi, calmly waiting for the Namibian travel journal to wrap up, while you’d already racked up a ton of miles 😮. Caught up now—I’m keeping pace 😎

Side question: no one seems to rent cars in this country (like, to wander around for a few days near one of the cities to visit, since I figure the train’s probably better from one tourist city to another). Not possible?

We’re moving fast through Namibia, but I’m also trying to keep up with Uzbekistan at the same time!

To answer your side question—yes, it’s totally possible, but between the big highlights like Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand, it’s mostly desert, and there isn’t a ton to see or do on the outskirts. The train’s definitely the best way to get around. That said, if you want to step off the beaten path a bit, there’s another mode of transport we’re about to start using in the next few days. I’ll let you discover it later 😛

I’m really looking forward to it (though if it’s by tuk-tuk, I’m not sure I’d do the same 😏).

I'm blown away by Khiva—it's so beautiful! And your travel journal looks pretty free of other tourists, so hello total change of scenery. For train travel, did you buy the tickets in advance or on the spot?

I'm blown away by Khiva—it's so beautiful! And your travel journal looks pretty empty of other tourists, so hello total change of scenery. For train travel, did you buy the tickets in advance or on the spot?

Yeah, tourists really weren’t crowding the place... For the train tickets, we bought them before leaving. And we were glad we did because they were fully booked (but only with Uzbeks!)!

April 10 - Day 6

Today, a new city unfolds before us. A city where ancient times dance with the present. Here’s a clue for you, our ever-growing audience—from ages 82 to 117! You can play along with us. Here’s your hint, appearing on your screens now: "Shorn goat short"... Time’s up! This Uzbek city, often compared to Khiva and Samarkand architecturally, offers visitors some of the most beautiful Islamic madrasas in the world! World-famous for its Kalon Mosque and Chor Minor, I am, I am... - Bukhara! - Oh, I say YESSS! Oh yes, I say yes! Bukhara, the beautiful Uzbek gem...



Let’s just say Bukhara is packed with monuments and sites worth exploring. So, after a hearty breakfast served by the family-run guesthouse hosting us, we grab the bull by the horns—well, the sites, not the bull’s horns—to tackle them all throughout the day!

Here, our eyes are constantly fed with images to store in our memories until Alzheimer hits the reset button. The sheer size of the Kalon Mosque impresses us, the mosaic facades of the madrasas fascinate us, and the architecture of the Chor Minor hypnotizes us...











The miles on foot add up without us even noticing. And since the city is so well-designed, little squares with benches pop up just when our behinds need a break. You get it—the city, its architecture, its vibe, everything captivates us. But Bukhara has that little extra compared to other cities we’ve visited around the world: its shops!!

Day 6 (continued)

Yeah, I surprise even myself by writing this! But I’ve got to admit, the craft shops in Bukhara are worth their weight in magnets and snow globes! Here in an alcove of an old madrasa. There in the historic buildings called domed bazaars. And what craftsmanship, wow! Again, even though I’m not usually into those little dust-gathering souvenir trinkets, I’ve got to say—what we’re seeing here is *Deutsch Qualität* made in Bukhara! Plus, live demonstrations! Puppets, cutlery, embroidery, silk, calligraphy, goldsmithing, carpets... There’s something for every taste, even the bad ones!

Day 6 (continued)







In the afternoon, having uncovered all the city’s secrets, the wind pushes us—just like in Khiva—toward the grand bazaar. In just a few hundred meters, we switch galaxies and vibes at the same time. We love it! And we also love finding those Uzbek prices and the smiles and interactions that traditionally come with them. A travel haircut for two euros, two ice creams offered by the merchant, a quick meal in a little eatery... Everything we love!!



And we also love our last visit to the Ark Citadel for the sunset, which comes a few hours before ours... Come on, are you hanging up? No, you first… No, you… Come on, you first… You! Biiiiip… See you tomorrow!

April 11 - Day 7

For budding adventurers, Uzbekistan is best known for its three famous turquoise cities along the Silk Road, including Bukhara and Khiva, which we’ve already visited. But beyond the postcard-perfect sights, with our backpacks strapped on, we usually try to escape the must-see spots to sniff out the real heart of a country. The thing is, at first glance, this young beauty doesn’t give herself up so easily to just anyone. On paper, the other sites worth seeing aren’t exactly hiding under a haystack! And don’t even get me started on the transportation options to get there!

Anyway, after some thorough research, our mission for today—if we choose to accept it—is to reach the small village of Hayat, way up in the Nurata Mountains, 270 kilometers away from where we are right now. To get there, it’ll be *Peking Express* mode, but without Stéphane Rotenberg to explain the rules! In other words, we’re going to hitchhike to move forward, but mostly to get up close and personal with the people who’ve already made such a great first impression on us!! So, officially, we’re now in *Uzbekistan: Hard Mode*!

Before diving into the deep end without a life jacket, we still have two sites in Bukhara we want to feed to our eyes. First up, the Samanid Mausoleum on the outskirts of the old city, which is within walking distance. This tiny building with its unique architecture is a place for quiet reflection—though you’ll need to tune out the screams of kids having a blast like little Uzbeks in the amusement park right next door. Five minutes flat for the visit!



For the second stop, a quick Yandex (the local ride-hailing service) teleports us to Bukhara’s summer palace, aka the Uzbek mini-Versailles, just a stone’s throw north of the city. Beyond the chance to visit the place, the real perk is escaping the center of Bukhara, where it’d be tough—if not impossible—to start an epic thumb-raising session. I’m personally more sold on that second advantage because this Uzbek mini-Versailles feels more like a *Wish.com mini-Versailles* than anything else. Meanwhile, Flo’s eyes, more innocent than mine, actually enjoy the visit...

Day 7 (continued)

Alright, time for some thumb-raising! Just so you know, you don’t actually raise your thumb in Uzbekistan. You’ve got to raise your arm and wave it by the side of the road like you’re trying to take off. And it works pretty well—several vehicles stop for us in no time! But between those going the wrong way or asking for money, it’s only after about twenty minutes that we hop into a vehicle already packed with six other people heading to Navoi. "Squeeze in, squeeze in!" So there we are, eight of us crammed in for an hour’s ride, complete with failed attempts at conversation and an ice cream treat from the driver!



As we get out, everything falls into place perfectly when a bus driver stops to ask where we’re headed. Nurata! Cool, he tells us to hop in—it’s his good deed of the day: free ride for us! Actually, after some really interesting chats with Akbar, one of the passengers, it turns out we’re on a bus carrying a whole team of miners to their workplace. But not just any mine—an *gold mine* near Nurata!



Once we reach Nurata, we know things are about to get tricky—the last 120 kilometers of road run along the Kazakhstan border through a deserted, middle-of-nowhere zone.

Since no one’s exactly lining up to go that way, we decide to take Toya up on his offer to drop us off for a small contribution to help him round out his month. Again, the first exchanges are a bit rough, but after switching to Level 5 sign language, laughter fills our little Chevrolet as it rolls straight ahead on a bumpy road through stunning Uzbek desert steppe landscapes!



Okay, you’ve got to stay humble in victory, but still—we totally nailed it! Mission accomplished, we’re ready for *Pékin Express*, and our night can finally happen at Hayat with a family of Uzbek mountain folks who pounce on us as soon as we step out of the car to offer us a place to stay and a meal...

April 12 - Day 8

If we went to the trouble of coming all the way to this remote corner of this far-flung country, it wasn’t just for a meet-up in uncharted territory! Our horizon is dotted with beautiful mountains, we each have two sturdy legs, and a quick glance at the sky suggests it’s ready to cooperate with us for the day. Mix all those ingredients together, and of course, Our Lady of Hiking is on today’s agenda! Thirteen kilometers for each of our two legs! If you’re good at math, what does that add up to? It means we came here for the fresh mountain air, for the beauty of physical effort, to do our aging bodies some good! But all that’s just a bunch of hocus-pocus! Because how do you explain my blood alcohol level exceeding two grams by 6 PM? Is that for my body’s benefit? It’s a long story... Come closer, let me tell you...

At nine o’clock, with our backpacks strapped on, we bid farewell to our hosts, setting our sights on the village of Uhum, then a petroglyph zone deep in a valley, and finally the village of Asraf as the grand finale to all our efforts. The first stretch climbs in altitude and passes through small hamlets where animals go about their business and villagers—especially the kids—wave at us enthusiastically.











The second stretch follows a river through the valley, where many villagers have set up their gardens. At the very end of this dead-end valley, after a bit of searching, we find the famous petroglyph—a rock carving dating back over six thousand years.

Day 8 (continued)

Once we got there, we had four kilometers to backtrack before turning toward another valley. That other valley, though—we’d never see it... at least not today! As we walked along enthusiastically, I waved to a group of about ten men down below, busy by the river. One of them signaled for us to join them. And you know my golden rule as a seasoned adventurer: You never—ever—turn down an invitation from a local! Once we were with them, they explained they were a group of friends celebrating one of their 25th birthdays here for the day. And guess what? We just got a VIP invite!!!

One shot of vodka to celebrate, we chatted with them using our phone translators. Two shots of vodka to celebrate, we switched to sign language. Three shots of vodka to celebrate, and I was suddenly fluent in Uzbek!







Ten shots of vodka to celebrate, and France 1 - Uzbekistan 0! Uzbek snoring session in D major!



Anyway, it’s 6:30 PM, and we’ve spent an amazing afternoon with them—starting with light topics like soccer and salaries, then, thanks to the alcohol, diving into geopolitical threats from Russia and homosexuality. And let me tell you, it’s in moments like these that you really notice the cultural differences and "little" thought divergences between a fairly normal French guy and a guy who grew up in the depths of a former USSR region...

"Alright, Flo, that’s all well and good, but where are we sleeping tonight?" Luckily for us, one of the guys has a brother who lives a few hundred meters away, and he’s happy to put us up for the night! Our lucky breaks just keep coming! After an afternoon immersed in Uzbek culture, we’re now welcomed into a super warm family who bends over backward to make sure we have a great time. Thank you to both of you, your three kids, your future baby, and grandma for this evening of exchanges and warmth over a delicious meal! It was awesome!

This episode confirms two things we noticed during our trip: -Uzbeks are very welcoming -vodka isn’t forbidden by the Quran We traveled with a French-speaking guide back when smartphones couldn’t do translations!

This episode confirms two things we noticed during our trip: -Uzbeks are very welcoming -Vodka isn’t forbidden by the Quran We traveled with a French-speaking guide back when smartphones couldn’t handle translations!

A few shots of vodka and the translator becomes useless. I was speaking fluent Uzbek!

April 13 - Day 9

Madame de Flo gently opens her eyes in her grand four-poster princess bed, just barely roused by the sound of bubbling bathwater flowing in the next room. She stretches contentedly as the smell of warm croissants tickles her nose... There’s no denying it, there *are* some perks to being on vacation!

"Flo, the alarm’s going off—we gotta move!" Because reality is quite different. Flo wakes up with her back aching from sleeping on the floor on her thin mat. Instead of a bath, a jug of water awaits for a quick wash. And that smell? It’s cow dung drying in the sun outside their hut, which will be used as fuel next winter. There’s no denying it, there *are* still some perks to being on vacation!





Because real happiness—where is it? It’s right here: in the mischievous smile of our hosts’ youngest daughter when she sees us this morning. In the feast of a breakfast prepared with care. In Grandma, who keeps telling us her life story in Uzbek even after we’ve told her twenty times we don’t understand a word... We’ve only spent a short time with this family, but it’s with a heavy heart that we have to leave them. Whatever brought us here—fate or luck—has been incredibly kind to us. See you soon... we truly hope!

Day 9 (continued)

So we pick up the hike right where we’d so unceremoniously dropped it yesterday. No hard feelings, it waits patiently for us and offers a completely different ecosystem today since we’re climbing into the high pastures to follow a ridge overlooking two valleys. Just us and the mountain—well, if we ignore the Uzbek shepherds keeping an eye on their flocks. And since no one bothers to invite us to Marguerite the cow’s birthday or Biquette the goat’s this time, we rack up the kilometers until we descend into the plain where we’re supposed to catch a ride after fifteen klicks in our legs.









Except on this pampa road, there are about as many cars as spaceships! Okay, two blond kids with backpacks on a deserted road must look pitiful because we’re scooped up by the first vehicle that got lost out here!



Off to Forish, where a second vehicle takes us to Jizzakh! And that’s when the skit begins! The guy behind the wheel suddenly fancies himself a tour guide and stops every fifty meters to have us taste what little vendors are offering by the roadside! Sounds interesting, right? Except every vendor’s selling the exact same thing: stalks of an unidentified plant that Uzbeks peel like rhubarb and chomp on whole. Even that could be interesting if the stalk were tender with a subtle sweet taste. But nope! The thing’s bitter and barely edible! At the first taste, Flo looks at me, I look at her—she got that I got it. Trash!





"Did you like this seasonal product you can only find on the slopes of the Nurata Mountains and that I love? - No!" Fifty meters later, the guy stops again at an identical stand... "Want some? It’s really good for the heart... - Uh, well, no thanks..." And then the guy gets out and what does he say to the vendor? Or at least, what do we think we understand from what happens right after? "I’ve got two French people with me and they’d like to try your disgusting thing!" Because the vendor starts peeling his thing to hand it to us in the car, proud to introduce his UFO (unidentified food object) to some little Frenchies on an adventure! And without exaggerating, the situation repeats—again and again—at least four times! With Flo, I’ll admit we had the instinct to check if the guy wasn’t the Uzbek brother of François Damiens!

The rest is a smooth final ride to our goal: Samarkand! But I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow morning because there’s a lot—*a lot*—to say!!!

The landscapes are also really beautiful! And the vodka looks pretty good from that final photo 😏 This travel journal is out of the ordinary

The landscapes are also really beautiful! And the vodka looks pretty good from that final photo 😏 This travel journal is out of the ordinary

It's not Uzbekistan's strong suit, but it allowed us to step off the usual tourist trails in this country. It also gave us a chance to connect with the very welcoming rural population!

April 14 - Day 10

Kids, get out your history books; today, we're tackling a myth! The crème de la crème of the world! Before I really started looking into Uzbekistan for this trip, I only truly knew Samarkand from this country. I mean, Samarkand has always been one of those enchanting places whose name alone is enough to transport me... just like Zanzibar, Ushuaia, Varanasi, Borobudur...

Samarkand owes its reputation to its rich history, but especially to its monuments—each one more beautiful, grander, and more impressive than the last! Sites straight out of *The Arabian Nights*, just as you’d imagine them! Except here, no need to fire up our imaginations. We’re here. In real life! And what better way to start exploring this city than by heading straight to its heart: The absolute pinnacle of Islamic architecture, where you rub shoulders with angels and reach for the stars… Just saying its name is enough to make women pregnant… The Registan! If this name doesn’t ring a bell yet, here’s a tip: Remember it well!







A hundred meters from this square, we’re hit with that classic little pang of apprehension—fear of disappointment… And once we’re right in the middle of it, almost face-to-face with it at this early hour, that little worry gets a size 43 boot right in the backside and sent packing! Because I’m officially declaring that what we have the privilege of seeing right now slides straight into our top three most beautiful monuments we’ve ever laid eyes on (after Woinic, of course—goes without saying!). Me, who usually prefers nature over urban art, I’d told myself that so much beauty in a human-made structure couldn’t possibly move me. Franck, let me tell you—you were lying to yourself!

Day 10 (continued)











The Registan, whose name means "red sand square" in Persian, isn't just adorned with one or two, but a whole complex of three massive madrasas covered in delicate tiles from head to toe. We're just as impressed by the overall view as by the details of each of the three facades and their minarets. And it still has more up its sleeve! Because stepping into the inner courtyards of the Ulug Beg, Sher-Dor, and Tilla Kari madrasas transports you into a parallel fairy-tale world of gardens, shops, arches, and balconies where every nook and cranny is pure enchantment! We just sit there, lost in contemplation, not saying a word while our subconscious tries to figure out if we're really facing a real environment or in the middle of a nighttime dream! Absolutely breathtaking!

Day 10 (continued)

Four hours! That’s how long we spent swooning over this pseudo-wonder of the world—it totally deserved the official title. What a blast! Four hours might sound like a lot for a single site, but go hang out there one weekend and you’ll see it’s absolutely worth it!...

After seeing the Registan, you can die happy. I’d even go further—after seeing the Registan, what else could possibly wow us like that? Because I’m not sure Uzbekistan has anything else like it in store! But if you’ll let us, we’ll keep looking!

First stop: Bibi-Khanum Mosque! And well, you won’t believe this, but I think I need an emergency medical prescription—our jaws, already wrecked by the Registan, just took the final blow! Plov, watch out—you’re about to hit the floor! What are these megalomaniac dimensions? Another masterpiece from good ol’ Amir Temur! And all that blue! And that serenity… did I mention the serenity of this place? Anyway, we all agree Bibi-Khanum has a ridiculous name, but we love it!