Samankant Highlights:

• After a 3.5 hour stretch of sleep we headed out to our first scavenge at the Necropolis.  We found many teams had already arrived and we joined their tour.  It was not in English, so google translate to the rescue-ish.  It had a lot of sister, brother, nanny, randomly added in.  We had to hold our giggles in with the very serious guide. 

Necropolis- Samarkand (note instagram man!)

• Tomb of Daniel-Longest Tomb we’ve ever seen

• Ulugh Beg Madrasa and Tila Kari Madrassa with the secret stairwell to Turkish coffee, mints, and currants

• Siyob bazaar 
• Lunch with beautiful view

• We had an exciting adventure on rickshaw bikes but we were chased down for going to far! Like 2 meters past the line and the guy came flying behind us to reprimand us.
• Great news- The bus back was 4 hours rather than 9 was a huge relief!

Return to Tashkent

• Early wake-up to gather as many points as we can since we didn’t make the stop to the third city on our Uzbekistan leg.
• Wandered without a map or phone still and found the stunning Minor Mosque.  It can hold 7,000 people!

Minor Mosque

Women’s Only Entrance

• Wandered along a small canal searching for kayak rentals (a challenge) and Tashkant Land, hoping to ride the Man Cage (Donna keeps calling it the Man cave). Sadly Tashkant land was closed.
• No kayaks to rent in sight so we befriended Yuri, a Russian kayak coach.  He had lived on the US for a bit and knew some English.  After explaining our need to ride in a kayak, we found ourselves learning to race kayaks with the team.  These are not your standard sit on top kayaks either. Shannon could barely squeeze her booty in and it was wobbly!!  Donna was awesome. 😂. So enjoyed meeting Yuri, William , Bogham and his mom. It was a highlight of our trip.

• Our attempt at getting a taxi to our next stop, the Amir Timur and Independence square, was the scavenge, not the destination.  We have learned that about anyone with a car will act as a taxi driver. The price is negotiable and you have to be very firm when you are ready to get out. Also had one guy who loves Putin and Trump and another who loves Joe Biden. We did not initiate these conversations, but like everyone else in the world, they wanted give us their opinion. 
• Afsona for lunch for some traditional Uzbek cuisine. No, we did not try the horse meat. Once again, Shannon ate some tomatoes, bread and pickled vegetables as everything has meat. 
• Checked out a madrassah, Islamic education center ( with nothing written in English so learned very little). The guy at the convenient mart working the lunch counter offered to drive us to our next destination for 40,000 som ($4), which is a total rip off there. Yep, just left the counter to drive us!!
• Tashkent tower next with amazing views.  Another young woman asked to take a picture with us (not a first). Donna asked her “are you sure?” as we are looking REALLY rough. Another lovely woman helped us get a real taxi for 1100 som ($1) 
• Botanical garden, kept walking in a circle because we couldn’t find the exit
• Central Asian Market for some delicious Plov ( fried rice-ish) and Cherry Compote that was amazing. It was like cold Wassail. Shannon had her ubiquitous meal of bread and tomatoes. Donna helped an older Uzbek woman in traditional dress administer her eye drops in the bathroom. Thought it was a bit weird she’d ask, via sign language, the one person in the bathroom that didn’t speak Uzbek, but . . .

Shannon’s meals

• Final scavenge was “Moscow” ice cream. We ventured all the  way across town to find closed.  Instead we went to the street vender and get the Best vanilla with caramel. Who would’ve thought!  As per typical, we picked up some friends who wanted to actually take us to our destination rather than just point the way.  When two of the boys peeled off, they asked the third to continue with us and keep us safe.  Such kind people in Uzbekistan!  
• With a train delay, we found ourselves sprinting to our 9pm check in…again! We’ll figure it out someday.

Food summary:  

Best food- cucumber tomato salad and Cherry compote

Not the best food- banana flavored popcorn.

After a much appreciated 6 hours of sleep and a few hiccups at the airport, we are off to Georgia!

Overall impression of Uzbekistan- Wonderful country, kind and curious people and incredibly inexpensive. It may be the next big thing!