Thursday, June 8, 2006

Bukhara

I slept well & at breakfast my stomach was now accepting limited quantities of solid carbohydrate. Consequently I had the energy to get further out into the city. The first stop was at the local branch of the National Bank of Uzbekistan. I got to the modern marble clad building that housed it at 9:45am, 45 minutes after it opened, to find that the exchange desk had run out of money & was told to come back in the morning at 9am!

After spending a little time in the first reasonably fast Internet cafй for over 2 weeks I set out to explore the old town. It was packed with wonderful buildings, mosques, caravanserays & medressas from the 15th to 17th century. Most were in good condition though in 1 madrassa-turned-carpet-market a woman complained to me that restorations done in the 90s were of such low quality that they were already falling apart. No doubt Bukhara's dollar spending tourists will ensure that at least superficial repairs will be done.

I cycled 0 km

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