12 February 2012 / leggypeggy

Bukhara—quirky hotel and thieving grocery store

A takhta—traditional seating in Central Asian teahouses.

Uzbekistan was a standout county for us, and Bukhara (our second stop) did not disappoint.

We arrived in daylight (unusual) and immediately appreciated the quirkiness of our hotel.

Now I should mention that when you are on an overland trip, you don’t normally stay in hotels. But Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are not ‘camping-friendly’, so hotels, hostels or homestays are usually the only options.

Our hotel in Bukhara was just off the main square. It has two stories, built around a lovely courtyard which is overlooked by a rambling set of walkways and rickety staircases. All sorts of plaster and wood work is being carried out on the walls to give them an ‘olde worlde’ look, which sort of works and sort of doesn’t.

Just below our second-story room was one of those bed-type platforms that are so popular in teahouses in this part of the world. Built of wood, this traditional seating, called a takhta, is covered with carpeting, thin mattresses and pillows. There’s usually a low table in the middle. And of course, the rule is NO SHOES. As an aside, takhats tend to be men-only territory. Women and foreigners are tolerated.

When three isn't a crowd. Note the fancy ceiling

As with many hotels in Central Asia, the rooms in Bukhara are for three to four people—never just two—so we shared with Terry. He’s a night owl, so our schedules don’t conflict at all. He gets ‘home’ about the time we’re ready to leave for breakfast.

There was a small grocery store around the corner which sold an array of basics, as well as beer and spirits. Several times I went in to buy a couple of beers, but the fellow at the counter always wanted to charge me three times the price that was marked on the shelf. Other people from the truck had bought it for the posted price, but I never could. Many of my fellow travellers offered to go buy beer for me, but being a belligerent boycotter, I declined. I wasn’t about to give those thieves any of my money. I say, principles before beer. And gosh I’m thirsty.

But speaking of money, I felt like a bazillionaire in Uzbekistan. One US dollar was worth almost 1800 Uzbek som. So every US$100 we changed gave us almost 180,000 som. To top it off, the banknotes are huge. I had to carry our loot around in my daypack because it sure wouldn’t fit in a wallet.

Also don’t forget to pick a number before 29 February 2012.

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