The 'Stans - Samarkand (5 August 2019)

I have a good night sleep at Amir Hostel and head down for the classic Central Asian buffet breakfast. I chat to an English guy who is cycling from London to the Pamir Highway - he's been going for months and is on the final stretch, but still weeks of up hill cycling ahead.

I head out in the early morning to walk back to the Registan to explore further and actually enter the complex. But first of all, I go in search of my morning coffee. As this place is fairly touristy, I was expecting to find a decent cup of coffee. I bump into the Belgian guy at the Bedouin-esque café. We catch up over breakfast and make plans to share a taxi to the Tajik border the following morning. He recommends a book called the Great Game chronicling the British and Russian Empires' foray into Central Asia - I make a note to download it onto my kindle and get hooked.

We part ways and I head to the Registan to once again marvel at the historic beauty.





I'm a big fan of Central Asian mosaics:

As I'm wandering around the Registan trying to take some snaps for the Gram, a police officer approaches me and asks how many people are in my party. I say just the one. He then offers to take me onto the roof of the Registan for a small backhander, around $10. I of course snap up the opportunity and pay the bribe. We walk to a fire escape, and he looks around before ushering me up. We climb to the top and can see the Registan in all its glory. He tells me to keep my head down and to take my photos.

I paid my first (and last) Central Asian bribe for a slightly odd experience on the roof of the Registan in Samarkand...

At this point I decide to grab lunch, but realise my money is running low so have to do the standard Central Asian ATM hunt. You'd think there would be an ATM accepting foreign cards, I try several but no luck. Eventually I find a US Dollar ATM, so I withdraw what I can and then head to a currency exchange to finally get my Uzbek So'm.

Back at the hotel I do some reading and then meet the Belgian guy for dinner. The place we wanted to go to was closed so we end up at an Uzbek/American diner and have buffalo chicken wings! We discuss tomorrow's journey to Tajikistan and I take up his offer of a seat in his 4x4 around the Pamir Highway. I had read about these trips before the trip and thought it sounded terrible being stuck in a car for 5 days, but I put my faith in the Belgian guy...