Back in Bukhara for Beers
Bukhara, Uzbekistan, on Thursday, October 23, 2014.
Back in Bukhara, a fisherman tries his luck at the pool of Lyabi-Hauz, across from the Nadir Divanbegi Khanaka.
“You’re exactly where I left you!” I told the Aussie couple Alyssa and Mark by the town square, Lyabi-Hauz. Four hours prior, I had run into them — before I rented the bike to ride the countryside — at basically the same spot, and I was reunited with them. This time however, I was caked in mud.
Their time away from me wasn’t as messy; they just spent hours trying to find a way to withdraw cash. (I had been advised to carry a lot of cash with me on this trip, as ATMs aren’t exactly reliable.)
“I want to take a picture of your beer,” I requested of Alyssa. “For the irony.” Alcohol with a building of Islam in the back. That said, we all had come to realize that Uzbekistan is very light on the Muslim rules (except for maybe possession of pornography at a border crossing). In fact, officially by the written charter of the country, Uzbekistan is proclaimed a secular nation.
We sat for beers at Lyabi-Hauz and had the usual travel talk, which led to dinner at their hotel. If not for the set menu that Alyssa and Mark had pre-ordered, I would have gotten the Bukharan fried beef dish called “jiz” — you know, for the #travelpun: jiz would have been in my mouth.
We had a bottle of wine, followed by a nightcap of brandy. One of those nights. When I walked back to my own hotel, it was relatively late (11:30ish) in this sleepy town in the off-season, and I had been locked out. I had to bang the door a while before the manager, Akbar, had to let me in.
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