Mosaics, Melons and A Mill

Registan Square

At the open air market

Melons forever

Processing bark for paper

Paper mill

At the paper shop with Shahlo, Izzat, Vladimir and Zarif. The costumes at back are made of paper.

Check out the paper mache masks on the right

A drum was played, this is what happened

Selling bread at the bus station

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I took some photos in the morning, then went to the cafe for scheduled noon tea with my new Samarkand friends -- Shahlo and Vladimir -- and Izzat as translator, of course.  Everyone but me was late.  After lunch we all went to a fascinating place:  Zarif Muhtoriv, an accomplished artist in his own right, has recreated an old-style paper mill in the suburbs of Samarkand, complete with wooden mill and women beating on bark to create the pulp.  Everything in his small shop is made of paper.  We had a lovely afternoon in this quiet place, and Zarif told us the story of how paper was made in the old way.

I also had the opportunity to visit a silk rug factory in Samarkand, where I took some film but no photos. All the silk was spun and dyed at the small factory, where beautiful young women worked at looms weaving exquisite rugs.  Keep tuned for films -- I'm taking iMovie lessons at the Apple store later today!

The open air markets all over Central Asia are a marvelous sight.  Those in Samarkand were among the most beautiful, with products beautifully laid out in orderly piles in a large facility with a roof but no walls.  Unfortunately, because I had been warned to avoid uncooked foods, all I could do was sniff, not eat.  Spices are well represented at the markets, and spending time inhaling nearby is a sensuous treat.  More than once I wished there was a way to capture smell as there is visual and aural sensations!  Melons are everywhere, in sizes and varieties I'd not witnessed before, and fresh oven baked breads are sold in every possible location.

That evening Izzat and I dined at the hotel on potatoes and cabbage. My diet thus far had been 100% meat, dairy, and bread, so it was nice to eat some vegetables at last.

Izzat and I had become friends.  I played him some of my tunes on Garage Band; he was an adept computer man but had never seen this program before.  Between our mutual love of music and addiction to the internet, any gaps between a middle aged American woman and a 27-year old Uzbek man were easily bridged. He is smart, funny and open-minded, though a traditional Uzbek man in many ways.  It was awesome to have him as my companion for the week, available as needed with vehicle at the ready.  

Anything else to say is better told by more Samarkand photos, so I'm putting them here for all to enjoy!

Tomorrow we're off to another famed historic Uzbek city, Bukhara.