Driving into the mountains
Now, when we were planning this trip I was told that we were traveling into the desert. Perhaps it was just the green of this spring, but I saw no sign of a desert! We were mostly in mountains covered by green grass and flowering cherry trees. I was continually fascinated how a cherry tree could manage to grow in every nook and cranny of the most craggy of mountain cliffs. You will see many pictures of the trees and their locations below. Now for the rest of the trip.
The drive into the mountains was beautiful. The snow-capped peaks and the rolling foothills reminded me of Colorado and the mountains, yet these had a different kind of a presence - perhaps because of the ancient communities in the foothills where there was water abounding.
One of our first stops was a hillside where there is an eagle shaped rock from one angle, and at another angle you can almost see a bat formed by the two rocks meeting. This hillside had been used to shoot a German apache movie - go figure - Germans playing apaches in Uzbekistan... Anyway the hill afforded our first clear view of the mountains.
As we continued, the views grew to be even more impressive. But what I noticed mostly was the human influence on the area. Every inch of every hill was terraced so that animals and people could easily reach the greener areas. Houses were built into impossible locations, and communities could be seen where I could not imagine living. And the cherry trees...
After an hour and half we had arrived at the location where Dennis planned for us to stay the next two days and to take us hiking into the mountains. Strangely enough I didn't take many pictures at this location. It was a small summer resort and in the summer it must be a wonderful relief from the heat as it is surrounded by mountains and trees and is shady most of the day. But for us it ended up being way too cold. We were put into two little cottages - the moms and kids in the room where a fire could be lit and the dad and guide in a room that had an electric heater. The beds were old Uzbek beds with one layer of a kurpacha on it and a warm blanket.
Once we settled into the rooms we took our first walk. I was not able to get all the way to the top of the mountain as the asthma that had begun during the flu had worsened as the altitude increased, and the boys continued up with Julie, Alex, Dennis and the girls. They returned an hour later to the spot I sat waiting out my wheezing fit, and we went back to begin to make dinner. We had purchased food for cooking on a campfire and began the process.
It was not as easy as it would first appear. We had very little wood with which to start the fire and keep it going, and as we had planned to cook potatoes in the fire we needed to the fire go down to coals for a while. We were able to feed the kids sausages that we put onto sticks, but then the adults waited for the potatoes as the kids finished all of the 20 sausages! By the time the process was done, we were underwhelmed with the meal we had created and were frozen to the bone. The boiled water we had requested two hours earlier had still not arrived. After the tea arrived and had stepped we warmed up by drinking our tea, and we all went to bed absolutely exhausted.
The sleeping was not great because in our room the fire went out relatively quickly, the beds were hard as boards, and the children were not sleeping well. Namejs came and complained that Didzis was kicking him all night, and I switched places with Didzis. All of us were cold througout the night, and exhausted in the morning. We decided that we would not stay there the night again.
We made a fire again in the morning to stay warm, got hot water for tea, and made a cold breakfast of fresh fruit, bread, salami, cheese, and cut up tomatoes and cucumbers. Then we prepared for our walk. As we were preparing Didzis threw up his entire meal twice, and was gutted (no pun intended!) that he would not be able to go on the hike. We both stayed behind and he slept while I read. We froze in the room again although it was 28 degrees outside on the mountainside. Everyone returned 5 hours later sunburned and exhausted. Alex took pictures of Namejs who had climbed with great enthusiasm and hopefully I will be able to add a picture of that here later. This was a great experience for Namejs to achieve something like this without the presence of Mamma and his brother.
Didzis awoke feeling much better and felt able to eat. He played for a good while with the rest of the kids, but pretty soon complained of a stomach ache and threw up again. At this point we were waiting for Amir to return to the resort to take us to Shakrisabz.
Alex and Dennis went to pay the owner for the use of the cottages, and the owner got very upset that we were leaving a day earlier (Dennis had not prearranged this with him prior to the day we arrived so there was no reason for him to get upset.) He wanted us to pay for both nights even though we only stayed one night. We did pay, but even Dennis was upset at the process because he had hoped to bring tourists to the location in the future. Now due to the owner's attitude he will not do this any longer. Sadly this left us with a bit of a sour taste in our mouth even after the good hiking. Below are the only two pictures I got to take of the hiking...
As we were driving to Shakrisabz we continued to see some great sites.
Before arriving in Shakrisabz we stopped off at a great sashlik place with the most amazing view and a terrific meal. It made up for the bad ending to our visit in the summer resort. The sunset was beautiful, the service was great, and we enjoyed ourselves. You will see that we are sitting in the usual Uzbek table - a tapchan. This is how Uzbeks eat their meals outside.
After eating well and feeling rested, we climbed back into the cars and drove the rest of the way in the dark to Shakrisabz. Namejs would fall asleep for the first time at 7:10 instead of 8:10, and wake up only around 6am. The long hike up the mountain made for a sleepy boy.
In Shakrisabz we arrived at our home stay. We were a bit nervous prior to arriving, but within five minutes it was clear that this would be a welcoming and warm location. More in my next post tomorrow.
The drive into the mountains was beautiful. The snow-capped peaks and the rolling foothills reminded me of Colorado and the mountains, yet these had a different kind of a presence - perhaps because of the ancient communities in the foothills where there was water abounding.
One of our first stops was a hillside where there is an eagle shaped rock from one angle, and at another angle you can almost see a bat formed by the two rocks meeting. This hillside had been used to shoot a German apache movie - go figure - Germans playing apaches in Uzbekistan... Anyway the hill afforded our first clear view of the mountains.
As we continued, the views grew to be even more impressive. But what I noticed mostly was the human influence on the area. Every inch of every hill was terraced so that animals and people could easily reach the greener areas. Houses were built into impossible locations, and communities could be seen where I could not imagine living. And the cherry trees...
After an hour and half we had arrived at the location where Dennis planned for us to stay the next two days and to take us hiking into the mountains. Strangely enough I didn't take many pictures at this location. It was a small summer resort and in the summer it must be a wonderful relief from the heat as it is surrounded by mountains and trees and is shady most of the day. But for us it ended up being way too cold. We were put into two little cottages - the moms and kids in the room where a fire could be lit and the dad and guide in a room that had an electric heater. The beds were old Uzbek beds with one layer of a kurpacha on it and a warm blanket.
Once we settled into the rooms we took our first walk. I was not able to get all the way to the top of the mountain as the asthma that had begun during the flu had worsened as the altitude increased, and the boys continued up with Julie, Alex, Dennis and the girls. They returned an hour later to the spot I sat waiting out my wheezing fit, and we went back to begin to make dinner. We had purchased food for cooking on a campfire and began the process.
It was not as easy as it would first appear. We had very little wood with which to start the fire and keep it going, and as we had planned to cook potatoes in the fire we needed to the fire go down to coals for a while. We were able to feed the kids sausages that we put onto sticks, but then the adults waited for the potatoes as the kids finished all of the 20 sausages! By the time the process was done, we were underwhelmed with the meal we had created and were frozen to the bone. The boiled water we had requested two hours earlier had still not arrived. After the tea arrived and had stepped we warmed up by drinking our tea, and we all went to bed absolutely exhausted.
The sleeping was not great because in our room the fire went out relatively quickly, the beds were hard as boards, and the children were not sleeping well. Namejs came and complained that Didzis was kicking him all night, and I switched places with Didzis. All of us were cold througout the night, and exhausted in the morning. We decided that we would not stay there the night again.
We made a fire again in the morning to stay warm, got hot water for tea, and made a cold breakfast of fresh fruit, bread, salami, cheese, and cut up tomatoes and cucumbers. Then we prepared for our walk. As we were preparing Didzis threw up his entire meal twice, and was gutted (no pun intended!) that he would not be able to go on the hike. We both stayed behind and he slept while I read. We froze in the room again although it was 28 degrees outside on the mountainside. Everyone returned 5 hours later sunburned and exhausted. Alex took pictures of Namejs who had climbed with great enthusiasm and hopefully I will be able to add a picture of that here later. This was a great experience for Namejs to achieve something like this without the presence of Mamma and his brother.
Didzis awoke feeling much better and felt able to eat. He played for a good while with the rest of the kids, but pretty soon complained of a stomach ache and threw up again. At this point we were waiting for Amir to return to the resort to take us to Shakrisabz.
Alex and Dennis went to pay the owner for the use of the cottages, and the owner got very upset that we were leaving a day earlier (Dennis had not prearranged this with him prior to the day we arrived so there was no reason for him to get upset.) He wanted us to pay for both nights even though we only stayed one night. We did pay, but even Dennis was upset at the process because he had hoped to bring tourists to the location in the future. Now due to the owner's attitude he will not do this any longer. Sadly this left us with a bit of a sour taste in our mouth even after the good hiking. Below are the only two pictures I got to take of the hiking...
As we were driving to Shakrisabz we continued to see some great sites.
Before arriving in Shakrisabz we stopped off at a great sashlik place with the most amazing view and a terrific meal. It made up for the bad ending to our visit in the summer resort. The sunset was beautiful, the service was great, and we enjoyed ourselves. You will see that we are sitting in the usual Uzbek table - a tapchan. This is how Uzbeks eat their meals outside.
After eating well and feeling rested, we climbed back into the cars and drove the rest of the way in the dark to Shakrisabz. Namejs would fall asleep for the first time at 7:10 instead of 8:10, and wake up only around 6am. The long hike up the mountain made for a sleepy boy.
In Shakrisabz we arrived at our home stay. We were a bit nervous prior to arriving, but within five minutes it was clear that this would be a welcoming and warm location. More in my next post tomorrow.
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