The Plan B Adventure

We realize our writings have been a bit deliquent but we have returned to the world of high-speed internet access and the friendly confines of a Russian-run internet cafe to relay the stories, sights, and education we have experienced over the past 10 days.

Our Silk Road Adventure started April 16th in luxurious style (apricot juice in champagne glasses on arrival) at the Markazy Hotel, smack dab in the middle of Tashkent. Now, we had already experienced quite a bit of Tashkent including the National History Museum, Tashkent Tower, and Friendship Square so we were ready for something new. Courtesy of C.A.T.S., our local Uzbek guide company we hooked up with Babur (of previous mention) and begin our 25 day catered adventure. Yea…that’s right, no dissecting city streets, confused ‘Language Barrier’ looks, unknowingly stepping into a crappy dining experience, or finding various modes of transportation….we paid the money and were ready to be waited on. Babur and our driver, Mr Abdur Rashid exceeded expectations!!

Our first order of business was getting a look at old city Tashkent, the real Tashkent, before departing on the Silk Road. Babur introduced us to the dominant religion of Tashkent and Uzbekistan with a trip to the Islamic Institute, a viewing of one of five original Osman Korans (7th century) and Kukeldash Medrassah, one of two working National medrassahs. This was quite an different educational endeavor after months and months of Buddhism. The Kukeldash Medrassah actually has a public relations director that meets you as you enter. He generously takes the time to walk you through the educational process of the school, from computer classes to Koran studies. Afterwards, Babur enlightened us with his knowledge of traditional Muslim architecture from minarets to medrassahs to mosques as well as the different styles of artistic design from different historical periods…more to come on this later!! Most fascinating was our trip through the Chorsu (English translation:Four Roads) Bazaar which was our first encounter with an actual Silk Road reality. The people, the colors, the smells, the commerce……wow!! After some of our other Asian bazaar encounters this was a CLEAN, unintrusive undertaking that we relished as we sampled and purchased many of the tastes that made this trade route so famous. Next stop (and the last in Tashkent) was Gulnara B and B for a true home-cooked Uzbek meal.

Let’s take some time to introduce you to Uzbek cuisine. Start with a platter full of multiple fresh salads that you can choose from. Everything from the best tomatoes you’ve ever tasted to mayonaisse-cumin mixed julienned veggies to fresh stalks of dill and coriander. At the same time you also get to sample endless amounts of regionally-specialized bread. Uzbekistan is not for the Atkins dieter. The bread is really unavoidable and since it varies from region to region you have to try it all, right? Next, soup!! We can’t say that we had any soup that didn’t have a chunk of mutton in it…..well, wait a minute maybe one, nope ALL!! These are very tasty soups even with the mutton….they include anything from fresh giant yellow carrots to crispy potatoes to dumpling filled with what else…..mutton. Region to region they are all fabulous and again…you’ve got to try them all!! After soup it’s usually a choice of three things….plov (rice with veggies and mutton), shashlyks (meat BBQ’d over a thin rail of hot coals) or samsas (giant bread envelopes of meat and veggies)……sometimes ALL THREE!!! Yes, we are eating well! and packing on the LBS to prove it, check the photos. Thanks to Babur are introduction has been all-encompassing and we are happy to say this food rivals any other cuisines we’ve tasted even if mutton is ever-present. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the bevvies as they each add a distinction of Central Asian culture. Black tea to warm up, green tea to cool down, vodka at every meal, and regional beer…..YUM….don’t forget the world’s second most recognized (1st..NY Yankees) brand, Coca-Cola!

Okay…now that you are hungry let’s get on the road to Samarkand, cultural capital of Uzbekistan. Ah….mystical Samarkand, home to one of the most coveted sights in Central Asia, the Registan Square, as well as many other historical sights to see. In structured education style Babur first took us to visit the tomb of Uzbek hero, Emir Timur, to begin our Central Asian historical lesson. Timur is to Central Asia what Alexander the Great was to Macedonia and Jenghis Khan to the Mongols. In fact, Babur’s (our guide) namesake is Timur’s grandson whom installed the Mughal Dynasty in India for a 300-year reign. Obviously with a stature like this the nationalist Uzbeks and all Central Asians allow Timur to dominate the sights of almost every Uzbek city. After seeing many of Samarkand’s sights (we won’t list them all) we were awe-struck with the artistic design, architectural enormity, and completely unique international style. A few of our favorites were Shakhi-Zinda…a underground necropolis built for Timur’s female dynasty, and the Sherdor (Lion) Medrassah with its towering domes and gorgeous Timurid-style 16th century mosaics.

We tremendously enjoyed soaking up all the history and information especially the dynastic changes and religion. We were shocked at the breadth of world powers that wanted into Central Asia…why?? What is here?? Well, mountains filled with gold, marble, and endless supplies of gypsum….plains encrusted with oil, salt, and fresh subterranean water…and most importantly for world conquering armies, miles upon miles of green grass and vegetation for those hungry horses and soldiers. The history is extremely long but begins with Alexander’s entry in 300 BC continues with Arab invasions, Persian occupation, Jenghis Khan, Timur, Turkic rulers, and all the way up to the giant Khanates that ruled before the Giant White Army from Tsarist Russia took it all away. All though each culture added to the historical depth of this area we were really saddened to see what destructive armies do to regional treasures when conquering lands. Most of the sights have been restored delicately but really the only way to avoid destruction is to either build below land or hope the sand swallows up your structure before the invaders arrive….guess you can’t do that with a 45 meter high Minaret.

Additionally, the religious transitions and adoptions has been amazing. But enough of our historical brain dump (Can you tell we have been learning new things non-stop for 10 days?) for now….we will wait on our religious diatribe for when we reach the religious capital of Central Asia (as well as one of 7 noble Islamic cities)….Bukhara!

Ahh…..out of the hustle and bustle of Bangkok!! We are now in the quiet Northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai. As our guidebook recommended we splurged for $25/day on a room at the Montri Hotel. Very nice and very centrally located in the old city part of Chiang Mai. The city has a population of over a million yet it feels like a quarter of that. As we’ve seen in much of Thailand there are many more tourists compared to China but people are extremely nice and courteous to the local Thais….well I guess that can’t be said for the old single men travelling alone (if you know what I mean) but at least they are spending their $$$ here.

As we stepped off the plane with our new friends, Stephen and Melissa, we decided to pick up a local songthaew (pickup w/benches in the back) and split a ride downtown to our hotels. Our tickets from Bangkok to Chiang Mai were under $50 each so we decided to splurge on the transportation for a whopping 50 baht ($1.10USD). The cost of things is something we knew was going to be inexpensive but once you are immersed in it, the idea of how cheap things are really sinks in….Of course we are trying to make up for this by properly (yet still within the local scale) compensating drivers and guides for what they do. It is shocking to see yourself get caught up negotiating with a tuk-tuk driver between 30 and 40 baht when the monetary difference to your pocket is less than 10 cents. There is another interesting conundrum we have noticed and begun discussing with other travellers. It is the issue of letting your defense mechanism down enough to enjoy the local people and their advice. After our ride from the airport and stopping off at our hotel we made our way down the street to a gorgeous wat (Buddhist Temple) at closing time. As we were entering, I (Jeff) began talking with a local guy and he began to offer advice, ideas, etc……We are both extremely open to meeting new people and adhering to some of their recommendations but letting your guard down enough to enjoy the conversation and not believe they have ulterior motives is not always easy. Our solution: being just as interested in their lives as they are in ours. This leads to legitimizing their curiousity and helps us to acclimate with others better. The gentlemen, Pui, at Wat Prasingh, happened to be an electrical engineer at the Singha Brewery in Bangkok and was in Chiang Mai for the big Flower Festival and vacation. He comes to Chiang Mai quite often to escape Bangkok and enjoyed sharing with us where the locals shop, eat, and how to catch the best of the monk activities at the local Wats. In addition he recommended we go see Doi Suthep, the famous Wat on the mountain, where the sacred white elephant found its final resting (story is a bit more involved) place over 600 years ago. We loved it!!! After meeting Pui and listening to the monks chant for over 40 minutes we ran into a local Thai history teacher on the way out. He confirmed our comfort with Poon’s recommendations and offered some others….Amazing what you can experience when you learn to consciously trust others. This doesn’t mean we are losing our “big-city” skepticism and will become extremely naive, it really means that we want to be more open in accepting people’s generosity and experience the world for what it has to offer.

Ok….so enough about our travelling philosophy and back to the adventure. We ended up meeting Stephen and Melissa for a great dinner that night and ending the night sauntering through the local night bazaar. Now this is an open message to all…..things are ridiculously cheap here, so much so, that if you can afford a ticket to Thailand (not that much) we can point you in the direction of things you buy at home (silk pillow covers, wooden teak furniture, knock-off watches, tailored clothes) for a tenth of the price. Seriously……I don’t think Westerners are meant to see these things as they will never pay full price at home again. Unfortunately, we can’t tote too much around with us and are attempting to keep our budget controlled so shopping is a frustrating experience for us (Jeff especially)….HAHA.

What has been our solution….purchase the things that can be digested (or sometimes not) and enjoy a filling meal for under 5 dollars. Unbelieveable…..the cuisine has go to be one of our favorite characteristics of Thailand and we are making it the full experience. After getting up on the 2nd day in Chiang Mai and visiting some of the local sights we wandered down the streets of the local Anniversary market and here’s a sample of what Jeff (don’t be jealous, Russell) took in:

1. Pad Thai (10Baht = 25 Cents)
2. Fried Sweet Pumpkin Fries (10 Baht = 25 Cents)
3. Grilled Sticky Rice (5 Baht = really cheap)
4. 3 Pork Dumplings (10 Baht = 25 cents)
5. Glass of Fanta Orange (5 Baht = even cheaper)
6. Palm Sugar Donuts (10 Baht = 25 Cents)

Yes….Jeff might become extremely large in SE Asia by the looks of this meal, but he just couldn’t stop…….Becca was much more conservative with her waistline effect and had the local Chiang Mai speciality, Kaow Soi Gai, brown curry chicken soup with yellow noodles (20 baht), but she also got a brown skirt (160 Baht = 4 dollars).

We know….the food is great so why not learn how to make some. That is just what we did at the highly-recommended Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. The class (on their website, we took Class #1)in from 10am – 4pm and cost $25….unbelieveable!!! We showed up promptly after watching the big, local Flower Festival parade and were whisked off to the market for some research. Here we learned about rice vs bean noodles, different local veggies, and, most imporant, how Thais obtain there fish meat!!! After picking up some ingredients we went back to “slave” in the kitchen. Before each dish we would sit down with our resident chef, Roond, (Em….she really knows how to handle her kitchen, you’d approve!!!) and learn how to build the dish….then we would prep our ingredients and begin to cook. After each meal we would get to enjoy the fruits of our labor and a little chat with the others, then back up for more cooking and more eating. Check out the pics of all our eats on the Flickr site. This is something we BOTH really enjoyed and will have to become a regular budgetary item while on the road!!!

Well…this has taken a while to upload pics and document our adventures. We are off to share a Chang Beer and play some Cribbage….We leave for Chiang Dao and the Nest tomorrow so stay tuned for our elephant adventures and Becca’s first day of pampering.