Today we left Bukhara and headed off to Samarkand with a glow from last night’s wedding. It was an experience we will treasure forever. How generous were they to invite complete strangers to their wedding? We, Canadians should take a lesson from the hospitality of the Central Asian people and the next time we notice tourists in Canada we should try to make them feel welcomed in our Country.
In the early morning, as we left the 2,000 (plus) year old section of Bukhara we saw the usual scene of women outside their homes or businesses sweeping their dirt streets clean from debris. We also noticed the burning of plants from the desert used to kill bacteria in the air and to keep evil spirits away from their homes and shops. Everyone was getting ready for a new day of action.
Just as we were leaving the city, Russ noticed that his spot was missing. The boys went back but it was gone, never to return again. Luckily for us Mitch was soon joining us and he brought another spot with him. The spot was used as a GPS device to track our adventure over the Internet.
The weather had dropped to 26 degrees C. versus the 36 degrees C. we had been getting. Everyone welcomed the new temperature because it was very comfortable. The skies were still blue and we still could wear our sleeveless tops.
The Korean Daewoo vans were very popular in Uzbekistan and many were used as taxis for the local people. These vans were workhorses just jammed packed with riders as they drove up and down their highways. I was thinking they would work pretty good in our neck of the woods as well because many times I had noticed an empty large bus going from White Rock to Vancouver. The smaller vans could work out cheaper in low usage times??
After driving a couple of hours outside of Bukhara we started to notice camels again. We had missed seeing camels since Khiva but the terrain had turned back into desert and the camels thrived in the desert. We also saw lots of cows and donkeys but in irrigated areas. Tomatoes were sold roadside by the vendors as we drove along. The further we drove, the more we noticed trees and less desert area. In Bukhara and its surrounding area, other than the irrigated areas, there were no trees just sagebrush and sand.
We had lunch at a spot owned and operated by a family in Shakrisabze. It was a private restaurant off the highway that catered to tour groups. Situated at their house in the village away from businesses it felt awkward when we stopped but we soon found out their courtyard was very large and allowed them to cater to the bus tours. Plus their kitchen was equipped to feed many people all at once. The menu was set and very good. We met our new guide at this stop; her name was Larisa, which translated into seagull. She was an Ukrainian/Russian living in Uzbekistan.
According to Larisa, the Silk Road started 1, 000 years ago, around 1,000 AD and it lasted until the 16th Century. In Uzbekistan, Timur, or Tamerlane as we called him, was a hero and there were several monuments dedicated to him.
When the Mongols attacked Central Asia during the 13th Century, they raped, pillaged and took slaves for 150 years in Uzbekistan. They didn’t occupy the areas they attacked; they destroyed and stole everything they could. When the Uzbeks collected themselves and started to rebuild after a Mongol invasion, the Mongols would attack them again. It wasn’t until Timur (Tamerlane or Tamerlane) came and united the different tribes of Uzbekistan that they conquered the Mongols and began to prosper in the late 14th and early 15th Centuries. Timur was said to be half Mongol and half Turkish. He spoke the Turkic language.
From the Internet “Timur was regarded as a military genius and a tactician whose prowess made him one of the world’s great conquerors. Timur’s armies were ferocious, feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. Independent scholars estimated that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population. The historian of Islamic Asia John Joseph Saunders summarized that “Till the advent of Hitler, Timur stood forth in history as the supreme example of soulless and unproductive militarism””.
Here in Uzbekistan Timur was a hero and there were statues of him everywhere. He defeated the Mongols and united the tribes of Central Asia, reigning from 1370 until 1405. Timur, was also known as Tamerlane. He injured his hip in a battle, which left him lame and he walked with a limp. Tamerlane morphed into Tamerlane. Born in 1336, he died at age 68. Emir Timur founded the Timurid Dynasty and was the grandfather of Ulug Bek, the astronomer and ruler of Central Asia from 1411 – 1449.
Timur was also the great-great-great grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, who ruled from 1526 – 1530. Interesting facts about Babur were that his father’s lineage was from Timur and his mother’s lineage was from Genghis Khan. And his great-great-great grandson, Shah Jahan was the 5th Emperor of the Mughal Dynasty who built the infamous Taj Mahal in India.
Emir Timur’s first wife was the wife of a good friend of his. When his friend betrayed him, Timur ordered his death and married his wife. Shakhrisabs (or Shakrisabze) meant green city and it was the birthplace of Timur. We stopped to visit a huge monument of Timur and behind the monument stood two sides of a huge gate constructed in the 14th Century by Timur. At one time these gates were entrances to a palace, called the White Palace, which was destroyed by Abdullah Khan who belonged to the Shaybani Dynasty. He ordered the palace to be destroyed because Timur had inscribed over the gates “If you doubt our power look upon our buildings”. The Khan did not like the inscription and ordered that Timur’s Palace be destroyed. Too bad, because these gates were beautiful, decorated with mosaic tiles and stood over 131 feet high. Originally the gates were more than 50 meters high and only 38 meters remained standing today.
Next we visited the Dorut Siadat (Dorut Tilavot) burial complex. Inside were the Kok Gumbaz Mosque and the Mosque of Hazrati Imam. I must say that to research all of this ancient history got to be really confusing. I would read the guidebooks and they would say one thing and then go to the Internet and that would say a different thing. What the heck? One said that Timur buried his favorite son here and the other would say his grandson Ulug Bek buried his favourite son here. I give up, you chose. Somebody’s son who apparently fell off a horse and died at age 22 was buried here.
Many people living in Central Asia were superstitious. This area of Uzbekistan was no different. Inside the Mausoleum at this complex were 7 stones marking graves. I believe one was Timur’s father but I am too confused to be sure. One of the stones had an indentation where families would pour water into and an Imam would bless the water. The ill person would then drink the water and hope to be cured.
Included at the complex was a blue domed mosque called the Kok Gumbaz, meaning Blue Dome. Ulug Bek (Timur’s grandson) built this Friday mosque in 1437 to honor his father, Shah Rukh. Located immediately behind the Kok Gumbaz Mosque was the so-called “House of Meditation”, a mausoleum built by Ulug Bek in 1438 but apparently never used for burials.
After we left Shakrisabze and got closer to Samarkand we were into the mountainous area of Uzbekistan. Russ and I took our Range Rovers over a mountain pass to get to Samarkand; whereas, our guide and bus driver took a longer route around the mountains to get to our destination. We arrived at our hotel a couple hours ahead of the bus so we were very happy to have taken the short cut. We were just finishing our dinner when the guides and driver caught up to us.
This morning we had to stop by our seamstress’s house for a final fitting. This was a fun morning and we were surprised how well she had made the outfits without any patterns. With just a few minor adjustments we left her house with a little girl guide, to return later that night for our final products. I found Barbie and Bea’s outfits to be exquisite. The detail in the trim was amazing plus their fabrics were glitzy, which suited them and the Uzbek dress style. Terry and my outfits were also nice but a little more subdued and casual. All of our fabrics were velvet but Barbie and Bea’s had bolder designs with jewels embedded in the velvet. If I ever get a chance to do this again, I will pick a “blingier” velvet fabric.
Someone told me there was a book written, called “Dead Souls” about farmers having extra people on their payroll who were not really working on the farm. This was a situation happening in Uzbekistan. Businesses had people on their payroll that did not actually work in the business. The person who was supposed to work in the business got credit for working there and accumulated a pension fund. The managers who allowed the extra person on the payroll kept the absent person’s pay cheque (less the taxes which were paid to the Government). The companies filed the tax returns not the individuals. There was corruption in Central Asian countries because wages were so low that people had to be creative in ways to increase their pay and standard of living.
For lunch Yuri took us to his apartment. They had a feast set up for us and we met his wife, two children and mother-in-law. The food was fantastic and his daughters were darling. We especially enjoyed the company of his daughter, Kyra who was around 7 years of age and loved her daddy. This was an extremely generous experience for Yuri to organize because Yuri was not our guide until we reached Tajikistan. He just wanted to introduce us to his family.
Walking through the city of Bukhara there would be missing manhole covers so you had to be careful, especially at night. We always took flashlights with us to walk home. Apparently the manhole covers could be sold as scrap metal to China so it was hard for the local government to keep covers on their manholes.
For dinner that evening we were invited to a local wedding and we were very excited to attend. Batir had arranged for us to meet up with the groom and his friends on a street near his house. The groom had to go get his bride from her home and we got to follow him and watch the traditional wedding procedures from the start.
While waiting for the groom and his friends we visited a local neighbourhood mosque. Previously, wealthy people would build minarets or mosques for people in their neighbourhoods to enjoy because every good deed balanced out bad deeds and they felt that building these structures for the people would go well for them on Judgment Day. This particular monument was unusual because it had 4 minarets all decorated differently. That was because the man who built the mosque had 4 daughters, all with very different characters. He built one minaret to represent each daughter. Today the mosque was not active; it was shown as a monument of the past history in Bukhara.
Most families in Central Asia wanted sons because daughters got married and left them to live with their husband’s family. Sons stayed with their parents and continued the lineage of the family name. Batir said that when his grandmother got married (matched marriage) she did not know that her husband had already been married before her. His first wife had died and they had two children. His children were sent away to live with relatives. When his grandmother got married, they had the celebration and three days later, two children arrived at their house. She asked who are these children and was told they are now yours! Big surprise!! Yikes, wonder how that marriage worked out?
Most marriages today were still arranged in Uzbekistan but a little differently than in the past. Usually the sons were asked if they had a girlfriend? If yes, they tried to arrange a marriage with that person. The boy’s family paid the dowry, which usually covered the cost of the wedding. (Previously, it was money paid by the husband directly to the bride because if they divorced the bride had nothing but her dowry money. To get a divorce the man had to say three times, I divorce thee! And poof they were divorced). Today, the costs were shared and the girl’s family bought all the furniture and supplies for the couples new home. But because they moved into the son’s family home I couldn’t imagine it would be all that much.
If the boy did not have a girlfriend the women in the family (mother, sisters and aunts) would make a list of eligible girls to review. The women interviewed suitable girls and their families to see who would be a good match for the boy. They would check out the cleanliness and order of the household. They would review whether they were hospitable, could the girl do embroidery, etc.? They were concerned about the suitability of the girl and her family with their family. I have to say I think this was a good process because whom you picked as your partner could determine the happiness in your life. Maybe by interviewing the family you could save yourself a lot of grief later on?? If they all smoked and you hated the smell of smoke, don’t marry the person! That type of thinking is good.
After meeting each other the two families would consider the viability of a marriage between the couple. Not all of the girl’s families accepted every offer. They too wanted a suitable match for their daughter. Agents representing the groom’s side would have another meeting with the bride’s family to negotiate the terms of the dowry. If the girl’s family were not interested they would give a diplomatic reply such as “sorry our daughter is too young at this time, to consider a marriage”. They would never be direct and say no way! If everyone were in agreement to the union, the families would arrange for the boy and girl to meet each other to see if they approved. If either of the couple did not want to be married to that person, the process would start over again with someone else. The boy would bring a small gift for the girl. If he was interested he would give the girl the gift and if she was interested she would accept the gift from him. If the girl came home with a gift the family members would know each of the couple were interested in each other.
The two families would then meet again over a tea and bread ceremony. When the bread was broken and shared around it meant that the deal was done and the couple was now engaged to be married. At that time the relatives, friends and neighbourhood were all told about the good news of the engagement. Previously, the couples were young when they got married, 18 – 21 for the girls and 20 – 23 for the boys. Today the couples were a little older, 18 to 25 for the girls and 25 to 30 for the boys. Batir, our guide guessed that today 40% of marriages were arranged and 60% were based on the couple being in love.
On the day of the wedding the boy’s family served plov to the neighbourhood men early in the morning. The government had now fixed the time between 7 and 9 a.m. because it used to be too early and it disturbed too many people not included in the ceremony. While they served the rice dish they played music and made loud noises announcing the wedding. The men in the neighbourhood plus an Imam would come for free plov (pilaf) and they would say special prayers to people who had previously died and they made good wishes for the future of the new couple.
Later in the day, the couple went to the civil registry office to be married in front of witnesses and received a marriage certificate. Sometimes the couple went to a mosque or at other times an Imam would go to the bride’s house to give a blessing and a prayer for the couple to have a good life together. In the past men in Uzbekistan could have 4 wives but now they could only have 1 wife legally. After the marriage was registered the couple went to city monuments for pictures. The wedding celebration would be held in a “Toy” building that evening with usually 200 to 300 guests.
After the wedding night the bride would move into the groom’s family home and for 40 days afterwards the bride would dress in special brightly coloured and sparkly clothes with lots of makeup as she was introduced to the groom’s family. They called it “showing her face” and she received gifts and got to know her new family. We noticed lots of young new brides in the market, all dressed up during this 40-day tradition (they wore special hats so they were easy to spot).
Having children was very important in this society. If a couple did not have a baby within 5 years or so, the groom’s family would put pressure on him to divorce his wife, pick another woman to marry and have children. The Prophet Mohammed stopped the custom of killing female children. (Apparently the Arabs used to bury them alive because they wanted a son). The Prophet said that both boy and girl babies were gifts from God and no babies were to be killed.
We waited on a street corner in the groom’s neighbourhood for our wedding couple to come back from their photo session. The bride was returned to her house and the groom with his friends met up with us near his house. There were 3 young boys all dressed up and walking on stilts with castanets. They danced down the street while a drummer and four men with long horns blasting out the announcement of the marriage to the neighbourhood. Nobody would be sleeping through this noise; it was really loud and exciting. The groom changed out of his suit into a traditional costume with a long black cloak embroidered in gold thread and a golden turban on his head. Two additional men carried flaming torches. The fire was a tradition carried over from the Zoroastrian religion. After announcing his marriage to his neighbours we all boarded a bus and went to the bride’s house a few miles away.
At the bride’s neighbourhood, the boys on the stilts, drummer, horn players and fire carriers were all back in full force, dancing and making loud noises as they walked to the bride’s house. The groom was encircled by his friends as he was trying to walk to the girl’s house and they were preventing him from doing this by pushing and pulling him every which way except towards the bride’s house. It was all in fun and made the walk to the girl’s house go very slow. Outside of her house the friends of the groom made a large bon fire and the groom with his friends still trying to stop him walked around the fire 3 times for purification, another Zoroastrian tradition.
The groom finally got to the door of the bride’s house and from somewhere in all of the chaos a large bouquet of flowers was handed to him to give to his bride. Then out came the bride and groom towards the cars. An Imam or elderly relative blessed them as they walked towards the crowd standing around outside. The bride was dressed in a beautiful wedding gown and she was absolutely stunning. A very petite, and beautiful girl with dark hair pulled up in a bun under a white veil. She wore a white wedding dress with a full skirt and the bodice was decorated in pearls and jewels. The night was jet black but the yard was lit up with the bon-fire and this beautiful bride, looking like a movie star, in her gorgeous dress, walked up to us foreigners with her groom and bowed 3 times. We were in shock! She bowed to us; we should have been bowing to her! Then she was helped into a car and they drove away honking the horn.
We all ran to our bus and drove off towards the “Toy”, wedding reception hall. At the wedding hall, the horns were blaring, and drum beating as the bride got out of her car with the help of the groom. She bowed 3 times to the fathers of the bride and groom to show her respect. The bride kept her head down, looking at the ground the whole time, as they walked her up the steps and through a large pink heart covering the entrance doorway.
When we got inside the hall, which was packed. There were way more than 300 guests in this room. We were escorted to our table, which was situated right beside the bride and grooms table! This was another shock, we thought we would be in a corner in the back of the room but no we were on display right beside the bride and groom. Oh dear that was a little bit of a problem, us being on display but it was a blessing as well because we didn’t miss a thing during the whole wedding celebration as we sat in our primo spots.
At the other tables, women were at one table and the men sat at another. We sat beside our spouses at the only mixed table. The bride and groom sat at a raised table on a platform so everyone was able to watch them. There was a drink table beside them and people came up to the bride and groom, toasted them with vodka or pop then had their photos taken beside the couple up on the platform. The bride and groom drank juice or pop, no alcohol at all. The whole time the bride kept her head down and bowed at the people who came up to toast them. The groom stood tall with his right hand over his heart to thank everyone who came up to them.
The strangest thing for us to watch was the bride with her head bowed the whole night! How could the bride have fun looking at the floor all night? Her neck must have ached by the end of the night? Anyway it was the tradition in Uzbekistan for brides to keep their head bowed because she wanted to show respect to her family and not be happy to be leaving them, to go live with her husband’s family. And it was demonstrating respect to her husband and new family that she would be submissive (I am thinking).
The rest of us sure had fun. We danced with the guests and each other. Watched the entertainment of belly dancers and paid money to them just like at Cosmos Restaurant. We gave toasts to the bride and groom and had our photos taken with them.
At one point the friends of the groom took him down from the platform and started to throw him up in the air and catching him. They did this for 5 or 6 throws. Lucky for the bride they didn’t drop him. The bride and groom danced for about ½ a waltz and the rest of the time they sat or stood on their platform. They didn’t even eat. I do not know how much fun they had? Their guests, including us, sure enjoyed themselves, eating, drinking and dancing the night away.
Today we visited the bazaar. This was always my favourite stop, shopping at local bazaars! We started off in taxis and then looked out the window to notice Brad walking down the street so we stopped and picked up another taxi! The girls had decided to have traditional Bukhara outfits made and a little girl (around 12 years of age) was taking us to the bazaar with her father and mother to pick out our fabric. How great was that? These strangers were helping us buy fabric and took us to a seamstress to get our outfits made. They were selling nothing; they were just helping us get the job done. They had a little car and somehow six people fit into that car. The rest of us took taxis following them.
The bazaar was really busy with the local shoppers and fabric was sold everywhere. We all selected our fabric, Bea, Terry, Barbie and myself. Then we needed zippers, elastic and trim. It was a blast picking all this out with every other shopper wanting the same stuff as us. We managed with the little girl’s mother’s help. She somehow kept us organized and away from all the bargain items we wanted to purchase. The father drove us back with all the taxis driving our men behind us. We stopped at the tailor’s house. She worked in her bedroom with one little light and her sewing machine beside the window. She sewed all four outfits with matching pants and trim in one day and night. I think she must have stayed up all night to finish these outfits because they were all very different from each other.
Prior to dinner we had a lecture by a historian by the name of Mahsuma who was educated during Soviet times in Tashkent. She studied archeology and had to learn how to excavate the mud bricks used in Central Asia, which was different than other places in the world because they had fired bricks when excavating. According to her it was much more difficult to excavate with mud bricks. Historically, Uzbekistan and Central Asia had two types of people living there, settled people and nomadic people. The Tajik people were the Persian and settled people whereas, the Uzbek people were the Turkic, nomadic warrior people. Today 80% of the residents in Bukhara spoke Tajik because that was the language of trade along the Silk Road.
There are many myths; folk stories and legends from historical times and the archeologists used their expertise to determine through their findings what stories were true and what were myths. Many foreign archeologists worked with the Uzbek archeologists and by combining their knowledge and skills they had a synergy, which helped to determine the world’s history.
As mentioned previously, in 6th Century BCE, Bukhara and part of Uzbekistan was settled by the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 BCE). In 4th Century BCE, Alexander the Great went through this area (336 – 323 BCE). After Alexander the Great, the Bactrian Empire (Greek) reigned the area. (Interesting note, this Bactrian Empire was called the same as the two humped camel).
The Silk Road along the Central Asian sections of the trade routes were expanded around 114 BC by the Han dynasty, largely through the missions and explorations of Zhang Qian, but earlier trade routes across the continents had already existed. In the first Century, in the year 751 AD, China fought with the Arabs for power in Central Asia. Christians lived in Central Asia since the Bactrian Empire and from the south; Buddhism was introduced from India and spread across Central Asia via the Silk Road. Zoroastrian, Shamanism and other pagan religions also thrived during these times.
During the 2nd to the 10th Centuries AD trading between Central Asia and China via the Silk Road was frequent and dominated by the Sogdian people. There were different colonies of the Sogdians throughout Central Asia during this time period. In addition to the Sogdians, the Turkic nomadic people occupied the Central Asia as well. The Göktürks became the new leading element amongst the disparate steppe peoples in Central Asia, after they rebelled against the Rouran Khaganate. Under their leadership, the Turkic Khaganate rapidly expanded to rule huge territories in Central Asia. From 552 to 745 AD, Göktürk leadership bound together the nomadic Turkic tribes into an empire, which eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts.
Then Arabs conquered and invaded Central Asia in the 8th Century AD. The Arabs spread their Islamic Religion, pushing out all of the other religions by taxing them higher, threatening or even killing the non-Muslim people. There was a large revolt by the Zoroastrians dressed in white clothing. It was called the White Revolution. Avesta was the book written for Zoroastrians from the 6th Century BC. An author by the name of Mary Boyce wrote a famous book on the Zoroastrian Religion from the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan. We were told the Zoroastrian Religion started here in Uzbekistan and after the Arab invasion when everyone was being forced to convert to the Islamic Religion the Zoroastrians migrated to India. Previously we were told the opposite that the Zoroastrians migrated from India. I will leave it up to you to investigate what was the true history.
The Arabs ruled by appointing governors to rule over the conquered people. Because the people were basically forced to become Muslim by the Arabs, today’s Islamic religion in Central Asia had many of the other religious traditions incorporated into their Islamic religion. For example the fire traditions of the Zoroastrians were continued during today’s wedding celebrations.
The 9th and 10th Centuries AD were considered the best times for Central Asia and the Samanid Empire in Uzbekistan ruled this area of Bukhara. Even though Samarkand was the capital city of Uzbekistan, Bukhara was always the capital city for the soul! Bukhara was always considered a very intellectual and religious city.
During the 11th and 12th Centuries AD, the Seljuk Turks followed by the Khwarizmi Empire governed here. Then in the 13th Century the Mongols invaded and in the late 13th and early 14th Centuries Timur (half Mongol and half Turkic) conquered the Mongols and started the Timurid Dynasty all of whom were Muslims. Interesting, there was a law stating that all leaders had to be related to Genghis Khan or they could not be a leader. There were many rumors of how Timur was related to Genghis Khan; one being that he married one of Genghis Khan’s daughters. In the 15th Century AD, Ulug Bek, Timur’s grandson ruled the area of Uzbekistan.
In the 16th Century the ruling family was the Shaibanids. This was also the time when there was a split between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims. There was a famous fight with Babur during this time period. Babur was the great, great, great grandson of Timur (Tamerlane). Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur was the conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty in the Indian Subcontinent and became the first Mughal emperor. The 16th Century was also the time period that Uzbeks were recognized as a race inhabiting a territory called Uzbekistan (land of Uzbeks) within Central Asia, under the leader of Uzbek Khan.
In the 17th Century there were 3 main Empires in Uzbekistan. One in Khiva, one in Bukhara and the third I believe was Samarkand. The Ashtarhanid Dynasty ruled these Empires. Then in the 18th Century the Manjits invaded and ruled the area. Central Asia was actually a mish-mash of tribes. Some settled and others nomadic. The Uzbek and Turkic tribes had fierce clashes over territories. As well as clashes with the Persian rulers. The borders of the now known Central Asian countries were non-existent and local Khans controlled areas. The Koquand Khanate fought the Chinese and took them as slaves, cutting off their traditional pigtail, called queues, worn by the worn by the Manchus from central Manchuria and later imposed on the Han Chinese during the Qing dynasty. The trading using the Silk Road eventually stopped and Russia became the trading partner with the unsettled Central Asian people. These conditions of fighting and economic unrest between the Tribal Khans made Central Asia easy pickings for the Czar of Russia to invade and be the protector of the area in the late 19th Century. The Soviets followed shortly after in 1920 and occupied Central Asia for 70 years during the 20th Century. In the 1800’s when Russia first invaded, there were 97 tribes around the Bukhara area of Central Asia.
Many of the people living in Central Asia today, still had the Turkic/Asian look of their Chinese and Mongolian invaders. Most had brown skin, dark hair with round faces and dark coloured Asian eyes, others looked more Persian or Tajik with their dark coloured round eyes and fine features. Some Uzbeks were blonde and blue eyed inherited from the Russian and Soviet invaders that were added to the mix during the 19th and 20th Centuries. It was very interesting to see the results of all of these wars and occupations.
For dinner we went to a new restaurant in Bukhara. The owner had actually gone to London and worked for five years to save and come back home to open this restaurant. It was very nice, upstairs and had ganch plaster decorating the walls. During dinner, Yuri our previous MIR manager came and joined us. He lived in Bukhara and he was also the first person to suggest we come to Uzbekistan and Central Asia on one of our trips. We were surprised and very happy to see him.