Friday, October 07, 2011

Friday, October 07, 2011

"My Strength is in Justice"

Posted by Hippobean at 11:30 PM
Should have checked the shower yesterday because just as I've expected they didnt fix it. They simply put the showerhead back on and of course when I turned the water on, the showerhead shot right out. Finally had to drag the maintenance guy up to my room. He first took the showerhead off from another room and replaced my shower with it. Everything finally was working properly, and I just wondered which poor soul ended up with the room with my broken showerhead.

Everything in Samarkand was about Timur. "My Strength is in Justice" were his Words.

Today we visitied the mausoleum of Timur, the Gur-Emir with the beautiful azure dome sitting on an octahedral building, simple and beautiful to the naked eye. In the crypt, there's his tomb, covered with a block of greenish-blac stone, nephrite or jade, and the tombs of some of his sons and grandson the famous Mirzo Ulugbek. Honoring his teacher Sayyid Baraka, there's also a tomb for him, a much bigger one in a lighter stone color. The tour ended at the Bibi-khanym mosque at the end of the shopping avenue. Since I've already did the shopping the day before and didnt care much for bazar, I've joined Peter to see the Jewish quarter. Following his Lonely Planet guide, we found the set of nondescript white doors on an alley off the shopping Avenue. I've expected a Star of David or something on the door but nothing. Once crossed the threshold, it was a completely different world. Very narrow cobblestoned streets going in every direction. Very old houses on both sides but the doors were new and nicely adorned. Not many cars or people, and it was very quiet. None of the hassle and bussle of the tourists like from outside the white doors. We found a rundown mosque. At one alley, a man washing a car told us to leave by crossing his arms into an X. A little girl told us to turn left. We followed her direction, not knowing what she meant. We came upon the synagogue. A big star of David and a menorah above the old wooden doors. Inside a man (a rabbi?) proudly gave us a tour of the place showing us ancient Torahs and books with Ifrit (hebrew) on one side and russi (russian) on the other. Finally he put his hands on our heads and gave us a blessing and then pointed to the glass with money inside and said 'dollars'.

Andrey told me to not miss Registan at night because it's lite. So I've asked Ottabek to take us there after dinner. Jonathan said they had very cheesy Sound and Light shows at night. We first went to see Timur's Mausoleum at night. It was gorgeously lite up. Then we went to the Registan. The cheese show was going on and it was in Japanese! If you think the Sound and Light shows at Giza and Karnak were cheesy, this one topped them all! The place was poorly lite and flat out comical to be in Uzbekistan to see the Sound and Light show at the Registan in Japanese!

gur emir mausoleum

Samarkand photos

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