7:30 a.m. - Bags outside door - many of us left our large suitcases in the storage room pending our return.

8: 10 a.m. - Left Hotel 9:40 a.m. – Takeoff by small (48 passenger) aircraft to Bukhara.From the air the planted fields showed up as a patchwork; some already green.We boarded the bus for the 50 Km drive to Gijduvan, a town famous for bread and shish kabob with an additional passenger. Meli met Anthony Stanton, a British Air pilot from London, on the flight to Bukhara and invited him to join us. He had been training other pilots in Kazakhstan, had taken a few days off to travel, and herein lies the Tony tale.

While travelling on a bus in Kazakhstan, Tony met local people who were en route to a wedding. He jumped off the bus with them and joined the celebrations, where he was warmly greeted by the wedding party, seated at the head table and encouraged to join in the toasting and drinking of vodka. Slightly inebriated, he got back on a bus heading for Uzbekistan, then hailed a cab to take him across the border. Immediately he became suspicious that the taxi was going north, so he got out of the car when it slowed down for a corner. He was assured by the driver and passenger that everything was alright, and since his luggage was in the trunk, he got back in.They drove him to a remote farm, where they took him into an empty room and searched his bags, finding two sources of money. They returned some of the money, then took some of that back again. Eventually they drove him close to the Uzbekistan border where he hailed a legitimate taxi. This driver took him via back roads illegally into Uzbekistan, where he stayed at the Sheraton in Tashkent, then caught the flight to Bukhara. When we met him, the abduction had left him a little traumatized: he was unsure if his second camera had also been stolen, or if he had left it at the hotel.

 In answer to the question "How did you become a tour guide?
"Meli gave us a detailed history of her family, who began as Saphartic Jews in Spain in 1492, and ended as Muslims in Turkey.She also told us the story of experiencing a comet sighting by visiting a Hittite site at night, laying carpets on the ground and drinking wine in celebration.  In Gijduvan we had a tour of the workshop of the potter Hans (deceased) that was given by his grandson, English speaking with the usual Russian accent, hightly reverential. He is the third potter in the family: examples of his father's work were also on exhibit. The work of this family represents the peasant style of the region, very traditional with lots of strong centre-pattern decoration in greens and browns.

Very pleasant. The women in the family embroidered suzannis and hence this was another great buying opportunity. The family was preparing for the daughter's wedding and so the women in our party had the opportunity to see the bride and her trousseau - a large room filled from floor to ceiling which was quitempressive.We were served lunch consisting of shish-kabob which was excellent.

We then travelled to the Village of Abu Ibn-i-Sina (980-1037), the Father of Medicine for the Central Asian Cultures. He died and was buried in Iran in 1037 but this village was founded in the 1980's and named for him. He wrote a total of 452 books: 80 on Philosophy, 40 on Medicine, etc.We visited the Museum which had been built to house his many accomplishments.

I Afirm:

Medicine is a science which understands the condition of men's body,
whether it is healthy or has lost its health
in order to maintain health or recover it if it has been lost.
                                       IBN SINO

The meal was big but we had no problem eating it all up. the shis Kebab was delicious
Good night