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We leave our courtyard hotel at Bukhara just before 7am, wheeling the bikes out from their parking spaces in the courtyard to avoid waking up other residents. We are hoping to beat the heat of the day but the temperature has already climbed to 33C by 1000 am. Still, an easy journey today of only 170 miles to Samarkand, still in Uzbekistan. We arrive at our hotel at just before midday. Pretty good roads too by Uzbekistan standards and we witness lots of wheat harvesting on the way.
Needing oil for our bikes we get a taxi to take us to a likely place. Wow, it turned out to be acres and acres of auto shops in one place selling everything for a vehicle from tyres, crankshafts, body panels, steering wheels, tools, consumerabies, you name it they had it somewhere. We did eventually find some motorcycle oil but not easy as there does not seem to be many bikes in this country.
Samarkand is a city in two half, a modern side full of traffic, shops and people tooting there vehicle horns.
The other half we visit in the evening, what a contrast, quite, pedestrianised, lovely mosques and open parks. We even visted a spice, come seed, come vegetable, market. It was huge.
Samarkand of course was on the silk road route so it is not surprising the old town has developed the way it has. A lovely place to have a meal, admire the buildings on a gorgeous warm evening. The sun sets about 9am to be replaced by a full moon.
An early night for us as we have an early start and cross over the border to Tajikistan tomorrow.
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