Fortresses of Ancient Khorezm — UZ8

To travel from Nukus to Khiva we took a private tour through the Khorezm Desert with various stops along the way. The drive itself was a full experience with crazy fast driving and passing on rough roads. It included getting pulled over, which caused a lengthy loud argument between our driver and the police.

A History of Khorezm – is the history of the Amudarya flowing through the Karakum and Kizilkum deserts, along with the huge spaces of ancient Khorezm oasis. Moistening the ground where it flowed and making it fertile, Amudarya has been the source of life over hundreds of years in blazing desert sands. Therefore, the towns, fortresses, and settlements have always followed the riverbed constantly changing its direction.

~ Abu Raykhan Al Beruni.

Chilpyk

The Zoroastrian method for body preparation and burial seems very reasonable to me.

We used Google Translate to read all the signs on the steps and particularly liked these translations:

Baday Tugai – nature reserve

This was a very government-y place. They took copies of our passports and then we looked at a museum (some poor taxidermy and frogs & snakes in formaldehyde) for a few minutes. Then we drove and saw some deer in an enclosure. Later we found information that these Bukhara deer are endangered and this is a recovery program.

Then we drove to a beautiful spot by a river and saw some wild deer, which I almost caught in a photo, and vaguely captured in a video.

Sultan Vays Baba Mausoleum

In the middle of the largest cemetery I have ever been in the middle of; OK, not counting Arlington National Cemetery.

Very few tourists, but crowds of people there praying. An Imam invited us to sit and share some bread with him – pretty certain he prayed for our conversion.