Khiva to Bukhara

Today we have an 8 hour drive from Khiva to Bukhara across the Kyzylkum (Red Sand) desert.  A few snaps from the coach en route.  

There are lots of shops with this signage which my juvenile sense of humour finds funny.  Ian has worked out they are butchers.

A cemetery with above ground burial vaults and another strange shaped mosque.

It was unusual to see one decorated in dark blue and silver, but it's very beautiful I think.

We stopped at a petrol station to refuel, both the coach and some of the occupants.  This was one of the largest cuddly toys I think I've ever seen, I'm sure it must have been 5' tall.

Our hotel in Tashkent had a whole array of local snack type foods on the buffet at breakfast; nuts, fruits etc and I'd tried one of these and it was rather nice - sugared or frosted almonds.

Now we're crossing the Red Sand desert which was actually rather boring with very little wildlife or anything to see, not even dunes.

One of the ladies in the group had done this exact tour a couple of years ago except she was struck down with stomach issues and missed a lot of places so she's back here again with her sister.  A retired intensive care nurse, she and I have similar concerns on hygiene etc and she told me they also stopped for a BBQ lunch and she was convinced from that she became ill.  Noted, thank you.

It was a large venue and the only one around for miles.  The group was sat at two Tapchan and once again it was rather uncomfortable.  Those on the left of the picture have nothing to lean against and originally the oldest of the group (not Ian for once) was seated there but I soon realised he'd be extremely uncomfortable after just a short while and so since I didn't intend on eating anything, I shuffled right up into the corner.

As often happens when an alternative meat is provided for one person, in this case chicken kebabs for me instead of the beef and lamb ones, some of the diners then want that as well which seems rather greedy to me, but this time I was glad to be able to offload my huge portions.

We saw bottles like this in various places and I still can't work out how they could be suitable for so many different types of condiment.

Outside the restaurant these ladies were doing a roaring trade in some kind of pasties.

Sadly once again for me the sight of hands handling money and instantly preparing food without washing was a complete No No!

Driving through a small town.

These beautiful rugs must get awfully dirty with all the passing traffic and constant dust.