Sunrise in Bukhara

One of our favorite travel rituals is wandering empty streets before sunrise. Fez or Philadelphia, Cape Town or Cambridge, everything looks different while the rest of the world sleeps.

This is especially true in ancient habitations where, by squeezing our eyes into a squint, we can erase a few hundred — or thousand — years and travel back in time. That’s what we did in Bukhara, the city on our Central Asian tour that most whispered “Silk Road” to us. 

Under the trading domes where Silk Road merchants once bargained, a lone woman swept the old stones.

In a mosque empty of worshippers, the sun glinted off tiles crafted in the Middle Ages. 

Minarets and watchtowers were silhouetted by the dawn.

Silk Road travel took place in stages between hubs spaced every 100 or 200 miles. Some were more robust or strategic than others, but all were centers of trade where merchants and other travelers could buy and sell, refresh their animals and themselves and find safety from bandits and raiders. 

Bukhara was not the most important center to the Silk Road travelers of old, but it was the destination where the Silk Road most came to life for us. There, the old city lay just outside our hotel door. Nearly every corner was within walking distance with few cars to dodge. The same timeless arts — miniature paintings, fine metalwork, silver — were on offer that camels were carrying half a millennium ago.

The same was true at every hour of the day. Before sunrise, the magic nearly ours alone. 

Your Questions Answered

Pink61 asked: “How do you go about finding local drivers and guides when you make your trips?”

Typically, we plan our own trips — book all our flights and rooms, plumb the internet for sights and guides and otherwise are strictly DIY. 

That has ceased to be our MO in regions where we have no language skills or and/or where logistics are complicated or travel can be hazardous. In the Stans, for example, we wanted not only competent guiding but guides who knew the safest drivers for precipitous mountain roads, who were networked with one another to guarantee smooth handoffs at borders, who had robust backup if anything went wrong.

Doris discovered the travel service Asia Highlights and its fabulous trip adviser Kaya Han on the Senior Nomads Facebook page when she started planning a trip to China in early 2024. AH specializes in personal travel — private trips for individuals and small groups (e.g., Louis and Doris). The China plan and trip went so perfectly, we re-enlisted Kaya and AH to plan our month in the Stans. They did it all, from initial landing to final takeoff, and the whole experience unfolded like a bolt of flawless silk.

COMING SOON! Desperately Seeking the Silk Road