Cumulative distance travelled to date: 1,646 miles – Temperature: a cool 14°C and rain.

Mosaic tile work at the Uzbek Applied Art Museum in Tashkent

We woke to our first overcast day of the trip and the temperature had dropped significantly. Murray had made an arrangement to cross over the nearby border into Kazakhstan in order to buy diesel as it is virtually impossible to get it throughout Uzbekistan – something we knew about and had planned for by carrying extra fuel (equalling the combined weight of our children!) but we just wanted to top up the tank to be sure we could make it through the rest of our time in Central Asia without mishap.

M narrowly avoided being arrested for taking this photo

Through the border into Kazakhstan, jerry cans at the ready for the British Embassy

I took up the offer of an escorted tour of the bustling ancient market area of the Churso to see how local Uzbeks shop. What a vibrant place this was. One could see immediately the melding of trades and wares from across Asia minor and major. More striking to my eye was the huge ethnic mix that makes up a diverse yet integrated Uzbek population. My escorts were long suffering, charming and good humoured as I trolled through the market trying to find traditional Uzbek fabric of the sort I’d imagined there might be.

A traditional look in the Bibi Hanum workshop

So many ikat weaves to choose from . .

. . . I settled on a more conservative choice

Phew! A decision made. One of my lovely shopping companions (right) and advisors, with the relieved shop owners!

We ended up in the vast covered food market selling fabulous fresh fruits and vegetables and finally into the meat and cheese hall, an immaculate and orderly area where all sorts of cuts were sold including endless varieties of offal and cuts of horse meat –  not so appealing to the average modern English palate!

Wooden cradles

Entering the food hall at Churso

Pmegranates, peaches and nectarines in abundance

Grapes very much in season

With the latter part of the afternoon to ourselves we ventured out in the last few hours of daylight to explore some of the sites of the city.

All boys love a train . . .

Standing by!

The Railway Museum (truly, we had to do this; the quid pro quo for silk shopping)

The Holy Assumption Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox church.

Within the confines of the cathedral grounds there was an extraordinary hive of activity with an army of devout men and women cleaning every aspect of the church and its surrounding grounds, from the entrance tile work to the ornate chandeliers. Enormous  amounts of renovations were being carried out.

Man-sized pizza required after the excitement of the trains – we just weren’t expecting it to be quite so ‘man-sized’ (it served for lunch on the road the following day, too!).