Central Asia with the family

So the first part of the trip was my family coming to visit me here. We spent one week in Kazakhstan and they got to meet my host family, my students, and various other friends I have here. After that we spent a week in Uzbekistan, which has most of the historical monuments in Central Asia.

Both of my families together.

A couple of my sisters (Guzel, second from left, just got married), a cousin, and Medina, who thought Scott was a big punching bag.

In Uzbekistan at a mosque in Khiva.

The unfinished minaret is the most famous symbol of Khiva, which was an oasis settlement along the silk road.


Kalyan Mosque, Bukhara. Bukhara was a powerful emirate and deeply involved in the back and forth between the British and Russian empires in the 1800s that was called the "Great Game".

Kalyan Mosque and Minaret. Bukhara was my favorite city in Uzbekistan because of its old town with winding alleys where locals still live.

An old caravan saray en route from Bukhara to Samarkand.

At the Shah-i-Zinda in Samarkand, which is a collection of beautifully tiled mausoleums.

The Registan in Samarkand is probably Central Asia's most impressive site. It consists of three monumental madrassas. This is the Sher-Dor madrassa as seen from the minaret of one of the other ones.

At the Registan, with the Ulugbek madrassa behind.

Flat bread like this is cooked throughout Central Asia, but each region has its own variety. I especially liked the rice and bread in Samarkand (though it was good everywhere). This bread is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside (it's thicker than the kind we get in Kazakhstan) and it's cooked in a tall, walk-in oven, where it is slapped onto the wall.