When we were in Khiva, Uzbekistan, we landed up eating dinner at a wedding party and on the second day we danced on the streets of Khiva. We had an absolutely awesome time and to this day Khiva holds special memories for us.
Wedding Couple on Parade in Khiva
We arrived in Khiva in the dead of winter. The Lonely Planet said that when travelling in Uzbekistan in the winter, Uzbekistan is yours. For most of the trip we had bumped into one or two other travellers, but in the ancient walled city Khiva, we were the only ones. Needless to say all the restaurants were shut and most of the guest houses were shut too. We had met an English teacher and her students and we were wondering through the streets late on Saturday night looking for something to eat when we saw a huge party going on. Our new friends told us that it was a wedding party. So me being me, dragged everything and everyone along to look. I poked my head through the door to see what was going on and before we knew it Queenie, myself and our Uzbek friends were dragged into the hall sat behind a table, plov was served for us and vodka shots were flowing my way. What an awesome experience!
The Bride
The Banquet
The wedding was alive with a live band playing Central Asian music and a dancer. All the men at our table (and they were all men except for Queenie and the English teacher and students, took to us immediately and started downing vodka shots with me. Little were we to know that later in the evening we were to dance and I was to give a speech. We were later told that weddings actually go on for three days and this party we were in was the brides sending off party (the groom wasn't present) and that the groom and bride would be joined the following day so we didn't actually get to see the wedding ceremony.
The Wedding Dancer
Queenie Dancing
On the second day in Khiva we were wandering between the old mud buildings of the town when we stumbled accross a couple of wedding parades(see picture at the top). The bride, the groom and their entire entourage walks with them through the streets of the town to show the world they are married. We saw two entourages. The first thing we noticed was the flimsy dresses the brides were wearing. This is significant because it was FREEZING (close to 0C). If you compare what Queenie was wearing in the video below you will actually notice the difference in attire. The second think that completely blew us away was that both groups stopped outside the music museum in Khiva and out of nowhere music started and people danced in the streets.
Dancing in the Street
Dancing in the Streets
Both the sending away party and the wedding parades are showed in the video below. We hope you enjoy.
These two events made our time in Khiva unforgettable. It would not have been possible without the hospitality and the open hearts of the people there. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Urgut Bazaar is one of the most authentic market we visited in Uzbekistan. The roads were muddy and dirty and everything from fabrics, to carpets to goat heads were sold. A truly original place and somthing that would be hard to emulate.
Queenie in Urgut Bazaar
Getting There
Getting to Urgut from Samarkand is easy: just take the bus. Many people suggested we rent a driver for a day, or hire a Mashrukta but at the end of the day we asked around and figured out which bus to take. It wasn't that hard! The bus was fairly cheap and since we were among the first to get on, we did manage to get seats. The trip itself from Samarkand to Urgut was (if memory serves correctly) about an hour, and it wasn't too uncomfortable although the bus did fill up the closer we got to Urgut.
Urgut Bazaar
Urgut Bazaar
The Lonely Planet we had says of Urgut that the town is "one of the best places to buy silk and old textiles in the country." However, the Lonely Planet continues saying "some readers report being disappointed by this markt, but that may be because they showed up on the wrong day. This market in only happening on Sunday and to a lesser extent on Thursday." Well we were definitely not disappointed, and we went on a Tuesday. The market itself was a hustle bustle of activity. From the crowded traffic in the street in the market entrance, to the bustling business of all the vendors and stalls in the market, the market itself was filled with color and sound. As the two videos show, the market is busy and the people incredibly friendly.
Outside Urgut Bazaar
Inside Urgut Bazaar
As you can see from the video above, the market is crowded with people and different foods. Actually, we found the market to be divided into distinct sections: food, fabrics, clothes, carpets etc. It was fairly interesting to drift through the different sections and see the different wares for sale. We later learned that the cotton for the fabrics and clothes was produced in Uzbekistan and shipped to Korea/China to be woven into fabrics and clothes. These were then shipped back to Uzbekistan to be sold. The controversy was that instead of building a fabrics/clothes factory, the government had invested a significat amount of money into building a car factory when they didn't have the technology or experience to do that.
Goat Head
Bread Stands
Spice Sellers
Oil Vendors
Fruit
Fruit
Bread
Fabrics
Fabrics
Carpets
Clothes
Lunch in Urgut Bazaar
One of the highlights for me was eating in the bazaar. We walked into the restaurant area of the market and found a restaurant serving shashlik (skewered meat) and plov (a traditional Uzbek rice dish). bearing in mind the market and restaurant didn't have the highest standards of hygiene, we were a little concerned but decided to try the food anyway. The food turned out to be awesome and we didn't get sick so the risk was worth taking.
Lunch in Urgut Bazaar
Plov - Part of our lunch
Fellow Diner - this guy helped us order and chased off beggars
The People
Of course the best part of the market (as always) was the people. Always friendly, always smiling, always waving at us. We really did feel welcome and although we did draw a lot of attention our way, at no point did we feel uncomfortable. We were warned we should be careful of pickpockets so we made sure wallets and valuables were stashed away properly so nothing would get stolen but we we felt safe all the time.
Tajik Girl - notice the single drawn in eyebrow which is considered attractive in Tajik culture
Market Boys- these kids were so excited to see us and have their picture taken. They were really friendly.
Vendors Market Worker
Reviewing Videos
Mother and Daughter
Out Shopping
Vendor
Old Man
Market Workers
Family
Market Girl
One of the great things of walking through the fabric section of the bazaar was the color of the sunlight streaming through the fabrics. The light was soft and colored and almost magical and seemed really surreal and out of place in a place like Urgut. Truly magical and added to the color and the splendour of the market.
Streaming Light
Fabric Shimmer in Urgut Bazaar
The Bus Home
So after drifting around the market for a couple of hours it was time to head off back to Samarkand. We found the bus (pretty easy) and jumped on. Now the conductor on this bus was really funny: the bus filled up pretty quickly and when a lady with a baby got onto the bus he insisted I sit down and hold the baby. The baby was horrified. No matter how much we protested he wouldn't let us stand. Even when old ladies got on the bus he insisted we sit and berated anybody who tried to take our seats. He also berated anybody who didn't want their photo taken and took photos of everybody (we haven't included those here). The bus was pretty full but by the time we got back to Samarkand it had emptied out.
With the kid on the Bus
Crowded Bus
Bus Passenger
All in all it was an awesome day. We went to the market on the Tuesday and were duly impressed and would encourage all travellers to Samarkand to go to this market. It is colorful and loud and raw and real and it is what you are in Central Asia to see. Later on when we were in Bukhara we went to the local markets that were highly sterilized, super hygenic shopping places that show some level of modernization is creeping into Uzbekistan, but Urgut will take you back a few years, and its fun!
In February 2009 we went to Uzbekistan for Chinese New Year. It was an amazing journey. This is the fourth installment of our travelogue. Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment. Quick note, I cannot find the cd with the pics for this part of the journey, so you will have to make do with the videos.
Inside a Market in Samarkand
After Tea – A Paraplegic Taxi Driver Figures Out the Route
We finished our tea outside Khast Imam and decided to visit the History Museum. Getting there was a blast. We managed to find ourselves a polite, paraplegic taxi driver in the most beat up taxi we have ever been in. The guy spoke rudimentary English and tried to communicate with him. We told him where we wanted to go and he said he knew the place. He didn’t. Five minutes into the drive he stopped and asked some policeman for directions. They too were perplexed. He carried on driving and after five more minutes his eyes lit up, his voice boomed and he shouted “History Museum” and we were on our way. And when he found out Queenie was from Taiwan, he excitedly exclaimed "Chiang Kai Shek!" Our one regret was we only paid him SOM2,000, we should have paid him more out of generosity, love and compassion.
The History Museum - Why the Propoganda?
The museum itself wasn’t that great. It was a regular appeal to the greatness of the Uzbek nation and there was a lot of propaganda about modern Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan we found is a great country. I couldn’t understand the need for the propaganda. True, we didn’t understand the politics of the place or the history and the culture, but on the surface level the country seemed to be functioning well and many of the people we spoke to believed there was progress being made and not because of the propaganda being spread but because of the improvement in their own personal standard of living. At least that is what they said. The museum however wasn’t too bad, especially on the more ancient history side of things. There were no English subtitles which did prevent a fuller appreciation of what we were seeing. As it turned out, while we were in the museum there was a huge rainstorm outside that we completely missed, so we were fortunate in that regard.
The Area outside the museum was far more impressive. The main political buildings (which are impressive) were across the street, and there were some beautiful gardens to stroll through and to sit and relax in. While in the museum we befriended some school kids and they seemed to be going along the same path as us and they tried their best to communicate with us. Also, as we walked around many people approached us and tried to welcome us to Uzbekistan and talk with us. We did the best we could but with no Russian, Uzbek or Tajik in our linguistic arsenal, and with their limited English abilities, deeper conversations than the rudimentary “hello, where you come from” and “welcome to Uzbekistan” proved to be impossible.
We did take the time to visit the Art Museum too (mostly because we needed to use the bathroom). This in a way was better than the history museum as the works seemed to be original expressions of the artists. Some of the paintings were pretty good and other art pieces (statues etc.) weren’t too bad either. Despite this, we barreled through the museum in about 45 minutes as we were anxious to get to the first of the many markets we would visit: The Chorsu Bazaar.
The Most Incredible Subway in the World
To get to the Chorsu Bazaar, we decided to take the subway. This truly is the most incredible subway in the world. The one we walked in to had vaulted ceilings and chandeliers hanging down. The one we transferred at was done up in the elaborate style of an ancient Mosque. The trains themselves were not too frequent, but the actual décor in the stations kept us alert and not too anxious to leave. Apparently the subway is a nuclear bomb shelter so no photography of any kind is allowed inside. It is also a place where tourists are apparently shaken down by police (although nothing happened to us). When we saw policeman approaching, we just drifted off unobtrusively to another spot in the subway. We had been warned and decided to really behave. But still, the subway was an incredible experience. If you are in Tashkent, you need to take it at least once or twice, just to see the stations. Apparently all the stations are done up in this way.
Chorsu Bazaar
Chorsu Bazaar lies in the heart of the old town of Tashkent. We had read tourists are regularly invited into the private homes of the Uzbeks living there. Although this didn’t happen to us, we were still excited to get our first view of a Central Asian Bazaar. We weren’t disappointed! The bazaar was teeming with people and stalls and vendors. It was huge. Some of the vendors saw we were tourists and gave us free samples of their fruit and foods. We also brought some bread too. We were just stunned at the size of the bazaar and it took us a full hour to amble around the full circuit of the bazaar. Queenie did buy some fruit for us and negotiating with the vendors was quite a challenge in terms of language but something we discovered (again) was how sincere and honest they were. They were incredibly patient with us and always made sure the correct change was given. We were never cheated once. Not once! Which we thought was really surprising! This is not to say it doesn’t happen, it just never happened to us, and this is not to say we weren’t overcharged, it is just to say that prices were negotiated and once a deal struck, they kept to it always.
The bazaar itself was an incredible place to visit. Queenie even found a vendor who could speak Chinese. Of course all the people thought Queenie was from Korea, but soon understood she wasn’t. Once we had finished at the bazaar we walked out, passed some knife shops, tried on some Russian Hats for fun, and then drifted into the old part of Tashkent. We stumbled across a road that had roadside cafes/restaurants and once again decided to stop for a bite to eat (who needs a fancy hotel meal?).
While we were inside the bazaar a fight broke out between a couple of Uzbek men. I tried to record it on my video camera but as soon as they realized I was recording they started yelling at me. One of the bigger female vendors immediately stood in front of us to protect us and I felt that the other vendors were willing to defend us too. Of course I immediately stopped recording. The funny part of this story was that the following day while waiting for a taxi to take us to Samarkand, somone came up to us and asked us to see the video. Turns out he was one of the men in the fight and he thought it was quite funny. He kept on wanting to watch the video over and over again.
The vendors were once again very understanding and patient in taking our order. We once again ordered some meat dishes and the staff really enjoyed being filmed. Queenie went over to a different kitchen and some of the chefs even did a dance for her. Sitting on that roadside café in the middle of Tashkent, and being the only foreigners there made us realize just what we had done and were doing. All I needed was a beer, but the beers would start to flow in Samarkand. For now it was tea and some meat sandwiches of some sort, and it was delicious.
After Dinner Walk – The Stalker
The temperature had already started to drop significantly and it was starting to get dark. We still jet lagged and decided to head off to the hotel. We strolled through the old town and happened upon a Mosque during prayer time. As we approached the Mosque we noticed this young guy in a thick leather jacket following us. We decided to just carry on walking and ignore him. If anything untoward were to happen I figured I could hold my own. As we got to the Mosque courtyard, prayers had just finished and a stream of people flowed out. We started to head back down towards the main road to catch a taxi when our stalker approached us.
It turns out he was a really shy English student who was trying to think of a way to talk to us. Afterwards he escorted us down to the main road. We took some videos of Tashkent by night. The young man, as it turns out (I wonder) was going in the same direction as us and offered to take us to our hotel. So he put us on the correct bus, jumped on the bus with us and we were off. As we approached our hotel stop, he wanted to get off with us but we insisted he carry on going to his final destination assuring him we would manage to cross the street to our hotel by ourselves. To this day we couldn’t really figure it out what the guy was about. He was friendly in a strange kind of way.
We did however enjoy the Mosque. It was on a hill and very beautiful in the dying light. The business of the road below reminded us that Tashkent was a growing metropolis where many people were going to make their fortunes. Standing on the side of the road, we realized how happy we were to be there, even though it was cold. Although the view from the Mosque was beautiful, the sadness was the very poor woman and children begging for alms outside. Some children running around nearly naked with their hands out trying to get a couple of SOM is very sad. One only hopes the government would do something for these poor people. Of course one of the tenants of Islam is to be generous to the poor so it is understandable that they congregate outside the Mosque at prayer time, but it was very sad to see.
Day 1 Ends
So the day ended as it began in the foyer of the Marakizy hotel. Day 2 would see us bouncing down on four hour shared taxi drive to Samarkand, to the home of Timur the Great. Little did we know that this was only the beginning and our true adventures lay westward. There wasn’t anything to do but pack, prepare, sleep and dream Central Asian dreams.
In 2009 we went on this amazing journey to what is sometimes referred to as the pearl of Central Asia: Uzbekistan.
On a bus in Samarkand
We started in Tashkent, went down to Samarkand (too a detour to Urgut), travelled to Bukhara, then Khiva and finally flew back to Tashkent. We spent two weeks bouncing around in shared taxis, eating shashlik and plov and most of all enjoying meeting the people. It was an amazing and awesome trip and we had a great time. Uzbekistan is an amazing country and we hope one day to head back to Central Asia.
We woke up early on Saturday morning excited by what the day would bring. We dressed and went down for breakfast where we bumped into a couple from a Hong Kong tour group. We asked them about their itinerary for the day and they told us what they would be doing. We decided to follow them to the first place at least. After that we would find our own way. We had some idea that we would go to the history museum, Khast Imam and Chorsu Bazaar, but we didn’t really know how to get anywhere and this would be the challenge.
How Much Money?
Before leaving however we needed to change money and there is nothing like receiving your first sack of local currency for the US$100. The exchange rate was about SOM1,400 per US$1.00. That means we received 140 SOM1,000 notes. It was quite a stack! We tried to change US$200 but the hotel foreign exchange counter did not have enough notes so we had to settle for changing US$100 only.
You want the bus?
After we got the money, we made sure we were packed and then asked the concierge how to go to Khast Imam. He said he would call a taxi but we said no, we want a bus. He looked stunned. I don’t think anyone in the hotel ever went anywhere on the bus. They finally figured out the bus route and wrote down the critical stops for us and showed us which general direction we should head in. And so off we went!
Cold and Grey Morning
Outside it was grey, cold and miserable. People were all wrapped up warmly but we were happy to be heading off for our day of adventure. We didn’t have to wait too long for the bus to arrive. As soon as we got on we paid for our tickets and as it turned out, overpaid by SOM200. The conductor was quick to give us change. And this was to be a feature of our journey.
Honesty
Bargaining prices for taxis and goods in the markets was a necessity, but once a price was agreed, change was always given. If we accidently paid too much (as counting thousands of SOM can result in errors) the change came back immediately. Once the price was agreed, people were honest in seeing the price was kept. This impressed us. In many other developing countries we have visited this would not have been the case. The extra money would have probably been kept. I am not suggesting here that we were never overcharged or never paid the “tourist price,” just that the correct change was always given.
The conductor was also careful to tell us when we should get off the bus but then after that we couldn’t figure out where to catch the next bus, and this was where we started to learn to never trust Uzbeks with directions. We were told two different directions. The short story is we landed up at the wrong bus stop for the second bus to Khast Imam and decided to take a taxi after all, and this was when we learned about taxi drivers in Tashkent.
Adventures on the Sidewalk
Since we were facing the wrong way, the taxi driver thought nothing of just turning the taxi on the sidewalk, driving along the sidewalk to make his turn. In Taipei we get irritated when the motorcycles ride on the sidewalk, but taxis? See the video below!
Khast Imam
Khast Imam
We finally did get to Khast Imam, which the Lonely Planet says is a must see sight in Tashkent. Khast Imam seemed to be out of the city. There were a series of mosques and the architecture and decorations on the Mosques were different to what we had seen in Turkey. Well in Turkey they have the famous Blue Mosque but here all the Mosques were decorated in blue. Apparently some of these building have been here for a while so they are quite old. Since we were walking and looking without a guide we couldn’t really tell you anything useful.
At the back of the building we bumped into Jack and Emily’s tour group. They were happy to see us and we were happy to see them. We hitched a tour with their group and they took us through the library where the Uthman Koran, the oldest in the world apparently, is stored. The guide told me that the Koran used to be in Iraq but after Timur (Tamerlane) conquered Iraq he took the Koran back to his capital in Samarkand. Then when the Russians took over Central Asia, they took the Koran to Russia for analysis and study. After the fall of communism in the 1990’s and the independence of the republics, the Russians returned the Koran to Uzbekistan where it found its current home in the library in Tashkent.
After walking through the library we parted ways with Jack’s group and ambled through the first of millions of tourist shops we would encounter on the road. It became a truism that many of the old Medressa have been converted into tourist shop complexes. Whenever you go inside you are offered a series of undifferentiated products form a series of undifferentiated stores all claiming handmade wares. Queenie met a nice lady so she decided to buy something from her but we decided it was the first morning and we would hold off the shopping.
One of the Vendors
Time for Soccer and Tea
A Tad Cold
We continued to walk around the massive courtyard and walked into a soccer game in progress. I think they were students.
We walked around a little more but it was freezing. We decided to be sensible and find a tea shop. We were lucky to see one right across the road from Khast Imam. The restaurant was fairly comfortable. We ordered tea and some kebabs. Ordering required some imagination but eventually we got we wanted and manage to warm up.
So we sat in the tea shop eating kebabs and sipping our tea and pondering what lay ahead. After all , it could only get better!
Early on Friday morning we jumped into a taxi to Taoyuan airport, we checked our luggage in, bought our insurance (medical and life), changed money and were finally ready to join the lines at immigration. As we joined the line Queenie saw her friend Jack and his friend Emily standing in the line. They too were going to Uzbekistan.
Queenie had told me about her friend who was travelling to Uzbekistan but she wasn’t too sure when he was leaving. Bumping into them was a pure coincidence. The big difference between them and us was that they were in a group tour and we were independent travelers. Since they were in a group, they already had an itinerary but we didn’t! After seeing Jack, Emily and their group, Queenie was assured that it wasn’t only her mad husband who wanted to travel to Uzbekistan but that there were other people who actually visited this central Asian republic. She didn’t think I was so mad after all.
We chatted with Jack and Emily for a while. Jack’s expectation for Uzbekistan was to see camels and, as he said jokingly, hoped to ride horses with “Ali Baba and the forty thieves.” Emily said she wanted to see more or less the same but that she expected Uzbekistan to be very different to Taiwan. So did we! To be honest, I don’t think any of us knew what to expect, it was going to be adventure for all of us and we were all excited to see what would be discovered on the road.
Flying to Tashkent
Transit in Korea
Since we were flying Korean Air we first flew from Taipei to Seoul and then after a two hour layover we took a smaller plane from Seoul direct to Tashkent. The flight from Seoul took us over the Yellow Sea and into China over Tianjin. The plane then headed North up to Beijing before turning Westward once again and flying in more or less a straight line all the way there. The flights were uneventful if not a little boring. The flight to Tashkent featured one stupid movie (The Emerald City) on a small screen TV, but beyond that nothing exciting. The Korean air hostess was very friendly and seemed to enjoy chatting to us. It was her first time to Tashkent too and she would be there on a five day layover. The aircrew would stay in the Intercontinental Hotel for the duration of the layover. Lucky them!
The great thing about meeting Jack and Emily was that in Incheon we managed to chat with their tour group leader who gave us a lot of useful tips about what to do when we got there. His advice turned out to be spot on when we arrived and largely because of it we managed to get through customs with no major complications.
The Landing Form and Other Concerns
The main issue of concern was the landing form. The landing form required we declare the exact amount of foreign currency we were carrying. Of course, this was so they could make sure we didn’t earn any foreign currency in Uzbekistan and that when we left, we left with fewer dollars, pounds and Euros than we arrived with.
The landing form requirements, combined with expensive visas and the Lonely Planet’s assurance that police sometimes shakedown tourists started to create a sense of trepidation within us. We were expecting high-levels of corruption and that the police and authorities would be interested in grabbing money from us. The Lonely Planet said foreigners were especially prone to being shaken down on the subway. Although this did concern us we believed we would be able to navigate/negotiate our way through any awkward situation.
As it turned out these concerns were happily unfounded. We were only asked for our passport once and we never had to hand over money to any person in authority. Either we were well behaved, looked too poor, or the shake downs are a thing of the past.
Arriving in Tashkent
On the way to Tashkent
After a quick seven hour flight we arrived at the airport in Tashkent. We could see it was cold outside looking out the window. After what seemed to be an eternity we finally reached our docking bay and disembarked from the plane.
Now, remember this if you ever go to Tashkent! At the bottom of the staircase to the plane were two buses. We inadvertently got onto the first one. Thankfully, before the buses left, someone came to us and asked, “Bishkek or Tashkent?” We replied “Tashkent” and were quickly hustled off the first bus and onto the second bus. Bishkek of course is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and we were about to head to the wrong country. No doubt upon arrival we would have been turned around but who knows the complications this would have caused?
Inside the airport terminal was just as confusing. We had to collect our visas. However, before we got there the leader of a Hong Kong tour group with thirty visa applications was already there. After we arrived the Taiwan group leader also arrived. Despite the fact we were queuing at the office, there was no one there. The tour guides made some noise and after about 10 minutes someone arrived. Another 10 minutes to process the visa and then back into the immigration line.
Now considering there was only one plane on the tarmac, it seemed ridiculous that it took a further 30-minutes to get through the immigration. But it did! There was a clear line drawn on the ground over which people could not step unless called. One person’s job was to make sure no one crossed that line. He was a top performer! After immigration, baggage collection and then customs and currency check. By this time we were exhausted and we were happy they decided NOT to physically count our money.
Outside Tashkent Airport
So, after an eventful 45 minutes or so in the airport, we were finally in Uzbekistan, and it was cold, bitterly, bitterly cold. But our driver was there to meet us and take us to our hotel for US$15. When Queenie decided to turn around and take a picture of the airport, our driver jokingly remarked “spion spion” (did I spell that correctly) which we guessed meant spy!
Our driver Sadique drove us to the Marakizy Hotel through the fog and darkness of Tashkent. Saqique was an older, humorous man who was always making jokes. He told us that the Uzbek’s love Lenin (we never found out if this was true), pointed out many buildings including the old KGB building. When pointing out the South Korean embassy he mentioned the North Korean embassy was a few blocks away but that he had never seen a car in there. He said he thought the North Korean ambassador had to walk or take the bus because they were too poor. Sadique also said in winter the tourists were mostly Japanese and Korean and that the Europeans mostly came in summer. He didn’t mention when the American tourists came!
Sadique knew about Taiwan and had heard about Chiang Kai Shek. He said he also knew about South Africa, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela. We would throughout our time in Uzbekistan be surprised by the breadth of the general knowledge of people in Uzbekistan, especially the older generation. How superficial this general knowledge was we didn’t know but many of them seemed to know quite a lot.
The Marakizy Hotel
Foyer of the Marakizy
After twenty minutes in the taxi we finally arrived at the hotel. The Marakizy Hotel used to be the Sheraton. It was fairly grandiose and decorated in Uzbek and Russian themes making it different to the generic styles of many hotels we have stayed in before. The room was very spacious and elegant. Our only complaint was the heating. The heating was controlled centrally and the entire hotel was heated at a single temperature. It was way too hot for comfort. However, by this time we were exhausted and it was time to sleep.
