Richard And Jo Demeester's photos

In a corner room of the Dvorets Emira Bukharskogo. Close to the front, chess was being taught and played, further back was a bit more anarchic.

Close to the home of Asal, actually in Kogon. We visited this old palace, with an interesting mix of eastern and western architecture.

We met Asal (third along) in a restaurant in Bukhara, with her mother. The place was crowded, and they offered to share their table with us. We got talking, and by the time we finished, they had invited us to their home. So the next day, we came, and they made this feast, with an amazing version of the ubiquitous local dish, osh, also called plov.

Looking out at the domed roofs of the bazaar, the Kalon Minaret, the Mir-I-Arab Madrasa turquoise dome. In the foreground, the Ulugbeg Madrasa on the right and the Abdulaziz Khan Madrasa on the left create bookends for our vista.

Walking the streets of Bukhara, an elderly man gestured us in to his ramshackle home filled with curios and odd items from many different eras. Nothing formal - it was just his house, He showed us up ladders to his roof for some views over the town.

Historical landmark building in Bukhara.

Our hotel is a 19th century caravansary, with a cute octagonal inner courtyard.

Taken from in the grounds of the Kalon Mosque, Bukhara. The Kalon Minaret, a beautiful 12th century tower, is clearly visible, and to the left is one dome from Mir-i-Arab Madrasa.

Beautiful terracotta brickwork, where even the shadows come to life, bringing depth and interest to the exterior.

The western entrance is the only entrance left to this fortress.

Greatly damaged when the Soviets took Bukhara, the Ark is still undergoing renovations. Built and expanded over many centuries, it became the compound for the palace, until the decision was made to absorb Bukhara in to the USSR.

All that remains of Timur's Ak-Saray Palace. the two sides of the entrance portal. This must have been impressive before it was destroyed - you can see it only gets to where the arch would have begun.

A car we passed on the way south in Uzbekistan. Loading your car in this way is probably not legal in many countries, but it looked surprisingly sturdy, even though there only appeared to be one piece of rope running over the top. Looks like he may have done this before.

Certainly much humbler in size, the nearby Hazrat-Hizr Mosque in Samarkand presents an extremely colourful ceiling.

When built, in the 14th century, it was possibly the largest mosque in the world. Can you see Jo in the foreground? It is not possible to go inside, with the main dome still unrepaired after a 19th century earthquake. Peering through the doors and windows, giant cracks in the walls and ceiling make the structure look very vulnerable. Outside, though, that sense is lost, and the colossal facade is humbling. The historians, though, record that the building was done so quickly, and the engineering was stretching the limits so much, that cracks started appearing even before the works were complete. It's no wonder, then, that some movements in tectonic plates might cause the whole endeavour to appear precarious.

A picture might be worth a thousand words. This one is worth one word. A very important word.