Train To Samarkand

We have an early start to catch the train to Samarkand. The name romantically conjures an elderly steam train, or maybe an elegant Pullman service along the lines of the Orient Express, but of course it’s actually a modern electric "bullet" train. It’s officially called the "high speed train", but the maximum commercial speed of the line is 130mph, only 4mph faster than The Mallard, powered by steam, achieved in 1938. Plus ca change…

The ride is quick and smooth, and by 11am we are in Samarkand. The drive across the city confirms a suspicion about Uzbek drivers. If you listen to an elderly soldier talking about firing an anti-aircraft gun, they say something like "you don’t aim at the plane, you aim at where the plane is going to be". Uzbek drivers use a variant, they don’t aim for where a gap is , they aim for where a space will be. Sometimes it isn’t.

It doesn’t help that the minibus’ seatbelts are clearly regarded as a low-value decoration. Each row of 3 seats only has one belt, and only one of them with a working reel. Brace!

We start at the tomb of Amir Timur (also known as Tamurlane). It’s a rather magnificent edifice both inside and out, but the exterior shots are somewhat marred by the enormous black clouds gathering overhead, which render all the colours a dark grey. A few minutes after we go in the heavens open with a dramatic thunderstorm and borderline monsoon rain.

We therefore spend quite a lot of time photographing the mausoleum interior. Fortunately it’s absolutely spectacular, and rewards both wide views and zooming into the details. I have decided to carry both camera systems, the full-frame one with its high-ISO capability and ultra-wide 14-28mm lens works well for the wider view. In the interests of keeping overall weight down I’m only carrying the ageing and diminutive 45-175mm telephoto lens for the micro four thirds system, but it performs beautifully for the details. It’s not an obvious choice up against the longer lenses, but sometimes, like Goldilocks, it’s "just right".

We exhaust the subject matter and emerge into the lobby of the mausoleum. It’s still bucketing rain. There’s a young chap with a handful of plastic macs. I buy one, for 75 000 Soms (about £4.50). Then he realises that he has control of limited supply in a seller’s market, and attempts to put the price for Charlotte and Ingrid up to 100 000! We get him down to 150 000 for two, but seems to be getting the higher price from other visitors. Something about right place at the right time….

The roads and pavements are all engineered with big storm drains, but the rain has been so heavy and prolonged that they are being overwhelmed, and we drive through deep standing water to lunch. This turns out to be by candle light as the power is out.

Although the weather has settled down, after lunch progress around Samarkand is still impeded by standing water. It takes us an hour to drive a distance we are told could be walked in about 15 mins. However we do get to the hotel and have a chance to settle in before the next adventure.

Our guide, Garnisher, is also manager of a recently-revamped theatre, currently being used for a nightly dance show, Moroqand, showcasing both the local dance talent, and the culture and history of Samarkand. We have a special back-stage pass and are invited into the room where the female dancers are doing their make-up and hair. The young ladies are remarkably good natured and tolerant of being photographed in such an intimate setting, and we get some great shots. At the end I give a little thank-you speech on behalf of the two older men.

Then we have the show. The dancing and costumes are stunning, and we have front-row VIP seats, and no constraints on photography. Unfortunately there’s a technical challenge: the various backdrops are projected digital video, and all the lighting is LED. This means that the fastest possible shutter speed is 1/60s, otherwise your image contains blotchy, stripy backgrounds and odd lighting effects. 1/60s is not really fast enough to capture dance movements. However you may be lucky and capture a moment where the dancer is momentarily still, or maybe facing forward through a turn so her head is not moving even if the rest is. I leave you to judge how well this works.

Between the make-up session and the show I shoot 2104 images, a total of 81GB more than filling one of my fast memory cards. Based on a very quick scan to select the above samples, I’ll probably delete 95% and keep around 100 worth processing. Let’s see.

Finally, as if all that wasn’t enough, we go to Registan Square, one of Samarkand’s classic vistas, for the blue hour. We focus on the view from the road straight down to the three madrassas. There’s little trace now of the apocalyptic earlier weather, and we’re treated to a clear blue sky balancing the well-lit buildings. A great end to an "entertaining" day.