The ancient city of Paikend lies in the desert on the edge of the Bukhara oasis, in Uzbekistan, and it is so old that the Silk Road was only one chapter of its story. Early writers called it the city of merchants. It stood on a major route between the Zarafshan river and the Amu Darya, near the sands of the Kyzylkum, and it was a fortified trading town from the early centuries BC, with a citadel, a main town and a market district, at its peak in the early Islamic period. It declined after the eleventh century, as the river shifted and Bukhara took the trade.
Paikend is a place for people who enjoy ruins that are mostly in the ground. The walls and mounds rise gently from the sand, and archaeologists have found remains of houses, workshops, a caravanserai and a mosque, some with beautiful stucco and painted decoration. The silence and the huge sky make it feel very remote, and the light at sunrise and sunset gives the ruined brickwork a warm tint. It is part of the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor of the Silk Roads, which UNESCO recognised in 2023.
Karakul, about sixteen kilometres away, gives its name to the black astrakhan lambskin, once a valuable export from the region, and the town is the main service point on the way. The road from Bukhara to Turkmenistan is a straight, flat line across the desert, and long sections of it are a test of concentration and patience. Heat in summer is enormous, with air temperatures up to forty-five degrees and a burning wind, so travel in spring or autumn, and start early in the day. Surface quality varies, with patched asphalt and the occasional pothole, and sand can blow across the road.
Fuel needs planning in Uzbekistan, since many vehicles run on gas and not every station sells petrol, so fill the tank in Bukhara or Karakul and carry water. Karakul has shops and small cafes, and Olot is a smaller town farther south. In Bukhara, which is about an hour away, you can eat plov, samsa fresh from clay ovens and sweet melons, and walk among the minarets and madrasas. The ride goes on to the shrine of Chasma-i Ayub, the legendary spring of the prophet Job, a pretty complex with a dome in the Bukhara oasis.