The reason I’ve has so much fun in Bukhara, and also the reason I came back for a second round, is named Sadriddin Gulovs.

I met Sadriddin as I stopped for coffee in a random cafe on a random street during a random afternoon in Bukhara.  It lead to an invitation to go back to his house and hear he and a friend (Sultan) play traditional Uzbek music.

At the end of the afternoon, after a couple of song and a few rounds of translating questions through his children and my dictionary, I was extended an invitation to a traditional Uzbeki wedding.

Later, I returned back to Bukhara because I felt like I hadn’t had enough Uzbek wedding action.

By the time I left the town for good, I had been to 4 weddings in a span of 8 days.  Excellent.

At each of the 4 weddings I went to, the dancing was long-lasting and all-encompassing. Even I, usually painfully averse to dancing, was forced to get out and dances with more old Uzbek women than I can now recall.

In this video, late into the night after a good portion of the revelers have already left, the dancing goes on unabated. Note the band’s dancer, in white, whose job it is to get things going and in the process collect (massive wads of cash of) tips for the band. Also notice the groom, who is STILL doing shots on demand as people come to toast him.

This video, full of revelry and weddings and dancing Uzbek girls, makes me pine to get back to Uzbekistan.