Closer to town is a slightly younger but still quite sacred edifice, the Mausoleum of Al-Hakim al-Termizi. Its namesake was a 9th-century Sufi philosopher, known locally as Al-Hakim, the city’s patron saint. In a triumph for preservationists, the interior’s cheap plaster ghanch -work, spuriously installed as part of the government’s general monument beautification drive, has been removed to expose the original 15th-century brick. The mausoleum gets packed to the gills on Wednesday, when the faithful are served lunch. The Amu-Darya and Afghanistan are once again in sight here; photographing the border is forbidden. To get out here catch marshrutka 15 heading north on Al-Termizi from Yubileyny Bazaar (600S, 20 minutes), just north of the clock tower .
