Central Asia Part III: Uzbekistan

 On May 19 we arrived at the Uzbekistan border following the Khujand bazaar visit. The border crossing was rather arduous, involving multiple checks to leave Tajikistan from the Tajik border patrol, then additional checks to enter Uzbekistan from the Uzbek immigration agents - mostly outside, with long distances to walk/queues in the heat between each. One of the Uzbek agents took a particular interest in a background image on my passport and seemed to treat my knowledge of it as some sort of impromptu Canadian citizenship test. Unfortunately, rather than picking something I knew from the passport pages (The Last Spike, Champlain, Sir John A., Cape Spear, etc.) he chose probably the only page I had no idea about - page 12-13 feature Captain Joseph-Elzear Bernier. Know who that is? Me neither - turns out he was an Arctic explorer from the early 20th century. "Explorer" was written on the page so at least I could tell the agent that. Eventually they let me through despite failing the skill-testing question.

The next part was mainly a transfer to the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent (meaning "Stone City"). Our base hotel was Hotel Uzbekistan, another Soviet-era construction located right at the centre of the city. I didn't do much this day except for embark on a successful quest for a travel adapter since I had left mine with Nancy. The currency translation is about 8,500 Uzbek som to $1 CAD, so when I did an exchange I was carrying around nearly a million som in a big pack of bills, feeling rather rich.

Hotel Uzbekistan

The next day we took a tour of the "new" part of the city. This included visits to key landmarks like the city's war memorial...

War memorial - there were two of these positioned opposite of each other. Each leaf in those books on the wall contains names of people who died/were MIA in WWII. The Soviet Union had horrific casualty rates

Closeup of one of the books

Weeping mother waiting for her sons to return in front of an eternal flame

...as well as a variety of other monuments and buildings.

Independence Bridge, built to celebrate the formation of Uzbekistan following the Soviet collapse

Romanov House, built for one of the relatives of the last czar

Palace of the Senate

Palace of International Forums

State Museum of the Temurids

The hotel is located right next to Amir Temir Square (Amir Temir, often known in the West as Tamerlane, is the cultural hero of Uzbekistan and the last great conqueror of the Eurasian steppe). His empire was massive but I had never heard of him before this trip. 

Amir Temir

After this, several of us opted to go with the guide to a famous plov restaurant - plov being a sort of national food in the country. It was rather overhyped as it's mainly rice topped with some small pieces of meat and carrot - certainly not bad but I wouldn't write home about it either.

Assembling plov

Fire-cooked rice for plov

The English couple (Alan and Liz, who I met before the tour started) and I decided to go up the nearby Tashkent TV tower, which had an observation deck. To go to the highest level, we had to buy a drink at the revolving restaurant/bar. Pretty good views of the city from there. 

Tashkent TV tower

City views

Having a drink in the revolving restaurant

We went back to the hotel on the metro, but that deserves a dedicated section so I'll hit that near the end of the post. It was stupendously cheap, approximately $0.25 per ride to essentially anywhere in the city.

I also went to a park across the road from the restaurant, the Museum to the Victims of Political Repression. Not to sound like a broken record but Central Asia really loves its parks. There was an actual museum as well but I didn't go in.

Museum/Park for the Victims of Political Repression (you can also see it above in the image from the TV tower)

Museum/Park for the Victims of Political Repression

At night there were no activities scheduled, so I went for a walk around a night fun area right by Amir Temir Square. I was again reminded of other things Central Asian people like: soft serve ice cream and punching bags. Despite wandering around well after dark, I had absolutely no safety concerns at all. There were lots of families strolling around late, and the whole scene is under the watchful eyes of the Tourist Police. 

Night fun area - think concessions, ice cream, mechanical punching bags, artists, street food, kids' rides, ping-pong, etc.

The next day we travelled to Samarkand, a city with a couple thousand verified historical years under its belt. We stayed there for two days - the first was mainly arrival and a visit to a place that demonstrates the manufacture of silk paper (used for important documents owing to its strength and longevity) and then a visit to Temir's mausoleum. At night I went out for a drink with tour members and then saw a light show at Registan Square (picture below). The next day we had a tour for half the day, and time to explore on our own a bit, where I went back to spend a bit more time at some of the sights we saw during the tour.

Like the other cities in Uzbekistan, Samarkand was under the control of a series of great empires - the Persians, Alexander, various Turkic tribes from around Central Asia, the Arabs (following the great Islamic conquests during and after the time of Muhammad), the Samanids (think Samoni - hero of Tajikistan), the Mongols under Genghis Khan, Amir Temir, other Uzbek tribes following the collapse of Temir's empire, and finally the Russians (later the Soviets).  Samarkand has many restored monuments from some of the later eras (generally from Temir onwards, as the Mongols razed most of the great Central Asian cities during their campaigns). These buildings reflect the height of the Golden Age of Islam, where this religion was at the cultural centre of the region and responsible for the flourishing of arts and science, similar to what happened a bit later in Europe under a different religion. The architecture is almost indescribably intricate and beautiful. Pictures can't really do it justice, but I will try here. 

Near our hotel, which again was very conveniently situated, is the centre of the city: Registan Square. Three large buildings dominate it; all three are madrasahs (religious institutes/schools) constructed from the 1400s-1600s and later restored. The leftmost one was built by Uleg Beg, grandson of Temir. Ulug Beg was a ruler but was more of a scientist than a general or politician. He built a great observatory due to his interest in astronomy, and focused heavily on the arts and sciences. Like everything else Genghis Khan flattened it but there are some remains. Around the square are all sorts of restaurants and shops and ice cream stands. 

Registan Square lit up at night during a projected light show

Registan Square at night

The mosque inside the central madrasah

This is what the madrasahs look like inside - a large courtyard with "cells" all around, where the students would study Islam

Ulug Beg

Ulug Beg's observatory - this is all that remains. It's kind of a giant sundial

White people being a rarity, the tour group was quite popular among the younger set

As our guide put it, going to Samarkand without visiting the tomb of Temir would be like going to bed alone on your wedding night. For some reason seeing Temir's final resting place was optional on the itinerary, but it was worth the out-of-pocket cash, even though the building was undergoing restoration works when we were there. 

Gur-e-Amir (Temir's mausoleum)

Interior of Temir's mausoleum

Interior of Temir's mausoleum

Temir's actual grave marker at the front (in the Islamic fashion, the actual tomb is below and the above-ground piece is just a marker)

Temir's tomb at night

In addition to conquering a vast territory, Temir also found time to push the limits of architectural technology, including the Bibi Khanum mosque, built for his favourite wife. Unfortunately the speed of construction and grandiose plans meant the thing didn't stay in one piece for long but the Soviets restored it. It contains several buildings around a central square. Very difficult to capture the entire building in one shot because of the design and scale but it's massive.

Entrance to Bibi Khanum

At night

Dome closeup of the main mosque building

Muslims, at least in this era, were really big on mausoleums. The Shah-i-Zinda necropolis was another highlight, containing mausoleums spanning several centuries (as well as a modern graveyard on the hill). 

The complex

Interior roof

Mosaic detail - incredibly intricate

There are several places around the world that claim to hold the remains of the Biblical prophet Daniel (of lion's den fame). Samarkand's claim is somewhat dubious, but the story goes that Temir tried and failed to conquer Syria a few times because Daniel was buried there. He took part of Daniel (I believe the legend is an arm or a hand) back to Samarkand, and then Syria fell. In any case there is a shrine here along with a spring with healing water. The local legend also says that Daniel's body grows each year.

Pavilion where the holy spring is

Tomb of Daniel

After our two nights in Samarkand, we had a drive out to Nurata, the location of a fortress built by Alexander. The remains of the fortress are still there on top of a hill (of course you have to fight your way through several tiers of souvenir stands to get there). I really liked this - the idea of Alexander walking where I was walking was fascinating. 

Fortress at Nurata

Fortress at Nurata

The next stop was at Aidarkul, an artificial lake created by the Soviets on a salt plain for flood control and now also doubling as a recreational lake for locals. It was windy and a bit cool when we visited, but a good chunk of the group still opted for a swim in the salty water. 

Posing at Aidarkul

Aidarkul

Then, off to our stay for the night - another yurt camp, this one quite large, and located near the lake in the Uzbek deserts. It was here that (for a small "tip", natch) one could have a short camel ride. I can now appreciate that riding long distances on camels, as the silk road merchants did, would likely not be all that comfortable. 

Running water in shower huts and outdoor washstands at this yurt camp, which was greatly appreciated by some members of the tour. Dinner was in a large tent, and quite good.

On the camel

On the camel.

Camels

The yurt camp in the desert.

Massive dung beetles were very active around the camel area.

The next day, it was onto another historical city - Bukhara. This was the capital of the Samanid empire and various khanates that followed. The overall history follows a similar tune to that of Samarkand, being conquered and occupied by several empires, starting with the Persians and ending with the Soviets. We stayed in a nice hotel in the old part of the city, near most of the historical monuments. It was a major trading city and today is the centre of the Uzbek carpet industry.

The program was similar to Samarkand - a brief tour on arrival, free time at night, then the official tour the next day followed by half a day of free time to explore. This is quite a good setup as it's a mix of structure and non-structure. The older set often opted to have long lunches and coffees in their free time, while most of the younger ground wandered around or visited sights from the tour in more detail (or in Bukhara specifically, did some shopping for carpets or clothes). There was also a festival going on the first day so it was very busy, and there was lots of street entertainment (music, etc.) which was fun.

I wanted to visit a hammam (traditional bathhouse) here, but got a bit sick the second day (I think it was a light case of food poisoning, which struck the majority of the group either here or in Samarkand, combined with the extreme heat  of nearly 40C, with lots of walking around in long pants because of dress code restrictions at the religious sights). I stayed mainly in the room for most of the day and missed my opportunity for the bathhouse, but felt well enough to go out again at night and by the next evening in Khiva, was pretty well fully recovered. Others had it far worse (it took some out for a couple of days, including diarrhea, vomiting, etc.) so I felt lucky, all things considered, and could hardly complain when Nancy was still sitting in isolation in Karakol.

I went out for dinner with the older folk the first night in Bukhara night (I wasn't thinking as I forgot they like leisurely dinners while I would rather be out exploring). At the end the bill came and as is typical in Central Asia, it was a group bill. Being the accountant in the group I was assigned the task of dividing it up across everyone with a piece of scrap paper and my cell phone calculator, including figuring out individual tips (service charge is included on the bill here as a rule). I didn't really mind doing it but found it pretty funny. Everyone was so happy and thankful they didn't have to do it. At most meals the guide did the divvying and it took forever - I like to think I was a lot more efficient!

Another madrasah built by Ulug Beg

The Bukhara "ark", or citadel

Bukhara ark from the interior - Soviet-era water tower in the distance

Inside the main madrasah and the minaret (tower) on the right

High school graduates doing photos inside the madrasah

Khanala and madrasah of Nadir Divan-Beghi

Mausoleum of Ismail Samoni

Beautiful stonework inside Samoni's mausoleum

Jewish synagogue - we stayed near the Jewish quarter

Trading domes, where merchants would sell their wares

After two days in Bukhara, it was an eight-hour bus ride to the last historical city on the tour - Khiva. As our last long bus ride in Kyrgyzstan nearly spurred a revolt among the passengers, the guide procured some wine, beer and vodka for the road - enough for the whole party. This went over rather well. 

Khiva is another ancient city that gained independence (as the Khanate of Khiva) until it was conquered by the Russians in the 1800s. We stayed inside the walled city of old Khiva. We again had a very brief tour and then a half-day tour the following day, with free time (and tickets to re-enter any of the attractions from the tour). I spent all of my time inside the walled city, as it was absolutely packed with historical buildings. For the group meal the first night, I again got the task of dividing up the bill for the entire group. This was rather difficult as the guide got his meal comped but it was still on the bill so I had to account for that as well.

Sunset over the citadel (from a rooftop restaurant)

View from the citadel

View from the citadel

Bedchamber in the khan's harem in the citadel

Duma mosque - over 200 pillars support the ceiling as it's partially below ground

There are four entrance gates into the walled city.

You could climb the walls and get a good view of the whole of the walled city.

Largest minaret in the city.

The short (or blue) minaret - next to a madrasah that is now a hotel.

Mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud - patron saint of Khiva

Ceiling of the mausoleum

Po-i-Kalyan Ensemble - madrasah

Court costume in the last days of the Khiva Khanate

After Khiva, we took a plane back to Tashkent; back at Hotel Uzbekistan, we met up with Nancy, who had a very long journey from her hotel in Karakol (where she had been isolating) to Tashkent. She met us in time to go for a short tour of the old part of the city - then there was additional free time, where the group all went out for a final drink, as the tour officially ended that night. 

Out for a drink in Tashkent with the group

The city was hit by a major earthquake in 1966 and so a memorial was built to commemorate that.

Tashkent earthquake memorial

We also visited a small museum hosting what is believed to be on of the world's oldest Qu'rans. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed there. Located near it was a madrasah where Nancy got to demonstrate the required costume for women prior to the Russian conquest of the region. The main point of the guide is that there were positives and negatives that came from Russian/Soviet occupation. This is particularly true in Tashkent, as the Soviets spent considerable time and effort on the city since it was the largest in central Asia.

Nancy in pre-Russian garb

Final group dinner in Tashkent

Nancy and I had a full day before our flight, and spent most of it visiting the extensive metro system. Under Soviet rule, cities with a population of one million qualified for a metro line. While Moscow's train system is well-known as having the most beautiful stations in the world, Tashkent has to be in the top five. The stations are works of art and have themes - they are not merely transit hubs. We visited the majority of the stations, stopping at each if it looked worthy of photos.

Until recently it was against the law to take pictures in the metro as the stations doubled as bomb shelters. In 2018 or so this law was relaxed. There are station guards and attendants at every station but no one blinked at eye at the tourists taking photos (well, maybe some looked at us funny but no one put a stop to it).

Toshkent station

Yunus Rajabiy station (Rajabiy was a famous Uzbek musician)

Pushkin station

Olmazor station (Olmazor is a district of Tashkent). This station has a military theme, with war scenes carved into the red granite.

Novza station

Mustaqilliq Maidoni station (this means Independence Square; the square and station were previously named after Lenin). This is my favourite station.

Train arriving at Mustaqilliq Maidoni

Mashinasozlar station

Chandelier at Chilonzar station. There appears to be special attention paid to light fixtures in the metro as they are works of art in themselves, and each station is unique.

The most famous station, Kosmonavtlar (Cosmonaut station). This station has a space theme

Around Kosmonavtlar are large medallions celebrating important figures in Soviet space exploration. Here we have Yuri Gagarin, first man in space. 

Light fixture in the tunnel. It is no longer in use, having been replaced by the LED right above it.

Lamp in Khamid Olimjan station (Olimjan was a Uzbek poet)

Gafur Gulom station (named after another Uzbek poet)

Buyuk Ipek Yolu station (Silk Road station)

Buyuk Ipek Yolu roof detail

Bunyodkor station

Beruniy station, named after a Uzbek scientist

Alisher Navoiy station

We also visited the modern central mosque as a contrast to what was seen elsewhere on the tour. 

New central mosque

After a dinner in the entertainment area by the hotel, we asked the hotel to call us a taxi for 2.5 hours before the flight since it was a short drive to the airport and we had to catch it at very early in the morning (~2 AM). We decided to stay up and wait it out. By 12 AM the car wasn't there - somehow the hotel or taxi company had screwed up. They called us another one and we made it - cutting it much closer than I would have liked but no issues getting through security in time. We were also pleased that the cost of the taxi was ~$2.50 compared to the $30 it would have been if we had booked it through the tour company!

On the plane we went for a long journey to Spain (transferring from Tashkent to Istanbul to Barcelona). No issues on any of the legs (except for bad seats) and we arrived in Spain at about 9 AM local time.

One last thing - in Uzbekistan in particular there were lots of young people wanting to practice their English with us (mostly everyone else as I tried to avoid being cornered as much as possible). They seemed very interested in us!

Lorenzo, Italian programmer, with the selfie crew

Bruce, retired ESL teacher, talking to a Uzbek teacher

Bruce, retired architect and amateur artist - very popular as he was drawing major cultural sites that were instantly recognizable to the locals

Overall thoughts on Central Asia:

• These countries have a rich history that I was completely oblivious of before arriving there. On that basis alone they are worth a visit.
• The natural beauty in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan contrasted nicely with the cultural bent of the Uzbekistan portion of the tour.
•  People are generally friendly (that is, if they can understand you).
• I pretty well always felt safe, even at night. Crime rates are low.
• It's quite cheap (varies depending on country, with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan being more expensive and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan being cheaper). 
• However, it costs a lot and takes a long time just to get there and back.
• Tourist infrastructure is pretty undeveloped, especially for foreign visitors, in everywhere except Uzbekistan. I think you could do Uzbekistan easier on your own. 
• Uzbekistan appears to be spending a lot of time, effort and money on tourism and I expect it will be a major destination in the next decade. 
• English, even knowing a few words or phrases, is quite rare, even in the cities. If I was going on my own I would learn some Russian (the regional lingua franca).
• Having a different alphabet (Cyrillic - Uzbek is the sole exception that uses the Latin alphabet) is a real handicap to navigating.
• I would still like to see Turkmenistan, which was cut from the tour at the last minute. However, the government doesn't allow you to enter except on an approved group tour.
• The tour did a good job of hitting the highlights of the countries (of course, there are always compromises due to time pressures). 
• Would have liked to spend more time in Kazakhstan. I missed most of it waiting for covid results and driving across countries, but even so the tour barely scratched the surface of such a huge country. I felt the other countries were adequately covered, though you can always find things you wished  you had done. 
• The tour did have long drive days. I looked at another tour company with a similar itinerary and they used night trains and fast trains to allow more time at the sights and less time travelling. However, it was significantly more expensive and our tour was a much better value.