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Published: November 4th 2014
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Aslanbob November 1, 2014
There is no question that Charles Dickens would feel at home in this part of the world. In both Tashkent and Osh you have the full spectrum of life he made his name describing. The two cities are, of course, in two different countries, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, respectively. Thanks to Stalin's border planning both cities have majorities of Uzbeks which has caused issues in Osh in the recent past.
Our time in these cities, two nights each, has coincided with a cold snap that started as we left Samarkand. The cold certainly saps one's energy and psychology.
Tashkent is undoubtably the more sophisticated city being the country's capital and much larger. Yet again in the new centre you see the Central Asian tendency to town planning with a bulldozer. It is by no means near the scale of Ashgabat with white marble only concentrated in a few areas.
We only had one full day in Tashkent so we focused on the key sites and they lived up to their billing. The Churso bazaar covers a massive area where the old town was centred. The multiple
tandoor bread ovens turning out loaf after loaf stood out as did the circle of butchers selling every bit of cow, sheep, chicken and probably horse you can imagine. The Somsa pies were good too.
To the North of the old town is a new mosque complex and the seat of the Uzbekistan mufti (the head Imam of the country). What is really special here is the the Osman Koran in the Library Museum which was copied out from 644 to 646. To put that in perspective it is less than a generation from 'the parting of The Prophet from this earth'. It is not ornate like Bede. It is a very big book with large lettering on deer skin and in fantastic condition. The library museum has other old books, a really impressive collection with splendid calligraphy and also versions of the Koran in many many languages.
The other major sight in Tashkent is the metro! I don't believe it is to Moscow standards. None the less each station is individual in the Soviet style. They are heavily monitored with police at every exit and potential bag checks for all. The stations are
Timur, the hero of Central Asia
As the guidebook says as much a skull stacker as architecture sponsor. They tend the forget the former. also very clean. Unfortunately they do not allow photos (there are signs everywhere) as apparently they double as nuclear shelters.
We stayed in an excellent B&B on the edge of Tashkent (Jahongir: jferuza@gmail.com and see their website). It wasn't cheap at $40 for the room but then Tashkent is more expensive than the rest of the country. They did an excellent breakfast and the ensuite shower was hot. It had not been easy to find. We ended up having to phone them and were met at the Metro stop. We were much relieved as it was dark and very cold.
The link between the two cities/countries was a shared taxi from South of Tashkent to the border only 5km from Osh. We had taken a combination of Metro and bus to get to the shared taxi pickup point and were immediately swarmed with offers. The pickup point was definitely in 'proper' Tashkent - grimy Soviet era flats, half finished buildings and bustling bazaars.
Following negotiations (I still paid $15 too much) we had a ride once two other passengers had joined us. One was a doctor who had worked in Moscow
National Food Centre, Tashkent
They are making Naryn - mixture of cold noddles, horse meat and spices. It was very popular. We had other things. for 5 years before going 'into business'. I understood that he basically was now doing pharmaceutical distribution with most of his product coming from Russia.
The drive to Osh was through the Fergana valley. To get there we drove over a 2100m pass with snowy mountains on either side. At several points we got very close to the Tajikstan border because of the convoluted nature of political boundaries in this part of the world.
The Fergana valley is a large fertile area bordered by high mountains North and South. There is a lot of cotton and grains. Uzbekistan is also a large silk producer. They dried the wheat grains by spreading them out on the 'hard shoulder' of the highway using the heat absorbed by the asphalt from the sun. At the end of the day they were sweeping the dried grain into bags.
We got to the border with the sun setting at 5pm. Leaving Uzbekistan was the standard bureaucracy with four passport checks including the immigration stamps. They wanted to know what books or DVDs we had - concerned if any of it was fundamentalist. Hardly! The contrast entering
Kyrgyzstan was stark. One immigration check and no customs. The seriousness of the police states had gone.
It was now dark and 6pm - we had just crossed another time zone.
So our first approach to Osh was through dimly lit streets in a taxi, the marshrutkas having disappeared with the light. The challenge was to find the guesthouse. We found out later there were good signs - you just could not see them in the dark. This time a local helped us by phoning the guesthouse. We had been close. It was in a dark stairwell with no light up four flights. Essentially the Osh Guesthouse is a old Soviet flat crammed full of beds. It was clean and simple and at £4 per night per person the cheapest place we had stayed since Northern Romania.
There is not a lot to Osh even though it is Kyrgyzstan second biggest city. You do notice a different feel to the place. There are less police and it is noticeably poorer and cheaper. All the pricing in the bazaar was fixed and labelled (for food at least) so there was no bartering as we
have become used to. In the most part people seem relaxed. They are friendly and are not as interested in us as the people were in Uzbekistan. We are now back in a country which does not require vaste wads of notes for each transaction - just when I was starting to master how to count all the blessed Uzbek notes.
It is definitely more conservative (like the whole of the Fergana valley) than Tashkent. A number of men (including our hostel manager) were wearing Islamic skull caps. I felt noticeably more tense as we past large numbers of men, young and old, leaving Friday prayers at the main mosque. I think this was me not them. Some left in bright clean Mercedes passing beggars at the mosque entrance.
Many older Kyrgic men wear a white felt four sided pointed hat that made them look like a gnome! Older women have covered heads and most of the young are in modern Western clothes in Osh.
We made use of the hostel kitchen and Jane cooked a great cumin flavoured stew using vegetables we had bought at the bazaar including a local
staple, yellow carrots. It was comforting to have home cooked food again.
Soloman's throne, a series of rocky outcrops, dominates the city of Osh. It is a sacred place where the Prophet is supposed to have prayed and is surrounded by cemeteries, mosques and mausoleums. The cold weather was just breaking and with blue skies we choose to picnic in the sun between two outcrops. We secretly drank two beers out of their bottles in plastic bags like naughty school boys as alcoholic beverages were not supposed to be drunk in the area. There were fantastic views across the city, to the snowy mountains in the distance and to where we had come from down the Fergana valley in Uzbekistan.
Some passes in Kyrgyzstan are already closed for the winter. We now have a route planned and are hoping the warmer weather which has arrived will hold until we get to our next city Bishkek in 12 days time.
We have very much enjoyed Uzbekistan. The friendliness of the people we have met has stood in stark contrast to the awful politics in the country. Yes they are sanitising tourist centres
A kid on a slide!
On Soloman's Throne in Osh in the major cities and it does not take much to get away from these to find some of the real way of life. We certainly would like to come back. We have had no time for Khiva and the Fergana valley and the South West near the Afghan border looks interestingly remote. Another time!
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Magda
non-member comment
Hi there
Just wanted to let you know, i am still following your journey, learning quite a lot though your experience. Greetings from Poland!