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Published: April 9th 2013
Pamir Masiff on the way to Tashkent
The heavy snows would have made overlanding it from Kashgar to Tashkent impossible.. We checked in with Air Astana at 2:15 am for the 4:15 am flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan. The flight was uneventful, landing at 4:10 am with the time zone changes. Then we had a 5 ½ hour layover where we stretched out on benches to try to sleep. Looking through the duty free shops didn’t help the time fly any faster. We took off at 9:45 am bound for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. We flew over the Pamir Massif. If there was any doubt whether we should have tried going overland, the obviously deep snows in the mountains settled it. We were told that there had been record snows this winter, and that the passes were closed.
We arrived in Tashkent at 10:30 am and cleared immigration and customs rather easily. There is an ATM just inside the arrival area which I used. It dispensed $US rather than Soms, the Uzbekistan currency. I later found out that this was one of maybe four ATMs in the country, and they all dispense $US. Until ATMs become widely available, which I understand is in the works, tourists are expected to get money from micro banks that perform the same function
as the ATM, but manually. Changing $US to soms is another issue. I never did find out how to do it legally at the government established exchange rate of 2045 soms/dollar. I just gave all my dollars to the hotel and they brought me soms at 2500 soms/dollar. The next day I needed to exchange enough for paying expenses for the next week. I returned to the airport ATM, got $US and the taxi driver called a friend who gave me 2700 soms/dollar. We stopped at a street corner and I handed the friend dollars and he handed me back a huge stack of soms…all in 1000 som bills. 1000 som is worth a bit more than $.50, and they don’t seem to have any larger denominations. It seems to me that if the authorities wanted to crack down on their black-market they would just dispense soms at the ATMs Fierce bargaining ensued.
Leaving the airport we were again confronted with the scourge of all travelers…the taxi mafia. The hotel had advised us that we should only pay 5000 soms, against the asking price of 20,000 soms. As I had no soms at that point I paid $5.00 the
smallest bill I had. On the way to the hotel we observed that about half of all cars on the road were Chevrolets...was this some sort of Twilight Zone experience. We then passed a GM assembly plant, which explained the reason. We checked into our hotel, had a quick lunch (club sandwich for me) and sacked out as neither Will or I got much sleep the past 24 hours.
We woke up about 4 pm and took a taxi to Advantours to pick up our train tickets and walk around the Old City; specifically the Chorsu bazaar and the Kukeldash Madrash. Tashkent is one of the Ancient Cities on the Silk Road, although its construction in the 15
th and 16
th centuries put it at the end of the period of the Silk Road. In Uzbekistan we would also visit the Ancient Cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, completing our journey along the Road (I traveled the Silk Road across Turkey in 1991, leaving only Turkmenistan, being too hard to get into, and Iran, too dangerous for Americans at the present time…maybe some day).
The bazaar in every town was where the merchants, who traversed the Silk Road, traded their
goods to those who would carry the goods further along the Road. The bazaar was also a community center and place for entertainment. We walked around the bazaar smelling the spices, which were much cheaper than Penzy’s, and the other produce on sale. We ate schwarma at a hole in the wall restaurant. Will pronounced it ok, but not as good as the schwarma in Rome, and didn’t get sick this time. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera.
We returned to the hotel to use their wifi and read until we turned in. My book for this trip is “The Untold History of the United States” by Oliver Stone and Peer Kuznick whose basic premise is that the United States has been imperialist since Theodore Roosevelt was president…and this applies to every president since then, only interested in expanding our commercial interests across the world and defeating a totally exaggerated communist threat during the Cold War. In my opinion, the subject matter covered is a mile wide and an inch deep, with broad statements presented as fact. Truth is more nuanced, requiring in depth analysis where entire books could be written on the issue at hand. I find
the book too far left as a moderate.
4 April 2013 Thursday. We had breakfast and then set out to accomplish our list a) find and ATM…after stopping at several banks without success we went back to the airport b) change the money into soms…described earlier c) find a pharmacy…no success so we will wait until we get to Riga d) eat at an Italian restaurant for lunch…my risotto was ok, but Will’s spaghetti carbonara didn’t have the crushed peppers and didn’t use Pecorino Romano or pancetta…alas he will have to wait until Rome, and e) visit some museums in the new part of town which began under the Russian czars in the mid 19
th century.
Fast forwarding to the museums, we first visited the Emir Tamer museum. Now Tamerlane was a very nasty dude. His method for expanding his empire which reached from Moscow in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south was to cut the heads off everyone in a captured city and then to play polo with some of the heads…the rest he piled up in a very large pile. But he and his descendents also had a flair for architecture, science and
art, which are emphasized in this museum and evident in Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand. We encountered a group of high school students who wanted to talk to us…they go to an elite private school and will be the future leaders of their country. We spent about a forty five minutes with them. After the normal questions about where we were from, how old were we, and comments that Will looked much younger than 23 years old, they wanted to talk politics. They preferred Romney, a good businessman who could restart the world economy, over Obama who they thinks talks to much...who knew that Uzbek high school students were smarter than the majority of Americans!? It went on from there. I really enjoyed the interchange.
Next we walked to the Fine Arts Museum. I was surprised that Will wanted to see the whole thing. I stopped at the third floor when I got too tired to walk any further and he continued to the fourth floor, which turned out to be where the European Masters were... I instantly regretted not having made the effort when he told me that.
We then caught a taxi back to the hotel for
dinner and pick up our bags to go to the train station where we caught the sleeper train to Bukhara at 8:25 pm. The compartment only had two beds which meant that we didn’t have to share…much to Will’s delight. With all the jerking I didn’t get much sleep.
5 April 2013 Friday. We arrived at 7 am and again confronted the taxi mafia. The station isn’t in Bukhara, thus requiring a 30 minute drive to our hotel, a rambling boutique hotel composed of restored old homes. We had breakfast and then sacked out until noon.
Bukhara, founded in the 13
th century BC is the most ancient of the ancient Silk Road cities. Today we found it to be a delightful place to explore with all the important sights within walking distance of the hotel. Our first stop was the Laybi-khauz, meaning “at reservoir,” where people would come for water and socialize. The manager of our hotel remembered jumping from an old oak tree into the pool as a child, but swimming is no longer allowed. From there we strolled from one mosque to another and one bazaar to another. We stopped at a rug store to fulfill
Jewish synagogue in Bukhara
There originally had been 30,000 Jews here until the 1970's when the Soviet Union allowed them to immigrate. Now there are perhaps 1000. my desire to buy Linda a Bukhara silk rug. The taxi mafia is nothing like rug merchants. We looked at a few silk carpets and I fell in love with one...the sheen was to die for and the colors changed as the surface rippled. After some hard bargaining, which I am sure I lost, I became the proud owner of Linda's future birthday or Christmas present.
We continued as far as the Ark...the city citadel, before retracing our steps in search of a better view of the Kalyan Mosque and the brick Minaret, a 48 meter flawless example of civil engineering and architecture built in 1127 AD, and a schwarma restaurant. Lunch was ok, but again nothing as compared to the ones Will had in Rome. We returned to the hotel to relax, read, and use the Wi-Fi. For dinner we asked the manager where a good place to eat was. He was about to show an Estonian where it was, so we asked if he minded if we joined him. I told the Estonian...I forgot his name as it was an unusual name...that we would be in Tallinn next week, and asked whether it would be stereotyping to
ask if he worked in the IT industry. He did indeed work for Oracle for the last 15 years. We shared a great meal and stories about traveling...he is on the road half the time with an area of responsibility that includes all of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. We also got some advice about the Baltics.
6 April 2013 Saturday. We caught the 8:05 am train to Samarkand, arriving there at 11 am. Samarkand was a major crossroad on the Silk Road, whether the various roads converged after splitting at Dunhuang. It was built around the same time as Rome and Babylon, and shares a similar position in the history of world civilizations. Alexander the Great passed through Samarkand in 329 BC as he extended his empire to India. We took a taxi to the boutique hotel, similar to the one in Bukhara...getting near it was a challenge as the main way there was blocked off. After checking in we went out for lunch...again nothing impressive...we were told that no one goes to Uzbekistan for the food. We returned to the hotel to relax. I talked to the manager for awhile...he spoke excellent English...the reason for
which was he was a high school exchange student in northern Minnesota, and then went to college in Florida...six years in all.
Mid afternoon I walked to the nearby Registan...a huge square with three madrassahs constructed in the 15th century facing the center. This was the evidence of Emir Tamerlane's architectural abilities. I sat down on a bench facing the square, just to absorb the sight. I asked an elderly European couple near me whether they spoke English. They replied "a bit." I asked where they were from..."Oxford, England." So "a bit" was "a bit" understated. We had a great time talking about things in general and carbon footprints, specifically. Travelers seems to leave a large carbon footprint in case you were wondering how that subject came up.
I soon discovered that Samarkand's sights are not within walking distance unless one is a walker, which I was before my broken ankle, but am currently constrained. I didn't want to deal multiple times with taxis just to get from one to another so concluded that the Registan would have to be the focus of our visit to Samarkand. On the way back to the hotel I passed Will who
was on his way to dinner. As I was almost at the hotel, I didn't feel like walking back to the restaurant area, so he ate alone while I had a Snickers bar and Fanta for dinner...never have I stooped so low!
7 April 2013 Sunday. Given that we had seen all that we had intended to in Samarkand, we decided to see if we could exchange our train tickets for Monday departure to a Sunday departure. We took a taxi to the train station, advising the manager of the hotel that we might be back. They were willing to exchange the tickets, but there were no seats left on any train going to Tashkent today! We returned to the hotel and spent until 3 pm reading and wi-fi'ing. At 3 pm we went for a late lunch early supper. On the way back to the hotel I convinced Will that we need to spend a few minutes absorbing the Registan; which we did. He thought Rome was more impressive. That's what a year abroad in Rome will do to a person...nothing can ever live up to it...from food to architecture. Back at the room we read and wi-fi'ed
some more.
8 April 2013 Monday. After breakfast I went with the hotel manager to a bank to withdraw dollars using my debit card so that I could pay for the room. The cashier spent the first hour just counting the money, and otherwise getting ready to do her job...couldn't she have been prepared for the customers when the bank opened at 9 am? Anyway, I got back to the hotel at 10:15 am, in time to check out and take a taxi to the train station to catch the 11:00 am train to Tashkent. We arrived at about 2:30 and caught a taxi to the hotel we had stayed at the first night in Uzbekistan. We had stored our larger bags there so we didn't have to carry so much. We had dinner and I completed this blog. I just hope they wake us up at 2:30 am in time for another ridiculously early flight...this time to Riga, Latvia!
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The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas
Another dream destination
I'm toying with the idea of travelling to Central Asia at present, and reading your blog is coaxing me to undertake such a journey. Thanks for the inspiration!