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Welcome to the Republic of Uzbekistan, or “O’zbekiston Respublikasi” how it’s officially called in Uzbek. Uzbekistan is my second and last of the “Stans” I visited. Again, curiosity brought me to the country. I know people who have been before and they only told me good things about it. Most of Uzbekistan’s main cities were on the Silk Road, an ancient trading route between Europe and China which started since the era of the Roman Empire. Many products were traded along this route but Chinese silk was lucrative and the main product traded here. The Silk Road brought a lot of change to Central Asia, bringing Islam to Uzbekistan among others (10th-11thcentury). Today about 88%!o(MISSING)f the population in Uzbekistan is Muslim. To me, the people I saw in Uzbekistan seemed like a mix of Asian and Turkish.
I started in
Tashkent, capital and largest city in Uzbekistan with about 3 million people. I found Tashkent a pretty modern city with its metro network and wide avenues. Some metro stations look really nice, it's a pity you're not allowed to take pictures. I found Tashkent very clean as well and the roads are in
pretty good condition. Well, only the main roads because once you leave them it’s another story. Outside the cities it can get much worse! I arrived at Tashkent airport, everything went easy and smooth and I took a taxi to my hostel. Taxis are really cheap here. The currency in Uzbekistan is the Som, which officially is about 2450 Som for 1 US Dollar but on the black market you get more. I looked on the internet and saw people writing about getting 2800 to 3000 Som. The taxi-driver was insisting for me to change money with him and I did have doubts but at the end I changed some money. Later I found up that the exchange rate on the black market is actually much higher! Thankfully I didn’t change a lot because I got only 3000 Som per USD. That’s why I think we should just follow our instinct! The other times when I changed money, I got up to 4200 Som per USD; can’t fool me twice! The banknote with the highest value is 5000 Som, followed by 1000 Som. Therefore you end up having a LOT of banknotes that aren’t worth much. In Uzbekistan a wallet
is useless.
The guys that run the hostel were really cool and helpful and the atmosphere was great. When I arrived, there was a group of people travelling together and they had an Uzbek friend who was guiding them. They were going to explore Tashkent so I took advantage and joined them, even though I was a bit tired. Two Uzbek girls also came with us on both days. They are students who want to practice their English and they did their best to give explanations about the places we saw and visited.
We took several taxis and went to the Amir Temur Square, with a statue of Amir Temur (known as Tamerlane), a conqueror who lived in the 14
th century in Uzbekistan. Amir left some beautiful structures behind in the Uzbek cities and is seen as a national “hero”, even though he had a rough history which included a lot of murders. The square and the area around are really nice and well maintained. We walked around the area, passed the library and went towards the Independence Square (Mustakillik Square). Here there is a big globe with Uzbekistan outlined on it, and a statue of a
mother with her child which symbolizes the Uzbek sovereignty. And again I started to get popular and many people took pictures with me. Overall in Uzbekistan it happened much more often compared to Kazakhstan. But still, I enjoyed the attention I was getting and I can’t easily say no. We went for a late lunch at an Uzbek restaurant before going back to the hostel. I was exhausted and didn’t do anything for the rest of the day.
The next day we visited the lively Chorsu Bazaar, which is located in the old town of Tashkent. It’s the perfect place to get a glimpse of the daily life in the city. It’s always busy here, lots of people walking around, shopping, bargaining, selling etc. It’s an easy and safe place to change money too. You can find anything here, anything you can think about. The market has a dome which looks very nice from the inside. In this particular area of the bazaar they sell a lot of meat and also dried fruit, nuts, cheese etc. I found it really interesting to see how they bake the typical Uzbek bread they call “non”. They put the dough on
the side and upper part of the oven and the intense heat keeps them in place. Once they are baked, the bakers know exactly when to grab them out of the oven before they fall off. Non is basically consumed during every meal in Uzbekistan. We had a look at the O’zbek Liboslari Galereyasi, which is like a tiny shopping mall that looks gorgeous from the outside. Some people of the group bought some souvenirs here before we left. We continued for a stroll through the old city, which indeed looked very old, and we ended up at the Hazrat Imam complex. It’s named after the first preacher of Islam and imam in Tashkent and his name was Mazar Kaffalya ash-Shashi. The complex consists of a mosque and a madrassa. Madrassas are educational institutions, mostly in the Muslim world. Uzbekistan has many madrassas and most of them are not used as educational institutions anymore but they are monuments today. Then we went for lunch (we had a late lunch again) and continued to the Tashkent TV Tower. It was nice to go up and have a great view of the city but unfortunately you're not allowed to bring your camera.
You have to leave everything in lockers and you have to show your passport so you can be registered. The reason was, that it’s a “strategic” location (bla bla bla). It’s the first time that I went up such towers where they enforce such ridiculous rules. It doesn't make any sense, but anyway. It was great to be up there. One evening I met with Bakhtovar via Couchsurfing. He's a young, smart and ambitious Uzbek guy who took me to a good and cheap local restaurant where we had dinner and spoke a lot about travelling of course, but also about Curaçao and about Uzbekistan and its culture.
I met several people, including Lien who is a very nice and cool girl from Belgium. We booked the same train by coincidence so we travelled together to Samarkand and shared a twin-room at the guesthouse. We took a taxi to the Tashkent station, where you get a complete security check similar to the airport. The journey took about 3.5 hours and the train was really comfortable and much better than I expected. You even get served a sandwich and juice! The weather was very cloudy when we arrived in Samarkand
around midday and it rained a lot in the afternoon with thunderstorms. So I couldn't do anything on day one. In the early evening I just went for a walk in the immediate surroundings of the guesthouse and had dinner. Lien left a bit earlier, just before sunset after it stopped raining. One of the things I liked the most of her is that, just like me, she doesn't feel like we have to compromise all the time. We visited places together, had food together but sometimes she wanted to stay longer at a particular place or I wanted to go somewhere else. We were both fine with that and we’d meet each other later on anyway. Easy as!
Samarkand is the third largest city of Uzbekistan with roughly half a million people. The city is well known for its beautiful Muslim architecture. The next day I started at Registan Ensemble, located near the hostel. Registan is home to three madrassas and it’s a stunning place! The entrances are tall and beautifully decorated with detailed mosaic art in geometrical patterns. It’s just impressive to see so much detail on the walls and on the arches. I decided to
pay a guide to lead me around and tell me about the place. It was very interesting to get a better insight on how the buildings were used. The guide showed me where the students used to get classes during winter and during summer, and where the dormitories were. One of the madrassas is home to a small mosque, where students from all three madrassas were welcome to pray. After this I walked along the beautiful Tashkent Road towards the Bibi-Khanim Mosque. On the road I was stopped several times by school boys and girls, nicely dressed in their uniforms, to take pictures with me. At the mosque I met Lien because we had contact via mobile phone and we spent the rest of the day visiting the sites together. After the mosque we went to the Siob Bazaar which, like the bazaar in Tashkent, was also busy and bustling. I took advantage to buy some fruit here and we just strolled along a little bit and we were having a small chat with some people. What I really liked about Uzbekistan is the fact that people often greet you and want to have a small chat with you just
to practice their English. Not like in India where it eventually ends into asking for a donation or to take a look in their shop etc. After the bazaar we walked through a residential area and then went to Gur-e-Amir (Amir Temur Mauseoleum), which was another gorgeous piece of architecture. It has been restored though, like many other monuments in Uzbekistan, due to years of negligence or damage by earthquakes. The tombs of Amir Temur, his sons and grandsons lie at Gur-e-Amir.
The next day we went to Shah-i-Zinda Ensemble, a truly beautiful street with several mausoleums and ritual structures. The main reason that gives this place so much importance is that, supposed, prophet Muhammed’s cousin is buried here. I don’t care if it’s true or not, but it’s a gorgeous place and the mausoleums have so much details on them. After this we took a taxi to Ulugbek’s Observatory and museum. Ulugbek was Amir Temur’s grandson and he was an astronomer who acquired a lot of knowledge and discoveries in astronomy. Only a part of a big sextant is still intact, the rest of the observatory was destroyed and looted in the 15
th century soon after Ulugbek’s death
by religious fanatics. The part that remains, was discovered because of excavations by archaeologists early 20
th century together with several other astronomical instruments. There is also a small, interesting museum at the site, holding several astronomical instruments and other general information from the Ulugbek era. In Samarkand I started to feel like I was going to catch a cold and yes, the next morning I woke up with a cold but it wasn't too bad (yet). It didn't keep me from moving on! Lien went south and I went north. More in the next blog.
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Rich Elton!
This is so funny--millionaire for a week! I've always wanted to go to Samarkand--it and the Silk Road sound so exotic, and I love the Muslim architecture--mosques, tombs and madrassas, especially from the time of the bad boy, Tamerlane. Great you found Lien, who travels like you (and me)--such a rare treat. Hope you are over your cold by now.