Uzbekistan: Tashkent

Uzbekistan is a beautiful and interesting country. Nic and I were fortunate enough to spend 8 days there with 6 other teachers from AIS. We flew from Almaty to Tashkent, the capital, which is located on the eastern side of the country. From there, we took a (slightly scary) domestic flight (on Scat Airways) to Urgench on the western side of the country. From Urgench we drove back to Tashkent, stopping a few places along the way. This posting will only cover Tashkent, with more to follow. 

Tashkent is a modern city with around 2.5 million people.  The streets are clean with little traffic, there are plenty of parks with big mature trees, people are friendly and it is easy to navigate. There is an incredible subway system through the city. The cars are from the 70's and are painted colors like turquoise and yellow and have those great 70's curved edges that are reminiscent of the 20's style. There are something like 35 stops, and each stop is beautifully styled...one was dedicated to an Uzbek cosmonaut and had blue glass plates on the ceiling like space, one was like a beautiful ballroom with large chandeliers shaped like flowers. We couldn't take any photos for security reasons. 

We met our guide, Temur, in the morning after we arrived and he showed us around the city. 

 A stunning Russian Orthodox Church. 

 A typical storefront scene with the menu in pictures. Notice the cat? Stray cats here are like stray dogs in Latin America. 

 Our first meal in Uzbekistan: samsa and beer. Samsa are like a savory turnover. We tried the potato samsa and pumpkin samsa. We had to stand at our table because the outdoor cafe was full. Notice the table next to Nic's left arm. There were 6 or 7 men having lunch, tea and vodka together. As soon as one vodka bottle went dry, one man would go into the store across the street and buy another bottle. 

 One of the many local markets we would visit. This one is near downtown Tashkent. 

 We bought some roasted and salted apricot pits from this fellow. 

 Honey!

 This is a statue of Temur, a national hero in Uzbekistan. He had quite a large empire spanning Central Asia in the 14th Century. Many streets are named after him and there a number of statues of him. 

 This is the Uzbek note, called sum. The largest note is 1000. There are 2,500 sum to one dollar. We were shocked and amused when we exchanged $100 and got about a 4 inch stack of bills. Paying for meals was always a challenge, counting (on average) 140 bills to leave on the table. 

 Our guide took us into old Tashkent down narrow streets and past old homes. I was in the right place and the right time for this shot. 

 Kids fishing with a giant net in a canal in old Tashkent. 

The first of many minarets we would see on this trip. 

 A beautiful madrasah.

 This mausoleum is from the 16th century. It was part of a large complex that had many old and new madrasahs and mosques, all ornately decorated. 

 This building houses the oldest copy of the Koran. It was completed in the 6th century and has large parchment pages with bold black script. 

 After visiting the mosque we made our way through town to visit another market. On the way, we encountered this sweet couple. One of the amazing characteristics of Uzbek people is their willingness to have their photo taken. 

 Babushka. Just look at that face!

 The food court in the market. See the smoke rising? Can you smell that lamb on the grill? Like many Central Asian countries, Uzbek cuisine is heavy on meat. Shashlik, or meat kebabs, are an everyday meal. 

 A woman selling plov, another Uzbek staple and typical lunch. Plov is a delicious dish of carrots, chickpeas and raisins fried with cumin, cooked into rice and garnished with grilled meat or boiled egg. It is soo tasty. 

 These women are selling dried and salted horse milk formed into snack-size balls. These are all over Kazakhstan as well, and I have yet to try one. One can always sense they are near a vendor by the potent smell. 

 After the market we visited a large park. This is a WW monument listing all the soldiers names who died in the wars.

 Beautifully and intricately carved pillars. 

 Lovely Fall leaves. 

 Notice the statue of the three storks on the gate in the background. The stork is the symbol of family and an image we saw throughout the country. Our guide said that it is the fashion right now for little girls to have very short hair. This cute girl poses while her mom snaps a photo. 

Where the globe sits now used to stand a figure of Lenin. When Uzbekistan gained independence, the very large statue came down in one day. Now sits a globe with the outline of Uzbekistan pronounced. Below it sits a mother holding her baby. The mother is Russia, and the baby Uzbekistan. Our guide told us that the local people say they hope the father was not Lenin.