Population Uzbekistan: 32 million. Average number of people per square km – 75 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
Uzbekistan has several major historical cities on the fabled Silk Route, in which there are numerous magnificent tiled mausoleums, mosques and madrassas (Arabic for Islamic educational institution). Added to that, the people are incredibly friendly.
The internet has many reports warning travellers of the meanness of the border officials including the real danger of being arrested for having certain medication. We took the precaution of leaving our first aid supplies and other medication in Kyrgyzstan, which we would collect at a later time. A further concern was that our visa and date of entry was in advertently set for 1st September, Uzbekistan Independence Day. Travel agents advised against travelling on that day, however we were unable to change our visa. We decided to press on from Osh early in the morning to the border control point, not knowing whether it would be open on the public holiday. Things could not have worked out better for us. Our vehicle was the only one at the border and there were only three or four locals crossing on foot. We cleared the Kyrgyzstan side of the border in no time and then slowly approached the dreaded Uzbekistan border control point. To our amazement, the officials were friendly, albeit thorough in checking our vehicle, however not to the point of being annoying. We drove into Uzbekistan within an hour.
The amazing friendliness of the Uzbeks immediately struck us. Many of the cars that passed us, hooted, waved and gave the thumbs up. Andijan was the first city we reached and we stopped to find local currency and get our bearings. People soon crowded around our car and wanted photos with us. One lad, who spoke good English, was insistent that we go to his home for a meal. His parents were waving encouragingly in the background. We grabbed the opportunity to learn more about these people and find out how they live. The family treated us like VIPs and were overjoyed to have us in their home. We were just as excited to have this opportunity, little knowing that we were going to have several more home visits during our travels in Uzbekistan. The parents were beaming with pride of their son’s ability to hold a conversation in English with us and being able to translate their questions. They did not want us to leave, insisting we spend the night with them. We were keen to move on. Gifts were exchanged and we were on our way.
The police unfortunately, are a whole different story. True to reports, these parasites are everywhere, ready to take money off foreigners, and it appears off locals as well. We were stripped of $20 within 10 minutes of entering Uzbekistan. We tried not to make eye contact with any of the police, and it seemed to help because it made it difficult for them to signal that we should pull over. The only acceptable police in our view, were the hardboard police cut-outs found especially at school pedestrian crossings.
Cash is something one needs to get the hang of early in the piece. The Uzbek currency has very little value on the world market. Added to that, they have the crazy setup where the banks exchange rate is almost half of what one can get on the black market. At first we had difficulty finding the blackmarket traders, however soon we learned that they hang out at the bazaars and usually carry a black plastic bag filled with cash. Often actually, they spotted us foreigners a mile off and approached us offering to exchange cash. We have no idea of how legal or illegal the black market transactions are, however it is evident that virtually everybody uses the black market for foreign exchange dealings. Interestingly, about a month into our travels in Uzbekistan, we found that the authorities/ banks had finally come to their senses and were offering the same exchange rate as can be had on the black market. One assumes that the banks came to understand that if they wanted to get their hands on foreign currency, they need to pay a market related price. Due to the messed up economy in Uzbekistan, one US$ trades for more than 8,000 Som. They mostly use 1,000 Som notes, and as a result one mostly has pockets stuffed with notes. A typical meal amounted to between 150 and 200 bank notes. The locals are experts at counting wads of notes.
We travelled in Fergana Valley, which is traversed by the Syr Darya, one of the two major rivers that ultimately flow into the Aral Sea ( the sea that has now almost dried up and disappeared). The fertile Fergana valley is heavily populated and has been inhabited for several thousand years and is located on the ancient major trade route between China and Europe, part of the Silk Route. This valley has seen a lot of turmoil over the centuries, however the people seem to be resilient, always picking up the pieces after a major invasion, and building a new life. The peoples of the valley were conquered by Alexander the Great, followed by the Persians, then the Chinese, the Arabs in the 8th century, Genghis Khaan in the 13th century and Timur (Tamerlane) in the 14th century. The region was ruled by the Khans (rulers) of Kokand in the 18th century, after which the Russians subdued the locals. On the face of it, the people now seem to be relatively well off, with many new homes being constructed throughout the region. The fruit from the area is superb, abundant and cheap, and was a big part of our diet.
Two other major products from the valley, are raw silk production and pottery. Apparently silk has been produced in Uzbekistan for 4,000 years. We made a couple of attempts to visit a silk factory only to find they were closed for the Independence Day (several days) celebrations. This was no big disappointment because we had already visited a silk farm in Thailand months ago. We did however get to buy several metres of beautiful, naturally coloured silk, which we can turn into something later on.
The pottery factory in Rishtan in the Fergana valley is world renowned. Rustan, the owner, was the master potter during the Soviet era, when the Soviet factory apparently employed 2,000 potters making regular household pottery. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Rustan and many others, set up their own factories. The pottery ware is all hand painted and beautiful. Rustan has trained his son and nephew to continue the production of the pottery, and they spent time showing us the various processes involved in producing the pottery products. Naturally we simply had to acquire a couple of pieces to take home with us.
We travelled out of the Fergana valley over the 2,300m pass crossing the Tien Shan mountain range to reach Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Tashkent served us well with a good selection of coffee shops and restaurants. The city lies on the ancient Silk Route, however there is not much remaining from ancient times. There are however a couple of museums worth a visit and these included the National History museum and a museum dedicated entirely to the national hero, Timur (Tamerlane). Timur was a brutal leader who, in his early years seized power from his sovereign, and then went on to conquer a vast area which included all of Central Asia. Many of the grand mausoleums and madrassas constructed in the 15th to 17th centuries are due to his and his relatives doings. It was interesting to see in the museum the list of his successors, all relatives, and almost all had an untimely death, either murdered by another relative or died on the battle field. Being king, was a very hazardous job.
The National history museum was interesting as it had displays tracing the entire history of the country, starting from the stone age, tens of thousands of years ago, to modern times. This is the format we have found in history museums in most of the countries. Much of the history in Central Asia is similar across borders.
From Tashkent, we travelled a long 2,500km via Baikonur in Kazakhstan to see the Soyuz rocket launch (see our Blog Kazakhstan Part 2), and down the west coast of Aral sea to re-enter Uzbekistan in the far west.
Crossing into Uzbekistan at the Benuey border control point was one of our easiest, contrary to several traveller’s horror reports on the internet. The border control officer greeted us with a happy smile, shook our hands and told us that we must follow him and he will show us what to do. Embarrassingly, however to great benefit, he pushed us to the front of the queues to get our passports stamped and for customs control. We only recognised the word “tourist’ when he was subduing people complaining about us getting preferential treatment. The customs officers wanted us to unpack stuff from our vehicle, and again our border control officer came to the rescue with the magic word “tourist”. He told us to close the vehicle doors and go. With a happy wave all around, we were on our way.
The south western part of Uzbekistan is where one finds the major architectural treasures of Central Asia. This region lies all along the Amu Darya, or the famed Oxus River from Greek times, and has supported irrigated farming and trade for several thousand years. The peoples have been conquered and subdued by numerous great armies over the millennia, and many of the grand buildings of the day were raised to the ground by the invading armies, or by the ravages of time. Fortunately however, the grand and beautifully tiled buildings (mosques, mausoleums and madrassas) have survived. Many of these have been beautifully restored. We loved walking in the footsteps of the historical great leaders.
Khiva, located in west of Uzbekistan, was the first ancient and walled city that we visited. The entire wall and four gates of entry are intact. The wall was originally constructed in the 800’s AD and one imagines it must have seen repairs, reconstruction and renovation over the years. The main street in the old city is lined with the ancient buildings of the past 200 to 1,000 years and includes the palace, mosques, mausoleums, madrassas, minarets and market place. Most are now turned into museums, however the area has an authentic feel about it, tourist numbers are low, and one can still get a buz when you reflect on the past history. The rest of the old city is occupied by ordinary houses of the local people and their associated businesses. Life seems to simply carry on from one generation to the next.
Bukhara is an ancient city that lies south east of Khiva and can trace its history back more than 2,500 years. The walled city is a lot bigger than Khiva, and has numerous very grand Mausoleums, madrassas, mosques and bazaars. The wall around the old city is no longer intact, however some sections remain. We visited the iconic tiled Mosques and Madrassas, and some are still in daily common use as it has been for hundreds of years. The tile work is stunning and photographs simply don’t do justice to the size and detail of the buildings and tiled patterns. The palace was occupied from the 5th century until 1920, when it was bombed by the Red Army. The castle has been partly restored and has an interesting museum which shows the history of the castle and the regional history. The prison with its infamous bug pit dungeon is also open for view. A young British military representative was held captive here in the 1800’s, and his “crime” was that the king was not shown enough respect by the British, compounded by the fact that he approached the palace on horseback, instead of walking. His mate travelled from distant lands to secure his release, only to also end up in the bug pit. The unfortunate pair were later executed. Seems we don’t have much to complain about when we hit a rough patch. The ancient bazaars have been turned into curio shops. Barbara set her sights on a beautiful hand embroidered table cloth (called suzani) and it took some serious haggling to finally secure it.
Samarkand was the last major ancient city we visited in Uzbekistan. Anyone familiar with Central Asian geography and the Silk Route will have heard of Samarkand, because it arguably has the grandest ancient buildings. This ancient city also has a 2,500 plus history. Timur and his descendents left their mark here. The magnificent brightly tiled mausoleums, mosques, madrassas and other monuments have been restored. Some are still in daily use, and others now serve as museums. There are so many buildings, all with a similar design, that one’s interest can become saturated. Basically, the architectural design and decorations are similar (same same, but different as they say in Vietnam). It helps to throw in some diversions and we had the luxury of time to do so. Some occurred by accident, and others by design.
We had the good fortune to attend an Uzbek wedding. We heard loud music coming from one of the alleys in the old town and went to investigate. A wedding party had just started up in a small square with all the male guests taking up their seats for the feast. Numerous guests motioned us to join the party. They treated us like VIPs and sat us at a table with a couple of people that spoke good English. They had no problem that Barbara was the only women at the party. Later everybody followed the groom to meet the bride, who was with all the women in the house next door. The two of us were pushed to the front so that we had the best view of the proceedings. This is our idea of a travel adventure.
We visited a silk carpet weaving factory on the outskirts of Samarkand. The manager showed us how they process the silk, dye the silk and then weave the carpets. Also interesting, she showed us how to tell the difference between a cheap $100 carpet machine-made in China, and the real product. We will put this new found knowledge to good effect when we look for a nice carpet in Iran later during our travels.
The availability of diesel and petrol (benzin as it is known) is a key concern for the overland self drive traveller in Uzbekistan. Petrol is of poor quality and low octane and is in very short supply. Virtually all filling stations have no fuel, and those that do have supply, have long queues of cars waiting to fill up. Diesel is not available anywhere in the country, and this situation has been like this for years. We have read that diesel is reserved for agriculture and construction, however it is probably another sign of a dysfunctional government. The solution is to carry a large volume of diesel, 230lt in our case, and to augment supplies from the black market. Initially we followed the advice of other travellers and that is to go from filling station to filling station and ask for diesel under the counter. This is painful and we only had limited success after visiting half a dozen filling stations. We then hid upon the simple way of doing things. Simply ask the hotel manager to find some diesel. We did this in three cities and in each case the wheeler dealer hotel manager produced the goods.
From Samarkand, we travelled on to Tajikistan. We were looking forward to adventures in what is known as the “mountain kingdom”.
