Uzbekistan

Crossing from Turkmenistan, one of the least visited countries in the world, to Uzbekistan, the most touristy of the Central Asian nations, was a bit of a contrast. Suddenly there were people around, lively towns and cities, souvenir shops lining the streets, and lots of other foreigners. It was hot – high 30s most days, and little shade – so mornings and evening became our main exploring hours.

We spent most of our time in Uzbekistan visiting three historical cities, Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand, followed later by a short stop in the capital city, Tashkent. All three cities had an old town at their centre, and have of course now grown significantly around these. Walking through the centres you find yourself in lots of interesting little alleyways lined with brown clay buildings. Scattered throughout are mosques, minarets, and madrasahs, all decorated beautifully in blue and green tiles.

The colours and tiles were some of my favourite things here, but I have to admit that it did become a bit repetitive after a while. Eventually, all the places we visited all began to merge together in my mind and I began to lose track of everything – while all very impressive, the designs of the buildings and mosaics definitely followed similar themes! Some places that stood out though were the massive turquoise minaret at Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasah in Khiva, Po-i-Kalan Mosque in Bukhara, and of course Registan Square in Samarkand. Other highlights were getting lost in the backstreets of the old towns, lively dinners with the group, seeing how carpets are painstakingly knitted by hand, and the metro stations of Tashkent.

We also had a new guide in Uzbekistan, a young guy called Bek. He told us many things, but a particular point of interest was his explanation of marriage and relationships in the country. Arranged marriages are still the most common way of finding a partner, and you are expected to begin the process at around age 20. If there’s someone you’re interested in outside of the arranged marriage process, you’re not allowed to approach them directly, as that would bring shame on their family. Instead, you find out where they are studying, ask the institution for their home address, and then go there to ask for permission from their parents to arrange the relationship. Generally by the third date you and your families have agreed on whether a marriage will go ahead. Our guide had asked his family for a little more time to get his life set up before finding a girl, so he was allowed to wait until 24 before getting married. He wanted to take his wife to Thailand after the wedding, but the family was pressuring him for a child, so instead of visiting Thailand he is now 26 with a nine month old daughter. Oh! And legally, you need to pass a medical examination before being issued with a marriage licence. I’m not sure what conditions would exclude you from being able to marry, but I wonder if I would be in trouble…

Speaking of medical issues, Uzbekistan has been by far the hardest place to keep my medication cool. I don’t know if it was a language barrier or what, but at each hotel I would ask them to freeze my ice pack so that I could keep things cold during the next day’s travel, and every single time it would be returned to me mildly chilled, if that. I even used Google Translate to ensure they understood that it must be solid ice, but it did not work. It was extremely frustrating. Of course I used my little fridge attachment when travelling after these days, but with the extremely hot temperatures, it struggled to stay cold enough, so we had some borderline temperatures there. I’m only hoping I can get it frozen before our upcoming yurt stays in Kyrgyzstan, as I doubt we will have electricity there!

Overall, Uzbekistan was beautiful, and while I liked it a lot I did wish it was a little less touristy – I want to see real life too!! It was better in Tashkent, the capital, so I guess the other cities were just very tourist-centric in their little old town areas, but still. To finish off, here are a few more Uzbekistan facts I have learnt along the way:

Cotton picking is a common summer job for both students and teachers, and you can earn US$3-7 per kilogram of cotton picked.
Petrol costs around US$0.8-1 per litre, but most cars run on propane, as it is much cheaper.
A hand on your chest works as both a greeting and a way to say thank you
The country has one of the world’s highest literacy rates.
Two-thirds of the population are younger than 30 years old.
It’s double landlocked – every country that borders Uzbekistan is also landlocked!
Similar to Turkmenistan, there used to be a law about only having white cars – this has since changed, but most cars are still white. Our guide thinks it’s because they’re the best colour in the heat.
The Uzbek national hero is Amir Timur, aka Tamerlane, who is considered one of the most successful conquerors of all time