Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HK8JcFHtzGUiPUwi6
Prior to this trip, I had been to a lot of picturesque places. Rajasthan (primarily Jaipur), Agra, and Delhi probably took the cake here, but other notables include Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Istanbul, and the South of France. However, I really do think that Uzbekistan (and more specifically Samarkand, though Bukhara and Khiva apply as well) claims the top spot as being the most photogenic spot I have ever been to. The gorgeous medieval Islamic architecture here is just second to none. Not sure if part of it is some type of misplaced nostalgia/orientalism mindset/exotic-ism, but there really is something incredibly evocative about old, preserved Islamic architecture, moreso than other types of older preserved architecture for me. The only place that I think would even compare (and that is debatable) would be Iran…medieval Cairo was a bit away from even Istanbul, while other places like the Mughal cities of Pakistan I feel would be closer to being between Istanbul and Delhi (I mean, Delhi was the grandest Mughal city so I doubt Lahore/etc will be AS amazing, but that doesn’t matter since as an ethnic Indian I won’t be allowed in Pakistan for a while unfortunately). The Taj Mahal is still the single most picturesque man-made monument I have ever seen (funnily enough, the Taj was influenced by Humyaun’s Tomb (in Delhi), which was influenced by Timur’s tomb in Samarkand. The Mughals were from Uzbekistan so it makes sense), but Samarkand was just out of this world. While I wouldn’t say Uzbekistan is one of my *all time* favorite spots, it was still a great great time, and honestly the past couple of months have vaulted Central Asia right up there with East Africa (Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania) as my favorite region in the world that I have traveled in. Tajikistan was an all-timer for me, while Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are easily two of the more memorable places that I have been to, for very different reasons.
So I had half a day to kill in Tashkent when I first got there, just walked around and didn’t do much. My dad got in the next morning, and we spent a decent chunk of the day out and about before getting back early (NY is 9 hours behind so he did have a little jetlag). The Islamic monuments in Tashkent were OK at best, nothing noteworthy. The first thing we actually did was visit a ~150 year old Russian Orthodox Cathedral (Karakol in Kyrgyzstan had a more impressive one, to say nothing of Kyiv or Moscow/Saint Petersburg let alone Suzdal and Vladimir), where we luckily stumbled upon some religous singing and chanting as it was Sunday service. I always love me some Church chants, they are (sorry for the pun) so enchanting. After this, we embarked on what was probably the highlight of Tashkent for me, the subway system. Obviously not as impressive as Moscow, but Tashkent is easily the second best subway system I have ever seen. Just super cool Soviet architecture and artwork, with every stop having a unique design and theme. Moscow’s metro is understandably more grand, but Tashkent’s was great…my favorite was an outer space themed one, where there were murals for each Soviet astronaut and the general ambiance simply just felt like outer space…it was really well done. After that, we just checked out a big bazaar – the Chorsu bazaar – and walked around to some Islamic sights afterwards before heading back to the hotel. Also, the Mohun Bagan soccer team was staying in our hotel there – they are India’s most storied team and based in Calcutta, and were in Tashkent for an Asia Cup match.
One really bizarre thing about Tashkent (and the rest of Uzbekistan), is the ridiculous prevalence of white Chevy cars. Turns out there is a huge Chevy plant in the Ferghana Valley, and it costs a ton to import cars, so everyone just buys the locally made Chevys. And beyond that, they primarily make white and getting other colors leads to longer waiting times, so people just settle for white cars. Quite literally 90+% of the cars we saw were white Chevys. Also, much like the rest of Central Asia, the fruits and nuts in this country were fantastic. And if you don’t include the Western Chinese food of Kyrgyzstan, the food in Uzbekistan was probably the best food I had in Central Asia. Non, plov, melons (!!!) etc…pretty decent overall but to be honest I’m looking forward to going to Georgia next to have some legit good food there.
Anyways, the next day, we had an 8am train to Samarkand. Got there at 10, and transferred and quickly checked into the hotel before heading out. Really for most of my adult life, Samarkand was up there with Timbuktu as probably the most evocative city in the world (the Chinese-American dude, Xu, who I briefly met in Egypt scuba diving and then ran into again for a week in Vic Falls in Zambia, was recently in Mali and saw Timbuktu, despite the whole civil war/etc issues going on there). I obviously realize there’s a big problem with romanticizing and “otherizing” foreign locales like that, but still. It definitely lived up to the hype in its’ own way.
Samarkand was basically like a souped up version of Delhi/Agra/Jaipur for me. The Mughals came from Uzbekistan and invaded India, so the similarity between the architecture of Agra and Delhi with Samarkand makes sense. And the Rajput architecture of Jaipur (and the rest of Rajasthan) was heavily influenced by the Mughals, so the similarities are clearly there. But Samarkand was just so much more colorful. Bright blue tiled and towering monuments, brilliant teal blue domes, artistic Arabic writing along with intricate tilework and floral designs engraved on the exteriors of all of these buildings. It was almost like a visual overload. Obviously as a living city it didn’t compare at all to Delhi (which might be my all time favorite city I have traveled to aka NYC and London don’t count) let alone Agra, but strictly from a monument perspective it was incredible.
The obvious highlight was the Registan, which is a large square flanked by three madrassas – a madrassa is basically an Islamic university. The three here are no longer active, and were built in the 1400s and 1600s. It was interesting to see how the minarets (and buildings themselves!) were not even standing straight, but all slightly tilted, from earthquakes and Soviet attempts to prevent them from collapsing. The exteriors here were simply exquisite…the pictures all look outrageous and even they don’t do it justice. Inside each of these three madrassas were beautifully blue courtyards, with all the alcoves of course filled by tourist tout shops. There were also a few mosques here and the interiors were grand, but to be honest, interior-wise I still think the mosques in Edirne (the Ottomen capital before they conquered Istanbul) in Turkey are the best I have ever seen.
Another highlight in Samarkand was the Gur-Amir, which was the mausoleum where Timur aka Tamerlane was buried. Could definitely see the Taj Mahal influence here with the ornate blue gate leading into a quiet courtyard with the monument towering behind a bright teal dome flanked by two minarets. Obviously not as cool as the Taj (but what is?), but still a really neat site. Beyond that, the Shah-i-Zinda was awesome – this was a narrow path filled with mausoleums for Timur’s relatives, and the bright blue exteriors here had some of the best tilework in all of Uzbekistan. And the last highlight of Samarkand was the Bibi Khanym, named after Timur’s wife. Another giant grand mosque with an entranceway that you could see in Mughal India (minus the blue, almost reminded me of Fatehpur Sikri in Agra), but in a more ruined state with the interior being off limits.
It’s kind of funny – the entire Silk Road reputation of Uzbekistan is based off history that is 1k+ years old, but pretty much none of that exists anymore in either of Samarkand, Bukhara, or Khiva. That’s thanks to one Genghis Khan, who completely razed the entire region during his campaigns, so all the cool architecture that exists now is post “peak” Silk Road. The ruins of the old Samarkand city are perched up on a hill in the northern part of the current city, and are called Afrosiab. My dad and I walked around there for an hour and there really isn’t much…just some dug up excavations and mounds, sort of drab. But we did find numerous pieces of glazed pottery, which is a first in my tomb raiding experience. This is particularly cool because these colorful pottery shards like 800+ years old, as they predate Genghis Khan sacking the city. I suppose it makes sense that it was easier to find colored shards here than in Roman sites where the pottery is like over twice as old.
After Samarkand (two days is plenty here), we drove down to Shahrisabz, which is where Timur was born. This was a quick half day trip before making it out to Bukhara. There was the ruined entry arch to Timur’s palace, which was honestly pretty jaw dropping, but otherwise it was an eh city especially compared to Samarkand. A couple of colorful mosques but they obviously didn’t hold a candle to what we saw earlier…definitely would have appreciated it more if we saw it before Samarkand.
Bukhara is another legendary Silk Road city that is similarly evocative, a few hundred kilometers to the west of Samarkand. It only has like under 300k people now, but reminded me a ton of medieval Cairo. Filled with sandstone monuments – I swear you can’t walk more than 15 seconds in this city before seeing a 300+ year old madrassa or caravansarai (basically an overnight motel for caravan traders on the silk road), it was kind of ridiculous. Grand mosques, madrassas, and courtyards abound everywhere, and it really had an old Islamic city feel to it. Very different vibes from the majestic monuments of Samarkand, though obviously the buildings here were extravagant in their own way.
Highlights of Bukhara included the Kalyon Minaret and the surrounding square (giant madrassa and mosque flanking the imposing minaret)…this minaret predates Genghis Khan and apparently he was so impressed by it that he let it survive. Of course, the despotic Emir of Bukhara used this minaret to throw criminals off to their death…I really do think that the sort of stereotype of despotic and cruel leaders in distant lands that exists in fantasy is somewhat based on the insane rulers of Bukhara and Khiva, and how their tales would have filtered back to Europe, especially during the Orientalism fetish close to the turn of the century. Another awesome monument that predates Genghis Khan (because it was buried in silt by the time he came), was the 9th century Samanid Mausoleum. This almost looked like an old Christian Church with the geometric designs on it, but apparently a lot of it was Zoroastrian-based, as this was the first real Islamic empire in the region…Somoni, the main ruler of this dynasty, lends his name to the currency of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Speaking of Zoroastrian, apparently the dome was started by Persians which then became a Zoroastrian feature. Alexander saw these domes during his conquests which then filtered back to Greece, then to Rome, then to the Turks once they encountered the Byzantines.
Other highlights in Bukhara for me were the Ark, which is this giant imposing fortress with a really cool exterior wall layout, the Chor Bakr, which is this really quaint and isolated catacomb area outside the city, the last Emir’s palace which was gaudy like all palaces are, the Char Minar, which is this totally out of place Madrassa entrance with four cool pillars flanking a turqoise dome (almost looks like this was built in the desert and then the city enveloped it), and otherwise in general just walking around the city and taking in all the madrasas and caravansarais.
Our hotel in Bukhara was in the old Jewish quarter – Bukhara used to have a large Jewish population but there are only ~100 Jews left in this city of ~300k. For context, there are now like 50k Bukharan Jews in Forest Hills, Queens, alone! The Bukharan Jews emigrated en masse following Uzbek independence, fearing conservative religious rule. Sort of the typical narrow alleyways you get in Old Towns, but this was still pretty cool to just wander around in. I did stumble into my first ever Jewish religious service on a Saturday, so I have now been to almost every major religious service! Hindu, Buddhist (though only one strain of Buddhism in Ladakh…I know that there are multiple types here), Catholic, Protestant, Sunni, Shia, Sikh, and now Jewish.
The gift shops across Uzbekistan were great, but this was particularly true for Bukhara. There was one shop that was selling old Soviet military passports that I really considered buying, but decided not to (being thrifty comes natural to me, and definitely helped with saving up the 80k over 4 years of work that I am now travelling on to be fair). There were also touts selling these Uzbek instruments that sounded just like the instruments you here in Hindi and Tamil movies. Blew my mind. Speaking of India…I never quite realized how strong of a connection there was between Persian and Hindi. Since the Mughals basically conquerored and held India with Persian support, Persian/Farsi seeped into India that way. And many Uzbeks speak Tajik, which is effectively a Farsi dialect (on the other hand, Uzbek, like Kyrgyz, is a Turkic language). So you get a lot of Indian similarities in clothing (like Tajikistan, the womens clothing here is super similar to India), language, and music in Uzbekistan all via the Persian connection. Have already spoken with my dad about going to Iran together next September (hopefully after Burning Man!) since he really wants to go there as well.
After Bukhara, we took a long 10 hour drive to the small walled city of Khiva. On the way, we drove by tons of new mosques that were all built in the Timurid style of Samarkand…this honestly reminded me a ton of Tamil Nadu, where you see all these new temples in the cities and countryside (alongside the ancient ones) built in imitation. On the way to Khiva, we stopped by a couple of ~1500+ year old desert fortresses, Toprak Kala and Ayaz Kala. Toprak was definitely the more impressive one, with the palace layout being dug out enough to walk around and check out crevices and rooms. Definitely more room to excavate here (hasn’t been done since the Soviets pre-World War II), but overall was a cool little detour on the way to Khiva. There are like 50 kalas to explore out in the desert, so if you were inclined you could easily spend multiple days driving all over the region checking them out.
Khiva was also a great city – we spent one day there which was honestly more than enough time. Super small walled city that in a way reminded me of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, with the narrow alleys and sand colored buildings throughout. The day we were in Khiva happened to be World Tourism Day, so there were tons of people walking around town wearing traditional clothing, which in this case was men in Turkmen garb of long silk robes and these giant woolen hats that almost look like afros, and women wearing Persian/Indian esque dresses. And of course, Khiva rulers in the past were known to punish criminals by throwing them to their death off of the couple of tall minarets that are located in the city center. One of the unexpected surprises of Khiva was the intricately carved wooden pillars that were scattered about in all the old mosques and madrassas everywhere…the only other time I have seen this level of intricate woodcarving was probably in Myanmar. Also in Khiva, we saw tons and tons of men and women with gold teeth…this has been a constant theme throughout my time in Central Asia, but this was especially common in Khiva. Overall, Khiva was an incredibly photogenic city to wander around in, and I got serious Aladdin vibes from the perfectly preserved medieval architecture of the Old Town. In many ways it was identical to the dime a dozen European Old Towns that you see, but the uniqueness of the architecture and feel of the city made it more memorable than a European Old Town for me.
After Khiva, we flew to Tashkent and then drove over to the Ferghana Valley to spend a couple of days. On the drive there, we stopped by this old Soviet town, Angren, where there was an abandoned amusement park. It reminded me of a homeless man’s Chernobyl – so obviously reminded me a ton of The Last of Us (I and II) as well – and it was a really enjoyable nice little pitstop on the way. Our first stop was Kokand, which was the seat of yet another emirate that was under the Russian Empire (along with the Bukhara and Khiva emirates). There was another colorful mosque and remains of a palace here, but definitely a step below Khiva let alone Samarkand and Bukhara. Still worth visiting if you have the time and glad I got to see it. One of the unexpected highlights here were visiting with the various craftsmen who worked there…they were all state employees who were paid to help continue local traditions which was pretty cool. One was this awesome dude who hand-forged knives and swords with gorgeous Arabic script and designs, while another was this woodcarver who, among other things, made incredibly cool Chess sets. After Kokand, the next town we visited in the Ferghana Valley was Rishton, which was right on the Kyrgyz border. We visited a ceramics craftsman here, same deal as the guys in Kokand. After that, we went to this small Sufi mosque that was 100% not a tourist location, but just a really cool quiet location with a unique mudbrick mosque. Our final stop that day was the town of Margilan, where we visited a Silk Factory (this was the Silk Road after all!). We then spent the night in the city of Fergana, before seeing Andijan the next day. Andijan was honestly really underwhelming, but we felt like we had to visit as it is the birthplace of Babur, who would go on to found the Mughal Empire. Overall the Ferghana Valley was OK, definitely worth tacking on if you have extended time in Uzbekistan beyond the obvious highlights of Samarkand/Bukhara/Khiva.
We then headed back to Tashkent, where my dad got his PCR test before flying back home to NY. We also stopped by a local history museum before his flight which was actually pretty cool, had tons of well preserved Buddhist artifacts from Termez, in southern Uzbekistan along the Afghan border (we didn’t visit here because the Russian army is currently camped here due to the Taliban presence across the border). Have a couple more days here to just hang out and walk around, before flying to Tbilisi. Plan is to spend ~2/3 weeks in Georgia and Armenia before hopefully going to Iraq proper (ie not Kurdistan) for a week-ish, and then meeting my friend Steve for a couple of weeks in Greece to start November. Probably will spend some time in Europe after that? Who knows, obviously all dependent on how the situation looks with COVID.