Serendipity In Tashkent
In September of 1995 we flew into Tashkent, Uzbekistan from New York City on Uzbekistan Airways on our way to join an REI trek into the mountains in Kyrgyzstan. The night before we left home, we ran into a friend who told us that a couple of his friends from Salem, Oregon were in Tashkent working for USAid. He emailed his friends ahead of our arrival and they welcomed us at our hotel.
On our return from the trek we met up with them again when they took us to a U.S. Embassy party where upon walking in we see a guy from Roseburg Oregon (two hours from our home) barbequing hamburgers….and baked beans and potato salad on the table….a most welcome sight after two weeks in the mountains eating lamb and cabbage!
This cosmopolitan city of 2.3 million people is Central Asia’s hub and the fourth biggest in the Commonwealth of Independent States after Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev. It is situated in the middle of the Eurasian landmass and is better connected by international flights than any other city in the region. Rebuilt after the 1966 earthquake, Tashkent is the very model of a modern Soviet city..concrete apartment blocks including great parade grounds around solemn monuments. The older part of the city is a sprawling Uzbek country town with fruit trees and in every courtyard hidden behind secure walls where in one our tour group enjoyed an open air Uzbek meal under meandering grape vines.
Tashkent is half Russian-speaking and as in the rest of the country includes Slavs, Koreans, Caucasians and Tatars. Traditions of the old Silk Road still linger as Uzbeks consider themselves good traders, hospitable hosts and tied to the land. 85% of the people claim they are Sunni Islamic but only about 3% are practicing.
A shabby hotel was home for the week in Tashkent. A Russian babushka was stationed on each floor…a hold-over from Soviet days…to miserly dispense toilet paper, see to laundering your clothes and direct desiring gentlemen to local brothels.
The Russian-built underground metro in Tashkent, filled with striking artwork, is the most beautiful we have seen anywhere in the world. The metro was designed as a nuclear shelter and photos are strictly forbidden. We used these smooth fast trains to visit some of the many colorful open air farmers markets or bazaars around the city.
Tags: Central Asia, Tashkent, Trains, Uzbekistan
Zoe