New York to Tashkent
After a few days of processing RAWs and catching up on sleep, I'm ready to begin posting some pics of my trip. This will have to go up a bit piecemeal, post by post for the whole trip over a couple of days so please bear with me.
General Info About Uzbekistan
Quick and Dirty- Uzbekistan is a newly independent country (since 1991) formerly being a constituent republic of the USSR. It has approximately 25 million inhabitants, and sits on what the Greeks referred to as "Transoxania" -the area between the Oxus river (modern Amu Darya) and the Jaxartes river (modern Syr Darya). It's major cities are Tashkent, Samarkand (known as Marakanda to Alexander the great), Bukhara, Andijan, and (my favorite city name ever) Jizzax. Sounds like the name of an Alien from Star Wars.
It has hosted a number of civilizations; the Zoroastrian fire worshippers of Sogdia, Graeco-Bactrian descendents of Alexander the Great, Buddhist Oyrats, Moslem Arab invaders, Mongol Timurids, and finally the incursion of nomadic Uzbeks relatively recently. Uzbek (close to Turkish) is widely spoken, along with Tajik ( a sort of Persian) as well as Russian.
Preparing for the Trip
Uzbekistan is not the hardest place in the world to get to, but it sure ain't the easiest. All flights go into the capitol, Tashkent, which is serviced by Lufthansa, Uzbekistan Airways, and Aeroflot. From NYC the best way to go is direct with Uzbekistan airways, or through Moscow with Aeroflot. Tickets with both cost (for November) about $900- but, fortunate as I am to have a job that requires me to travel, I got both tickets with Aeroflot using frequent flyer miles (Aeroflot is in with Continental Airlines).
Aeroflot still uses the Sickle and Hammer in its logo.
Next were the visas; expensive and a real pain in the neck. It was essentially $400 for both of us- I got mine for about $150, but citizens of Portugal need an invitation, so my wife had to get hers through an Uzbek travel agent. The consulate in NYC has recommendations, but we used Vladimir at ECVO travel in Manhattan. The number can be obtained from the website of the Uzbek Legation to the UN in New York. Visas used to be cheaper, but the US has been hassling Uzbekistan about human rights lately, so they have their feathers ruffled a bit.
the documentation secured, we bought 2 guides- The Oddysey Guide to Uzbekistan, and Lonely Planet Central Asia. You need both of these- Lonely planet is good for practical info, but doesn't go much beyond "Tamerlane is buried here." The Oddysey Guide is chock full of historical info and pictures, being written by two Central Asia experts, but doesn't tell you where the things it discusses are or how to get to see them. Sometimes this can be incredibly frustrating- in Tashkent there is a Soviet Soldiers museum I wanted to see, but the Oddysey guide just gives you the address, with no indication of where it is. Given that the street names change all the time, and the fact that sometimes things are referred to by their old names (Buyuk Ipak Yoli metro, for example, is stil referred to by all as "Maxim Gorky") this is totally unhelpful.
Flying to Tashkent
9 hours to Moscow, and a 10 hour layover in Moscow Sheremetyovo Airport- a real hole in the wall. You can't leave the terminal if you don't have a visa, and if you pay for anything in dollars they give you an exchange rate of 24 roubles to the $USD; when it should be 35. An espresso will set you back $5, and its not a good Portuguese style espresso. It's like a lackluster version of Starbucks.
Hour two of our 10 hour stay in the "Kino Bar."
On top of that, the staff apparently hasn't been made aware of the Soviet Union's demise. The good part of this is that the Russian Frontier guard's uniform for women consists of a military jacket, miniskirt, and spike heels. Powerful stuff. Taking photographs of anything official is highly discouraged, so I don't have pics- but then again if you have to be put in handcuffs, it might as well be by a Russian cop in a miniskirt.
The bad part is that, everywhere in the airport, you get Brezhnev era customer service. I have been told that Russia is a nice place, and that Russians are nice people (the Russians I know certainly are). If I was a Russia novice, however, the airport would put me off visiting that country forever. The single most incivil, inconvenient, and asinine experiences I have ever had with officialdom anywhere at anytime, barring of course the representatives of Air India at Charles DeGaulle airport, may they suffer a thousand years of irritable bowel syndrome.
If you are hanging out in Sheremyetovo airport for any length of time, probably the best place to do so is at the "Kino Bar" on the second level. It's crazy expensive (what isn't?), but you can people watch, and as it takes an hour to get any service it will eat up a lot of your forced wait. Also, as the staff don't appear to care about anything at all and certainly aren't interested in the activities of this strange species of creature called "a customer", you can order a coffee and then take over one of their tables for 5 hours, which is what we did. The bar is movie themed, so you get to watch a lot of movies dubbed badly in Russian, and revel in the Soviet version of American film posters.
Anybody remember this gem of a flick? Good girl by day, bad girl by night; Angel!
The flights between New York and Moscow are all on nice brand new Boeings, as the Russian Federation doesn't want to embarass itself in front of the neighbors, apart from the occasional poisening of dissidents by radioactive metals. Central asians, however, are regarded (at best) as slightly disreputable and retarded cousins, so for the flight to Tashkent be prepared for an Ilyushin. If you are over 5'9", you are in for some hurtin'. Economy was jammed, and I sat sideways in the seat for the 4 hour trip to tashkent. Business was empty, but apparently Aeroflot doesn't understand the concept of Skyteam Elite upgrades, so I sat watching big roomy seats go empty while brooding about deep vein thrombosis.
Arrival in Tashkent
I am not sure why, but every international flight to Tashkent arrives at 3:30 AM. So we dragged our weary behinds to a cab stand, where we paid $6 to get to the Intercontinental Hotel. This is extortionate, but unavoidable. (we later paid $8 each for a 4 hour taxi ride from Kokand to Tashkent).
Ahhh, the Intercontinental. Chock full of American diplomats with 24 hour armed guard and a nice "set back" from the road. As Uzbekistan is a very secure place, this is totally uneccessary, but I'm always amazed at what fraidy-cats the State Department. can be sometimes. Just because a place ends in "-istan" doesn't meant you have to walk around with a flak jacket on (althoug, admittedly, it does increase the statistical likelihood of needing a flak jacket). There is a great deal of corruption, however. Police and officialdom rarely to never hassle visitors, but they shake down the locals with regularity. Every time we took a Taxi to the Hotel the driver had to "tip" the police guard for the pleasure of dropping us off. This was the same every time we travelled through a checkpoint, but no one ever bothered us.
We immediately slept, and awoke to a beatiful, bright, and warm day. From our window we could see the Tashkent Radio tower, and an amusement park called "Tashkentland."
Tashkent Radio and TV tower, complete with revolving restaurant
Tashkent is actually quite modern and well developed. It was the 4th largest city in the old Soviet Union, after Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev; with 2.3 million inhabitants. It has cosmopolitan restuarants, sophisticated inhabitants, and lovely parks. Unfortunately it has almost no buildings of historical importance, being a relatively recent newcomer to Central Asia.
It does have, however, Central Asia's only metro, wich is quick, easy, useful, beautiful, and costs 15 cents (160 sum) per ride. Photography is forbidden, but each station is unique and beautiful (so be discrete).
Bodomzor Metro near the Intercontinental
Alisher Navoi Metro Station
My favorite is Kosmonavtlar (Cosmonauts), which has a sort of David Bowie-spaceman theme. But there were a lot of cops there, so I didn't snap anything. you can see some photos at this site.
Chorsu Bazaar
We got up late Sunday morning and headed out for the Chorsu (crossroads) Bazaar. You can buy virtually anything here- from fresh produce, to chinese bicycle parts, to gold or spices.
Fresh Fruit at the Chorsu Bazaar
Spice vendor inside the main dome
The Chorsu is also a great place to eat. Uzbek food is pretty much a blend of Turkish and Western Chinese influences; a lot of Kebabs (called shashlik), as well as a rice dish called "plov." Everything is eaten with a flat round bread called "Non."
Fresh Non for sale
Shashlik cooks at Chorsu:
We ate Non, drank tea, had a Shashlik each, and it came out to about $3.50. Not too bad.
Meat at the Chorsu is very fresh
Where's the beef? Oh, there it is.
If you are not adventurous enough to eat at the bazaar, you can always duck into one of the restaurants, such as this Irish pub near Oibek Metro station.
The best restaurant in town is the Efendi Turkish place, its listed in the lonely planet and is excellent. Other restaurants are OK, but the best Uzbek food comes from Stalls or Chaikhanas (tea houses), or in people's homes.
The Center of town is Amir Timur Maydoni (Tamerlane Square); which used to be dominated by a Statue of Stalin, then Marx, and now another great bloodletter, Tamerlane.
Timur the Lame, Tamerlane, Tamurlengo, founder of the last mongel dyansty in Central Asia- the Timurids
Timur has become a sort of National Hero for the Uzbeks, along with Alisher Navoi (a 15th century poet). This reflects the sort of strange project that attempting to build nationalism in central Asia is. The idea of "nationality" is a recent arrival here; as for centuries most folks identified themselves as first memebrs of a clan, and then part of the wider muslim umma- 100 years ago asking if someone was an Uzbek would have elicited a puzzled response. Timur was certainly not an Uzbek, he was a an islamicized and turkified Mongol, and he ruled over the area in the 15th century, shortly after the Uzbeks began to arrive (they were not present in force at the time). His dynasty was eventually pushed out by the Uzbeks, with the last Timurid in the area, Babur, being driven out and travelling down to Afghanistan and India to found the Moghul empire. This has not stopped the modern Uzbek state from claiming him as their own, however, and making him the centerpiece of an imagined historical "Uzbek" greatness. Timur was not a nice fellow, sacking cities as far afield as India, Baghdad, and Russia, and literally piling up mountains of skulls in Mesopotamia. Oh well, those were the times- the apellation "Great" usually means "Cruel and Ruthless."
More on Timur later when we discuss his capitol, Samarkand.
If you care too, you can also see a circus in the best Soviet tradition at a specially built venue near the bazaar.
Also great to see is the museum of Soviet Trains near the Toshkent Vokzal (the train station.) Go to the Toshkent metro stop, walk upstairs, and look for the giant engines, you can't miss it. A real old school experience.
The trains range from 1914 to the late 1960s; steam to diesel. And you can climb all up in them. Admission is 100 Sum, about $0.08 USD.
The Author exhorts the Red Guards and Proletarians to build a road forward to really existing Socialism.
there's an abundance of train photos, you must excuse me, but I love Soviets and I love trains, so this park was like heaven for me.
Soviet Diesel Power
You can also play with the Park's resident cat, who is fat and friendly, both with the tourists and the park's resident hound. It's a friendly place.
Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Most ethnic Russians that live in the Stans have returned to Russia, but many of them have remained behind. Some because they cannot afford to go back (usually older pensioners), some because their families have lived there since the 1930s, others because they are married to Uzbeks. Nevertheless, the population of Russians continues to dwindle.
The principal Russian Church in Tashkent is the Uspensky Sobor. Not as grand as its namesake in Moscow, but still quite nice.
Uspensky Sobor
Inside you can find Russians, usually women of all ages, praying and lighting candles.
Outside are a few beautiful onion domes. We reached here just as the sun was setting, so it was difficult to get sttrong light (the days are short this time of year).
The Russians pretty much built most of the Tashkent that you see today, and the city has a look and feel totally different from the rest of Uzbekistan. It is quite European.
European Style Buildings on Tashkent
Peoples of Uzbekistan
Uzbeks
Around 80% of the population of Uzbekistan are, supposedly, Uzbeks. Uzbeks are Central Asian people who speak a derivative of Chagatai Turkic. Linguistically all the turkic languages are similar, and relatively mutually intelligible. They originally lived in East Asia, and are linked to the Hsiong-Nu of the Han dynasty. They are related to the Seljuk and Osmanli turks as well, and arrived in Transoxania starting in the 13th century. They have markedly asian features, as opposed to the "Turkish" turks.
Typically Uzbek dude
There is a great deal of intermixing, so many folks do not easily fall into one distinct category according to the way they look, so communities here self-indentify linguistically rather than "genetically." Uzbeks dominate government and trade in Tashkent, but historically were nomads or farmers, so most cities are not predominantly Uzbek, and the most "Uzbek" looking of the Uzbeks are primarily rural folks. Uzbeks also live in Tajikistan, Kyrgysztan, Afghanistan, and China.
Tajiks
Tajik language is akin to Farsi, (its also called Dari) and is from an entirely different language family than the turkic tongues (Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazahk, etc.) Tajiks are the descendents of the Sogdian/Zorastrian/Ancient Persian civilization that once spread from Transoxania to the edge of Mesopotamia. When the Uzbeks arrived they displaced the Iranian/Graeco-Bactrian local populace but never really penetrated the cities, so places like Samarkand and Bukhara are still dominated by Tajiks, and that is what is generally spoken in the streets there. Tajiks more closely resemble Mediterranean people than the neigbouring Turkic people (thanks, in part, to the amorous activities of Greek colonists/mercanaries). Although they are culturally Persian, unlike the Iranians they are everwhelmingly Sunni. Tajiks officially compose approximately 5% of the population,but other sources put them as high as 40%. they live mostly in Bukhara and Samarkand (the centers of Urban Tajik culture that are, ironically, outside of Tajikistan).
Young Tajik girl in Bukhara
Kazahks
Kazahks are a nomadic people that live in the desert area of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm provinces. They comprise 3% of the population and have different hats than Uzbeks (this is the only way I can tell them apart). Their language is Kipchak turkic rather than Chagatai turkic, but this means nothing to me as I speak neither of them. They are related to the Karakalpaks, and live among them. In fact, I suspect that the division of Kipchak turks into Kyrgyz, Kazahk, and Karakalpak is more political than ethnic. I have no photos of Kazahks, because it was too cold to go to the desert area where they live. I did see the tall hats for sale though.
Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks are a kipchak people who live along the Amu Darya delta and the southern shores of the Aral sea. They inhabit a theoretically autonomous region of Uzbekistan called Karakalpakstan- whose capital is the grim city of Nukus. Karakalpak means "black hat" but it is unknown why they are called this, as their traditonal hats are not, in fact, black.
they are basically Kazahks, as far as I can see, but Tashkent doesn't want to call them that.
Karakalpaks in Nukus
Koreans
Stalin deported large amounts of Koreans from Sakhalin during WWII, and their descendents still live in Central Asia. Kim-Chee is quite popular in the bazaars, and there are quite f ew Korean restaurants.
Korean Vendor in the Bazaar
Jews
There are 80 jewish families in Bukhara. They once numbered 7% of the population.
Russians
Russians comprise around 5% of the population, and their numbers are shrinking. They live primarily in Tashkent and Fergana. They tend to be the most secular social element in Uzbekistan, although most are Orthodox christians.
Russian Chicks do not wear head scarves and can commonly be seen in miniskirts.
General Notes on Ethnicity
Transoxania, being at the crossroads of civilizations for about 2,000 years, is a very mixed place. "Ethnicity" as a concept is relatively recent, having been introduced by Stalin and only being stressed since the early 90s as a method of nation building. Nationalistm in Uzbekistan is not strong, and most people identify themselves religiously and linguistically, rather than along traditional "national" lines. Thus a Sunni Tajik and a Sunni Uzbek are more closely related than, say, a Sunni Tajik and a Shi'ite Iranian- even though ethnically and lingusitically the Tajik and the Iranian are more or less identical.
Few people show "clear" belonging to groups on their faces as well. Most folks here are products of 2,000 years of cross cultural exchange. There are, in fact, no "typical" residents of Uzbekistan.
"typical" citizens of Uzbekistan
LanguageEveryone speaks Uzbek, and it is the principal language of education and administration. Tajik is commonly spoken in the cities. Russian is the real lingua franca here. I took one year of Russian ages ago, and I used to speak Czech 10 years ago, so I could fake basic Russian (directions, bartering, simple conversation). If you don't speak Russian here, man, you are in big trouble. English is basically non-existent. And I mean non-existent- at least outside a few select areas. They speak some English in the capitol, and in Fergana. Also, most of the geeks that hang out in the 24 hour internet cafes (you can play "call of duty 2" for $0.50 per hour) speak English; or at least they speak Microsoftian, which is a sort of English.
But in Nukus, Khiva, and outside the hotels there is nobody that speaks english. as most of your transportation is going to be minivans picked up in the Bazaar, learn some russian numbers and direction words (Skolko Stojit Taxi Do Tashkentu?) before you go.
To the Aral.... AND BEYOND!
I had meticulously planned our trip, even making a little calendar marking where we would be and having pictures of the moon phases for night photography. Our first planned action was to fly from Tashkent way out west to Nukus, the capitol of Karakalpakstan. From there we would charter a Taxi and drive to Muynaq, an ex-fishing port on the dissapearing Aral Sea, complete with graveyard of abandoned ships.
But it was not to be. The Uzbek Airlines flight to Nukus was sold out for the next 2 days. So we flew instead to Urgench, the largest town in the Khorezm province, between Karakalpakstan and Turkmenistan. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy unchanged.
Uzbek Airlines
I was a little nervous about flying Uzbek Airlines, but it turns out that all their airplanes are brand new- we endend up on an RJ-85 so new it smelled like a new car. It was great. Two tickets from Tashkent to Urgench were about $150, including the service fee for some guy from the Hotel to stand in line and get them. This is much preferable to a train trip, as the train takes about 22 hours, and there are only two trains per week.
KHOREZM
Urgench is modern and awful. It is, however, the transport hub for all Khorezm, so you will likely end up here. Urgench is a great spot to use as a point of departure for Nukus to the North, or to Khiva- an ancient town that is 20 minute away by taxi.
Urgench
We grabbed a taxi for $8 from the Airport to Khiva. You should be able to get this for $5, but we hadn't figured this out yet. It's really not that far. You can be dropped off at the gate to the Ichan Kala, the "old City," which has existed here since the 6th century.
Khiva Gate
The area is perfect for photography. Dry, with blue blue skies. The old city is also almost totally preserved. This Itenerary, Khiva-Bukhara-Samarkand, is recommended because each town gets bigger and grander, but less well preserved. Start off small with Khiva and work your way up to the Registan in Samarkand.
Khiva has a number of Mosques and minarets, the most famous of which is the "Kalta Minor." It's actually unfinished, being built to about a third of its intended height before the Khan building it died. I still find it the prettiest Minaret in Transoxania, however.
Kalta Minor
the Khanate of Khiva lasted from 1510 until 1920, when the last Atrakhanid Khan was overthrown by the Soviets, although it was a czarist protectorate for many years. It attracted Russian attention due to its strategic position along the Amu Darya, and its role as the center of the Central Asian slave market. Many Russians were bought and sold here.
the Old Slave Market
The city is a maze of mud brick walls, tiny alleys, and hidden interior courtyards.
The Itchan Kala is surrounded by Earthen walls;
They are composed of Mud, Brick, and straw, baked in the sun.
Outside the walls is a nice Melon Market, near the south gate
Khiva is a popular spot for weddings. We saw three wedding processions in one day come down the main street by the Kalta Minor.
First to arrive, outside the gates of the Ichan Kala, are the family and friends.
Then the Bride shows up, and meets the groom outside the gate. She walks the whole way with her face downcast.
They walk along the main street, towards the direction of the central mosque.
Eventually, they reach the grave of Pahlavan Makhmud, a Sufi mystic, where the bride and groom drink from a fertility promoting well.
Near this well is a complex of palaces known as the Tash-Khauli palace. This is where the Khan held court.
Iwan column, Tash-Khauli, Khiva
Window at the Tash-Khauli palace
Khiva was a center of intellectual achievement in the 16th and 17th centuries. It's most learned resident was a Persian named Al-Khorezmi, so called because he hailed from Khiva, the capital of Khorezm.
His name, al-Khorezmi, gave rise to what we call his invention, the algorithm. So if you hated trigonometry class in high school, this is the city from which your troubles ultimately came.
There is a camel here in the town square. His name is Misha, and he's terribly flatulent. You can likely get a picture taken atop him but, given his condition, this may not be adviseable.
The kid wants a camel picture. The dad? Not so much.
Colorful Khiva Tiles
Kalta Minor Pigeon
The tallest structure in town is the Islam Khodja minaret. If you pay the gatekeeper about $0.75, you can climb to the top (they nickel and dime you for everything). It's 140 some feet (45 meters) up.
The Islam Khodja Minor
The path up to the top is very narrow, and very steep.
While climbing up it, I came upon two Uzbek teenagers just kind of standing there in the corridor. I thought they were descending, but as I tried to let them pass me, they just stood there. So I continued, squeezing past them, and eventually emerging, blinking into the bright sunlight, through a trapdoor into the cupola of the minaret. There I startled two other teeneagers in a rather delicate situation. Uzbekistan, being Asian and Muslim, is an extremely conservative society. Girls and Boys don't even hold hands in public. Nor do married people.
Nevertheless, if you want to make out with your girlfriend, it can be done.
Apparently you pay a few hundred sum and climb your way to the top of this minaret, Khiva's version of lovers lane. After they determined that I was a foreigner who couldn't tell their parents what they were doing, they carried on smooching. Always and everywhere, love finds a way.
The "make-out minaret" at night
Next to the Kalta Minor is an ex-Medressah (religious school) that is now a hotel. It didn't appear to have any residents, but the proprieter didn't want to rent us a room because he had a Japanese tour group coming in (or so he claimed). A local said it was because they couldn't get the heating working. If the heat is on, however, ou can stay in one of the students old Hujra cells for $50 per night.
We stayed at the Hotel behind the Medressah, which was $20 for a double including an awesome breakfast.
More Khiva at night
Here are some dawn shots from our hotel.
A final look at Khiva
Nukus
how not to get to the Aral Sea in three easy steps! (or should I say steppes?)
Getting around when you are out in the sticks
U-Stan has an excellent train corrider from Bukhara, through Samarkand, up to Tashkent. They even have two high speed trains; the Registan and the Sharq. But outside that, you are pretty much on your own.
There are two ways to get out of or into the Khorezm or Karakalpakstan Region. You can take the overnight Train on Fridays or Sundays, you can take a bus, or you can take a Mashrutka. Lonely Planet insists on calling these Mashrutnoye- but that word is never used. Basically its a van stuffed full of people. Sort of like a Turkish Dolmus. Using a seat belt is considered insulting to the driver, so most vehicles simply lack them. People also drive like maniacs. You'll just have to get used to it.
We went back to the Urgench Bazaar to catch a Mashrutka to Nukus, about two hours away.
Here's how it works- you go the the Mashrutka lot (it's unmistakable- look for about 100 vans in the same place). Yell "Nukus" or "Tashkent" or "Bukhara." Either you are in the wrong place, whereupon they will direct you to the Mashrutka stand that handles that destination (there are usually a few stand per city). If you are in the right place, a crowd of people will descend on you attempting to fill their Mashrutka. It's a buyers market, but the prices are pretty standardized. Never pay more than $15 for the longest ride (Urgench to Bukhara). a 2 hour should run you $5; a 5 hour about $8.
Urgench Mashrutka Stand
You can also take buses, but these are less frequent and usually not as comfortable. Plus, many of them are powered by natural gas and tend to explode (this was told to us by a Mashrutka driver who was, understandably, biased against buses. I never personally saw one explode.)
We got a ford Van with about 12 people for the two hour ride to Nukus. During the trip we passed miles of Uzbekistans famous cotton fields. Back in the 1950s the leadership of the USSR decided to make the Kara Kyzyl and Kara Kum deserts giant cotton fields, to "make the deserts bloom." This was basically the Soviet Union in a Nutshell- great sloganeering, bad engineering. They diverted the Amu Darya from its course to the Aral Sea into thousands of canals. An Uzbek proverb goes thus:
When Allah was happy with us, he sent us the Amu Darya.
When Allah was angry with us, he sent us Russian Engineers
This project was designed to turn this:
The Mighty Kyzyl Kum desert
Into This:
Cotton is King
This had the unintended, but entirely forseeable result of causing the Aral sea to shrink, as cotton needs an enormous amount of water to graw, making the desert a less than ideal lcoation for it. The cotton monoculture began to throttle the UZbek economy as long ago as the late 1970s.
the Aral Sea in 1964
The Aral Sea in 2003
The Sea has lost 80% of its volume, and 60% of its its Area, as well as splitting into the North Aral and South Aral sea. Within 15 years, the South Aral will be gone, forever. A saline rain falls across the region, leaving salt in its wake, as well as pesticide residues. In Nukus, when you walk outside in the morning ou may see what you thin is a layer of frost on the ground. It's actualy salt.
This has destroyed the ecology of the region, and devestaded its people and cities. It has the highest levels of TB and birth defects in the former CIS. Additionally, the former island where the soviets conducted biowarfare experiments in the 1960s is now connected to the mainland, allwoing free passage of animals and microbes.
Nukus looks like a ghost town that hasn't quite been abandoned. The city now survives on subsidies from Tashkent.
abandoned apartment block
Nukus City Park
public school
City Park Ferris Wheel
We got a room at the better of the two hotels in town the "Hotel Nukus." It was awful the worst in the country we thought at the time (we were wrong). for $20 bucks we got 4 russian TV stations, hard as rock beds, a usable but unpleasant bathroom, and breakfast. Or so we were told. When we woke up the next morning we discovered that the cafe was being rebuilt. The same guy that told us that was the guy that told us that breakfast was at 8 AM the night previously. Soviet attitudes live. Still, at least we had heat.
Avante-Garde Art in the Desert
One very cool thing that Nukus has, that in fact makes it worth the whole trip, is the Igor Savitsky museum. During the 20s, the Soviet Union had some outstandign avante-garde art happening. Some of the best paintings of the 20th century were made in this time and place. But then Stalin had to come along in the 1930's and ruin everything, as he always did; declaring "Socialist Realism" as the only legitimate art, and sending the Avante-Gardistas to the gulag, or executing them.
the Savitsky Museum
Igor Savitsky was an ethnographer studying the Karakalpak people out in the middle of nowhere, who loved Avante-Garde art. Over the Stalin years he collected 85,000 pieces, and essentially got away with it because Nukus is too far away for Moscow to notice.
I walked through this building, stopping at every third painting to ooh and ahh, it was fantastic (and I usually hate art museums). Check out their website here. The Director of the museum. Marina Bobonazarova, speaks excellent English, and may be able to help you with transport and home stays. We met with her to arrange a Taxi to Muynaq. The phone of the travel agent she usually calls was disconnected for non-payment; and she told us that Muynaq has only three ships left. The rest were sold for scrap. "No Money for preservation." She lamented. The best place to see ships is in Aralsk in Kazakhstan. So we decided to abandon our quest to see the Aral. Next year in Aralsk, perhaps.
If you are in Nukus, do stop by or give her a call. (998-61)222-25-56 is the number. Marina will definitely take care of you.
We inquired as to where we could get breakfast and she told us that, after the Soviet Union collapsed , there were no more food shops, so we would have to go to the Bazaar.
We ended up eating at the Cafe Aral, near the Mashrutka Stand. It's two blocks south, in a powder blue building.
So we waved goodbye to Nukus, and found another Taxi back to Urgench. On the way back we saw sheep, and a 3,000 year old structure the Zoroastrians used to use to expose their dead to the elements. Awesome.
Next, Bukhara!
After a few days of processing RAWs and catching up on sleep, I'm ready to begin posting some pics of my trip. This will have to go up a bit piecemeal, post by post for the whole trip over a couple of days so please bear with me.
General Info About Uzbekistan
Quick and Dirty- Uzbekistan is a newly independent country (since 1991) formerly being a constituent republic of the USSR. It has approximately 25 million inhabitants, and sits on what the Greeks referred to as "Transoxania" -the area between the Oxus river (modern Amu Darya) and the Jaxartes river (modern Syr Darya). It's major cities are Tashkent, Samarkand (known as Marakanda to Alexander the great), Bukhara, Andijan, and (my favorite city name ever) Jizzax. Sounds like the name of an Alien from Star Wars.
It has hosted a number of civilizations; the Zoroastrian fire worshippers of Sogdia, Graeco-Bactrian descendents of Alexander the Great, Buddhist Oyrats, Moslem Arab invaders, Mongol Timurids, and finally the incursion of nomadic Uzbeks relatively recently. Uzbek (close to Turkish) is widely spoken, along with Tajik ( a sort of Persian) as well as Russian.
Preparing for the Trip
Uzbekistan is not the hardest place in the world to get to, but it sure ain't the easiest. All flights go into the capitol, Tashkent, which is serviced by Lufthansa, Uzbekistan Airways, and Aeroflot. From NYC the best way to go is direct with Uzbekistan airways, or through Moscow with Aeroflot. Tickets with both cost (for November) about $900- but, fortunate as I am to have a job that requires me to travel, I got both tickets with Aeroflot using frequent flyer miles (Aeroflot is in with Continental Airlines).
Aeroflot still uses the Sickle and Hammer in its logo.
Next were the visas; expensive and a real pain in the neck. It was essentially $400 for both of us- I got mine for about $150, but citizens of Portugal need an invitation, so my wife had to get hers through an Uzbek travel agent. The consulate in NYC has recommendations, but we used Vladimir at ECVO travel in Manhattan. The number can be obtained from the website of the Uzbek Legation to the UN in New York. Visas used to be cheaper, but the US has been hassling Uzbekistan about human rights lately, so they have their feathers ruffled a bit.
the documentation secured, we bought 2 guides- The Oddysey Guide to Uzbekistan, and Lonely Planet Central Asia. You need both of these- Lonely planet is good for practical info, but doesn't go much beyond "Tamerlane is buried here." The Oddysey Guide is chock full of historical info and pictures, being written by two Central Asia experts, but doesn't tell you where the things it discusses are or how to get to see them. Sometimes this can be incredibly frustrating- in Tashkent there is a Soviet Soldiers museum I wanted to see, but the Oddysey guide just gives you the address, with no indication of where it is. Given that the street names change all the time, and the fact that sometimes things are referred to by their old names (Buyuk Ipak Yoli metro, for example, is stil referred to by all as "Maxim Gorky") this is totally unhelpful.
Flying to Tashkent
9 hours to Moscow, and a 10 hour layover in Moscow Sheremetyovo Airport- a real hole in the wall. You can't leave the terminal if you don't have a visa, and if you pay for anything in dollars they give you an exchange rate of 24 roubles to the $USD; when it should be 35. An espresso will set you back $5, and its not a good Portuguese style espresso. It's like a lackluster version of Starbucks.
Hour two of our 10 hour stay in the "Kino Bar."
On top of that, the staff apparently hasn't been made aware of the Soviet Union's demise. The good part of this is that the Russian Frontier guard's uniform for women consists of a military jacket, miniskirt, and spike heels. Powerful stuff. Taking photographs of anything official is highly discouraged, so I don't have pics- but then again if you have to be put in handcuffs, it might as well be by a Russian cop in a miniskirt.
The bad part is that, everywhere in the airport, you get Brezhnev era customer service. I have been told that Russia is a nice place, and that Russians are nice people (the Russians I know certainly are). If I was a Russia novice, however, the airport would put me off visiting that country forever. The single most incivil, inconvenient, and asinine experiences I have ever had with officialdom anywhere at anytime, barring of course the representatives of Air India at Charles DeGaulle airport, may they suffer a thousand years of irritable bowel syndrome.
If you are hanging out in Sheremyetovo airport for any length of time, probably the best place to do so is at the "Kino Bar" on the second level. It's crazy expensive (what isn't?), but you can people watch, and as it takes an hour to get any service it will eat up a lot of your forced wait. Also, as the staff don't appear to care about anything at all and certainly aren't interested in the activities of this strange species of creature called "a customer", you can order a coffee and then take over one of their tables for 5 hours, which is what we did. The bar is movie themed, so you get to watch a lot of movies dubbed badly in Russian, and revel in the Soviet version of American film posters.
Anybody remember this gem of a flick? Good girl by day, bad girl by night; Angel!
The flights between New York and Moscow are all on nice brand new Boeings, as the Russian Federation doesn't want to embarass itself in front of the neighbors, apart from the occasional poisening of dissidents by radioactive metals. Central asians, however, are regarded (at best) as slightly disreputable and retarded cousins, so for the flight to Tashkent be prepared for an Ilyushin. If you are over 5'9", you are in for some hurtin'. Economy was jammed, and I sat sideways in the seat for the 4 hour trip to tashkent. Business was empty, but apparently Aeroflot doesn't understand the concept of Skyteam Elite upgrades, so I sat watching big roomy seats go empty while brooding about deep vein thrombosis.
Arrival in Tashkent
I am not sure why, but every international flight to Tashkent arrives at 3:30 AM. So we dragged our weary behinds to a cab stand, where we paid $6 to get to the Intercontinental Hotel. This is extortionate, but unavoidable. (we later paid $8 each for a 4 hour taxi ride from Kokand to Tashkent).
Ahhh, the Intercontinental. Chock full of American diplomats with 24 hour armed guard and a nice "set back" from the road. As Uzbekistan is a very secure place, this is totally uneccessary, but I'm always amazed at what fraidy-cats the State Department. can be sometimes. Just because a place ends in "-istan" doesn't meant you have to walk around with a flak jacket on (althoug, admittedly, it does increase the statistical likelihood of needing a flak jacket). There is a great deal of corruption, however. Police and officialdom rarely to never hassle visitors, but they shake down the locals with regularity. Every time we took a Taxi to the Hotel the driver had to "tip" the police guard for the pleasure of dropping us off. This was the same every time we travelled through a checkpoint, but no one ever bothered us.
We immediately slept, and awoke to a beatiful, bright, and warm day. From our window we could see the Tashkent Radio tower, and an amusement park called "Tashkentland."
Tashkent Radio and TV tower, complete with revolving restaurant
Tashkent is actually quite modern and well developed. It was the 4th largest city in the old Soviet Union, after Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev; with 2.3 million inhabitants. It has cosmopolitan restuarants, sophisticated inhabitants, and lovely parks. Unfortunately it has almost no buildings of historical importance, being a relatively recent newcomer to Central Asia.
It does have, however, Central Asia's only metro, wich is quick, easy, useful, beautiful, and costs 15 cents (160 sum) per ride. Photography is forbidden, but each station is unique and beautiful (so be discrete).
Bodomzor Metro near the Intercontinental
Alisher Navoi Metro Station
My favorite is Kosmonavtlar (Cosmonauts), which has a sort of David Bowie-spaceman theme. But there were a lot of cops there, so I didn't snap anything. you can see some photos at this site.
Chorsu Bazaar
We got up late Sunday morning and headed out for the Chorsu (crossroads) Bazaar. You can buy virtually anything here- from fresh produce, to chinese bicycle parts, to gold or spices.
Fresh Fruit at the Chorsu Bazaar
Spice vendor inside the main dome
The Chorsu is also a great place to eat. Uzbek food is pretty much a blend of Turkish and Western Chinese influences; a lot of Kebabs (called shashlik), as well as a rice dish called "plov." Everything is eaten with a flat round bread called "Non."
Fresh Non for sale
Shashlik cooks at Chorsu:
We ate Non, drank tea, had a Shashlik each, and it came out to about $3.50. Not too bad.
Meat at the Chorsu is very fresh
Where's the beef? Oh, there it is.
If you are not adventurous enough to eat at the bazaar, you can always duck into one of the restaurants, such as this Irish pub near Oibek Metro station.
The best restaurant in town is the Efendi Turkish place, its listed in the lonely planet and is excellent. Other restaurants are OK, but the best Uzbek food comes from Stalls or Chaikhanas (tea houses), or in people's homes.
The Center of town is Amir Timur Maydoni (Tamerlane Square); which used to be dominated by a Statue of Stalin, then Marx, and now another great bloodletter, Tamerlane.
Timur the Lame, Tamerlane, Tamurlengo, founder of the last mongel dyansty in Central Asia- the Timurids
Timur has become a sort of National Hero for the Uzbeks, along with Alisher Navoi (a 15th century poet). This reflects the sort of strange project that attempting to build nationalism in central Asia is. The idea of "nationality" is a recent arrival here; as for centuries most folks identified themselves as first memebrs of a clan, and then part of the wider muslim umma- 100 years ago asking if someone was an Uzbek would have elicited a puzzled response. Timur was certainly not an Uzbek, he was a an islamicized and turkified Mongol, and he ruled over the area in the 15th century, shortly after the Uzbeks began to arrive (they were not present in force at the time). His dynasty was eventually pushed out by the Uzbeks, with the last Timurid in the area, Babur, being driven out and travelling down to Afghanistan and India to found the Moghul empire. This has not stopped the modern Uzbek state from claiming him as their own, however, and making him the centerpiece of an imagined historical "Uzbek" greatness. Timur was not a nice fellow, sacking cities as far afield as India, Baghdad, and Russia, and literally piling up mountains of skulls in Mesopotamia. Oh well, those were the times- the apellation "Great" usually means "Cruel and Ruthless."
More on Timur later when we discuss his capitol, Samarkand.
If you care too, you can also see a circus in the best Soviet tradition at a specially built venue near the bazaar.
Also great to see is the museum of Soviet Trains near the Toshkent Vokzal (the train station.) Go to the Toshkent metro stop, walk upstairs, and look for the giant engines, you can't miss it. A real old school experience.
The trains range from 1914 to the late 1960s; steam to diesel. And you can climb all up in them. Admission is 100 Sum, about $0.08 USD.
The Author exhorts the Red Guards and Proletarians to build a road forward to really existing Socialism.
there's an abundance of train photos, you must excuse me, but I love Soviets and I love trains, so this park was like heaven for me.
Soviet Diesel Power
You can also play with the Park's resident cat, who is fat and friendly, both with the tourists and the park's resident hound. It's a friendly place.
Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Most ethnic Russians that live in the Stans have returned to Russia, but many of them have remained behind. Some because they cannot afford to go back (usually older pensioners), some because their families have lived there since the 1930s, others because they are married to Uzbeks. Nevertheless, the population of Russians continues to dwindle.
The principal Russian Church in Tashkent is the Uspensky Sobor. Not as grand as its namesake in Moscow, but still quite nice.
Uspensky Sobor
Inside you can find Russians, usually women of all ages, praying and lighting candles.
Outside are a few beautiful onion domes. We reached here just as the sun was setting, so it was difficult to get sttrong light (the days are short this time of year).
The Russians pretty much built most of the Tashkent that you see today, and the city has a look and feel totally different from the rest of Uzbekistan. It is quite European.
European Style Buildings on Tashkent
Peoples of Uzbekistan
Uzbeks
Around 80% of the population of Uzbekistan are, supposedly, Uzbeks. Uzbeks are Central Asian people who speak a derivative of Chagatai Turkic. Linguistically all the turkic languages are similar, and relatively mutually intelligible. They originally lived in East Asia, and are linked to the Hsiong-Nu of the Han dynasty. They are related to the Seljuk and Osmanli turks as well, and arrived in Transoxania starting in the 13th century. They have markedly asian features, as opposed to the "Turkish" turks.
Typically Uzbek dude
There is a great deal of intermixing, so many folks do not easily fall into one distinct category according to the way they look, so communities here self-indentify linguistically rather than "genetically." Uzbeks dominate government and trade in Tashkent, but historically were nomads or farmers, so most cities are not predominantly Uzbek, and the most "Uzbek" looking of the Uzbeks are primarily rural folks. Uzbeks also live in Tajikistan, Kyrgysztan, Afghanistan, and China.
Tajiks
Tajik language is akin to Farsi, (its also called Dari) and is from an entirely different language family than the turkic tongues (Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazahk, etc.) Tajiks are the descendents of the Sogdian/Zorastrian/Ancient Persian civilization that once spread from Transoxania to the edge of Mesopotamia. When the Uzbeks arrived they displaced the Iranian/Graeco-Bactrian local populace but never really penetrated the cities, so places like Samarkand and Bukhara are still dominated by Tajiks, and that is what is generally spoken in the streets there. Tajiks more closely resemble Mediterranean people than the neigbouring Turkic people (thanks, in part, to the amorous activities of Greek colonists/mercanaries). Although they are culturally Persian, unlike the Iranians they are everwhelmingly Sunni. Tajiks officially compose approximately 5% of the population,but other sources put them as high as 40%. they live mostly in Bukhara and Samarkand (the centers of Urban Tajik culture that are, ironically, outside of Tajikistan).
Young Tajik girl in Bukhara
Kazahks
Kazahks are a nomadic people that live in the desert area of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm provinces. They comprise 3% of the population and have different hats than Uzbeks (this is the only way I can tell them apart). Their language is Kipchak turkic rather than Chagatai turkic, but this means nothing to me as I speak neither of them. They are related to the Karakalpaks, and live among them. In fact, I suspect that the division of Kipchak turks into Kyrgyz, Kazahk, and Karakalpak is more political than ethnic. I have no photos of Kazahks, because it was too cold to go to the desert area where they live. I did see the tall hats for sale though.
Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks are a kipchak people who live along the Amu Darya delta and the southern shores of the Aral sea. They inhabit a theoretically autonomous region of Uzbekistan called Karakalpakstan- whose capital is the grim city of Nukus. Karakalpak means "black hat" but it is unknown why they are called this, as their traditonal hats are not, in fact, black.
they are basically Kazahks, as far as I can see, but Tashkent doesn't want to call them that.
Karakalpaks in Nukus
Koreans
Stalin deported large amounts of Koreans from Sakhalin during WWII, and their descendents still live in Central Asia. Kim-Chee is quite popular in the bazaars, and there are quite f ew Korean restaurants.
Korean Vendor in the Bazaar
Jews
There are 80 jewish families in Bukhara. They once numbered 7% of the population.
Russians
Russians comprise around 5% of the population, and their numbers are shrinking. They live primarily in Tashkent and Fergana. They tend to be the most secular social element in Uzbekistan, although most are Orthodox christians.
Russian Chicks do not wear head scarves and can commonly be seen in miniskirts.
General Notes on Ethnicity
Transoxania, being at the crossroads of civilizations for about 2,000 years, is a very mixed place. "Ethnicity" as a concept is relatively recent, having been introduced by Stalin and only being stressed since the early 90s as a method of nation building. Nationalistm in Uzbekistan is not strong, and most people identify themselves religiously and linguistically, rather than along traditional "national" lines. Thus a Sunni Tajik and a Sunni Uzbek are more closely related than, say, a Sunni Tajik and a Shi'ite Iranian- even though ethnically and lingusitically the Tajik and the Iranian are more or less identical.
Few people show "clear" belonging to groups on their faces as well. Most folks here are products of 2,000 years of cross cultural exchange. There are, in fact, no "typical" residents of Uzbekistan.
"typical" citizens of Uzbekistan
LanguageEveryone speaks Uzbek, and it is the principal language of education and administration. Tajik is commonly spoken in the cities. Russian is the real lingua franca here. I took one year of Russian ages ago, and I used to speak Czech 10 years ago, so I could fake basic Russian (directions, bartering, simple conversation). If you don't speak Russian here, man, you are in big trouble. English is basically non-existent. And I mean non-existent- at least outside a few select areas. They speak some English in the capitol, and in Fergana. Also, most of the geeks that hang out in the 24 hour internet cafes (you can play "call of duty 2" for $0.50 per hour) speak English; or at least they speak Microsoftian, which is a sort of English.
But in Nukus, Khiva, and outside the hotels there is nobody that speaks english. as most of your transportation is going to be minivans picked up in the Bazaar, learn some russian numbers and direction words (Skolko Stojit Taxi Do Tashkentu?) before you go.
To the Aral.... AND BEYOND!
I had meticulously planned our trip, even making a little calendar marking where we would be and having pictures of the moon phases for night photography. Our first planned action was to fly from Tashkent way out west to Nukus, the capitol of Karakalpakstan. From there we would charter a Taxi and drive to Muynaq, an ex-fishing port on the dissapearing Aral Sea, complete with graveyard of abandoned ships.
But it was not to be. The Uzbek Airlines flight to Nukus was sold out for the next 2 days. So we flew instead to Urgench, the largest town in the Khorezm province, between Karakalpakstan and Turkmenistan. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy unchanged.
Uzbek Airlines
I was a little nervous about flying Uzbek Airlines, but it turns out that all their airplanes are brand new- we endend up on an RJ-85 so new it smelled like a new car. It was great. Two tickets from Tashkent to Urgench were about $150, including the service fee for some guy from the Hotel to stand in line and get them. This is much preferable to a train trip, as the train takes about 22 hours, and there are only two trains per week.
KHOREZM
Urgench is modern and awful. It is, however, the transport hub for all Khorezm, so you will likely end up here. Urgench is a great spot to use as a point of departure for Nukus to the North, or to Khiva- an ancient town that is 20 minute away by taxi.
Urgench
We grabbed a taxi for $8 from the Airport to Khiva. You should be able to get this for $5, but we hadn't figured this out yet. It's really not that far. You can be dropped off at the gate to the Ichan Kala, the "old City," which has existed here since the 6th century.
Khiva Gate
The area is perfect for photography. Dry, with blue blue skies. The old city is also almost totally preserved. This Itenerary, Khiva-Bukhara-Samarkand, is recommended because each town gets bigger and grander, but less well preserved. Start off small with Khiva and work your way up to the Registan in Samarkand.
Khiva has a number of Mosques and minarets, the most famous of which is the "Kalta Minor." It's actually unfinished, being built to about a third of its intended height before the Khan building it died. I still find it the prettiest Minaret in Transoxania, however.
Kalta Minor
the Khanate of Khiva lasted from 1510 until 1920, when the last Atrakhanid Khan was overthrown by the Soviets, although it was a czarist protectorate for many years. It attracted Russian attention due to its strategic position along the Amu Darya, and its role as the center of the Central Asian slave market. Many Russians were bought and sold here.
the Old Slave Market
The city is a maze of mud brick walls, tiny alleys, and hidden interior courtyards.
The Itchan Kala is surrounded by Earthen walls;
They are composed of Mud, Brick, and straw, baked in the sun.
Outside the walls is a nice Melon Market, near the south gate
Khiva is a popular spot for weddings. We saw three wedding processions in one day come down the main street by the Kalta Minor.
First to arrive, outside the gates of the Ichan Kala, are the family and friends.
Then the Bride shows up, and meets the groom outside the gate. She walks the whole way with her face downcast.
They walk along the main street, towards the direction of the central mosque.
Eventually, they reach the grave of Pahlavan Makhmud, a Sufi mystic, where the bride and groom drink from a fertility promoting well.
Near this well is a complex of palaces known as the Tash-Khauli palace. This is where the Khan held court.
Iwan column, Tash-Khauli, Khiva
Window at the Tash-Khauli palace
Khiva was a center of intellectual achievement in the 16th and 17th centuries. It's most learned resident was a Persian named Al-Khorezmi, so called because he hailed from Khiva, the capital of Khorezm.
His name, al-Khorezmi, gave rise to what we call his invention, the algorithm. So if you hated trigonometry class in high school, this is the city from which your troubles ultimately came.
There is a camel here in the town square. His name is Misha, and he's terribly flatulent. You can likely get a picture taken atop him but, given his condition, this may not be adviseable.
The kid wants a camel picture. The dad? Not so much.
Colorful Khiva Tiles
Kalta Minor Pigeon
The tallest structure in town is the Islam Khodja minaret. If you pay the gatekeeper about $0.75, you can climb to the top (they nickel and dime you for everything). It's 140 some feet (45 meters) up.
The Islam Khodja Minor
The path up to the top is very narrow, and very steep.
While climbing up it, I came upon two Uzbek teenagers just kind of standing there in the corridor. I thought they were descending, but as I tried to let them pass me, they just stood there. So I continued, squeezing past them, and eventually emerging, blinking into the bright sunlight, through a trapdoor into the cupola of the minaret. There I startled two other teeneagers in a rather delicate situation. Uzbekistan, being Asian and Muslim, is an extremely conservative society. Girls and Boys don't even hold hands in public. Nor do married people.
Nevertheless, if you want to make out with your girlfriend, it can be done.
Apparently you pay a few hundred sum and climb your way to the top of this minaret, Khiva's version of lovers lane. After they determined that I was a foreigner who couldn't tell their parents what they were doing, they carried on smooching. Always and everywhere, love finds a way.
The "make-out minaret" at night
Next to the Kalta Minor is an ex-Medressah (religious school) that is now a hotel. It didn't appear to have any residents, but the proprieter didn't want to rent us a room because he had a Japanese tour group coming in (or so he claimed). A local said it was because they couldn't get the heating working. If the heat is on, however, ou can stay in one of the students old Hujra cells for $50 per night.
We stayed at the Hotel behind the Medressah, which was $20 for a double including an awesome breakfast.
More Khiva at night
Here are some dawn shots from our hotel.
A final look at Khiva
how not to get to the Aral Sea in three easy steps! (or should I say steppes?)
Getting around when you are out in the sticks
U-Stan has an excellent train corrider from Bukhara, through Samarkand, up to Tashkent. They even have two high speed trains; the Registan and the Sharq. But outside that, you are pretty much on your own.
There are two ways to get out of or into the Khorezm or Karakalpakstan Region. You can take the overnight Train on Fridays or Sundays, you can take a bus, or you can take a Mashrutka. Lonely Planet insists on calling these Mashrutnoye- but that word is never used. Basically its a van stuffed full of people. Sort of like a Turkish Dolmus. Using a seat belt is considered insulting to the driver, so most vehicles simply lack them. People also drive like maniacs. You'll just have to get used to it.
We went back to the Urgench Bazaar to catch a Mashrutka to Nukus, about two hours away.
Here's how it works- you go the the Mashrutka lot (it's unmistakable- look for about 100 vans in the same place). Yell "Nukus" or "Tashkent" or "Bukhara." Either you are in the wrong place, whereupon they will direct you to the Mashrutka stand that handles that destination (there are usually a few stand per city). If you are in the right place, a crowd of people will descend on you attempting to fill their Mashrutka. It's a buyers market, but the prices are pretty standardized. Never pay more than $15 for the longest ride (Urgench to Bukhara). a 2 hour should run you $5; a 5 hour about $8.
Urgench Mashrutka Stand
You can also take buses, but these are less frequent and usually not as comfortable. Plus, many of them are powered by natural gas and tend to explode (this was told to us by a Mashrutka driver who was, understandably, biased against buses. I never personally saw one explode.)
We got a ford Van with about 12 people for the two hour ride to Nukus. During the trip we passed miles of Uzbekistans famous cotton fields. Back in the 1950s the leadership of the USSR decided to make the Kara Kyzyl and Kara Kum deserts giant cotton fields, to "make the deserts bloom." This was basically the Soviet Union in a Nutshell- great sloganeering, bad engineering. They diverted the Amu Darya from its course to the Aral Sea into thousands of canals. An Uzbek proverb goes thus:
When Allah was happy with us, he sent us the Amu Darya.
When Allah was angry with us, he sent us Russian Engineers
This project was designed to turn this:
The Mighty Kyzyl Kum desert
Into This:
Cotton is King
This had the unintended, but entirely forseeable result of causing the Aral sea to shrink, as cotton needs an enormous amount of water to graw, making the desert a less than ideal lcoation for it. The cotton monoculture began to throttle the UZbek economy as long ago as the late 1970s.
the Aral Sea in 1964
The Aral Sea in 2003
The Sea has lost 80% of its volume, and 60% of its its Area, as well as splitting into the North Aral and South Aral sea. Within 15 years, the South Aral will be gone, forever. A saline rain falls across the region, leaving salt in its wake, as well as pesticide residues. In Nukus, when you walk outside in the morning ou may see what you thin is a layer of frost on the ground. It's actualy salt.
This has destroyed the ecology of the region, and devestaded its people and cities. It has the highest levels of TB and birth defects in the former CIS. Additionally, the former island where the soviets conducted biowarfare experiments in the 1960s is now connected to the mainland, allwoing free passage of animals and microbes.
Nukus looks like a ghost town that hasn't quite been abandoned. The city now survives on subsidies from Tashkent.
abandoned apartment block
Nukus City Park
public school
City Park Ferris Wheel
We got a room at the better of the two hotels in town the "Hotel Nukus." It was awful the worst in the country we thought at the time (we were wrong). for $20 bucks we got 4 russian TV stations, hard as rock beds, a usable but unpleasant bathroom, and breakfast. Or so we were told. When we woke up the next morning we discovered that the cafe was being rebuilt. The same guy that told us that was the guy that told us that breakfast was at 8 AM the night previously. Soviet attitudes live. Still, at least we had heat.
Avante-Garde Art in the Desert
One very cool thing that Nukus has, that in fact makes it worth the whole trip, is the Igor Savitsky museum. During the 20s, the Soviet Union had some outstandign avante-garde art happening. Some of the best paintings of the 20th century were made in this time and place. But then Stalin had to come along in the 1930's and ruin everything, as he always did; declaring "Socialist Realism" as the only legitimate art, and sending the Avante-Gardistas to the gulag, or executing them.
the Savitsky Museum
Igor Savitsky was an ethnographer studying the Karakalpak people out in the middle of nowhere, who loved Avante-Garde art. Over the Stalin years he collected 85,000 pieces, and essentially got away with it because Nukus is too far away for Moscow to notice.
I walked through this building, stopping at every third painting to ooh and ahh, it was fantastic (and I usually hate art museums). Check out their website here. The Director of the museum. Marina Bobonazarova, speaks excellent English, and may be able to help you with transport and home stays. We met with her to arrange a Taxi to Muynaq. The phone of the travel agent she usually calls was disconnected for non-payment; and she told us that Muynaq has only three ships left. The rest were sold for scrap. "No Money for preservation." She lamented. The best place to see ships is in Aralsk in Kazakhstan. So we decided to abandon our quest to see the Aral. Next year in Aralsk, perhaps.
If you are in Nukus, do stop by or give her a call. (998-61)222-25-56 is the number. Marina will definitely take care of you.
We inquired as to where we could get breakfast and she told us that, after the Soviet Union collapsed , there were no more food shops, so we would have to go to the Bazaar.
We ended up eating at the Cafe Aral, near the Mashrutka Stand. It's two blocks south, in a powder blue building.
So we waved goodbye to Nukus, and found another Taxi back to Urgench. On the way back we saw sheep, and a 3,000 year old structure the Zoroastrians used to use to expose their dead to the elements. Awesome.
Next, Bukhara!
posted by Justiceiro at 6:38 AM
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