Adventures with Julia

Friday, May 3, 2013

We are now in Samarkand, 280 kilometers SW of Tashkent and have a couple of hours in the hotel to relax from the 5 hour drive this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, after sending two posts, we went on an afternoon tour of Tashkent with a very knowledgeable city guide named Zahir. He told us the population of Uzbekistan is 30 million and Tashkent is 3 million, while the country is only slightly larger than Turkmenistan and therefore California. The sights we saw were a bit of a blur, but included the Shahid Memorial Complex where we saw another wedding couple having photos taken and the Earthquake Memorial, which honored those killed in the 7.2 trembler in 1966. It was not quite as devastating as the 1948 quake in Ashgabat. We visited the Host Imam Square and the old part of town that still functions. We visited the Library Museum and saw the world’s oldest Koran dating from 645AD. We visited a beautiful Roman Catholic church which fell into disrepair during the Soviet era and was rebuilt between 1943 and 1947 by Polish prisoners sent here by the Russians. It had beautiful stained glass windows of flowers and trees and a huge restored organ.

We drove around the large Opera House that holds 1400 people, and Independence Square that connects to a large grass and tree covered park. The height of the tour was a visit to the Museum of Applied arts that is installed in a traditional house built by a wealthy diplomat during Tsarist times to house his private collection. It became a museum in 1937 and has a wonderfully varied, yet small, collection of objects from exquisite hand-stitched silk on cotton fabrics to carpets made with gold thread, Russian glass objects, beautiful ceramics and fine wood carvings. There was even a small, intricately carved and painted mosque that served as the living room of the house. Even Mark was enchanted by the up-close and personal nature of the building and its contents. After the museum, we walked the pedestrian street called Broadway to look at the local street art being peddled by vendors and people strolling during the pleasant evening hour. The people here all dress western and look very European, unlike the people in Turkmenistan who wear traditional clothes, especially the women who always wear long dresses and scarves.

From Broadway, we drove a short distance to a restaurant called Caravan, that Eugene, aka “Jenia”, recommended. After some discussion we ordered a variety of dishes to try including one that contained horse meat. It did not taste like other meats we know, but was not bad. It was, in my opinion, not interesting enough to eat again, but I am glad to have tried it.

By the end of dinner, we were both exhausted and could not get to bed fast enough. Lights were out by 9pm with an agreement to meet Jenia and our driver, Rafkat, at 8am.

Feeling rested and settled into Uzbek time, we were ready to go at the appointed hour. Rafkat took us on a long drive about the well built, broad and tree-lined city streets as we slowly headed south, passing by old and older Soviet style apartment buildings as well as modern housing blocks, shopping complexes, strip stores and a new soccer stadium. Once out of the city, buildings stopped abruptly and farm land began on the 280 kilometer stretch of the Silk Road between Tashkent and Samarkand, known as the Golden Road. We were reminded of the words of James Flecker 100 years ago in his poem Hassan:
We travel not for trafficking alone:
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand.

For the next 4 hours we drove through flat countryside filled with cotton, wheat, strawberry and fallow fields. We passed many mulberry and poplar trees growing along the edge of the road as well as donkey carts and small villages. If not for water having been diverted from the two rivers that traverse the region, the land would all be desert. As we got closer to Samarkand, the snow capped mountains to the south came into view. All the while we chatted about Uzbekistan. The country ‘s biggest exports are cotton , silk and gas. According to Jenie, Uzbek cotton is famous for its quality because it is still picked by hand rather than machine. It was the cotton producing region for all of the Soviet Union. Now the country, which is now 60% urban and 40% rural, is trying to become self sufficient and is reducing the amount of cotton grown and increasing the amount and quality of wheat, as they still import better wheat from Kazakistan. They export fruits and vegetables to other post-Soviet countries. Mark asked why we see so many Chevrolets on the road. Jenie said GM created a partnership with the Uzbek government, bought the Korean Daewo business and now has a large assembly plant in the the Fergama Valley east of Tashkent making Chevrolets. Other plants in the country make trucks and busses. In spite of the many speeding cars, we still saw several donkey carts along the edge of the road as well as any people working the fields by hand.

Although Uzbekistan has significant gas reserves, they have been unable to sell it as their only pipeline was through Russia, which has cut off the flow. Recently, an agreement was reached with the Chinese to build three pipelines through Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan to eastern China. One of the lines is complete and gas is flowing.

Islam Karimov became president of Uzbekistan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. He is still president. Under their original constitution he enjoyed 2 5-year terms, then rewrote the constitution to allow for 2 7-year terms and agreed not to run again after the first such term. Elections are due to be held in 2014. There is a multi party system now and Jenie believes the 75 year old Karimov will step down. The years immediately after the Soviet collapse were extremely difficult. Life in all the post Soviet countries was severely disrupted. Most people lost their jobs and the subsidies they were used to receiving. According to both Jenie and Rafpak, millions of people died during the years following 1991. There were countless suicides and heart attacks. Rafpak said he had been a construction foreman. When the economy collapsed, there was no more construction and he lost his job. Eventually he became a driver and is doing well now. However, he feels very strongly that life was better under the Soviets and people were happier. Everyone helped each other then and neighborhoods were cohesive. Now it is every man for himself, there are few subsidies and the cost of living is so high that many activities, such as travel, are no longer affordable. He is 60 and says most people his age and older feel the same way. Jenie, who was 15 in 1991, thinks conditions are gradually improving with time and new thinking. He is looking forward to a new president who, hopefully, will make more improvements for the country. He thinks the biggest reason development is slow is because people are not allowed to own land. He hopes a new president will change that.

Meanwhile, everyone pays a flat 13% in income tax. Education is compulsory and free for the first 9 years. Then three years of college are free, but not compulsory. University fees are based on testing scores. The top 50% go for free. Others must pay $1000 per year, which is not a hardship for most families. Basic health care services are free at local clinics. However, there is no insurance system in place so people must pay for major health problems themselves. Consequently, many people die for lack of medical attention.

Finally, we arrived in Samarkand and went directly to an outdoor cafe for lunch. The place was like a mini oasis. We drove through a dull, hot and unappealing neighborhood and stopped in front of a tall concrete wall. Once we walked through the door, we were inside a large courtyard filled with trees and a creek that flowed through the middle. Tables and chairs were arranged under trees. The air was cool and sweet and the whole affect quite pleasing. We were served soup and shish kabob along with the standard tomato, onion and cucumber salad and bread made in the special Samarkand style. It was in a different shape, but still tasted about the same as the other bread we have had.

Then we checked into our hotel–small, clean, comfortable and somewhat plain. We agreed to rest until 4:30 and then do some sight seeing in the late afternoon. We do not seem to have wifi here, so I am writing in hopes of sending a post when I can.

As planned, we visited a necropolis full of female mausoleums called Shah-i-Zindah on the edge of the city. The street of tombs, which is surrounded by a modern, mostly Soviet style, graveyard, dates from 1372 to 1460 and houses the women who were relatives of Timerlane the Great, who lived a century after Genghis Khan and spent 35 years campaigning to conquer the world, killing an estimated 17 million people in the process. Two of his wives and sisters and a favorite niece are among the women buried here. The tombs real beauty and appeal lies in their range of decoration, with carved terra-cotta and majolica tile work set into complicated floral designs framed with stylized calligraphy, all of which is painted in saturated shades of blue. The place gets its name from the Arab leader who was beheaded for his attempts to convert locals to Islam and is buried in the first tomb at the site.

Mark did not feel well, so we dropped him off at the hotel and continued to the shop of a clothing designer that Jenie thought we should visit. Set behind another high wall was a shop full of unusual hand painted and hand stitched fabrics and fashions, the likes of which I was totally unfamiliar. The colors of the items were mostly muddy and dark and not to my liking, but I managed to buy two pieces that should be eye catching back home. I thought of several of my friends who would have gone crazy in the shop. If I knew their sizes and color preferences, I would have purchased a number of things just for them, especially since the prices were reasonable. From there the three of us went to dinner and had….you guessed it…soup and shish kabob. I don’t think there is much else to eat around these part.