Shirin and Moiz's Travels: Uzbekistan June 2014

THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN lies landlocked by its neighbours of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan ( very short border of 150 km) ,Tajikistan and Khyrgystan in central Asia. Iranian nomads were known to inhabit this region as early as the 1st millenium BC. For many centuries, it was ruled by great conquerors , the likes of Alexander the Great, & came under the Persian & Turkic Empires. The Arabs enriched the region in the 8th century. Islamic scholars & scientists as well as poets, philosophers & artists set the foundation of the Muslim Renaissance.

The Mongol conquest in the 13th century brought much change to the region. But one tribal chieftain, Amir Temur changed the course of its history in the 14th century. His ruthless brutality & conquests won him all of Western Central Asia, Iran, Asia Minor, parts of Russia, Turkey , Iraq, Iran & India, before he died during an invasion of China.

During his reign, numerous artisans & scholars from his vast lands imbued his empire with Islamic culture & constructed religious & palatial masterpieces. His grandson Ulu Beg was one of the worlds first astronomers. After Temur’s death, his empire split, with invasions by surrounding tribes & Russia. By early 1920’s, Central Asia was firmly in the hands of Russia & became part of the Soviet Union in 1924. In 1991, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Uzbekistan declared its independance. Islam Karimov was elected president(through a not so democratic process) & has remained so till today.

Most of the population belong to the Uzbek ethnic group & speak Uzbek, a language belonging to the family of Turkic languages, using the Latin or Cyrillic script. Their facial features resemble a mix of all those countries that surround it & of the empires it once ruled, but have jet black hair. Of the 30 million people, 96 % are muslims, the rest being christians or jews.

Their currency is SUM . US 1/- would give you about 2,500 SUM.

Having one of the largest gold depostis in the world, their key export commodities are gold & cotton. It also has vast untapped oil & gas reserves& are significant exporters of copper , uranium, coal, silver & oil. Only 10% of its territory is cultivated with cotton & corn, while the rest remains desert & mountainous .

The practice of all religions was suppressed during the Russian reign, but independance brought a gradual re-acquaintance with the Islamic faith. Thus today one sees not a radical Islamic state, but one where Islam is practised very liberally. Most women wear colourful dresses, & pants are sometimes even calf high, but with a small scarf or traditional hat on their heads. The younger generation is more modern & dress like any country in the west.

WHAT THE LOCALS WEAR

Their CUISINE is influenced by agriculture, so breads & noodles form a staple in their diet. Mutton is popular due to the abundance of sheep farming. Their signature dish a Palov(or plov) – rice with pieces of grilled meat, carrots & onion. Salads & Shurva(soup) are a must. Somsa(stuffed pockets of dough) form an appetiser or main course. Kebabs are a popular main course & so is Dimlam – a meat or vegetable stew. Green tea is a national drink usually after a meal. Deserts are almost non existent. Instead seasonal fruits are served. We enjoyed fresh apricots & cherries everyday in june. Other seasons bring apples, peaches, pomegranates ,grapes, mulberries, strawberries etc.

A fading practice, albeit a delightful one, is the Uzbek traditon of planting 20 poplar trees for every child born.. impossible to be practiced by the urban population, but our guide said his were planted by his parents in his village when he was born, & still practised by rural folk today. So when travelling by road between Bukhara to Samarkand & Tashkent, there was no mistaking the clumps of 20-40-60 poplar trees, sometimes even in linear form demarcating the boundary of their farms. When that child grows up & gets married, he or she use the wood from those same trees to build thier homes in the rural areas and many do so till today!! What an ingeniuos & practical custom to save our planet, if only more communities around the world would adopt it.

TRADITIONAL WEDDING COSTUMES

The city of BUKHARA, over 2,750 years old, is one of central asia’s oldest cities, full of stunning old buildings, & listed as a Unesco world heritage site. The OLD CITY is known as a TOWN MUSEUM. It is a charming cluster of mosques,caravanserai, madrasahs, tea houses, spice, gold & craft markets. While we were there, the annual Silk & Spice Festival was on. So there was much going on, from night craft markets & colourful processions to music & dancing. It was in the gold market that we discovered that the colour of gold was pinkish,the quality lowered by its content,making it more affordable. Popular with the local women however, many of whom coat their teeth with it & ‘flash’ their golden smile to show off their wealth !!

GOLD TEETH

We travelled on a moderately well paved but potholed highway to Samarkand – the same

‘silk route’ the early traders used all those centuries ago. Just 27 kilometers outside Samarkand , lies the Mausoleum of one of Islam’s greatest scholars, Imam Mohamed ibn Ismail al Bukhari, an outstanding researcher of Hadith & Islamic theology. His fundamental work was the most sacred book in Islam after the holy Quran. He studied more than 600,000 hadiths and his works today are approved & distributed by the Saudi Arabian authorities.

Registan Square in SAMARKAND is probably the most visited site in Uzbekistan. The heart of Samarkand, it an ensemble of 3 great madrasahs built in the 15th & 17th century. The mosaic ornamentation is exquisite on these structures which are a shining example of ancient architecture in central asia. Sons of the wealthy studied the Quran there while other subjects were optional. One served as a grand mosque..Ulu Beg himself lectured on astronomy & mathematics there. Towering over the domes & arches are several tall & well proportioned minarets, one of which served to study the stars. Today the 3 madrasahs serve primarily as monuments,creating a majestic & intriguing spectacle, attracting travellers to this ancient city of Samarkand.

REGISTAN SQUARE

Near Samarkand also lies the tomb of Amir Temur who forged his own destiny to become a prominent historical figure. Born in 1336 (died in1405) to the chief of a small tribe, he built a great army, expanded his empire & was responsible for the construction of the monumental madrasahs, caravanserais and historic buildings and mosques we see today. He brought in building materials, architects & workers from the lands he occupied eg. Iran & India, adopting each others styles to combine and produce an original type of design that is unique to central Asia. Physically lame though he was from an arrow injury, his disability did not prevent him from becoming a great conqueror. He was known as Lame Temur , subsequently becoming famous as ‘ Tamerlane’ . He played such an important part in Uzbek history, that his skull was unearthed, his face restored by computerisation, and his portrait painted to be revered by all.

Amir Temur

The MADRASAHS are institutions of higher education and were scattered all over Uzbekistan, serving to educate hundreds of thousands of students over the ages, since they were built hundreds of years ago. It functioned as a theological seminary with a curicullum centered on the holy Quraan. In addition to islamic theology & law, grammar, literature, mathematics, logic and natural science was taught. Today only a few of these masterpieces of architecture function as what they were built for.. Most of them were restored to their old glory over the last 30 to 50 years and now serve as the main tourist attractions in the country, giving employment to hundreds of thousands of locals with a space to sell their craft in the little rooms that once used to house its students.

Tashkent’s position on the silk route enhanced its growth long before Islamisation in the 8th century.

But the city & its population was completely destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1219. Under Amir Temur in the 14th century, & subsequent dynasties, its population and its culture revived again due to its stragetic location & center of learning along the old trade route. But a turbulent history of soviet rule & massive earthquakes destroyed many of its architectural heritage structures. It was only after 1865 under soviet rule , that major growth could be seen in Tashkent.

TASHKENT is the capital and largest city of the Republic . The Turkic word Tashkent means ‘city of stone’. In 1991 when the USSR collapsed, Tashkent was the 4th largest city & the center of learning in fields of science & engineering. Today it is a modern city and has a 3 line underground rapid transit system, built in 1977, expanded and completed in 2001. An old tram system has been modified to transport citizens on a track that rings the city.

Tree lined streets and numerous fountains and parks surround the war memorials, independance memorials & parliament buildings, the sizes of which are massive. There are soviet era monuments, restored madrasahs , mosques & mausoleums, & princely Russian palaces now house ministries &

government departments. There are opulent buildings that house museums of fine & applied arts & history, including one dedicated to the memory of the great Amir Temur.

Our last day in Tashkent was spent in the Chingan mountains about an hours drive outside the city. We drove through green farming countryside to a slightly higher altitude where a chairlift system took us to a vantage point of some breathtaking scenery overlooking a man made dam. There were walnut trees & almond trees, & mobile vans that brought their bees to pollinate the flowering plants of the season. They lived in a camper like vehicle for 2 to 3 months , harvested their honey, then moved on to other flowering areas. The area is also famed for its sanotariums and ‘cake’ houses built along the river to be rented by holidaymakers during the weekends & long vacation periods

We flew Uzbekistan Airways, a little nervous at first but pleased to discover they use new & modern aircraft .

Our 7 days in Uzbekistan flew by, but it was an exotic destination to discover & behold.

Shirin and Moiz

Kuala Lumpur.