“Stay Curious and Keep Exploring”
- Virtual Traveller 86
- Apr 27, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 30, 2020
Day Two: Country No. 4
UZBEKISTAN 7:35am
I confess Uzbekistan was not on my original list of countries to visit. I was heading for Kazakhstan but it turned out quicker to stop here first. I am so glad I did! A truly fascinating country. The flight from Tel Aviv to Tashkent is just over four hours (according to Google). My tour guides for the entire time in Uzbekistan were the ‘Vagabrothers’ Alex and Marko (vagabrothers.com). “Stay curious and keep exploring“ is their catchphrase.They do tours across the world and I may well use them again on my future travels (see YouTube for their videos).
Uzbekistan is an intriguing country and one I would love to spend more time exploring. For centuries it was under Persian rule and it became a key city on the Silk Road (ancient trade route linking China with the Mediterranean). This left a rich cultural and architectural legacy. The country’s time as part of the Soviet Union has simply added to this.
Tashkent, Bukhara & Samarkand We made brief stops in stop in Tashkent and Bukhara before travelling on to Samarkand. Samarkand is known for its ornate mosques and mausoleum. It was an important trading hub on the Silk Road. There are the most beautiful ceramic tiles in varying shades of blue covering historic buildings and monuments. Registan Square is a very impressive example. This is a plaza bordered by three madrassas dating back to the 15th and 17th centuries. (See middle picture on top row of the montage below).
The middle picture on the bottom row is of another amazing building, Gur-e-Amir, said to have been the precursor to the Taj Mahal in India.
The Aral Sea
The Aral Sea is in fact a lake. At one time the fourth largest in the world. In the 1950s it was rich in fish and supplied one-sixth of all fish consumed in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, to whom the coastline belonged, decided to use the nearby steppes for cotton farming. However the land was arid and in order to irrigate it Soviet engineers needed to divert a third of the water from two of the main rivers flowing into the lake. Over time the amount of water taken for crops increased. Over time the water level in the lake reduced.
“The Aralsk harbor lost its water in 1970 and its inhabitants saw the sea move away day by day. The ships were stranded in a desert of salty sand, an image that became an icon of the disaster.“ * By 2009, the Aral Sea had lost half of its original surface and the volume of water had been reduced to a quarter. To travel across an immense expanse of desert and then realise once upon a time it was all under water is really sobering.
* You can read more at: https://www.wearewater.org/en/the-aral-sea-the-difficult-return-of-water_322871
On this sobering note the time came to say farewell to Alex and Marco, but not before they had returned me to Tashgent. I could share so much more from my brief visit to this beautiful country. I’m not sure what I envisaged it to be like but I can safely say it has well and truly exceeded my expectations!
9:53am Depart Uzbekistan for Kazakhstan.
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