After almost a month of hiking and enjoying nature in the countryside, we crossed the border into Uzbekistan for a week of culture and history. Uzbekistan was part of the famous Silk Road and there are still a few well-preserved cities – primarily Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva — in the country with the stunning Islamic architecture of that period. They are popular tourist destinations and since we were already in the region, we thought it would be a shame not to visit. We spent a fast-paced week in Uzbekistan visiting Tashkent (the capital), Samarkand, and Bukhara. Khiva is quite far from Samarkand and Bukhara, so we decided to skip it for time’s sake.
Crossing the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Border
Osh is very close to the border, so we decided to cross into Uzbekistan via the 777 minibus from Osh to Andijan. Following the information we read on a blog, we took a Yandex to the new Osh bus station located northwest of the city. It was more of a parking lot full of vans. We looked for a van with the number 777 and then went to a kiosk to pay for our tickets which were 180 soms each. We then went to our bus and to our surprise, found another couple from our Alay Mountain trek also waiting for the bus to depart. Unfortunately for them, they had arrived around 6:30am and had been waiting for over 2-hrs for the bus to be filled. Luckily for us, we were the last passengers, and the bus departed within a few minutes.
The border crossing was only a five-minute drive away. We had to get off with all our luggage to go through Kyrgyz exit immigration. Then we loaded back onto the van to be taken to the Uzbek entry point with all our stuff again. Overall, the whole process took about an hour and was smooth. We had read online that Uzbek immigration can be intense, searching luggage thoroughly, but we didn’t face that at all.
After clearing all checkpoints, it was a 2-hr drive to Andijan. We arrived a little past 11am and we had until 4pm until our train to Tashkent was to depart. We walked to a nearby Turkish restaurant which had AC for an extended lunch. It was brutally hot outside, so we lingered in the restaurant for a while. The food was not very good despite the good reviews. My food came on a saran wrapped plate, so I think it was microwaved.
Once I was done eating, I went across the street to a cell phone store to get a SIM card while Nate waited in the restaurant. As soon as I handed them my passport for the SIM registration, I was greeted and treated like a celebrity. The workers huddled around in awe examining my American passport and called out colleagues from the back. They said it was very rare to see an American and seemed so amazed to meet me. One of the staff told me that he had been studying English very hard (it showed, his English was amazing) and dreamed of visiting the US. When I tried to pay, they refused, saying that it was a gift from them to me. It was very touching, and I felt a combination of gratitude and embarrassment. Gratitude for their hospitality. Embarrassment because I didn’t do anything to deserve it – all I did was pull out an American passport. It was another reminder of how blessed I am to be from a country that so many in the world can only dream of.
After waiting in the sweltering heat of the train station for a while, our train to Tashkent finally arrived. We paid extra for first-class because it was supposed to have air conditioning, but it unfortunately did not. Thankfully, it wasn’t unbearable, and we were able to make the 6-hour journey without overheating. Once we arrived in Tashkent, we immediately took a Yandex to our hotel and went to bed. Another long travel day complete.
A Short Glimpse of Tashkent
The next day was our one day in Tashkent before we moved on to Bukhara. August in Uzbekistan is scorching hot, so we were not able to do too much. We took the Tashkent metro to the Hazrati Imam Complex in the morning. The metro system itself is an attraction in Tashkent because the metro stations are beautiful, and they really were. We went took our time getting to Hazrati by going to a few extra stations to see them. The trains are also very modern and clean. I would be ecstatic if the El in Chicago were half as nice as the Tashkent metro.
Walking to the Complex from the Metro station, we also saw the new massive Islamic Civilization Center under construction across the street as well. When complete, it will be a wonder! The Hazrati Imam Complex itself was comprised of multiple buildings and gave us a great taste of the buildings and architecture we would be seeing in Samarkand and Bukhara.
Afterwards, we went to Chorsu Bazar, the biggest bazar in Tashkent. It was one of the best markets we had ever been to. It was so lively with a huge mix of butchers, dairy, grains, spices, nuts, produce, and more. The produce section was what got us really excited. It was the freshest, most beautiful fruits and vegetables we had ever seen. The Fergana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan is known to be a very fertile agricultural area. So, we suspect it was fresh produce from the Valley. We decided to buy a bunch of fruits to have for lunch. We bought grape tomatoes, figs, and multiple types of plum/apricots. We even found our new favorite fruit that we discovered in Kyrgyzstan. We never learned the name of it, but it is a small green fruit that looks like a green plum but tastes sweeter like an apricot. A plumcot?
We also bought some prepared noodles and pickled carrots. We were walking around the prepared foods section when an old lady called us over and gave us samples which were delicious. So we bought some to add to our market haul. Exhausted from all the morning exploring, we returned to our hotel and ate our new goods. It was some of the sweetest fruits we had ever had.
Nate’s stomach was unfortunately still not feeling good (many days running), so he decided to just buy bread for dinner. I wanted something more, so I went to a Korean restaurant for dinner and ate jjajangmyun. It was decent and satisfied the craving I had. More Korean food in Central Asia for me!
Samarkand, Home of the Registan
The next morning, we went back to the train station to board our bullet train to Samarkand. The bullet train, Afroyisob, was magnitudes nicer than the first train we took. We booked coach but the train was clean with spacious seats and most importantly, air-conditioned. It was a short 2.5-hr ride to Samarkand and we arrived at our guesthouse by 2pm. Our guesthouse was well-situated just a 10-min walk from the Registan, tucked in a residential alley.
We rested in the afternoon to avoid the heat and went to first visit the Amir Temur Mausoleum. Of course, it was beautiful. But not being Islamic history enthusiasts, and compared to everything else, we didn’t think this site was particularly amazing. We then slowly walked back towards the Registan while looking for a currency exchange. We still had Kyrgyz soms that we needed to exchange to Uzbek som. We failed.
We entered the Registan around 5pm. It is a massive, majestic complex of three madrasahs at the center of a larger public square. The madrasahs have been carefully restored. The architecture is beautiful, and we enjoyed wandering around, admiring the colors and designs. There were also a few small informational exhibits. The one disappointing aspect of the Registan (and all the attractions in Uzbekistan) is that instead of being a museum, the restored buildings are filled with tourist shops. It seems a pity that these historic institutions and buildings have become souvenir shops. To the merchants’ credit, they do not hawk too much. However, it still is a bit uncomfortable when you’re just trying to look around surrounded by dozens of merchants that want you to peruse and buy.
After the Registan, we went to a shashlik (grilled meats on skewers) restaurant for dinner. It was excellent. We had chicken, lamb, beef, veggies, and potatoes. The chicken was especially delicious, perfectly seasoned and cooked. We even got free watermelon as dessert!
We went back to see the Registan lit up at night after dinner. The Registan looks like something out of a storybook at night. The square was alive with locals and tourists alike. We were approached by a huge group of kids led by a teacher who asked if we spoke English, and if we could speak to the kids for a bit so that they could practice. The kids looked to range in age from 8 to 14. They seemed excited, but shy at the same time. They yelled out the same questions to us over and over again: “where are you from?”, “how old are you?”, “what is your favorite food?”, etc. It was a bit hard to have any real conversation because there were too many kids, but it was cute to see their enthusiasm.
The next morning, we went to visit Shah-i-Zinda, a cemetery with many mausoleums. This was one of our favorite places. There were so many beautiful mausoleums arranged in a corridor.
We then walked to the Bibi Khanym Mosque. On the way, I took a detour while Nate waited in the shade to try to view the Afrasiyab Settlement ruins, but it was a waste of time and energy as I was unable to see it. We were so hot and tired, but we made it to Bibi Khanym to visit the last attraction for the day. Bibi Khanym was massive – it was one of the biggest mosques in the world in the 15th century. We couldn’t see much beyond the courtyard, but there was a display of a huge Quran in the center. We overhead a guide saying that it is supposedly one of the four original Qurans, which if true, is very cool! Though I’m not sure if I believe it because I would think such a valuable object would be better preserved and protected than in a simple glass case – and I haven’t been able to find a source online corroborating it.
After our sightseeing for the day, we went back to the same place for dinner to try the other skewers. Still, the boneless chicken was our favorite.
We went back to view the Registan at night again. We were once again approached by kids wanting to practice English. However, this time, instead of a class led by a teacher, it was a small group of teenagers acting on their own. I chatted with a fourteen-year-old girl for a while, and I was so impressed and amazed by her. She was incredibly smart, ambitious, and entrepreneurial. She had only been learning English for 11-months but spoke amazingly. She told me that she was working as a tour guide and was trying to save money to buy her mom a birthday present. She also had dreams of studying at Harvard and wanted to be a lawyer. Not only English, but she was also self-learning Mandarin and Korean and she showed me her notebook where she practiced. After a while, I said goodbye truly wishing her the best. I would not be surprised if she does make it to the US to study and makes a name for herself in the future.
Our last activity in Samarkand was finally finding a place to exchange our Kyrgyz som to Uzbek som. After asking multiple people and places, we finally found that the tourist information center by the bazar exchanged Kyrgyz som. On our last morning, we walked early to the bazar to finally exchange our money before our train to Bukhara. The exchange rate was horrendous, but we were just glad to finally get rid of it. Unfortunately, I would later discover that we had some more Kyrgyz som that we forgot to exchange…
Bukhara: Our Favorite Uzbek City Full of Old Town Charm
After two days in Samarkand, we headed back to the train station to head to Bukhara. It was a comfortable two-hour ride on the bullet train. By the time we checked into our hotel, the afternoon heat was in high gear. But we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so we braved the heat to eat plov for lunch at a nearby market. Unfortunately, the entire market was closed and guarded by security for an unknown reason. We tried to go to other nearby restaurants on Google Maps, they were also closed. Hot, tired, and hungry, we walked into the next open restaurant we saw. It was a local joint where no one spoke English. There were some small pictures on the menu, so we just pointed to two things and hoped for the best. Luckily, we chose well – we got chicken and a beef stir-fry dishes that were tasty. We devoured the food and promptly went back to our air-conditioned hotel room to rest for the afternoon.
In the evening, we ventured out to walk through Old Town Bukhara. Compared to Samarkand, Old Town Bukhara is well preserved and restored. It is a very pleasant and charming area to walk around. We were still full from lunch, so we got ice cream while walking around the Old Town square for dinner. We walked by all of the main sites (Old Town Bukhara is small), making a plan for visiting them the next day.
The next day, we started the morning by visiting the Po-i-Kalyan, which is a beautiful square with the Kalon Mosque, Kalon Minaret, and Mir-i-Arab Madrasa. We paid to enter the Kalon Mosque.
It was then time for lunch. To my dismay, we still had not tried plov, so we took a Yandex to a famous restaurant called The Plov. I didn’t think it was amazing, but it was good and I was glad to have tried it. There happened to be a highly rated Western-style café in the same plaza, so we stopped by afterwards and I had an iced vanilla latte and a cheesecake. They were both delicious! I would have been very happy with them in the US. We then returned to our hotel for an afternoon siesta.
As evening neared, we ventured out again to visit the Bukhara Ark, an old fortress. I wanted to walk the fortress walls, which is one of my favorite old city activities. But to our surprise, the Ark offered much more than just walking along the walls for views of the city. It was like a mini museum with multiple exhibits about Bukhara’s history, old coins/currencies, and the area’s natural history. There was also a large archeologic area with old structures. It was our favorite attraction in Bukhara and we spent a couple hours there until sunset.
There was a small festival going on outside of the Ark, so we walked through to find that it was a melon festival where people from different regions brought their melons. I really wanted to try the melons, but they were quite large and were not being sold precut.
We then wandered over back to Po-i-Kalyan to see it lit up at night. It was really stunning. For me, the smaller scale of the square compared to the Registan gave it a more intimate feeling. The contrast of the blue domes against the night sky was stunning. After a while, Nate, still not feeling fully well, headed back to the hotel. I, however, wanted to continue soaking in the bustling evening energy of Bukhara. Because it is so hot, the cities in Uzbekistan are quiet during the day and come alive at night. From kids to the elderly, everyone is out on the streets once the sun sets. I strolled the streets of Old Town for about another hour before heading in for the night.
Our train back to Tashkent was not departing until 2pm. So on our last morning, we decided to go back to the coffee shop for more pastries. I got another cheesecake and Nate got the banana bread, which was also delicious. After a month in Central Asia, it felt so good to eat something that tasted American. Even when you go to western restaurants, the flavor profile is never quite right. So, this coffee shop was a gem. We got banana bread and lemon cake to go as well for the 4+ hour train ride to Tashkent.
A Luxurious Last Day in Uzbekistan
Once we arrived in Tashkent, we quickly made our way to the Hyatt Regency hotel. After spending many weeks in budget, basic accommodation, we decided to spend our last night in Tashkent at the Hyatt (of course, using points!). This Hyatt was beautiful with a grand lobby, amazing gym and pool, and a very comfortable and modern hotel room. The beds in Central Asia are all very hard, so we were ecstatic to have a soft, plush bed. I had planned to do more sightseeing in Tashkent, but we ended up spending most of our last day in the hotel.
We even ordered room service for dinner, which felt like a luxury as it is something we never do and watched the Olympics. It was the perfect restful night.
The next morning, I went to work out in the gym while Nate recorded the Season 4 premier of Soccer Snacks with Lucas. He is fully dedicated to the podcast even while on the road. Once he was finished, we then went to enjoy the pool and the sauna. Unfortunately, we had to check out by noon, but we took advantage of every minute until we had to check out. Our flight to Malaysia was not until 11:50pm that night so we still had the rest of the day.
Central Asian food does not sit well with Nate, so we went to a Korean restaurant for a late lunch. Nate had bibimbap and I had naengmyeon (cold noodles), both of which were pretty good. I also ran around going to different banks to see if anyone would exchange Kyrgyz som (we found more that we overlooked in Samarkand) but failed. After lunch, it was way too hot, so we went back to the Hyatt to hang out in the lobby and stayed there enjoying the air conditioning until it was time to head to the airport.
All in all, it was an anticlimactic end to our week in Uzbekistan. But being able to enjoy the luxury of a nice hotel was worth it for our rest and recovery.
See you next in the rainforests of Borneo, Malaysia!
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