DISPATCHES
Adventures in Border Crossing: Into Uzbekistan
I had been told that the crossing from Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan would take a long time with crowded, so I decided to try and beat the rush. After a rice porridge breakfast at the Biy Ordo Guesthouse with a couple of dudes who’ve been bicycling through the Stan’s for six months, I took a taxi for the 15-minute ride to the border. It’s not nearly as crowded as I thought; it’s only just before 9am. Only me and an Uzbekistani woman walk to through the first gate.
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The Birthday Host
Akmal, friend of @gldncrl, invited me to stay with him, his wife, and daughter, at their home in Tashkent. When I arrive, there are already some dishes on the table. There is spicy picked tripe that has a familiar taste to me. “Is this Uzbek?” I asked him.
“Korean. This is a big Korean neighborhood,” he tells me.
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Make It Rain
It’s a known fact in Uzbekistan that exchange rates on the black market are better than national bank rates. Everyone knows a guy, or knows a guy who knows a guy, so Akmal brings me to his. Five hundred US dollars gets me over a million and a half Uzbekistani som, and I become a millionaire in an instant.
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Tashkent: A Proper City
Seeing the many tree-lined streets and park fountains on a pleasant autumn Sunday, I start to form my initial thoughts on the sprawling capital city of Tashkent. Akmal drives me around town to give me an overview before I head out on foot.
“It’s huge,” I tell him, especially when comparing it to Almaty.
“Almaty is tiny,” he says. “This is a proper city.”
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Exploring Tashkent
To the uninformed, it would seem that the giant green dome of the Old Town is of a place of worship. However, inside is the huge meat market at Chorsu Bazaar with dozens of butcher stalls. I guess it still is a place of worship — if you’re a carnivore.
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Farewell Akmal
Akmal had been such a great and helpful host for my stay in Tashkent. (Thanks for the introduction, @gldncrl!) To thank him and his family, I took them out to dinner, to this new place down the block they hadn’t tried yet. It had outdoor seating, and two indoor areas, one of which evolved into a dance club where a bunch of dudes got down on the dance floor to Arab dance tunes mixed in with Lil Jon’s “Turn Down For What.” (VIDEO)
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Fast Train to Samarkand
A police officer stares out the window as the Afrosiyub high-speed train travels from Tashkent to Samarkand.
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The Silk Road: On the Beaten Path
It’s funny that to the American audience, most people don’t see Uzbekistan as a cultural sightseeing vacation destination. However, to many other countries — many European because of proximity, I gather — it very much is “ON the beaten path;” with a plethora of restored historical sites, modern cities that surround them, and a decent travel infrastructure, people arrive in hordes by the busload — literally.
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Three Taj Mahals For The Price of One
The Registan is the centerpiece of historic sites in Samarkand, or in all of Uzbekistan, or as my guidebook argues, all of Central Asia. It’s a massive three-building complex, so big that I can’t fit it all into frame, even from the observation platform the government made for wide shots. Each of the three madrasahs has its own courtyard and peculiarities. Together, they served as the big commercial, intellectual, and cultural hub of Central Asia. The experience of being there is like going to three grand Taj Mahals next to each other for the price of one.
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The Story of Bibi-Khanym
The Bibi-Khanym Mosque, was once the Islamic world’s biggest. It’s actually a complex of three mosques, but the original was one ordered by Amir Temur’s Chinese wife, Bibi-Khanym, as a surprise while he was away pillaging as conquerors do.
Legend has it that the architect of the mosque fell in love with her and wouldn’t finish the job unless they kissed. Obviously this did not go well with Temur when he got back, and he since decreed women to wear veils so this temptation could not happen again.
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An Uzbek’s Conception of the Philippines
Two Muslim women lean on the wall, most likely contemplating life like Charlie Brown and Linus do, at Hazrat-Hizr Mosque.
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Promenade of Mausoleums
Shah-i-Zinda is not just a cemetery, it’s a showcase of some of the most intricate mosaic and tilework of the Muslim world. Walking through this initial “canyon” of mausoleums brings you to a promenade of other resting places of prominent people. This picture was taken before a busload of Chinese tourists arrived.
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My Crown Jewel of Samarkand
I walk back down Tashkent Street the way I came, go through a park, and end up near my hotel, where I started. It’s much later in the day, and the bus crowds have subsided at the famed Gur-E-Amir Mausoleum. When I get there, it’s just a few people and a toddler walking the grounds. He soon realizes he’s lost and starts yelling for his mother, who is just out of frame.
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Brooklynites in Samarkand
“This will be the first time I don’t take pictures of my food,” said the older American man across from me at the dinner table, back at the Antica B&B where I was staying. He had just come from spending a few days in a remote, less-frequented village in the mountains, and it was a culture shock for him to be seated at a proper dinner in civilization, with other people. It was a bigger shock that in our conversation, we found out that he was not only American, and not only from New York, but also from Brooklyn. “By relocation,” he said.
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Thanks to My Uzbek Connection
Thousands of miles away in northern India, my friend @Gldncrl — who had introduced me to Akmal in Tashkent — is on her way to Bhutan, when she realizes something about the Hotel Antica, where I’d mentioned I was staying at in Samarkand. She sends me a group Facebook message with “Diora,” just as I’m waking up.
“Hi Erik, Diora’s family runs hotel Antica. She also knows Davlat, who you met in NYC. I wrote her another message trying to find out if she is in Samarkand. If she is you should meet!”
This excites me: “We met yesterday!”
“Omg!”
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Registon of Savings
Old and New: Across the street from the historic Registon, is the big Registon supermarket. It’s a registon… of savings!
(FYI: Registon, Registan. It can be spelled both ways since the “o” has an “a” sound in these parts.)
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The Puppy of Ancient Afrosiyob
When I arrive at the Afrosiyob museum, I’m greeted by a little puppy. (VIDEO)
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Renaissance Man
This is Mirzo Ulugbek (a statue of him anyway), grandson of the great Amir Temur, who ruled from 1394–1449. Although a ruler in the 488-year-long Temurid dynasty, he was more known as a Renaissance Man, valuing the importance of music, art, math, and particularly astronomy in his society. He looks rather regal in this statue, especially when not surrounded by wedding parties.
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Lost Backpacker
“Do you speak English?” a confused backpacker approached me with. I could tell he was backpacking with his big pack on his back and daypack strapped over his chest. (I believe I used to call this a “two-sided camel” on my old blog, before it got reincarnated as a social media feed on Instagram and Facebook.)
“Yeah,” I answered. I saw that he was some sort of Asian, and — I’m guilty of it too — assumed he was Japanese. Turned out he was Malaysian, the ethnicity I’ve been getting mistaken for in Uzbekistan after Japanese.
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My Big Fat Uzbek Wedding
Wedding time.
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Night Train to Bukhara
The night train from Samarkand to Bukhara. It appears to be an old Soviet train, and I have flashbacks of my journey on the Trans-Siberian from my original Global Trip ten years ago. There’s a corridor with a hot water station at the end, and sleeping compartments. (Thankfully there is no one pulling a gun on me like that time in Siberia.)
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Welcome to Bukhara
Bukhara, another main stop on the Silk Road tourism trail in Uzbekistan, was once an oasis capital where many a caravan passed through. Today it’s full of many historic buildings from those ancient and medieval times, from madrasahs to mosques to minarets. A lot smaller than Samarkand, the vibe is a lot more laid back, with many of the historic areas in and around residential neighborhoods. It’s also full of people getting around on bicycles.
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Tourists of the Lost Ark
The Ark of Bukhara was once Bukhara’s grand citadel, from the 400’s to the 1920s. That’s quite a long run, and it might have gone longer if the Soviets didn’t bomb it.
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Wandering Bukhara
The Bolo-Hauz Mosque from 1718 is still a functioning place of worship today.
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Just Browsing in Bukhara
The main bazaars on the historic path are housed in old arcades as they were in the Silk Road days, which kept traders in the shade from the hot sun. Nowadays, vendors sell cliché souvenirs to tourists, from scarves to ceramics. — at Taki Telepak Furushan Bazaar
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Minarets, Mosques, and More
Char Minar, which translates to “four minarets,” is not near a mosque. In 1807, it was the gateway to a madrasah, but now houses a souvenir shop in what is otherwise a residential neighborhood.
As I was leaving the area, people in a small Japanese tour group greeted me, “Konichiwa.”
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Three Amigos
I was just finishing up my plov and yangilik (an Uzbek dill-ladened salad with potatoes, cucumbers, coriander, and green peas) along with a beer on the rooftop terrace of the Minzifa restaurant, overlooking the roof of the Taki-Sarrafon bazaar.
“It’s okay, you can turn down bread,” I said to the solo traveler I’d noticed that had just been seated at the table across the way. He had just turned down the bread the waiter offered, just as I had.
“Every meal comes with bread and it’s a bit too much,” he said.
And with that said, the ice was broken.
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When It Rains, Set Your Balls on Fire
While it rains, I head to the ancient indoors of Bozori Kord, a 16th-century Bukharan hammam. Light peers through the skylight to illuminate the stone and brick work that looks centuries old (because it is) and that’s part of the charm. History aside, Bokori Kord is still a proper hammam for men in the mornings and co-ed (in separate rooms) during the rest of the day.
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Ladies Who Lunch and Laugh
Laghman for lunch at Chinar.
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Lost Out of Bukhara
Moritz, who I met the evening before, told me that it’s worth checking out the Emir’s Summer Palace, an eclectic collection of buildings about 5 miles out of town. He told me it would be a good change of scenery since after so many mosques and madrasahs, they start looking the same. I could have taken a marshrutka (mini bus) there, but I rented a bike instead, figuring it wouldn’t be too far. However, things are easier said than done.
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Back in Bukhara for Beers
Back in Bukhara, a fisherman tries his luck at the pool of Lyabi-Hauz, across from the Nadir Divanbegi Khanaka.
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Taxiing Through The Desert
Akbar, the manager of the Hovli Poyon B&B in Bukhara, had been asked by Akmal in Tashkent to arrange a taxi for me to my next city on the Silk Road trail: Khiva. But there was some sort of misunderstanding; he hired me a PRIVATE taxi for $100 for the 6+ hour drive — the fastest, most common and “convenient” way to get there — but I thought I’d just be getting help locating a shared taxi for a fraction of that cost.
(The train between Bukhara and Khiva is no longer in service, and flying there requires a pricey ticket back to Tashkent, a three hour layover, and another flight to Khiva, i.e. the same amount of travel time, at four times the price.)
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Khiva: From Dusk ‘Til Dawn
A bird flies amongst the minarets as dusk approaches in old Khiva.
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Minarets on a Movie Set
Khiva, once known as a brutal slave trading post on the ancient Silk Road, is now a showcase city on today’s Silk Road tourism trail. Its monuments are very well-preserved, so much that it feels like being on a movie set for a period piece. This man wearing a traditional fur hat in front of the Kalta Minor Minaret could be an extra if it was.
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More Mosques, Madrasahs, and Mausoleums
Kids on bikes, outside the Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum.
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The Wedding Dancer
The temperatures cooled off in the Kyzylkum Desert, it’s wedding season in Khiva as it was in the other cities I’d visited. Throughout the day, more than a dozen wedding parties paraded around the old city, each stopping outside the museum of music where a music shop owner/DJ played a couple of tracks for the party to dance to — primarily men while the bride just watched. (VIDEO)
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I Wear Many Hats
There are several vendors in old Khiva selling hats made of Uzbek fox fur, sheep leather, and/or wool. (Cotton is also a big industry in Uzbekistan.) I have my eyes on one in particular, so I inquire for a price, after trying on many hats. The teenager running the stand quotes me $50.
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Last Sunset in Central Asia
Outside the west gate, a little kid gets stuck in a big vase.
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Final Moments with a Familiar Face
For my last few moments in Khiva, I headed to Bir Gumbaz, this centrally-located outdoor/indoor cafe where every indie traveler seemed to end up at since all other options were already closed for the season. It was there that I’d had dinner with a German/Russian couple I’d met in Samarkand the night previous, but my final evening was in solitude — until a familiar face showed up.
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ABOUT ERIK R. TRINIDAD
When he’s not making a living as an interactive/motion designer or playing with fast food, Erik R. Trinidad is a travel writer, blogger, video host and producer focusing on adventure and culinary content. His work has been featured on National Geographic Intelligent Travel, Adventure.com, Discovery.com, Saveur, Condé Nast Traveler, and 
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, which also includes the work of Tim Cahill, Doug Lansky, Jennifer Leo and Rolf Potts. He has also referenced his travel experiences in his solo book, Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended.
For over ten years, Erik has traveled to the seven continents of the world — from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo — with a curiosity for exotic foods and a thirst for adventure (and writing material). In his travels, he has been mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, extorted by corrupt Russian police on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stranded in tornadic storms in the American midwest, and air-lifted off the Everest Trail by a helicopter that was thankfully paid for by his travel insurance. But it hasn’t been all fun; he has also donned a tuxedo amidst the penguins of Antarctica, paraded with Carnival-winning samba school Beija Flor in Rio, run for his life at Pamplona’s “Running of the Bulls,” cage-dived with great white sharks, gotten shot point-blank in the stomach in Colombia (while wearing a bulletproof jacket), and above all, encountered many people around the world, including some Peruvian musicians in Cuzco who learned and played “Y.M.C.A.” at his request. He loves the irony that, after everywhere he’s been, he has never been to Mexico.
Erik writes stories and news articles when he’s at his base camp in New York City, and continues his blog when he is on the road — provided he’s not occupied tracking down lost luggage.
Additional news/article clippings at ErikTrinidad.com.
See Erik talk about travel in an American Express ad:
Read about Erik in this feature article from Filipinas magazine by National Geographic Traveler Associate Editor Amy Alipio.