Samarkand has a long and interesting history – Alexander the Great visited it, Chingiss Khan sacked it in 1220, and Timur made it his capital in 1370 – that was when Samarkand’s golden period started as Timur built a number of beautiful monuments and made it a centre for the arts. The glory days continued till 1449 when Ulugbek (Timur’s grandson) died.
The defining image of Samarkand (and probably Uzbekistan) is the Registan (‘place of sand’). It is an imposing square with large beautifully-tiled Madrassahs on three sides. The insides of the Madrassahs are full of touristy souvenir shops but, despite that, it is a perfect place to hang out, observe locals, tourists, read a book, or nap in the sun (I did all of the aforementioned).
From Registan there is a nice pedestrian path (again full of souvenir shops unfortunately) that leads to the Bibi Khanym Mosque. The mosque, constructed during the last years of Timur’s life, was built for his wife, Bibi Khanym. The story goes as such – Bibi Khanym ordered the building of the mosque while Timur was away to surprise him on his return. The architect told her that he would complete it quickly if she let him kiss her. Reluctantly she agreed, and when Timur returned he saw the kiss-mark on Bibi Khanym’s face. Enraged, Timur ordered the killing of the architect (who reportedly escaped by developing wings and flying away). The questionable veracity of this story notwithstanding, the Mosque is really beautiful (even though it is one of the few unrestored monuments in Uzbekistan). It was, at one point, the largest mosque in the Islamic world.
Ulugbek (Timur’s grandson) was a great patron of Astronomy – in fact he used to teach Astronomy / mathematics at a Madrassah. In 1420, he built a three-storied observatory to chart the heavens. Unfortunately not much of this observatory remains except for the curve of a large instrument. There is a nice museum there and a large statue of the Ulugbek which is a popular place for newly-wed couples who get themselves photographed there (like in Russia, they visit all popular monuments to get their photo taken).
For me the most beautiful structure in Samarkand (Registan notwithstanding) was the Shah-i-Zinda which is a group of tombs – it is like an avenue of stunning mausoleums - each with lovely blue tilework. Timur’s cousins, sisters, and nieces are buried here as is a cousin of Prophet Mohammed. I bumped into a couple of (very pretty) Pakistani girls from Peshawar and we had a nice long chat including the usual criticism of our politicians!
Timur is also buried in Samarkand. He had built a tomb for himself in Shakhrisabz, a town south of Samarkand. But when he died (while preparing for a campaign to China), the pass between Samarkand and Shakhrisabz was snowed out so he was buried in Samarkand itself. His sons and grandsons are also buried in the same mausoleum. The black marker for Timur’s body was carried off to Persia by Nadir Shah in the 18th century. But Nadir returned it after it apparently bought him ill-luck. In 1941 Soviet archaeologists opened the crypt to examine Timur’s body. There they also found an inscription, “whoever opens this will be defeated by an enemy more fearsome than I”. The next day Hitler’s Germany attacked Russia!
The Uzbeks love their tipple – most people drink Vodka and they have a large appetite for it. There are, naturally, quite a few nice Vodkas available, but I preferred the local beer ‘Sarbast’ – it helped that it had 3 versions (red, green, and blue) – each with a different alcohol content (I preferred the red - 4.2%). I went to a couple of bars – they’re like any in the world except that they occasionally play Indian songs too (‘Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja’ seemed to be a popular choice). I was reasonably popular on the dance floor (thanks to Bollywood!). At one restaurant I went to, whenever they played popular songs, people would get up and dance in whatever place they would find. A very friendly atmosphere – people are pulled up from other tables for dancing, random strangers (including those from India!) are invited for shots of Vodka or some puffs of the hookah. Very very enjoyable indeed.
From what I had read in the guidebooks before coming to Uzbekistan, I had expected to lose lots of weight during the trip as the food situation was supposedly quite difficult. Well, if you go with low expectations, you are bound to be pleasantly surprised. The food was quite good - the local dishes, for which it is very easy to get vegetarian options, are quite tasty but could do with some spices. I enjoyed Lagman (hand-made noodles with meat or vegetables), Tandoori Lamb (in a lovely local non-touristy restaurant in Bukhara), Shvitoshi (noodles with dil) and the ever popular ‘plov’ (pulao, duh).
However the best places to hang out are the ‘choikhanas’ (tea-houses) where the locals hang out to gossip. The atmosphere is very casual and friendly – people lounge around on the ‘day-beds’ and share the local news. Like everywhere else, lots of people would come to me and ask me where I was from and then they would rattle off the names of the Bollywood stars and Indian cities they knew. I found the people to be extremely friendly – in lots of countries locals chat up with tourists to sell them something or get money off them. But not in Uzbekistan – so many people came up to me to have a wee talk just because they were curious and wanted to know more about where I was from .
After Samarkand, I spent a relaxed few days in Tashkent. I was more and more impressed by the city – neat clean wide leafy avenues with smart and extremely trendily dressed people. Did I mention that the women are ridiculously beautiful? I’ve never seen so many pretty girls per capita. One moment you’ll see an oriental looking girl, next moment it will be a blue-eyed Russian blonde, next you’ll see a very European looking girl. All of them ridiculously pretty.
As one of my friends put it, the tag line for Uzbekistan Tourism should be ‘Surprising Uzbekistan’ – by each passing moment you tend to be more and more pleasantly surprised by the country. A definite thumbs-up.
Last note – While leaving Uzbekistan each tourist has to account for every night in Uzbekistan. For this each hotel gives you a wee slip that ‘certifies’ your stay there. Since I’ve been here for a total of 14 days, I’m having a tough time keeping all these slips (some of them are post-its with the hotels stamp on it). Hopefully they’ll let me out! You’ll find out soon enough.
