A Silk Road Adventure

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the Silk Road, or at least by what I imagine the Silk Road to have been. I pictured an endless caravan, a line of camels bearing a heavy load of rich silks and fragrant spices, plodding over desert sands, somewhere remote, somewhere barren, obviously somewhere between China in the far, far East and some bustling port on the shores of the Mediterranean – somewhere, but where, exactly, was always a little hazy in my mind. I lived with my fantasies about the Silk Road for many years, always dreaming that someday I would actually travel along that legendary route. And that someday finally arrived in the month of September in the year 2024. 

I invite you to travel with me as I set out on my Silk Road adventure of a lifetime, courtesy of Overseas Adventure Travel. Before the two week trip began, I did my usual research, reading and viewing as much as I could to prepare for the experience. First of all, I consulted a map to pinpoint exactly where I’d be going since the Silk Road stretches for 6000 miles. On this particular trip, I’d be visiting Central Asia, specifically the modern country of Uzbekistan (in green on the map above), where the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, major stops along the Silk Road, are located. Back in the time of the Silk Road, this area was part of a region known as Transoxiana (a name meaning across the Oxus River). 

I also listened a Great Courses series of 36 lectures on the history of the Eurasian steppes, which focused on the interaction between nomadic barbarian tribes and the civilizations in settled areas over a period of several thousand years. By the time I listened to the final lecture, I was definitely suffering from information overload with the names of multiple tribes (including Scythians, Huns, Sarmatians, Khazars, Seljuks, Magyars, Mongols, Ottomans), empires (including Han, Parthian, Achaemenid, Roman, Tang, Sassanian, Byzantine, Islamic) and conquerors (including Attila, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Babur) swirling around in my head. But at least I felt ready to embark on my journey.

 

It took two long flights, Washington DC to Istanbul and Istanbul to Tashkent, to reach Uzbekistan. My first impression, when I stepped out into the terminal of the Tashkent airport at 3am, was mild confusion. Naturally, I expected to see signs in the Uzbek language. And since this was an international airport, I also expected that signs would be in English as well. Instead, everywhere I looked, the signs were in Russian.  Somehow I managed to communicate with a taxi driver and made it to my hotel, the Korean owned Lotte Tashkent Palace Hotel, arriving around 4am. 

 

After a few hours of sleep in my hotel room, I was eager to get out and explore Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. But first, I needed breakfast. The buffet featured a wide variety of Uzbek, Russian, and Korean items. I skipped the kimchi and filled my plate with cured salmon, cucumbers and tomatoes, a fried egg, a fuzz-less peach (so sweet and juicy), a slice of watermelon, pumpernickel bread, and a pumpkin-filled pastry called samsa. To round out the meal, I ladled homemade yogurt into a bowl and drizzled it with fragrant honey. I washed it all down with green tea. 

Pumpkin samsa

Next on the agenda was exchanging US dollars for Uzbek som at the hotel’s money exchange desk. For $100, I received 1,268,000 Uzbek som. I felt rich!  

At last I was ready to step outside. The sky was clear blue and the mid-morning temperature was already in the upper 70s. My destination was the Uzbekistan State Museum of Applied Art. The walk from the hotel to the museum took less than half an hour. Courteous drivers, traffic lights, crosswalks, pedestrian signals, and even an underground passageway made the walk quite pleasant. 

 

Admission to the small museum was only about two dollars. There were some examples of wood carving but the majority of the exhibits focused on textiles. I admired the carpets, the suzani embroidery, the block printed fabric, and the distinctively patterned khan-atlas woven fabric.

block printed fabric

Suzani embroidery

Khan Atlas fabric on a loom

I took a different route on the way back, strolling through a large shady park. Since it was time for lunch by then, I continued walking until I reached a pedestrian area known as Broadway Alley where many food stalls and restaurants were located.  

I chose a restaurant called Navvat, which had been recommended by my OAT trip leader, Batir. After walking 10,000 steps, I was happy to take a seat in the outdoor tented seating area decorated with traditional fabrics and carved wooden furniture.

 

 

It was hard to choose what to order from the extensive menu (in English as well as Uzbek and Russian), and I certainly ordered too much food. It’s the constant dilemma of the solo diner who wants to try it all! I started with a tomato and cucumber salad followed by kachipuri, a Georgian specialty which I’ve always wanted to try. It consists of melted cheese nestled into pillow-soft dough and it’s served with an egg on top. It was absolutely delicious but I couldn’t eat it all because I had also ordered grilled vegetables and a chicken kabob which was accompanied by rice. With bottled water, the bill came to 119,000 som (a little over $9). 

Afterwards, I returned to the hotel and took some time for reflection. I’d been in Uzbekistan less than 12 hours and I’d already covered quite a bit of territory. Tashkent bore no resemblance to my mental image of the Silk Road. Although it has a long history (dating back around 2000 years), today’s Tashkent is clearly a modern city with an unmistakable Russian presence. 

I later learned that Tashkent is a city of three million inhabitants, making it the most populous city in central Asia. In fact, it was the fourth largest city in the former Soviet Union, after Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev. 

 

The majority of the people I saw on the streets were wearing western clothing although some women wore long dresses and head scarves. Even though there was a lot of traffic, it didn’t seem chaotic. And I thought it was interesting that the majority of cars were nearly identical small white Chevrolets. 

 

A few hours of rest revived me and I decided to venture out again in search of dinner. The weather was perfect for al fresco dining so I headed across the street to the large park where I’d noticed a few restaurants with outdoor tables. I chose a casual looking place called Fish and Bread.  Despite having an English name, the restaurant didn’t have an English language menu. (It also didn’t have fish.) I had to make due with a Russian menu. Fortunately, it had pictures of the food items. The eggplant salad, chicken kebabs, and rice were delicious. I could hardly believe that I paid less than $10 for the meal, including tip. 

 

By the time I finished a cone of vanilla gelato (20,000 som or $1.50), the sun had set. When I walked back through the well-lit park to the hotel, I saw couples and families out enjoying the beautiful evening. Children were riding toy cars and young people were playing ping pong at outdoor tables. 

The next morning, I had a couple of hours to continue my solo explorations before our OAT tour officially got underway. I decided to use the free time to explore Tashkent’s metro system, which was built during the Soviet era. I walked about 10 minutes to Independence Square, purchased my ticket (2000 som, approximately 15 cents), and joined the throngs of rush hour commuters. I traveled along two different metro lines, stopping at some of the beautifully decorated stations. Even the floors were mosaic. I was pleasantly surprised that every time I entered a car, no matter how crowded it was, someone (usually a man) offered me a seat. 

mosaic floor in the metro

 

It was late morning when I exited the Alisher Navoiy station and walked through the large shady park back to the hotel. It was finally time to meet my fellow travelers on the Silk Road.