Sirdaryo

There are so many wonders and wonderfully surprising things to notice everywhere you go. Uzbekistan was no different. Here are some of the little things we noticed:

Corn is dried simply by taking off the husks and spreading it flat on the side of the road.

There are lots of big houses. Some of them are just being built despite many looking empty and deserted. Quite a contrast really.
There are also many stretches with small houses looking exactly alike. Usually around the bigger towns and cities. Leftovers from the Soviet era? Hard to tell.

While we read and heard that Uzbekistan is touristy, people looked at us as if we were some sort of alien species in the first town we stopped at in the Fergana valley. Was it my hair? I might have to tame it a bit more as otherwise I think I was dressed appropriately (I had put on a leggings underneath my dress as I knew we were driving into Muslim dominated territory and I didn't want to stand out. Sidenote: not many women wear a headscarf in Uzbekistan after all). The amount of people greeting us from their cars and waving from the side of the streets seem to confirm our theory that tourists are still quite rare in this part of the world.
The big silk road cities (Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva), however, really were quite touristy. Especially Bukhara and Khiva where big tourist buses throw buckloads of tourist groups all at once at the historic centers. No one to blame here, the sights are super beautiful, impressive and definitely worth visiting. But life as a local must feel weird in these museum parts of town that are raided day in and day out.

Diesel and petrol are hard to come by. Most cars run on gas, which means big gas cylinders on the roof and even bigger gas stations, obviously marked by big sign posts from the main street. They're built a hundred meters or so away, I reckon not to threaten the traffic.

Everyone we talked to was fond and proud of plov, the National dish. It's basically spiced fried rice with meat, veggies, fries and raisins, cooked in large pans over the tandoor oven. Unfortunately, we only had quite a poor version of it in Khiva, but I can imagine how good it can taste!

While water- and honeymelons were in season and plentiful, the real national fruit is pomegranate. The tree is also seen as tree of life and often depicted on paintings, tiles and mosaics. And they were in season, too! Not bad for a country that mostly consists of desert.

We haven't mentioned it before but since we've entered the Stans there is another thing that stands out: many people have golden teeth. Not just a crown, sometimes as many as six teeth or more covered in shiny metal. Uzbekistan was no different in this regard.

And last but not least, the bazaars. We very often noticed a roof covered area where people were selling all sorts of groceries, but mainly fruit, veggies and dried fruit. Amazing variety, especially in the nutrient rich Fergana valley.Read more