May Chang 8/12/23 May Chang 8/12/23

A very quick introduction to Uzbekistan

“If somebody wants to understand who the Uzbeks are, if somebody wants to comprehend all the power, might, justice and unlimited abilities of the Uzbek people, their contribution to the global development, their belief in future, he should recall the image of Amir Temur.”

— Islam Karimov, First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

The above quote greeted me upon entering the State Museum of Temurid History. I had held off visiting any museums during my week in Tashkent, needing the opportunity to have some downtime and knowing that I’d be back in September, but the one museum I wanted to visit was the State Museum of Temurid History, also known as the Amir Temur museum.

I had first heard of Amir Temur when visiting the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkestan, as Amir Temur was the visionary behind the mausoleum. Amir Temur is of Turkish and Mongol descent and was born in Transoxiana, which is now modern-day Uzbekistan, in the 1320s. He was a famous leader who founded the Temurid (also spelled as Timurid) empire in the 14th century. Depending on who you talked to and what sources you referenced, he was either a beloved, powerful ruler or a ruthless despot. I’d read that he was most well-respected in Uzbekistan, so I knew that I’d be able to learn more about Amir Temur’s story there and his influence on the culture and history of Uzbekistan.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of my visit to the museum as I went there right after visiting the US embassy, where I wasn’t allowed to bring my phone or any type of electronic device (I felt very proud of myself for navigating my way to the museum without a phone!). But I do have notes I jotted down in my journal that I’d like to share with you - some brief observations and reflections as I wandered around the small but impressive museum. It’ll be as if you’re in my head while my thoughts are coming in real time.

Wow. The central hall of the museum is absolutely *stunning.* I wish I had my phone to capture the beauty of the museum’s interior, but alas no phone. So here’s a photo off the internet.
Source: Central-Asia.Guide

MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS

This is less of a history museum with thousands of artifacts and relics but more of a brief glimpse into the Temurid history. It was the perfect appetizer of an introduction to Uzbek history.
On display is a letter (the real thing!) from Amir Temur to King Charles VI of France from 1402. These two rulers connected?! Why was this never mentioned in history class? I’d never heard of Temur before coming to Central Asia, yet he was in correspondence with European rulers, who we did learn about.
One gallery contains portraits of various Temurid princes, descendants of the great Amir Temur, and details their quick biographies. Amir Temur was definitely prolific in his offspring - one exhibit shows his vast and complex family tree that includes well-known historical figures such as Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal, and Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire. Amir Temur also claimed to be a descendent of Genghis Khan (who ruled a century earlier) and held this warlord in high regard.
It can get confusing that Temur can be spelled multiple ways in the English alphabet. I’ve seen Temur, Timir, and Timur, and Amir Temur was also known as Tamarlane.
This museum has been my favorite out of the museums I’ve visited in Central Asia, although most of them were in Kazakhstan. I wonder if this is because it seems like Uzbekistan has had more investments in their tourism infrastructure.
There was a New York City proclamation on display signed by Rudy Giuliani during his time as mayor of New York City. It celebrates the 9th anniversary of the Republic of Uzbekistan (it only became an independent state in 1991!).
It’s funny that portraits of Amir Temur painted by European artists portray him as very European-looking with Caucasian features, which contrasts sharply with the portraits of him painted by Central Asian artists where you see him with more Asian and Arabic features.
Architecture and art from the Temurid period deeply influenced architecture in India, as evidenced by the design of the Taj Mahal and other buildings built in India around that time.
Learned about Mirzo Ulughbek (also spelled Ulugh Beg), a famous astronomer and grandson of Amir Temur. He’s recognized as one of the most important astronomers and scholars of the 15th century (again, did not learn about him in school!). He built the Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand in the 1420s, and the observatory is considered to be one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world at the time. While he was a great astronomer, he was a poor ruler and ended up being overthrown and assassinated.
After leaving the museum, I felt excited to learn more about Uzbek history and visit more museums when I’m back in Uzbekistan in September. There’s a richness to the history here, a sense of strong Uzbek identity and pride, that feels different to the museums I visited in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - I wonder if that’s because Uzbekistan has less of a leftover legacy from the Soviet Era.

Exterior of the State Museum of Temurid History.
Source: Wikipedia, RyansWorld - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21988099

May Chang 8/11/23 May Chang 8/11/23

A brief stop on US soil

Long story short, while I was traveling in Africa I realized that I needed to renew my passport. At that time internet access was limited, so I asked for my mom’s assistance in researching which US embassies would be the most convenient to renewing my passport. A huge shoutout to her for her tireless research and support (although I have a feeling she also enjoyed doing something unrelated to work 😂).

After reviewing and narrowing down options, I chose to renew my passport at the US embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It wouldn’t be too inconvenient with my travel plans but most importantly, I’d have the option to pick up my new passport at the embassy in person. According to the embassy’s website, mail in Uzbekistan is unreliable so they don’t trust mailing your new passport to you. Fine by me! Additionally while the embassy processed my new passport, they’d let me keep my current one so that I could travel internationally - bonus points! The embassy also had a surprisingly high rating on Google Maps (4.3 with over 200 reviews - rare for a government operations?). This was validated by my email communication with them - the American Citizen Services, the embassy department managing passports, was very responsive and incredibly helpful.

The day before my embassy appointment, I practiced traveling from my hostel to the embassy which took a little over an hour by metro. Why would I do this? Well because the US embassy doesn’t allow for any electronics, and that includes phones, laptops, USBs - you name it. My appointment confirmation even said that if I showed up to the embassy with any electronic devices, I’d be turned away and asked to make a new appointment, and I definitely did not want that!

My very handy map, including embassy information just in case I needed to approach a stranger for help.

It was such an interesting - and new! - experience navigating the city without my phone. I had a SIM card while traveling in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan so it was pretty easy to quickly open Google Maps and figure out my route. Or when traveling in countries where I didn’t have a data plan, I’d reference my offline Google Maps (highly recommended travel tip!) to make my way around a foreign city.

I wrote down instructions of which metro to take, how many stops to stay on, and how to change metro lines. I drew a map of how to walk from the metro station to the embassy (a 30 min walk) and identified what viewpoints would be nearby to use as markers during my mark. With the help of Google Maps street view, I was able to see what the viewpoints would look like so it would be easy to identify my location and direction once I was there.

I was a bit familiar with the route given I had practiced the day before and had been going on morning runs to familiarize myself with the city, so on the day of my appointment I semi-confidently embarked on my phone-less adventure.

However, I didn’t realize all the ways I rely on my phone and realized this by noticing that I kept on unconsciously reaching for it. I wanted to check the number of steps I ran that morning, write down a passing thought so I wouldn’t forget it, check and confirm I was walking in the right direction. It was an opportunity for me to practice being truly present. And it was hard at first, but I began to be more and more aware of my surroundings, observing more things and being more aware of what was going on around me. I felt like I could truly be here. I didn’t realize how much my phone ends up being a distraction rather than a tool, especially when I spent the rest of the day without my phone wandering around the city and visiting a museum. It was eye-opening for me - I had prided myself on being the type of person who could be away from her phone and not bothered, but traveling in foreign places has made me more reliant on my phone than I’d like and it’s become a distraction for when I’m bored or lonely. I came away from this experience grateful for this experience and not as annoyed at the embassy for forbidding me my phone.

I’m trying to think of how to describe the experience of walking onto the grounds of the US embassy (the first US embassy I’ve ever been to) as it became a bit of an emotional experience, which was entirely unexpected! It was a moment I wanted to capture and share in this journal.

In a way, arriving at the US embassy felt like coming home. I felt emotional knowing that I was technically on US soil and that this was as close as I’d get to US for a while. The embassy also felt familiar in some ways: the security guards were dressed in military outfits similar to what you’d see on security personnel back home rather than the uniforms of the local Uzbek police; the layout of the embassy reminded me of something I’d see in D.C.; and American flags were subtly on display everywhere within the embassy.

I also felt a sense of relief. It’s sounds strange but the moment I stepped foot on embassy grounds, I felt secure - I was a US citizen on US soil protected by the US embassy. I felt like I didn’t need to be on constant alert here and could finally relax my guard. Whenever I travel, a part of my mind is always on alert and dedicated to scanning my surroundings and assessing whether or not I’m safe. It’s not to say that I’m in unsafe environments (I’ve felt pretty safe while traveling in Central Asia), but I didn’t realize how much of my brain has been dedicated to keeping me safe, so it felt so nice to feel like I could just relax and let go. Granted I’m aware that I do have certain levels of privilege in being able to feel relaxed in this environment and not everyone would have a similar reaction.

The appointment itself was easy and straightforward. I was greeted with smiles and familiar American accents while a BBC TV travel program played softly in the background. I submitted my paperwork surrounded by posters of America’s famous national parks and photos of famous Olympians before making my way back through the security gates and into the busy streets of Tashkent, feeling grateful that I’d had a brief stop on US soil.

Not Tashkent.

A photo from D.C. (you can see the Washington Monument in the distance) that came to mind that seemed fitting for this post.

May Chang 8/10/23 May Chang 8/10/23

First impressions from Tashkent: a bakery lover’s paradise!

I spent about a week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and the main focus was chilling, which was much needed after spending most of the previous four weeks constantly on-the-go and, most recently, experiencing a bout of food poisoning that put me out of commission for several days.

There are not many photos from my time in Tashkent except of beautiful crafted pastries and baked goods. But, I’ll be back in September!

My first impression of Tashkent is that it is a bakery lover’s paradise! There are many Western-style bakeries and patisseries here in Tashkent and if you know me well, you’ll know that this makes me very happy. It had been a month of being dessert-free due to a combination of not having access and or cravings, but it just so happened that I was experiencing anovulation* and had a strong craving for sweets while in Tashkent. Lucky for me, there’s a plethora of bakeries here, so I happily spent my time exploring while catching up on this blog.

* anovulation = all the hormones and symptoms of a period but without the actual bleeding - yay! Shame that they don’t teach this in health education classes or at the doctors and that it takes Google to figure this out, but that’s a whole other conversation.

Anyways other than being delighted by all the bakeries, here’s a lightning round of first impressions from Tashkent with photos of baked goods sprinkled in.

An example of the beautiful architecture in Tashkent. The city contains a mix of neoclassical architecture (what comes to mind when you think of Paris, although I’m aware it’s not exactly the same thing) and Soviet brutalist architecture (the very minimalist, cubist, and sometimes ugly massive, monolithic buildings).

It’s hard to count and manage cash here! 1 USD = ~12,000 Uzbek som. So you can imagine that even having 20 USD means a whole wad of cash - thats almost 250,000 Uzbek som. Banknotes range from 1000 som to 100,000 som and it is very easy to mix up that 10,000 and 100,000 som. I always have to do a second glance to make sure I’m giving out the right amount of cash - all those zeros!
Tashkent is the most Westernized city I’ve visited in Central Asia, even more so than Almaty. It has a strong European feel, which I think this is due to how the city is laid out. Tashkent reminds of Paris in some ways thanks to the large roundabouts that circle museums and monuments designed in a neoclassical style. Part of it is also due to the number of cafes that dot the sidewalks with their outdoor seating spaces. Of course this could also be entirely due to the fact that my hostel was in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in Tashkent.

There seems to be a prominent East Asian presence in Tashkent which is quite exciting! This means being able to find seaweed sheets and familiar ingredients at small Korean and Chinese mom-and-pop shops. This also means lots of K-beauty stores aka my happy place. It’s been fun browsing through brands I’ve read about but were hard to access back in the US. What I love is that many of the most effective K-beauty brands are quite affordable and better priced than the brands back home.
Horse meat isn’t as prevalent here as compared to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. I haven’t really seen it on the menus or in grocery stores here in Tashkent, although that could be due to being in the most Western city in Uzbekistan (though to be fair, Kazakhstan’s Almaty did have horse meat featured on most menus). I wonder if this is because Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s nomadic history have a stronger influence on the cuisine than in Uzbekistan.

Excited at how easy it was to find seaweed and soy sauce at the Korean grocery store. I also came across several Chinese grocery shops that featured uniquely Chinese snacks and ingredients, such as beef noodle soup paste and Chinese noodles. Of course, 老幹媽 was also present!

At Breadly Cafe, moments before I got to hold one of the cutest babies ever

Uzbekistan seems to be a wealthier country and have a better infrastructure than Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The moment my bus crossed the border from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, I experienced a smoother ride and cleaner, wider roads.
I’ve encountered more expats in Tashkent than in Almaty, and there’s a nice familiarity in meeting fellow Americans and hearing about their lives living in Tashkent. A fond memory is meeting some American expats at a cafe. I got to hold and embrace a baby (grateful and honored that Clarissa trusted a complete stranger with her one-year old son!) and talk to him in Chinese (his grandparents are from Taiwan) which was honestly maybe the highlight of that week. I miss seeing, hugging, and playing with my friends and family’s little ones.

Rating: 4/5. Great flakiness but too much filling

An imitation of NYC Lafayette Bakery’s internet-famous Supreme Croissant. These have been popping up a lot all over the world and appropriately labeled “NYC Croissant” I’m guessing to avoid any trademark infringement

Rating: 2/5. Disappointing as their other cakes were quite good.

A tiny hazelnut-filled chocolate tart from Cake Lab.

Rating: 5/5. SCRUMPTIOUS
Cheesecake from Breadly. Love that the crust isn’t just on the bottom, but also on the side.

I’ll be back in Tashkent in mid-September to spend a bit more time in Uzbekistan and exploring famous Samarkand and Bukhara. The latest updates are:

I’m headed to Georgia (the country, not the US state) from mid-August to mid-September! Georgia wasn’t originally in the plan but I’ve been feeling a tug towards Georgia for the past several weeks, a feeling in my gut that’s directing me there, so I ended up booking tickets to spend a month there
I’m getting a new passport! My primary reason for spending time in Tashkent before flying to Georgia was to renew my passport. I wrote about my experience here.
I’ve booked my tickets for Nepal! I’ll be spending some time hiking there later this year, so I’m grateful that I’ll be breaking up the periods of hiking with some time in Georgia (hello wine!).