tashkent: the messy middle child of central asia

i just checked the weather before i left and it's a steady 9.33 degrees celsius there right now, feels like 8.78. hope you like that kind of thing. i was coming from dubai where it was 35 and i thought tashkent would be a nice change, but nope, it's cold. the air is dry, humidity at 37% so no sticky feeling, but my fingers are numb from holding my coffee.

the city is perched in a valley, chirchiq river valley, between the chatkal mountains and the flat plains. elevation around 460 meters so not too high, but you can see the mountains from most points. the river canals are everywhere, feeding the cotton fields that stretch to the horizon. and speaking of cotton, that's the main cash crop and you'll see mills and gins on the outskirts. the 1966 earthquake that killed thousands and flattened the city led to a massive rebuild, and they decided to plant trees along the canals to make it green. but then in 2009 they cut down thousands of trees for a highway and replaced them with saplings. now the city is a patchwork of old soviet concrete and new greenery, and i'm not sure which part is which.

someone told me that the tashkent international airport is the busiest because after the earthquake they rerouted all the cargo trains through it. they built the airport with soviet efficiency and now it's a hub for everything from regular flights to freight. i saw a cargo train passing near the airport once, full of containers, and it looked like they were moving the entire silk road trade again. but the airport is also a pain in the ass for travelers because the security lines are longer than the customs in kiev.

if you get bored, chirchiq is a 40-minute drive north. it's smaller, sits right on the chirchiq river, and has a vibe of a provincial town. and east toward the fergana valley, andijan and namangan are two hours away. namangan is known for its muddy streets and bazaars where you can buy anything from flatbread to used car parts. andijan has a lot of green, apparently, because it's at the foot of the mountains. but honestly, tashkent is the main hub so if you want to explore the region, start here.

the history is a train wreck. founded as chach in 500 bc, became a silk road stop, then genghis khan burned it in 1219, soboros in ruins. then it was rebuilt as a trade center, then the russians took it over in 1865 and made it the capital of turkestan. the soviet era was... intense. forced deportations of people from everywhere, including koreans and poles, who built farms and settled. then the earthquake in 1966, then a rebuild that made it the soviet showcase of a modern, green city. but then the 2009 tree controversy where they cut down thousands of trees and the city council's facebook page exploded. i saw a meme of tashkent without trees and it looked exactly like a bashing soviet city. the government tried to plant new ones but it takes years.

tourist spots? they have parks. a lot of parks. tree-lined streets with fountains. the soviet planners were obsessed with green spaces. but the parks are weird because they're all lined with concrete benches and statues of soviet leaders that have been renamed but never removed. and then there's the tashkent tv tower, a 375-meter concrete obelisk with a revolving restaurant. i went up in the elevator and it was a long wait, but the view of the city was nice. and then there's the state museum of history, which is that big dome building (see image) with exhibits on sogdian and uzbek history. but half the exhibits were in a language i couldn't read, so i just stared at the pottery.

food scene? i tried plov in a restaurant near the park and it was okay. the rice was cooked in a big pot with lamb and carrots, and they served it in this flat bread that you tear off with your hands. shashlik was everywhere, grilled over charcoal, and samsa (those baked pastries) were sold in street carts. the tea was strong and sweetened with sugar cubes. but the cotton region produce means they have melons and vegetables in season, so i had a melon juice once that was amazing. and don't get me started on the bread: it's thin, crusty, and you eat it with every meal.

i also tried a street food that i don't know the name of. it was some kind of fried dough with honey, and it was warm. the vendor spoke only uzbek so i nodded and pointed. and the honey was thick, like they'd just taken it from the hive.

tashkent is called the stone city because the old name was toshkent, and the stone was used for everything. even the fountains have stone sculptures.

living here? over 3 million people, so it's crowded. but the city is divided into districts, and each has its own micro-culture. you'll hear uzbek, russian, and even some kyrgyz in the markets. the metro is clean and efficient, but the signs are in both languages and i had to use an app to navigate. the vibe is industrial: you see factories, textile mills, and then suddenly a park with a fountain. it's chaotic.

the timezone is utc+5, so no daylight saving. that means i don't have to change my watch twice a year, which is a relief. but the timezone is also shared with kazakhstan, so if you're crossing the border, you don't have to adjust. and seismic activity? they still get tremors. the 1966 quake was 7.5 magnitude and killed thousands. the city was rebuilt with reinforced concrete, but i've heard stories of people leaving during small quakes because they're paranoid.

the people are friendly but sometimes i get lost because street signs are in uzbek and russian and i can't tell them apart. they have two scripts: cyrillic and latin? wait, no, they use latin now? i'm confused. but i'm sure they're used to tourists because the city is a hub.

overall, tashkent is not a tourist trap. it's a working city that's survived a lot. the green parts are real but the concrete parts dominate. and if you're into history, it's a goldmine. if you're into modern urban decay, it's even better. and the airport is your gateway to the rest of central asia.

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