The Travelling Teacher: Uzbekistan – An oasis in the Kyzylkum Desert

July 16

Hello everyone!

One of Uzbekistan’s main lures is the beauty of its Silk Road cities, with majestic architecture reflecting their regional importance throughout the ages. In spite of them being a joy to behold, it can get a bit tiring and repetitive seeing so many madrassas, mosques and minarets. Personally, I begin to lose the appreciation for the craftsmanship and beauty when seeing very similar structures day after day.

Aydarkul Lake

A yurt camp in the Kyzylkum Desert

Luckily, this charming country is more than minarets. Our truck took a detour on the way to Samarkand from Bukhara to see a different side of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan is one of two double-landlocked
countries in the world - Liechtenstein is the other

We had a lovely sunset in the desert

This involved leaving a road of middling quality and negotiating a lovely mountain pass as we drove north to the sleepy town of Nurata.

The highest point of this pass is 2169m

The mosque and fortress in Nurata

Nurata was founded by a familiar name: Alexander the Great. When he arrived in 327 BC, the land of Nurata was flat. Deciding it was an important strategic spot, Alexander left an army here while carrying on his journey. Whilst away, these soldiers – out of fear or love for their leader – built a hill by hand and placed a fortress on top of it. It’s a very early example of human landscaping and offers some striking views of the featureless steppe to the north.

Alexander was on his way to India

The mountains rise to the east and south of the mud fortress

The small town is also a pilgrimage sight for Muslims wishing to pay their respects to Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of their prophet who visited the area.

The traditional Kufi writing on the religious building

There are mosques, a bath house and a mausoleum in the complex

Next to the mosque is a small waterway which houses many fish (we couldn’t decide whether they were trout or carp). The fish are seen as holy, probably because it seems to be a miracle that they can survive in this climate.

The area is also called 'Chashma', which means 'holy spring'

Many come to see the fish

We carried on north from Nurata through the Kyzylkum Desert, a seemingly sparse wasteland which covers much of the northern central section of this oddly-shaped state.

It's the 16th largest desert in the world

A much-needed oasis appears closer to the Kazakh border in the form of Lake Aydarkul, a horizontal streak of blue across the desert. After spending most of a day sweating on a bus in 40°C heat, the opportunity to swim in it was far too enticing an opportunity to turn down.

It covers an area of 4,000 sq km

The temperature of the water was about 30'C - still refreshing!

The lake is not a natural phenomenon. Like the Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan, it is a by-product of Soviet industry, in this case diverting a river to the north to help cotton production.

Uzbekistan's main industry in the Soviet era was cotton, a particularly thirsty crop

Enjoying a dip in Aydarkul Lake

This area has been earmarked by the country as the place to develop ecotourism. Near the lake are a few yurt camps where people can stay and enjoy some regional traditions.

There were 11 yurts in the camp

Not everything was traditional - I doubt they had hot
showers and power sockets in the olden days

Those traditions included listening to a Kazakh man serenade us on his dombra, a two-stringed Kazakh instrument which many of my students learnt when I was teaching in Astana. This happened around a fire, which was useful for light but a bit uncomfortable when factoring in the air temperature.

Our entertainment venue

I was tempted to sleep under the stunning display of stars but had been put off by a combination of creepy-crawlies and laziness meant that my bed stayed where it was. The result was sleeping in a yurt which seemed to have a secondary function as a sauna, making me feel very dehydrated the following morning.

This beetle landed in some vodka and was worse for wear

Tracks were visible in the sand in the morning

This detour in the central region was a nice way of breaking up our own venture across the Silk Road. It has recharged my appetite to stroll through the cities with such historical heritage. Next we’re going to the most famous of them all: Samarkand.