Uzbek three-week potpourri
After more than three weeks of driving in Uzbekistan, here are some of my great encounters and thoughts on the country.
The stars
A bit like for Kazakhstan, I will forever associate Uzbekistan as the paradise of the stars.
The absence of major cities polluting the light has a lot to do with it. The huge spaces between these cities too. I could almost have taken pictures like this every night.
The stars are countless, shining, shining. The Milky Way, long and enveloping, is visible to the naked eye.
This stone ruin was in a field by the side of the road. I stopped there with this photo in mind. And I set up my tent inside, waiting for the right moment to pose with the galaxies.
My tent, set up inside a stone ruin near the village of Guzar.
The desert and the herds
The desert is omnipresent in this region of Central Asia. And to my surprise, the herds of animals too. Everywhere I could see shepherds accompanied by their horses, sheep, cows and donkeys. And all that cattle graze I don't know what! I could not help but be sad for these animals who will never know another life than to eat small twigs of grass scattered in sand.
One of the many photogenic and friendly shepherds of Uzbekistan.
The curious
When I wake up, I see that new friends are analyzing my equipment.
People everywhere are naturally curious when they see a cyclist pass by. The Uzbeks appeared to me even more so. Literally every time I stopped during the day, I had a group of children around me.
Almost every morning, I also had young people who, more or less close to my tent, were waiting for me to get up to see who was hiding in this canvas house.
Young people are the most curious, but they are also often the ones sent to reconnoitre. It was not uncommon for several adults to come and talk to me soon after.
Like this morning when two teenagers, less than two meters from my tent, were analyzing my bike. I then had the right to visit two shepherds, one on horseback and another who practically hugged me. Obviously, all this surrounded by a herd of cows and sheep grazing on the sand.
I would even go so far as to say that these animals are as curious as their owners.
One night, I wake up feeling the ground shaking. I look outside and there is a herd of cows surrounding my tent a few yards away. They seem to have come to explore who their new neighbor is. I go back to bed. I hear a fart. It's my life these days.
The bikes
One of my very big surprises was the ubiquity of bicycles in the country. In fact, considering the quality of the frames, we would qualify them more as bikes than bikes. They all have a single speed, are rusty, noisy and without brakes. But hey, it's still faster than walking!
In all cases, young and old alike use it as a means of transport. And true to their curiosity, they ride alongside me ... for miles and miles!
ATKUDA?!?
People want to know where I'm from. That's what they all ask me as a first question. By shouting as loud as possible.
ATKUDA?! means "where are you from" in Russian. The majority of people over the age of thirty in all the former countries of the Soviet Union speak this language fairly well. And I am most often approached in Russian rather than in local languages since a foreigner is much more likely to speak Russian than Uzbek or Kazakh.
To complicate matters, "where are you going" is pronounced KUDA, almost the same thing.
Still, all day long, pedestrians, motorists and other cyclists shout ATKUDA to me ?! It is because I dream of this word!
I was also surprised to see the geographical knowledge of the Uzbeks. Almost every time I answered Canada to this question, people would think a little and suggest the capital to me: Canada ... ATAWA ?! Still impressive, do you know the capital of Uzbekistan yourself?! *
But in my opinion, the prize for the best picture is won by the two guys who passed me on a very small motorcycle. The first was driving while the second, sitting behind, held in his arms a goat that looked so much like wondering what was going on. Without even slowing down for my answer, I swear the two men and the goat shouted AKTUDA at me! with one voice.
The wedding
My "wife" Maripier and me.
Several times a day I keep getting asked if I'm married, and why not.
I obviously do not have a good answer to this question. I'm trying to say it's not abnormal in Canada but they don't seem to believe me.
Deciding to laugh a little, I admit to having sometimes lied a little (a lot). Having a photo in my phone of me with Maripier Morin, taken while recording the pilot of the show Make yourselves at home, I admit having said a few times that it was my wife.
- Are you married?
- Yes, this is my wife.
- Oh nice!
- Yes, but she doesn't really like the bike, so don't wait too long.
Gold teeth
Many, many Uzbeks have golden teeth. Sometimes even the entire dentition. On the other hand, I had the impression that they are not very proud of it, since they systematically hid them when I tried to take a picture of them. From start to finish of the country, I tried to photograph a big golden smile, but without success.
Here are some of my essays with the good people I met.
The woman on the left had a full set of gold teeth.
Safety above all, seems to say this butcher who has his stall directly in the sun!
Bread
Bread and other meals are baked inside large clay ovens.
Breads from this part of the world are baked inside large ovens shaped like a truncated cone.
A fire is made inside and the clay walls become very hot. The dough is then glued directly to the wall, inside the oven. Then, a long spatula is used to peel them off when they are ready.
On somsas, a delicious local pastry, are also cooked this way.
Coolest man in Uzbekistan
The famous magician's cobra!
Sitting outside at a fountain, I meet Nurulo, traveling magician and the smileiest man in Central Asia.
From another table, he starts talking to me and, pointing his car at me, he says cobra. I think that's the name he gives to his old racing car. It is then that he takes a snake out of its box and begins to play with it ... He has a real cobra!
He then does a few magic tricks on me during our meal. That's the beauty of travel for me, never knowing what's going to happen, even in the next five minutes.
So what?
Of course, crossing the desert of Uzbekistan in the middle of August was difficult. And to be honest, I couldn't wait to get out of the country. But the country was no exception to the fact that there are good, welcoming and generous people everywhere. I was very well received and am happy to have been there. Now, get out of it, and head for the mountains of Tajikistan!
* The capital of Uzbekistan is Tashkent. I haven't been there.
