Greetings from Uzbekistan! The weather is rather warm, and sunny, and the wide Soviet-built avenues are clean and spacious with white cars zipping around on this Sunday morning. What am I doing in Uzbekistan? This sabbatical is a time for exploration, and seeing some new places. It gives me the opportunity to spend some time with my father, and he and I have always wanted to visit the cities along the Silk Road. We are on a father/son adventure.

Tashkent is the largest city in Central Asia, and there may be up to 4.5 million people here. The Aeroflot airplane from St. Petersburg was full of happy Uzbek people who clapped and cheered when we landed late at night in Tashkent. I noticed that the Aeroflot flights had no first, or business class seats; perhaps a remnant of the socialist era. It is a nice feeling to not have to walk by the people in first class and know that you are not a second or third class passenger. In capitalistic societies, we just accept the class divides but they really don’t have to be there. They also served no alcohol, and since I don’t drink, I also appreciated that.

I do not understand a word of this language, nor Russian, but people have been very friendly and helpful. It is a meat eater’s paradise, but we found delicious dried apricots stuffed with nuts and raisins at the big Chorsu market. We ate at an Indian restaurant, and are impressed with the eagerness of people to help. It is a relatively undiscovered place for tourism, and we are benefiting from the people generous with their smiles and peaceful friendly attitudes.

Tashkent is very clean and organized. The subway is cheap, beautifully maintained and easy to navigate, with art at every station. I was imagining a crowded city that would resemble Delhi or Istanbul, but instead I am experiencing a modern metropolis with big parks and tree-lined avenues. The guide that showed us around today spoke lovely English and told us her opinions about the government. It is dictatorial, but she believes that it is necessary to have a powerful regime to hold this very diverse country together, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She would love to live in a true democracy, but right now understands and supports the present regime.

I met a group of working men at Independence Square who wanted to take photos with me, and one taxi driver asked if I was an athlete; made me feel good.  Some children also stopped me to get a photo with me.  I liked the ornate mosque and the museums filled with ornate woven and embroidered handiworks. Tomorrow I will report more from the ancient city of Khiva, and then from Bukhara and Samarkand. An amazing country.