We're starting to wrap up our tour here in Tashkent, with our departure date two months away. A tour always seems like it was short when we're at the end of one, with all of the things we've done and seen compressed by retrospect. This tour has seemed especially short, as it has been mostly been filled with two major events - having Elizabeth and COVID. But we've still had a wonderful tour here, and will be sad to leave when it's time. However, we've known that our time would have to come to an end at some point, so it's not an enormous wrench to leave.
We were happy to get our assignment to Tashkent, and it's mostly lived up to our expectations. It's been a good post for us and will probably be the best post we've ever been to, with its nice mix of cheap living, big housing, reasonable weather, good friends, and enough things to do to keep everyone entertained. Every post is a combination of the local conditions and also everyone's own personal family situation, and both of those things have been good for us here in Tashkent.
However, as with any place anyone ever lives, there have also been downsides. I'm not sure if I can come up with ten, so I'll stick to five, in no particular order.
1. Getting here. Traveling to Central Asia is not for the faint of heart. It's stuck right in the middle of Asia, very far from just about everything. We are literally halfway around the world from the western part of the US, so there's no way that traveling can be anything but a long, painful slog that usually lasts more than twenty-four hours for a one-way journey. There is thankfully a direct flight to Frankfurt which actually arrives in Tashkent the day after you leave the US (which beats Dushanbe by an entire day), but it doesn't fly every day, so you have to plan accordingly. After we are done with Central Asia (whenever that will be), I hope to never have to take any trip that has travel over 24 hours. Or even 12.
2. The summers. I like hot summers. I grew up in North Carolina, so I'm not scared of heat. But summers in Tashkent aren't just hot, they're HOT. The weather gets in to the hundreds in June and doesn't start to think about cooling below that until late August. Our back steps get so hot by midday in July that Elizabeth and William, with their little legs that can't move quickly, have to be carried up the stairs so they don't burn the bottoms of their feet. Thankfully we have a pool because nobody wants to go anywhere when the weather is just so hot.
3. The size. Tashkent is a big city. It was the third-largest city in the former Soviet Union, coming in after Moscow and Kiev. But unlike many FSU cities, most of Tashkent is private houses and not apartments. This means that the city sprawls and almost everything here is at least twenty minutes away. Any time I had a pedicure, hair cut, dentist appointment, visit to the embassy, trip to any medical clinic, or lunch date, it was always at least twenty minutes away. It gets tiresome to have nothing at all close to our house. Thankfully the stable, the place that I go to most often of anywhere, is only ten minutes away.
4. The restaurants. There are actually a lot of restaurants in Tashkent. There is a decent-sized middle class here and it seems that Uzbeks really enjoy going out to eat. But it also seems that Uzbeks really, really like eating Uzbek food. At least two thirds of the restaurants here are Uzbek restaurants. And while Uzbek food has some tasty dishes, it would be a stretch to call it 'varied.' If you like meat, dumplings, or plov, then Uzbek food is what you want. But if you like something else, then you're pretty much out of luck. Of the remaining restaurants in the city, half of those are burger restaurants, a quarter are sushi, and the remaining twenty-five percent are all of other cuisines. Brandon and I have gone to the same eight restaurants for three years now, and we're ready for a change.
5. The in-country travel. This has been disappointing. I was hoping for some more adventures or places that we could go for fun as a family, but we've been sorely disappointed. The three star attractions, the silk road cities, are pretty amazing, but they're really only good for a visit apiece. Once you've seen those, there's not much left. I've heard of people going to the Aral Sea, but that involves an airplane ride followed by a ten-hour car ride. There's one place we found that was in the mountains that was okay, but it wasn't great. We've never actually gone camping here, and the hiking was nothing great after all of the amazing hiking we did in Tajikistan. Sadly, I don't see our travel opportunities getting better once we get to Kazakhstan.
Now, on to the good points.
1. The prices. As a friend once pointed out, nine times anything is expensive, so it's been nice to be in a place where nine zoo tickets won't set us back two hundred dollars, much less twenty bucks. We will order dinner for the entire family and can get away with food for everyone for less than twenty-five dollars. Brandon and I go out on a date every weekend, and dinner for both of us usually runs around thirty dollars. I ride twice a week for ninety dollars a month, and we can go bowling for two hours for around thirty dollars. I'm going to miss that when we're in DC for a year.
2. The housing. We have a six thousand square-foot house with four bedrooms, four and a half baths, a garage, a pool, and a pool house, and a great yard. Being stuck here during COVID times hasn't been a real stretch, as everyone in the family can go to their own room in the house if we're really driving each other crazy. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood, so the kids will often play outside in the street, ride their bikes around, go to the neighborhood park, or buy candy at the grocery store. I always tell the kids to enjoy the house, as there's no way they'll live in a place this big when they're adults and have to pay a mortgage.
3. The community. Before COVID hit, Tashkent had a very active social community. There was a Bunco night every month, and lots of ladies were always there to enjoy each other's company. We would get together for birthdays and baby showers. In the summer, the kids would get together for pool days and city outings twice a week. It is a great community where everyone is happy to get together, but doesn't mind if you'd rather stay home. As Brandon noted once, it has enough people to be able to find good friends, but not so few that you feel pressured to go to everything.
4. The handicrafts. Oh, the handicrafts. We have bought so many things here that they will get their own blog post with pictures. We have bought more things during this tour than we have bought in our previous three tours combined. The combination of good prices and a very high standard of workmanship has made it so easy to fill our house with beautiful things. I don't regret a single one, as every time I see them I am filled with happiness. And as a bonus, I'm helping out local artisans.
5. The friends. In the end, the best part of any place that we live has been the friends that we've made at each post. Sometimes I am envious of people who get to stay in one place, make friends, and then grow old with those friends. My mother has friends who she was pregnant with who now are grandmothers. I'll never have that in my life. But I also have so many friends that I have made because I get to move every few years and start from scratch. I never would have met the amazing women that I know if I'd stayed in one place. I've made so many wonderful friends here, and already have made plans to meet up with some in the future for some fun travel.
When we pack our suitcases and head out for the airport one last time, I will be sad to be leaving Tashkent. It has been a good three years for us, and we're not likely to ever return. But we'll have quite a bit of Uzbekistan to bring with us, we'll have lots of lovely memories, and even better friends. It will have been a good three years.
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