The Tashkent Metro System

Ugggghh... how is it September already?! And single digit temperatures? Frick. With no international travel upcoming in the forseeable future, here's a look back at our last trip (a year ago!) in which we spent a day in Tashkent, Uzbekistan touring their underground Metro stations. I wouldn't fault you for thinking that USSR era Metro stops would be about as interesting as a North Korean paperclip factory, but hear me out. Built during the 1970's, these stations were suprisingly ornate and extravagant, some even bordering on outlandish, compared to the typical austere architectural style of Soviet realism. A token to ride the Metro cost 1400 Uzbek Som, or the equivalent of $0.18 Cdn. And because there was no time limit to your usage of the system so long as you did not exit a station, we spent less than $1.00 Cdn that day to see numerous architectural curiousities that more resembled museum lobbies than Metro platforms. I hope these photos do something to sate your wanderlust.

Not actually taken inside a metro station... these next couple pics were just interesting interior domes inside a mosque we saw on this same day.






Now back to the Metro stations.












As I've already mentioned, 1400 Som was the equivalent of 18 cents Cdn. So this is what walking around with a couple hundred bucks (Cdn equivalent) in a largely cash transaction based society looked like.

The Apocalypse and the Aral Sea

Since we're all cooped up trying to stave off the end of the world, why don't I show you a more Mad Max version of a post apocalyptic landscape I experienced recently. Perhaps by comparison, our temporary situation may feel a little less doom and gloomy.

While in Central Asia, we went to visit to the former Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest lake, located between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Due to decades of environmental mismanagement, it has shrunk to 10% of its original size of 50 years ago, resulting in a completely avoidable man made disaster that will serve as a case study for generations to come. The devastation happened largely due to over use of water for irrigation of cotton fields for the former Soviet Union. Cotton is an incredibly water intensive crop, and with the rise of fast fashion, it is ever more in demand. But I digress.

We drove for hundreds of kilometres through an arid Uzbekistan landscape with views of nothing but desolate scrub, tumble weeds, and cotton fields, before finally arriving at an endless desert expanse which was once the sea floor. Now rather than a body of water with thriving fishing communities along its shores, the only things left to see were a little museum describing the former region, and a small graveyard of rusted out fishing vessels long since beached on the dried up seabed, to serve as a reminder of what was lost. While the boats were in a picturesque state of decay, it was also a shocking sight to behold, and a reminder of our impact on this planet.

The Republic of 'Turgistan'

So a few weeks back, Netflix released a Michael Bay film starring Ryan Reynolds called 6 Underground. It was complete garbage, but we were watching it with Jas, who had spent time with us in Tajikistan. The funniest part for us was when the movie plot landed on an attempt to overthrow the dictator of Turgistan. Jas and I looked at each other immediately, and we simultaneously said "Thaaaaat's not a real Stan."

So here, enjoy some photos from an actual Stan instead. Anita and I spent a short time wandering around Skazka Canyon (aka Fairytale Canyon) in Kyrgyzstan while en route to a yurt camp. The landscape was this interesting mix of badlands you'd see in Alberta, and red rock features like those down in a few Western US states. Definitely worth a stopover if you ever find yourself in Central Asia, overthrowing governments or whatever. :)