A Day in the Chimgan Ugam-Chatkal National Park

The somsalari roadside stand, that's them on the table.

Practising safe driving skills.

The summit with the reflective restaurant.

Playing... look at John's feet.

The lovely view in the clouds.

A quick partial peek before it clouded over for good.

A striking woman.

A very tall minuret.

Want a horsey ride

The rickety old Russian build chairlift to nothing but a view.

A group of tourists posing for a photo, by someone else.

Our guide, Islam.

Friday, April 18th.

John and I took a day trip today. John did the research from home and pre-booked it for us. We were picked up by our guide, Islam a young university student, and a driver in a Chinese electric car make called Build Your Dreams. They drove us for about 90 minutes out to the Chimgan Ugam-Chatkal National Park for a day of sightseeing. The highway going there was a clear demonstration of the difference between safety regulations in Canada and here. There were little kiosks on the shoulder where drivers could stop to buy veggies and other things and then pull back directly into traffic. There were also pedestrian crosswalks. The drivers, including ours, are aggressive and pass continually. Our first stop was at one of the little stalls where Islam bought us each a ‘somsalari’ which is a baked bread containing some green vegetable that tasted like spinach. This causes the bread to puff up with steam which cooks the insides. We had that and a small cup of tea. The husband bakes it in a small pizza type oven. We continued on the highway until the turnoff to Amirsoy which is a ski resort. For a while both our guides were on their photos and watching a huge dashboard screen playing videos of Russian dance artists and passing people on blind turns or in the same lane. All the snow was gone but we took the cable car up in a very nice gondola to the top to see the view, only to be stymied by clouds. The summit is at 2290 metres, and there are a series of higher snow capped mountains behind that we could not see. However there was a very unusual restaurant there built out of reflecting material that acted as distortion mirrors. John and I had fun with that and then enjoyed a coffee. We stayed up there, where it was quite cool for about an hour before descending back to our car and guides. Then we drove part way back down the mountain to a large restaurant where we had lunch. We had cherry juice, lemon tea, a traditional bowl of soup, a tomato and cucumber salad, a lamb kabob and some horse meat and noodles. Then we drove to another area where there were people willing to take you horseback riding or for a drive on an ATV for a price, both of which we declined and instead opted for another chairlift ride up another small mountain for a view. Although there were no clouds, the view was less than spectacular. The last stop was at a large reservoir, that looks like a lake, that provides the water for the agriculture around Tashkent. Again there were people trying to sell horse and ATV rides and lots of types of snacks. This whole area is very popular with Tashkent residents and Russian tourists and it was interesting to people watch. Then we drove back. On the way back our driver drove incredibly fast, hitting over 100mph and flashing his lights continually to get people to pull out of his way. I don’t get nervous in a car often but I finally asked Islam why he was driving so fast, and he told me he asked him to get us back by 5 (I guess because at the start I asked ‘roughly what time will we be back’ and he said 5. I said I’d rather be late and alive than continue this way. At that point he slowed down a bit but still drove too quickly for the conditions and traffic. However, we made it back safely after an interesting day out of the city into the countryside. It was not the most beautiful NP I’ve ever been to, and frankly the whole place looked to be a work in progress. Everything looked like it was being built, remodeled, or demolished, and the slopes of the mountains all looked dug up and unattractive; maybe it would all look better covered in snow.

When we got back we chilled in the room for a while before going to the pool. John had a sauna and I stayed in the pool. We skipped dinner and had an early night.