A Soviet Cemetery In Tashkent

Uzbekistan was governed by the Soviet Communist Party from about 1925 until its independence in 1991. Generations of ethnic Russians came to the country for work, to be in government, for education, and to rule over the populace. Death, inevitable. Where to bury your family?

Not back in Soviet Russia. Time to establish a red star cemetery in your neighborhood. In Tashkent, there's a nice Soviet graveyard, just across the road from a Christian and a Jewish cemetery. Kind of like auto malls for burials.

Gravestones, big on the etched portraits.

Someone is still getting piles of flowers. No doubt on allegiance on some of the grave markers.

A nice feature at many of the graves is a picnic table set. Come and spend some time with food and drink with your loved ones.

Maybe a picnic table isn't enough, spruce up the place with a strong theme color and a mini garden. Maybe add a little plastic flower bling to a picture.

There's real patina to the place, plots divided by iron fences, overgrowth, cock-eyed stones. History, slowly fading away.

Resort Off-season At Lake Charvak

The main weekend getaway area from Tashkent lies a couple of hours northeast of the city at a reservoir called Lake Charvak. The area is good for summer boating and winter skiing. Fall and spring, a quiet off-season.

The empty resort.

Also some cabins, complete with modest supplies. Quiet.

Reception area. Maybe it's busy somewhere else in the world.

The bounce house, wrapped for the winter. The sports field, unused.

The pool, drained.

Off-season allows for a little grounds cleanup and ample time for the blooms to fade away.

The rooftop restaurant, a double view for anyone around.

Our First Holiday In Uzbekistan

We have only been in Uzbekistan for a few months. Here's a little tour of what we've discovered.

Hey, it's a Lada. Turns out, they're everywhere. Cool.

The Solar Furnace. Built by the Soviets. Don't ask. Comrades have gun, will hammer. Part of a WWII (The Great Patriotic War) memorial. Wait, who left potatoes in the road? Sure.

Accomplish enough in your military career and they put your face on a vase. A must have! Yes, it does snow in Tashkent. Once. Pretty.

Wherever Sarah and James travel, people want a photo with them. Oh and, in the background, that's the most famous Silk Road site, the Registan.

Wishing you health and adventures in 2022!

Happy New Year! 

С новым годом! 

Yangi yilingiz bilan!

Soli nav muborak!

Reflecting On The Mighty Physics Of The Sun Complex

About an hour east of Tashkent is a giant James Bond set. What else could a place like this one be?

Some evil villain, building a weapon to take over the universe. Not far off. Depending with whom you talk, where you look, the place is a "solar furnace," a "physics of the sun," or the "Institute of the Sun." Lost in translation.

In any language, the explanation is the same. Find a sunny spot. Create a field of mirrors. Have the mirrors bounce light to a giant, curved mirror, concentrating the sun's rays and heat. Have powerful beam strike something. See what happens. Mind your fingers. Shine and repeat, take notes, go home to dinner, do it again the next day.

The Soviets built the place in 1981, perhaps with the purpose of testing materials for military applications. See if a soldier's underwear can withstand the 3,000º Celsius blast. Today, it's used for industrial purposes. Like seeing if ladies lingerie can withstand a 3,000º Celsius blast. Maybe underwear isn't the best example.

Here's a model of the complex. Mirrors up the hill, the big reflector staring at the field. In the lobby of the office, a giant glass wreath-like bauble.

Reflecting on the reflector. The heated action takes place in the box-like structure in front of the mirror.

The rows of mirrors, heading up the hill.

Fiery demo of the power of a concave mirror with a blast of sun. A look back at the giant reflector from the mirror field.

James Bond angle of the reflector and concentrator room. Notice the charred doors, which cover the room where the beam hits.

Showing its age. Missing mirror sections and a now unused tech room behind one set of mirrors.

James Bond view of the mirror field, ripe to be the background to a "Upon reflection, now you die, Mr Bond" utterance and a fight with absurd gizmos.

The State Museum Of History Of Uzbekistan

A modest scope in the naming of Tashkent's main history museum. Anything and everything is welcome. The museum was originally called the Lenin Museum. After 1991, that narrative fell out of fashion and it was time for something a bit more local.

The building itself, built in 1970, is a triumph of Soviet modernism, all marble draped in a woven style pattern. Brutalist box meets delicate, floating lines. The screening style is based on the local design for sunscreens or "panzhara," a nice nod to the region. Tremendous.

Enter through the grand hall. Imposing. Tweak your retinas at the fabulous fabrics. Wild.

The museum does a bit of a standard run through of civilization, starting with dinosaurs and the Stone Age. "Are you hunting with me?"

A mighty mural. Uzbekistan likes to feature the age of the Silk Road as its defining era, a triumphant time filled with amazing architecture and the reign of Timur. Let the glamor begin.

The top floor is devoted to post-independence development, with a stress on economic gains. Think cases filled with electronics, gears, models of real estate projects, all looking like toys for adults.

Random Details Of Tashkent

Keep moving, keep looking.

Advertising the new housing on the old housing, pure envy marketing.

Keeping it homemade, from re-using an old door at a construction site to building a fence from scrap wood.

Night falls, the lighting on a big avenue and big apartments comes on.

Upcycle? Re-using a poster of the rotunda in Repression Park. Street light pole with bling. 

Real plant, suspect sky.

Preserving Painter Ural Tansykbayev's Home In Tashkent

A nice way to get a peek at how people lived in Ye Olde Times is to pop into a house museum. Sure, the person who lived there may be famous and you get a good dose of an accomplished biography. You also get some nice period architecture and furnishings.

Ural Tansykbayev was a painter, born 1904, died 1974. He's considered a biggie of Soviet era painters, a leader in communist modernism and a good party member. Tansykbayev was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1963.

The painter and his work.

More works and some of the objects in his studio space. Tools of his trade.

Vintage communist-era living room. Swanky.

Bedroom and a little sun room, with a collection of the Soviet version of National Geographic.

One of Tansykbayev's works around WWII, ever the patriot painter.