Trip to Tashkent, Uzbekistan (September 2025)

After the BAM Field Trip was over, I went back to Almaty from Bishkek by land: one hour by taxi to the border, and another 3.5 hours by taxi after the border crossing. At the Almaty Airport, I took Air Astana to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, my 106th country to visit. I arrived late in the evening and called a Yandex Go taxi to the hotel. As expected, the taxi fare was very inexpensive. 

Uzbekistan is one of the five "stan" nations in Central Asia, which used to be part of the Soviet Union. It is known for its mosques, mausoleums, and other sites linked to the Silk Road, such as Samarkand. Uzbekistan has a population of 36 million and a land size of 447,000 square meters, approximately 4.5 times the size of South Korea. Uzbekistan is at the center of Central Asia with Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the east, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the west. 

The following morning, I met with a couple of Uzbek businessmen whom John Park of Delhi introduced to me. They were Nosir and Safar, and they were cousins. Safar spoke English and translated our conversation to and from Nosir. They were. in the healthcare equipment business. After a short introductory meeting at a coffee shop, they took me to a memorial park to walk around. It was well-groomed. 

After a little while, we walked over to the TV Tower. There was a restaurant in the middle of the tower, which circled around. You could see the city 360 degrees while dining.

The food they ordered was delicious. I had Mastava soup, which was excellent. Nosir explained about the Uzbek trio food: Samsa, Osh, and Shashlik. 

In the afternoon, I met with Mitchel from the U.S. and Wouter from the Netherlands. They were running an orchard. Mitchel told me that they were not successful with the apple orchard, and they are now trying to switch to a different fruit. We agreed to make a formal visit to their orchard next year.

The following day, I met with JJ or Jamshid, with whom I had a Zoom call, while I was in the U.S. He signed up to be a Kingdom Fellow on the SfK website. He studied business in Korea and theology in the U.S. He was working for a digital investment company, but he was going to join the Voices of Martyrs. I congratulated him on the move. The next job should be a lot more redemptive than the current one.

Later, we met with several members of JJ's church, including pastor Zohid. Zohid was operating a Korean language institute. Other brothers were engaged in microfinance, house repair, and an NGO ministry. The place we ate specialized in Osh or flavourful rice pilaf. We ate Osh along with some beef.  Both were delicious! 

In the afternoon, I met with Nulifar and her husband Khairos. I was introduced to Nulifar by Almaz of Bishkek. They were running a guesthouse (Family Village Guesthouse) and also a travel agency. We had a very good discussion. Their faith journey was moving. I was thinking of using their service next year when we come.

Late afternoon, I walked around the vicinity of the hotel, exploring a few places. I could not resist having a soft ice cream by a man-made lake. 

On Sunday, I found the only Korean church in Tashkent: Tashkent Korean Church. I called a Yandex Go taxi to get there. There were two worship services. It was a blessing to worship in Korean in a totally unknown country. The church seemed quite sizable. Over lunch, I met an elder, Sunghee Lee, who came to Uzbekistan some 30 years ago. We exchanged our contact information, and I will follow up to talk to him later. 

Sunghee Lee

I asked to see Jamshid and Johon because Johon was engaged in the microfinance business. He seems to be active in business, and I learned a glimpse of how the microfinance was run. The interest rate charged was quite high, around 25%. Yikes!

The following day, I was scheduled to leave Tashkent for Almaty and to continue the journey to Incheon, Korea. I learned about a massive Korean shopping district called Seoul Mun and a Seoul National Park, and I could not resist a visit. I called a Yandex Go taxi and explored both places early in the morning. Seoul Mun was a huge-scale development project on both sides of a refurbished canal. I guessed that several Korean businesses cooperated with the Uzbekistan developer based on the close economic, political, and cultural relationships between the two nations.   

The Seoul National Park was established as a gift from Korea to commemorate the sister-city relationship between Seoul and Tashkent. It was closed and I did not have time to explore. Next time.

 Although I stayed for 4 nights in Tashkent, several meetings and Sunday worship took away most of the time. Overall, I found Tashkent a very well-groomed city. The streets were straight and wide. The traffic was flowing in an orderly manner. They even have two subway lines. It was an interesting experience. - Jeffrey