Ubiquitously Uzbekistan – Syyod, Day One at the Nuratau Mountains

Early in the morning we bid farewell to Samarkand. We would be heading to the Nuratau Mountains for a significant change of scenery from the ancient sites of Uzbekistan, and stepping into a wonderful embrace of its wilderness instead.

A driver from the Syyod Camp came to pick us up. We arrived at the Syyod Camp at around noon or so. The plan of the day was to simply do a three-hour pre-hike at the Nuratau Mountains. Then the next day we would be climbing 700 meters onto the peak at the ranges of Nuratau Mountains. This would take us 7 hours.

We joined this hiking tour with Responsible Travel and overall the experience was fantastic. We settled down in our yurt. It was clean and spacious. In fact, all the facilities, including bathroom, shower, cafeteria and everything at the camp were clean and spacious.

With excitement, we headed over to the cafeteria and had a wonderful lunch prepared by the staff there. Throughout this two-day stay, we found the food to be very pleasant. There was a nice focus on veggies but the meats were all very good too.

But the most significant learning at the Syyod Camp would come from our English-speaking Guide, Mr. S. He would be sharing a lot of his thoughts about Uzbekistan and the world with us. It was a rare chance to have a long conversation with a native about the country.

Our Good Lunch

There was a platter of goodies at the table. Here is a snapshot of the food that we were served at the Syyod Camp throughout these two days.

The Hike

On this day we would be doing a short, three-hour pre-hike to the viewpoint of the Nuratau Mountains. At this viewpoint, we would see wonderful aerial views of the desert, the flatlands, and the mountains. The intention is for us to consider which hiking option we would do for the next day. For the most comprehensive climb of the mountain would entail quite a bit of physical exercise.

We headed on over to the back of the camp and started ascending. After an hour an a half, we arrived at the viewpoint.

There were indeed exceptional views there. The deserts of Uzbekistan is a little unusual in that there is quite a bit of vegetation at the desert. From a high point of view, there is almost no distinction between a desert and a grassland.

We saw herds of animals grazing on the mountain’s slopes.

A World Connected by Language Learning

On the day that we visited the camp, the wifi there was down. But when we went up to the mountains, we could access the mobile data on our phones. My friend and I quickly launched our Duolingo app to do our language lessons for the day. Mr. S saw and heard the Duolingo sounds and said he was also on Duolingo. So we each added him and we all played Duolingo at the viewing point. I was learning Dutch, my friend was learning Spanish, and Mr. S was learning French.

The Mysterious Pervasiveness of White Cars in Uzbekistan

When we came to this area, we noticed that 95% of the car were in white color. They also came in the invariable brand of Chevrolet. We asked Mr. S why.

He said that the people like to have white cars because it gets extremely hot. The white color also reduces the need to wash the car because it gets very dusty in the summers. Finally, the brand Chevrolet is owned by the government. If they change brands, there is a US $8,000 surcharge for a different model. Since we were on the subject of cars, he told us that there is an extremely harsh penalty for drunk driving. The fine is US $1,500, jail time plus a 2-year suspension of the driving license.

The Syyod Camp was excellent throughout our stay there. However, be sure to ask for enough blankets because the night gets very cold even in April. It was so cold for us that we could not sleep well. We did ask for additional blankets for the next evening.

After dinner, the groups of visitors set up a bonfire to chat and had vodka. In our first day at the camp, we met a French couple who live in Hong Kong. We knew we had a friend when they said “do we hear Cantonese here?”

I opted to stay in my yurt and did not join the bonfire. It was a long day for me.

I was also quite concerned that the full mountainous hike next day would become too strenuous for me.