Our Final Lunch in Uzbekistan at the Afsona Restaurant

Afsona Restaurant is very popular in Tashkent and it is highly recommended on quite a few online platforms. We sat down for our final lunch in Uzbekistan and we were excited. But we made the wrong decision to order their fish as our entrée. Coming from Hong Kong, we are accustomed to fish done right and the fish at Afsona fell far below our expectations. We drooled over the things that other patrons ordered, but our soup and appetizers and everything else were all very good.

Last Impressions of Uzbekistan

It came time to leave for our flight. We had to make through much of Tashkent in rush hour traffic, as it was time for everybody to get off work. The urban streets were busy with street vendors throughout, mostly selling the essential ingredients for an Uzbek dinner. The din on the street projected a sense of raw liveliness amidst an otherwise fully cosmopolitan city.

We began our journey in Uzbekistan in Tashkent, then tracked the footsteps of the ancient silk road, westward to Samarkand, Syyod, Kyzylkum Desert, Nurota, Bukhara, the Aral Sea, and finally ending at Khiva. In these 13 days we met amazing people, had endless Uzbek gourmet and learned a great deal about the history of this wonderful country.

As always, history was the first basis upon which we understand the human and natural forces that shaped the face of Uzbekistan today. From prehistoric settlement to pockets of ruled kingdoms, from the unifying act of Amir Timur the Great to the Islam conversion, from the Khanates to the Russian invasion and ultimately being part of the USSR, Uzbekistan has always played its role as a critical player in world affairs.

The long heritage that has left its print on every aspect of post-Soviet, modern-day Uzbekistan was shown, ubiquitously, throughout our trip. Its history is celebrated, bequeathed, unto its people, cuisines, antique monuments, and the innumerable bastions of faith and minority cultures. Be it at war or in peace, being colonized or freely independent, the country has shown the resilience of humanity in embracing calamities and glories alike. It was in this unfamiliar territory that I discovered a new context for appreciating the world.

So long, Uzbekistan!

The Tash Khauli Palace of Khiva would be the last sightseeing that we did in Khiva before we hopped on the afternoon train for Tashkent. Khiva blessed us with another gorgeous day with a bright blue sky, echoing the turquoise mosaics that would become the motif of our sightseeing that day. We were nearing the end of this 13-day journey in Uzbekistan, and the last few hours of our time in Khiva must be memorable. The Tash Khauli Palace was our finale and it did not disappoint.

Meaning the “Stone House,” the Tash Khauli Palace was built in 1830-1838, by the order of the Allakuli Khan. It is said that the construction of a new palace was motivated by a shift of the heart of Khiva’s city life from the west (where the Kunya Ark is) to the east (where the Tash Khauli is).

As Allakuli Khan was known for his penchant for all things luxurious, the Tash Khauli was indeed designed and built to entertain a lavish lifestyle. Just to give an idea of what that meant, Allakuli Khan had four wives and more than 30 concubines!

A project of this scale was going to require resources. Being a demanding man of excesses, Allakuli Khan wanted the palace built in three years. The plan for the palace envisioned three courtyards and more than 160 rooms. The Tash Khauli eventually took eight years to complete, and even this was only possible with the labor of 1,000 slaves.

Architectural Features of the Tash Khauli

The tour of the Tash Khauli inspired much intrigue. The experience was varied with many turns of pleasant surprises. First of all, I found the courtyards to be incredibly charming. When I arrived, no one was there and I could enjoy quiet moments surrounded by burnt brick walls adorned with blue majolica panels. These blue and white ceramic panels were the work of famous ceramist Abdullah Djinn.

The lodges of the harem showed the turquoise blue as its theme but when you look up you will see the ceilings decorated in brown and red.

All of the lodges have a door facing the courtyard and that was the only entrance into the chamber inside.

The columned lodges show mosaic patterns in different shades of blue, fully expressing the sweeping grandeur of a glorious Khiva, an elegance enabled only by the dictates of a strongman rule. For it was during Allakuli Khan’s reign that central power was restored in Khiva, with success in foreign relations, especially in strengthening commercial ties with the Russian empire.

There are hundreds of rooms in the Tash Khauli Palace and when the structure was completed, all rooms were interconnected by a web of dim corridors, at the time only accessible by the Khan himself. However, as a tourist site now, one would have to enter the structures separately, as the entrance to the Ichrat Khaouli (reception hall) and the Arz Khaouli (the Court of Justice) was separated from the Harem courtyard.

The Ichrat Khaouli features a square yard with a round platform in the center. It is meant to be the khan’s guest yurt. The square courtyard here is also surrounded by terraced iwans supported by columns. It was in here that the Khan received Convoy Abbot, who was sent by Britain to approach the Khan for a release of the Russian slaves in order to thwart the potential cause for an invasion of this part of Central Asia by the Russian empire.

Photograph: A panorama of the Ichrat Khaouli showing the surrounding structure of the square courtyard and a round platform.

The Harem

As mentioned above, the Allakuli Khan had four wives and 30 concubines. A visit at the Tash Khauli is the perfect occasion to learn about the life of the harem in the Khiva Khanate. The first courtyard that I visited was the harem, with rooms dedicated to first the four wives and then to the concubines.

In the courtyard one would see five lodges supported by wooden carved columns. Four were for the wives of the Khan, and the fifth, also the largest, belonged to the Khan himself. The structure surrounding the courtyard had two stories.

The harem is the sacred, inviolable space for an upperclass Muslim man’s wives, concubines and otherwise the female members of his household. Generally, it was off bounds to outsiders, and sometimes eunuchs could enter and tend to the needs of the female members of the household.

The concubines of the Khan were chosen amongst the slave girls, who could not have been the free Muslim women. They were not meant to bear children for the Khan, as such if they became pregnant, they would be given forced abortions. If the Khan dies, they would be sent back to the slave market to be sold again. Islam forbids them from becoming the concubines of the next Khan, who usually was the son of the late Khan.

Both Khiva and Bukhara were infamous for slave trade up till the late 19^th century. In fact, as briefly discussed in a previous entry, the slave trade was so rampant that the Russians considered it the cause of annexing Khiva in the 1840s or so. When Russia finally succeeded in annexing Khiva in 1873, it also abolished the Khivan slave trade.

In the Tash Khauli, the harem, which also included the chamber for the Khan himself, was the first to be built. The construction of the Ichrat Khaouli and the Arz Khaouli were built after.

An Exhibition on Uzbek Handcrafts

There was a small exhibition on site showcasing Uzbek crafts, especially in fabric making and tailoring. I found the Uzbek clothing on display to be very beautiful.

Our Final Lunch in Khiva

In the 1.5 days of touring in Khiva, I found all the meals that I had to be exceedingly pleasant. The Khiva Moon has a good reputation, and so my friend and I had our final lunch in Khiva there. It is located right outsides of the Ichon Qala city gate. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sources

The Wikipedia on Toshhovli Palace.

The Wikipedia on Khivan Slave Trade.

Centralasia-travel.com, Tash Khauli Palace.

Sophie Ibbotson, Uzbekistan, Bradt Travel Guide (2020).

Uzbek-travel.com, About Uzbekistan, Tash Khauli.