Author: Dilshod Karimov, Cultural Heritage Specialist and Travel Guide

I used to think community tourism was just a fancy term for staying in someone’s spare room. Then I found myself in the Nuratau Mountains of Uzbekistan

I’ve been watching Khiva’s preservation debate unfold for years now, and honestly, it’s messier than anyone wants to admit.

I used to think silk scarves were just, you know, luxury items for tourists. But then I spent three weeks in Bukhara’s old city, watching artisans

I used to think Zoroastrianism was just this footnote in ancient history textbooks, something that existed and then vanished into the Persian Empire’

I never expected a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Central Asia to make me rethink what I knew about architectural resilience. The Assumption Cathedral in

I used to think Khiva was just another dusty Silk Road stop until I started reading what travelers actually wrote about it. When European Explorers First

I used to think decorative arts museums were just fancy storage units for old plates. Then I spent an afternoon at the Museum of Applied Arts in Tashkent

I used to think feather art was something you’d find in a dusty museum corner, maybe labeled with a faded card that nobody reads. Turns out, in Uzbekistan

I’ve always found it strange how we talk about “traditional crafts” as if they’re frozen in time, when really they’

I used to think Buddhist temples in Central Asia were mostly legends, fragments whispered about in dusty academic papers. When Soviet Archaeologists Stumbled