Author: Dilshod Karimov, Cultural Heritage Specialist and Travel Guide

I used to think caravanserais were just, you know, ancient rest stops. But standing in the courtyard of one in Khiva—dust swirling around crumbling brick

I’ve walked past the Alisher Navoi Opera Theater in Tashkent maybe a dozen times, and each time I’m struck by how it manages to feel both monumental

I’ve been staring at photographs of Khiva’s tilework for probably three hours now, and I still can’t quite figure out how they got the

When Alabaster Dust Becomes Poetry: The Stubborn Persistence of Ganch in Uzbek Hands I used to think plaster was just plaster. Then I watched a master

I used to think the best time to visit Registan Square was sunrise, back when I first stood in that vast courtyard in Samarkand and watched light crawl

I used to think traditional music schools were all the same—dusty rooms, stern teachers, rigid technique drills. Then I stumbled into a classroom at Bukhara’

I used to think soap was just soap. Then I spent an afternoon in a cramped workshop in Tashkent’s old quarter, watching a woman named Gulnara stir

The thing about Uzbekistan’s national parks is that nobody really talks about them. I spent three weeks last summer wandering through the Chatkal

I used to think straw was just something you threw away after harvest. Then I watched Gulnora Karimova’s hands move through a pile of dried wheat

I’ll be honest—I never thought I’d spend three weeks chasing plov across Tashkent, but here we are. The thing about plov is that it’