The Uzbek government’s tourism campaign is aiming to attract visitors to the ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva. These places, embodying Central Asia’s rich shared Persian and Turkic heritage, have been given extensive infrastructural and hospitality investments. Today, a stroll through Samarkand features a display of its luxury hotels and brick-paved shopping alleys boasting assortments of vintage ware and mass-produced souvenirs. Bukhara, also transformed by upgrades and restorations, is now host to the trendy Biennial, marketing the city as a new hub for ‘creatives, thinkers and visitors from all over the world’, in line with its legacy as the historical intellectual center of Central Asia. Finally, Khiva’s clay walls have been leveraged to turn the Itchan Kala into an attraction-cum-shopping-town where its distinct floral ornamentation is eclipsed by the fluorescent parade of cheap goods along and around historic monuments. While tourists who limit themselves to this triad will no doubt find heritage between the cracks of the consumerist-package wrapping, they risk missing out on the stuff that makes Central Asia so lovable – its people, nature, and quiet reverence for culture. That is why, for the more adventurous travelers, I recommend going off-piste, deep into the Gilon Valley two hours east of Shahrisabz: to the green little Tajik village of Sarchashma. [caption id="attachment_34153" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Image: Madina Gazieva[/caption] The picturesque way leading to Sarchashma starts at the Hisorak hydroelectric dam, 30km east of Shakhrisabz, itself a site of historic importance as the birthplace of the famous conqueror Amir Temur. Lasting approximately an hour and a half, the drive from Hisorak to Sarchashma feels like something out of a Kiarostami film: a winding earthen road, towered by the foothills of the Hissor mountain range, bordered by the azure Aksu River that culminates in the Hisorak reserve downstream. One can pause on top of the dam, or at any point, to appreciate the dramatic landscape created by the serpentine Aksu, interrupted by mountains rising from the valley floor. Closer to Sarchashma, two prominent, rounded, equilateral mountains emerge upstream of the river; this is where Sarchashma is cozily nestled amid a sprawling green patch of poplar and walnut trees. As the village’s elders explain, the settlement used to be called ‘Kizilimchak’, denoting ‘red-chested girl’ – the locals’ way of honoring the eminence of their topography. [caption id="attachment_34154" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Sarchashma Museum; image: Madina Gazieva[/caption] A cultural legacy, unadulterated nature, and welcoming people are what make Sarchashma worth visiting. The village is host to a small but packed museum, comprising three rooms in an old mosque, founded by Kundal artist and schoolteacher Aki Furqat. Furqat, who speaks Russian, spent years collecting scattered archaeological items such as pottery, sewing and farming tools found near what the inhabitants say was an ancient settlement called ‘Ochtepa’, now farmland, a few kilometers from Sarchashma. While formal excavations have yet to be carried out, the temporal range of artefacts points to a rich legacy: more recent items include Persian philosophical texts, Soviet-era photographs, and contemporary books written by local...
