I am finding solace in my morning bike rides. A couple of days ago are rode along the Anhor Canal to the park hosting the Museum of Victims of Repressions. There were a few people swimming in the canal, they would hop in and let the current take them down for a while before they got out. The scene looked cool with the TV tower in the background. I am so tempted to swim in the canal!
People are lining up outside of private clinics around the city to get Covid-19 tests. There is a spike in cases here in Tashkent. This particular clinic, Shox International Clinic, does not do Covid-19 testing, but a friend told me patients are lining up for lung scans. I am not sure if this is true. They did not look sick.
It is so strange to be living in this global pandemic. Above is the scene at the airport. All of the passengers arriving from Germany were shuttled off to hotels to be tested and do their quarantine. No one was allowed to leave the airport on their own to their homes. The tourist police and officials in hazard suits were ushering people onto about 10 large buses. They did allow people waiting in the airport garden talk to passengers before they boarded the bus.
A couple of nights ago we had a strong winds. A tree along the street in front of our school fell and thankfully where were no cars coming by at the time. I reminds me to check all of the trees near the entrance to see if they are safe and not rotting inside and are dangerous.
Although Tashkent is a big city (approximately 3 million people), it is still a country town in many ways. You can easily escape the city into agricultural fields. This road is just a few kilometers outside of the city limits east of the city. This road runs along the backside of the old Taskent-Vostochny airfield, which currently serves military, cargo, and experimental aviation. There are plans to renovate, expand and turn it into a second international airport. I see they are constructing the main terminal and have expanded the highway that runs in front of it. I see this area behind the airport becoming more developed in the future.
There are many mosques scattered throughout the city. I found this one this morning on the ride back from the Chichiq River. It is the Hudaybiyyah mosque, named after a treaty that united the cities of Mecca and Medina during Muhammad’s time. It serves the “Birlashgan” mahalla and is a bit different architectural style than other mosques I see. It kind of looks Turkish.
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