Reuniting with Sonya at the airport
Woke up at 8:30. Since Sonya was coming today, I decided to go to the airport to pick her up. I hurriedly showered, took a taxi at 8:50, and arrived at 9:05. Sonya had a flight from 2:30 to 8:40, and it seemed she had already arrived.
While waiting at the arrival gate she appeared. It was really amazing. We met on HelloTalk three years ago, exchanged contact info, and when she came to Japan I showed her around Nagoya. We spent one day together.
We grew closer and eventually decided to travel to Uzbekistan together. I felt that there was a real connection between us.
And so we finally met face-to-face and hugged. A taxi driver had been pestering us, so when I called out 'Sonya!' he left in an instant.
An extension of our Telegram conversations
We said how happy we were to see each other after so long, hailed a taxi, and headed to the apartment. Our conversation really felt like an extension of what we'd been talking about on Telegram yesterday — things like 'How's university?' and 'How was the flight?'
I can really be completely at ease — not that I don't make any effort, but it feels very comforting.
We headed to the apartment talking like that. It felt natural for me to carry Sonya's luggage, so I carried it all. In Russia it's common culture for men to carry women's bags. For some reason, that felt pleasant.
I'm so excited for the next two weeks of travel! The adventure with Sonya is finally beginning!
First, a stroll around town — a blini cafe
She couldn't sleep, perhaps because she had the worst seat on the overnight flight.
She wanted to take a short nap. So after arriving we first decided to take a nearby walk. We wandered around town for about two hours. Her travel style is to thoroughly walk around a city when she arrives to see what's there and what it's like.
We kept walking while catching up on each other's recent happenings. We got hungry along the way, so we went into a cafe.
At the cafe I ordered a cappuccino and blini with smetana (sour cream). Sonya ordered blini topped with salmon and ikura (salmon roe).
That looked insanely fancy! I thought if I knew Russian I would've ordered that too. We relaxed there for about an hour, chatting slowly.
Then we went back to the Airbnb and she took about a one-hour nap. During that time I filmed a video for French TikTok on the balcony and wrote in my journal.
I'm in Uzbekistan now! I can't really believe I'm in the middle of the Eurasian continent! The world is so big — I gazed at the sky and reflected.
PM2.5 over 300
When Sonya woke up, we went out for another walk. Looking closely, the smog was intense. At first I wondered whether it was factory smoke, dust, or yellow sand, but it turned out the PM2.5 level exceeded 300, so it was serious.
I got worried the moment I learned that. What if my lungs keep getting damaged... But Sonya wasn't worried — she said it's fine, she'll leave in three days. I thought that attitude was just right. In the end, overthinking doesn't help.
We walked everywhere, sometimes on pedestrian bridges over tracks, sometimes through places without paths. Tashkent doesn't have many sidewalks, so it's tough for pedestrians. Maybe it's a car culture — there were hardly any people walking.
A souvenir from Sonya: handmade T-shirts
Back at the room, I received souvenirs from Russia from Sonya. There were four bars of chocolate, three to four kinds of her favorite chocolates. Wait, is it all chocolate!? (LOL) And two T-shirts she made from scratch.
I'd been asking her for a while to make me T-shirts and pants, so I finally got them. They were masterpieces made by her hands, full of thought. I was really happy.
It was the first time in my life I'd received clothes handmade by someone. And they fit my measurements exactly. She likes oversized styles, so she made them oversized, and I couldn't have been happier. Thank you, Sonya.
Beshqozon: the world's best plov
At night we decided to go to the plov center (Beshqozon). It's a must-visit spot in Uzbekistan. They cook the country's signature dish, plov, in giant cauldrons.
As soon as we entered, we were surprised by how huge it was — I wondered how many seats they had. There were quite a lot of people.
We sat on a sofa and looked at the menu. There were five types: wedding pilaf, vegetable-heavy pilaf, layered pilaf where they don't stir it, and so on. We ordered the classic plov.
We also had Uzbekistan bread, a tomato salad, and tea with sugar and lemon. Sonya seemed to like this tea, so she tried it.
When the plov arrived and we tasted it, it was really something else. It was the absolute best plov, like that scene in Ratatouille when Remy eats the grape and the world goes dark as the taste is revealed — the sensation was exactly like that.
The juiciness, the richness of the oil, and the sweetness of the raisins all elevated the flavor — it was perfectly matched. Sonya was impressed too; it was the most delicious plov in the world.
Also, the tea with lemon and sugar was incredibly well-balanced and truly delicious. We usually chat about many things, but this time we both immersed ourselves in the experience and savored the flavors. It was an amazing restaurant. Uzbek plov is the best in the world. Of course.
A Disney knock-off theme park
After paying, we walked again. Along the way there was a theme park so Disneyland-like I thought 'is this Disneyland?'. It seemed attached to a shopping center, but the design from the entrance to the castle was seriously like Disneyland.
The park's castle was shiny, with lots of blue and red lights, full of Central Asian vibes. I thought you can't just slap loud colors on everything, but it was interesting in its own way.
It was visually intense, and I didn't want to stay forever, but taking photos and walking around made the time with Sonya really fun.
While walking, we saw something resembling Jaws, so I thought 'wait, is this mixed with USJ too?' and found it hilarious.
Despite all that, what concerned me most while walking wasn't the theme park, Jaws, or Disney — it was the air pollution. The smog was bad enough that you could tell the air was dirty even 50 meters away; it was rough.
While walking, we saw something resembling Jaws, so I thought 'wait, is this mixed with USJ too?' and found it hilarious.
What bothered me most was the air pollution rather than the theme park. The smog was such that you could tell the air was dirty even 50 meters away — it was a problem.
Won a SpongeBob (?) at the shooting game
We arrived at a nearby shopping center. She begged, 'I want dessert!' so we decided to get something.
We looked around various shops but couldn't find the dessert she liked. Thinking that's fine, we went into a bookstore. She loves classic literature and told me a lot about it. I went straight to the self-improvement section, things like Atomic Habits.
Then we came across a shooting gallery. Since we were there, we decided to try it. I always feel hesitant about shooting galleries and arcades because they feel like places where you throw away money to exchange it for prizes you'll never use.
But she urged me on with 'Let's do it!', so I decided to play.
And I successfully popped all the balloons and won a prize. I thought I'd get the prize on the top shelf, but the guy went to the back, grabbed a small item, and handed it to me.
It was a poorly made stuffed toy that couldn't even really be called SpongeBob (and to be honest, it couldn't even really be called a plush).
It was fun. With that, we called a taxi and returned to the Airbnb.
Back at the Airbnb we drank Georgian lemonade and took some medicine.
