Footsteps. …a walk along Shahrisabzskaya street

Crossroads
The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management and an optics salon, Kamilla are located right there. Let me first say a few words about the optics salon. All sorts of spectacle frames, whose price varies from US $2.5 to US $25, are offered for sale. An experienced oculist-consultant will select glasses at your request. By the way, children's frames are on sale too. There is one more shop, Elegant just round the corner. It is one of the innumerable boutiques, which are very much alike. If my memory doesn't fail me, a man has been selling flowers at this spot in the space of five years. Here you can see a state-run drug-store, offering a poor assortment of medicines. Small Uzbek patties somsa, always hot and inexpensive, are sold right in the street. In summer, a number of tables are put out-of-doors beside the Akropol cafe, which is based in the basement. They cook much and cheaply there.

The interior of its small halls resembles that of hundreds of other cafes in Tashkent. Across the road, there is the Trast Bank, with a cafe, Trast on the left. Although its menu is not notable for a great variety of dishes, all of them are tasty and inexpensive. This cafe is suitable for banquets, which can be held in the evenings. The cafe's austere interior is quite justifiable, since visitors come here to fill their stomachs with tasty meal, rather than to feast their eyes upon its walls. Situated next to the Trast cafe is Urda Guzary, a cafe of Uzbek national dishes. Similarly, it attracts visitors not by its outward appearance, but by a small number of people standing in the queue for lagman and plov, which cost Soum 450 and Soum 500, respectively. The procedure is as follows: you buy any of these dishes in the street, and then enter the cafe, whose hall is permeated with the smell of other dishes. You join other visitors, who are already having their dinner.

Back to the crossroads
Cinema Market, a new shop located nearby, is not yet put into operation. Its reconstruction has just been completed. In the past, a good flower shop was there. A woman comes up to me, asking about the flower shop. "There is no such shop any more" I answer. What a pity! Take a few steps and you'll find yourself in front of the Bomond cafe. It is closed today. I don't know for certain whether it is worth visiting. I have been there twice. The first time I dropped in was on Sunday, when my child and I tried to have a bite in this district. All cafes, save for this one, were closed. We had a good dinner. Next time I visited the Bomond cafe in winter with a group of my female friends. We wanted to have some beer. A waitress served beer that she had bought in a nearby shop. This dissatisfied us. But good music smoothed away our discontent. So it is for you to decide whether or not to visit this cafe.

A photo salon is located in the vicinity of this cafe. My only visit to this salon left an unpleasant feeling. I have never seen more awful pictures than those made there. Then come a notary's office and a sports shop. The latter trades in Admiral-labeled sports clothes. If you stay in our Republic as a guest, you can buy a sports bag, bearing the inscription "Uzbekistan" and the national emblem for US $32. From a neighboring trunk-call office, one can make a local or long-distance call. The tariff rate for local calls is Soum 100. Standing next to it is a jeweler's, Feruza. This shop has been operating for many years. I'd buy a pair of earrings made of German silver for US $10. Designed in the Oriental style, they bear a strong resemblance to the traditional Kazakh ones. Sometimes, interesting adornments can be found here, because the shop takes on commission all kinds of jewelry from the population. Across the road, there are a big greenish-white edifice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management, and a cafe, Sanobar, where you can well fortify yourself with somsa and hot-dogs. In order to cross the Ankhor channel, I direct my feet towards a small bridge.

Ankhor channel
A typical Uzbek choikhona (tearoom), Ankhor is comfortably situated on its bank. In April a year ago, its old building has been ruined. The construction of a new one is nearing completion. The establishments of this category are not bad indeed. In the Chorsu choikhona based near Registan in the town of Samarkand, I once saw foreigners having dinner. Not far from the Ankhor choikhona, there is a restaurant-brewery, Tri Bochki (Three Barrels). Its summer ground has undergone some reconstruction in the past six months. Wooden tables and miniature lamps have been installed there. The restaurant's menu was extended to include meat dishes cooked by its chef. In the evenings, it is always full of people, who come to drink beer and listen to live music. Some visitors even dance. When it becomes warmer, I'll visit this restaurant together with my friends.

Turkiston Palace and Square
Walking slowly down the street, I come up to the Turkiston Palace. Its concert hall contends for the best concert hall status with the likes of the Palace of People's Friendship and the Khamza Theatre. It should be noted in this connection that the latter's acoustic characteristics meet internationally accepted requirements. Beautiful lawns and trees, some of which not typical for Central Asia (such as bitch), are all over the place. Small blue flowers and dandelions are discernable in the grass. A sculpture standing in front of the palace is worth mentioning. It takes the form of a fairy-tale bird, with its wings spread. The Uzbek capital's central square Mustakillik is located just opposite the Turkiston Palace. It is the site for festive gatherings held during national holidays, such as Navruz (March 21^st), Memory Day (May 9^th), Independence Day (September 1^st) and New Year.

Memorial
Built in honor of the Republic's war veterans, the Memorial is a pleasant place to visit. The abundance of plants, which are looked after in the best possible way, is amazing. Specially cultivated and planted, all the greenery is regularly renewed. The Eternal Fire lit in commemoration of the fallen in the World War II, constitutes the central part of the Memorial. The names of Uzbek soldiers, who lost their lives in that war, are inscribed on the pages of the big memory book. They are installed vertically under a wooden roof, which, in turn, is based on the wooden pillars decorated with national ornamental patterns. This place is often visited by the newly-married couples. Today, I also see a couple of newly-weds, who come to lay flowers on the Memorial.

Reminiscences
In the meantime, I proceed further. A huge metal structure seen in the distance has been disfiguring the city's centraldistrict for many years. Certain miscalculations in its design made it impossible to bring that construction project to fruition. At present, the structure is being dismantled at last. As I walk up the street in the direction of the Sheraton Hotel, there is nothing worth mentioning. A decade ago, a row of small shops trading in children's footwear, clothes, fabrics etc. dominated this area. They stretched up to the next crossroads, at which the Sheraton Hotel is now situated. On the opposite side of the street, one can see the Kamolot Sports Complex, an office of the Turkish Airlines and an auto salon. We are now right on the way to two marvelous hotels of Tashkent Dedeman Silk Road and Sheraton.

Hotels
The Sheraton Hotel was built literally from the scratch. A row of one-storeyed buildings and shops were torn down to clear the site for a new hotel. By the way, in one of those houses, there was an office of a soothsayer or foreteller. Even newspapers published advertisements of horoscope compilation. These days, an immense hotel complex, with all its restaurants, business facilities and conference halls etc., occupies one part of this crossroads. The Dedeman Silk Road, standing right opposite, has opened its doors to first visitors on May 1^st, 2003. It was erected instead of the Dustlik Hotel, a typical structure of the 1970s. The newly-built hotel is part and parcel of the Dedeman worldwide chain.

Another street
In a multi-storeyed building near the Dedeman Hotel, there is a round-the-clock drug-store, with a broad assortment of inexpensive medicines. At some distance stands the Detsky Mir (Children's World). Unlike other toy shops, it sells only European quality toys and children's clothes, ranging from Barby dolls to complete sets for newborn babies. All the commodities put up for sales have company labels, with an appropriate stroke-code and price indicated. A US $25 toy coffee pot attracts my attention. It looks like a real electric coffee port, illuminated from beneath. You can even pour boiling water into it. I think it is a very instructive and absolutely safe toy. Proceeding further, you can see a photo salon. A photo studio and an industrial-and-construction bank are located a few steps down the street.

General Fost-Office
A whole story can be told about the General Post-Office. It is a large administrative edifice, which houses a series of organizations, including Aloqabank ("aloqa" means "communication" in Uzbek), a notary's office, an office of Sarkor Telecom, one of COSCOM centers and post-office itself. At the post-office, you can send a letter, telegram, book-post or parcel-post. There is also an office that accepts employment advertisements from individuals. Your classified ad will be placed on the Internet at the following address: www.birja.uz for a mere Soum 500. An antique shop based in the spacious foyer of the General Post-Office buys and sells antiques. A near-by office accepts orders to make furniture. A concrete structure of a new business center Business Land, with a great number of gilded volutes on its fa3ade, is situated across the road.

Shops
In a dwelling house that stands next, there are an airline booking office and an office of ASL Tour Ltd, a tourist agency, e-mail: info@asl-tour.uz). In the DVD-Planet shop, you're offered a broad assortment of discs, as diverse as Walt Disney cartoons and serious feature films. A near-by shop, Mobile Planet, trades in mobile phones and accessories. Its smart young sales assistant is ready to record any sound signal for you. In a shop of Turkey's Anka Company, you can buy leather (or imitation leather) garments or have your leather jacket ironed on a special board.

The Perfume Gallery shop announces sizeable discounts. What is interesting, the sign informing passers-by about its discounts is in place within a year's period. It cannot but arose suspicion. Let's drop in to elucidate the situation. It appears that they sell not only Pupa and Ives Saint Laurent scent, but also cosmetics. A Nina Ricci lipstick costs Soum 21,000. Good-looking shop assistants will help you select one or another product. There is one "but", however. The catch is, the commodities on sale are not accompanied by price-lists. Maybe, I am not well-grounded in the cosmetics business, but I feel rather uncomfortable. It's better for me to see the price with my own eyes than to hear it 100 times from a saleswoman. The next shop I visit on my way is Iceberg, which differs from the previous ones neither by the interior nor assortment. Add to this an unfriendly shop assistant, and the impression it produces on me will be clear enough.

Passing by the offices of British Airways and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, I make my way towards my favorite shop, the one trading in spirits and juices. Though I am not an expert in strong drinks consumption, my half-Russian soul rejoices at the very sight of the abundance of vodka and brandy on sale. A faint chocolate aroma is in the air. What may be better than a good dinner and a liqueur-glass of brandy! Brandy of every description is put up for sale there. Samarkand, Harmony, Ankhor and other varieties of brandy may be bought for US $2.5 - 7.0. For instance, a bottle of 7-year-seasoned Samarkand brandy costs Soum 4,800, whereas the price for a bottle of 15-year-seasoned Samarkand brandy is higher, Soum 7,000. If you prefer Uzbek wine, I recommend you to taste the produce turned out by Mekhnat, an indigenous agricultural company (US $1.4 - 2.0). Fayz City that comes next, accepts orders to conduct children's banquets. A playground and a furniture department are near-by. There is one more clothes shop at the distance. Then I go downstairs to the pedestrian subway. (Read the story about the Golden Wing cafe in a feature highlighting its services and free-of-charge delivery to be published in the next issue of Time Out*Tashkent).

Pedestrian Subway
There you can also see a bunch of shops trading in clothes and a cafe, with the signboard asking "Do you want to eat?" "Yes, I do. And what?" I answer mentally and enter the cafe. How smoky it is here! Nobody pays any attention to me. I take the menu and scrutinize it standing in the middle of the hall. The prices are high, almost at the same level with restaurant ones. A bottle of Ankhor brandy from the neighboring shop (where it costs Soum 2,800) will come to Soum 8,000 here. I think they know how to run a highly profitable business! I feel sick at heart, recollecting a line of dull shops I have to visit next, where similar goods are sold in the similar interior. KRASAVETS MUZHCHINA (Handsome Man), a shop dealing exclusively with men's goods and accessories, and a women's footwear salon, Lolita are the only exception. A man sitting in the pedestrian subway is busy making duplicate keys.

Once again shops
Dunyo Supermarket is the first shop you see on leaving the pedestrian subway. The shelves in its foodstuffs department are not at all crammed with products. Sometimes I come here to buy Slavyansky spice-cakes. As for its household department, it looks much better. As for me, I've always liked visiting it. It is a real paradise for a woman with a tight-filled purse. Kitchen utensils, china tea and coffee-things, statuettes, plastic brushes, napkins and many other useful things, without which women cannot imagine their kitchen, are offered for sale. Another department sells a variety of watches and jewelry for both men and women. Theprice for a Parker pen, for example, may vary from US $12 to US $523. Not far from this department, you can see a showcase exhibiting knives (or sets of thrust-and-cut articles) with the price ranging from US $80 to US $180.

These will do for Sherlock Holms ( a magnifying glass is available too). Rubber toys on sale should not be bought for children under the age of 3. They immediately start gnawing them, which is harmful because of dye-stuff used in their production. You can also have a gift packed here. In the street, multi-colored flags and the signboard of the CASSANDRA restaurant strike my eyes. In summer, its musicians play out-of-doors. Two more shops ORION and MADINA are waiting ahead. The latter's shop-windows and cases are arranged in a very convenient way. The fresh air attracts my attention. Why? Sometimes when I examine dresses in a boutique, I feel the smell of scent, and it seems to me that somebody already wore it. Then I cross the road, directing my steps to the BUMI Hotel.

Bumi Hotel
Over the years of its operation, it has been renamed several times. It houses offices of tour firms, beauty salons, perfumer's shops, a flower department, shops of souvenirs and carpets, payment divisions of mobile companies and DHL, banquet halls etc. As well as that, there are many clubs and restaurants under the hotel's roof. But let me describe them one after another. Go upstairs to the second floor, turn to the right and you'll find yourself in the El Dorado Club, which has been beautifully refurbished in November of the past year. You can visit it in the evening to dance or to conduct a "who will eat more pizza" contest. To this end, you have to order 17 varieties of pizza for each of your friends. I'm sure you will enjoy them. Send the winner to the SKY CLUB on the 14^thfloor. Let him dance till morning, or otherwise he risks putting on weight. To the right of the EL DORADO CLUB, there is one more club, Chicago Club, where visitors sit sprawling in armchairs and sofas.

I take a seat at the table to record some entries in my notebook. I feel relaxed in the comfortable armchair. Here you can order beverages, pizza and other light dishes. LITTLE ITALY and ROYAL GARDEN, restaurants of Italian and Indian cuisine, are located on the other side of the EL DORADO CLUB. If you want to know more about their work and menu, read the article, entitled "Week with Ragu" on page 39. I continue my story. Now let me describe a new club DIPLOMAT CLUB, whose opening ceremony has been held on March 4^th of the current year. Based on the 13^th floor, it has, apart from a big hall, a number of small convenient rooms cigar rooms, karaoke etc. Its interior soft carpets, pictures, flower compositions, muted light, air conditioning, special podiums for show programs reminds of night-clubs in Europe. Believe me, the visit to this club is worth experiencing.

History of one club
There is one more club within the Bumi Hotel. The history of its creation is rather intricate. If you look from the carriageway, you'll see the signboard "My Club". For many years, a large office of Buztel, a domestic mobile communication operator, was domiciled there. All of a sudden, in November of the past year, a new signboard, Mama's Fun Club, has appeared on the fasade. It was the summit of my desires, as this club has been stirring imagination of haunters and newcomers alike. Three years ago, when it was located near the railway station, the Mama's Fun Club staged show-programs, whose scale and production excellence shocked an audience.

All of them were created by Yulia Alagir's studio (a feature about Yulia Alagir and her creative activity will be published in the next issue of Time Out*Tashkent). But despite all the efforts exerted by its personnel, the club failed to rebirth. For the time being, this place is occupied by a night-club My Club, working from 07.00 pm till 04.00 am. On March 25^th, the Neon Art show has been staged there by the Beauty Star Agency. A group of painted and fabulously-dressed beauties were dancing in the dark, lit up only with neon beams. The performance was interesting, but, to my mind, the tickets for the show were too expensive. I think this adversely affected the newly-opened club, although it is undoubtedly good.

Street
Opposite the hotel is a beer-bar, Texas, which draws everybody's attention by its appearance. Earlier Three Barrels beer was sold there twice as expensive as in the Tree Barrels restaurant itself. Other establishments located down the street are as follows: a dry cleaner's, a hairdressing salon, Skazka, the Sindbad cafe and the Leon Heart Bar. The latter turns out to be a small bar with the unpretentious interior: simple tables and chairs, inappropriate wall paintings and two fells. From time to time, the bar's working hours are extended beyond the midnight. The air is filled with a combination of unpleasant odours. The barman casts impudent glances. By and large, the bar looks like a medieval tavern somewhere in Barcelona, where the sailors enjoyed themselves all night long. There is nothing interesting tosee as I walk down the street. Apart from several clothes shops, the only useful place, from the man's point of view, is an Internet cafe, Net City. I pass by a maternity hospital and come up to the Qirol cafe. You can have a good dinner here for only US $2 - 2,5.

If you continue walking down the street, you'll see a series of administrative and educational establishments, including the Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry, the Westminster University, the Institute of Aviation (with the entrance resembling that of a good restaurant) and the department of the Institute of Oriental Studies. A tent with Beta Tea logo draws the attention of passers-by. It is a Turkish cafe and the Toshkent Uchak Boshi restaurant. A waiter runs out of the restaurant, buys two bottles of Nestle water in a near-by stall and hurriedly returns in 10 seconds. How do you like it? I go further and see the signboard of the Nora beauty salon. Following the guide sign, I turn to the right and see another signboard, Synergy Corporation, Tashkent office. Well, what next? I return to the street, passing by Print X-Press, an Internet cafe, Baracuda and the Bravissimo tea-and-coffee house.

Oh, Bravissimo!
This shop-cafe is a real sweet fairy-tale! No one woman will resist the temptation of tasting reams of cakes, fancy cakes, pastry and sweetmeats. Not a single man will withstand the temptation of having a cup of coffee or tea. A broad assortment of tea and coffee is available here. They offer 11 varieties of coffee-beans and 4 varieties of honey at the price of Soum 3,000 per kilogram. I see a plush bee on the pile of candies. It is nice! If the value of your purchase amounts to Soum 50,000, it will be delivered to your door free-of-charge. I'd like to note in this connection that the prices for fancy-cakes are a bit higher than in other cafes. So, it is up to you to select which cafe to visit. As for me, I have made my choice. When I returned to the office, I called at the indicated number. What interested me was who advanced the original idea of setting up a tea-and-coffee house and their future plans. I introduced myself and asked to invite a director. Young squeaky voice answered me. Than another squeaky voice was willingly answered, and there is laughter against a background. Voices evidently had fun, talking with me. I could hardly say a word, when the third voice on the other end of the line informed me that they had already placed their advertisements in all directories and reference editions and on the Internet. Have I asked that, I wonder?

P.S.
On such a light note, I have finished my walk along the Shakhrizabskaya Street. Next time, I'll pick my way towards the Nukus Street. Let's have a jolly time together.