Recently I had the opportunity to attend our Central Asian User Conference in Samarkand. This was our third user conference in the region, and it was excellent, the location was great, the people were amazing, the clients were engaged and for me the location was next level. I’d go so far to say that in the 16 years of travelling for work, Samarkand is the best place I have ever visited. BIG CALL!
But before I go into the details of what was so great about Samarkand I need to go back to the start of the trip.
Map of Central Asia and the locations I visited
Before going to Uzbekistan, we (Mr Micromine, Claire, Trent and I), travelled to Kazakhstan to visit our local office and some clients. Our Central Asian HQ is in Almaty in Kazakhstan. It’s the second time I have been to Almaty, but the last time was mid-winter and it was too cold to go outside for long, so I didn’t really get a good look at the place. This time it was spring, and the city looked beautiful. Trees were green, garden beds had flowers and the view from my hotel room towards the Tien Shan mountains that form the southern border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan:
The view from my hotel room, looking south at the Tien Shan mountains
Our office in Almaty is not just a sales and support hub, it is a key Micromine development hub as well. We have 5 developers in the office working with the Perth development team on all manner of projects. It’s actually a great place to have a second development team because, even though Almaty is a long way from Perth, it’s only a 2-hour time zone change. This makes inter-office communications easy.
The Almaty team with Mr MICROMINE
One thing that you’ll find if you ever visit Central Asia is that the people are so hospitable. I know many cultures say that hospitality is a key cultural characteristic, but nothing prepares you for Central Asia. People genuinely want you to be comfortable and to enjoy their house, city and country. As well as working in the office and meeting clients, our time in Almaty included team lunches and a great night out at the bowling alley with the team. This wasn’t just for fun, it was competitive and Amir (our local development manager) took out the inaugural trophy (which I was secretly gutted about, I had bowled pretty well during the regular games but choked in the final).
Amir celbrating the win with Mr MICROMINE
As well as having visitors from Perth the office also hosted Regional Managers from Russia and Mongolia for a senior team meeting. This gave us an opportunity to do some team bonding and for this we drove up into the mountains to see one of the mountain lakes (Big Almaty Lake). We were so high up that there was still snow on the ground and the lake was still frozen. We then went to a local restaurant for dinner. Dinner in Kazakhstan when you’re a guest usually includes some Horse meat (it’s not that bad) and plenty of Vodka.
Almaty Lake, an hour drive south of Almaty
On the Saturday we had a spare day before travelling to Uzbekistan and the team were keen to show us some of the countryside so a group of us headed east through spectacular countryside until we got to the Charyn Canyon National Park. This park is the Grand Canyon of Central Asia and whilst it isn’t quite on the same scale as the Grand Canyon it is very impressive. We hiked from the rim to the canyon floor and then followed the dry river bed for several kilometers to the Charyn river where there is a cool Eco tourist park, this would be a great place to stay for the night. We had taken some food along with us but again, the local hospitality was incredible and locals who were having BBQ’s at the park kept giving us their food so we ended up having Shashlik (kebab) straight off the grills which was amazing.
Charyn Canyon, about 200kms east of Almaty
After walking back up the canyon we drove back to Almaty, stopping along the way in a small Uighur village for more Shashlik, the locals in the know will tell you that Uighur Shashlik is the best you can get.
Uighur Shashlik by the roadside
The following day we travelled to Tashkent which is the capital of Uzbekistan. I wasn’t sure what to expect in Uzbekistan as its not really a country you hear much about in the west but almost from the first moment I was impressed. Maybe it was because it was a gorgeous spring day, or because it was a Sunday and the roads were clear, but we all felt that the drive from airport to city was one of the nicest we had ever done.
Micromine has a small office in Tashkent with two local sales and support staff (Umed and Dimitry) managing this emerging region. Dimitry met us at the office and had kindly arranged a tour on an open topped double decker bus around Tashkent. This was a great way to see the major sights of the city and we were all very impressed. There were impressive monuments, mosques and architecture that we all enjoyed.
Memorial in Tashkent to the Uzbeks killed by Stalin
On the Monday the team took us to their favorite Pilaf restaurant. Pilaf in Uzbekistan is a passion and each region has its own take on the dish. I was pretty impressed with the Tashkent style of Pilaf (they mix the meat and veg into the rice during cooking) but I know that others rated the Samarkand version (meat, veg and rice in separate layers) better. Trent had to go back home on the Monday but Claire, the team and I were travelling to Samarkand for the Conference.
Tashkent style Pilaf, the meat and vegetables is mixed with the rice
Samarkand is a 4-5hr drive south west of Tashkent, but we took the train. The train was modern, fast (like 220km/h fast) and comfortable. A much nicer way to travel. Arriving in Samarkand we were met by Umed (whilst he works in Tashkent he lives in Samarkand) and a team of drivers to ferry us from the station to the hotel.
The next day was conference setup day for the team and we had a few meetings about who was responsible for what and how the conference would proceed. I was very impressed with the level of organization. That afternoon Claire and I had time to visit a carpet factory. The quality of the silk and wool carpets on offer was amazing and being able to see how the carpets were made (no wonder they cost so much) was a real treat.
Amazing Samarkand style silk carpets
That evening we had dinner with two senior Uzbekistan government ministers. The local government were big supporters of our conference and we had great support from the local tourist board throughout the week.
Wednesday was show time, the first day of the user conference and a very important day for the Central Asian business. The conference was opened by our Regional Manager and all of the clients were welcomed to the conference by MICROMINE CEO, Claire Tuder. This was followed by presentations from senior government ministers and academic administrators from across Central Asia. There was also a number of Memorandums signed between MICROMINE and local institutions that will help our business to grow in the region. Following lunch (Samarkand style Pilaf that we got to watch being made) we were taken on the first of a series of tours of the extraordinary city of Samarkand.
Even if (like me) you skipped Central Asian history at school you will all know about the Silk Road and the travels of Marco Polo. Samarkand was one of the most important trading centers along the silk road and is somewhere I have wanted to visit since I was a little boy.
Map showing the Silk Road and maritime trades
We visited Registan square first which was simply mind blowing, the inside of the mosques were amazing. We then wandered down to the ancient Bazaar for a bit of shopping before crossing to the impressive Muslim Cemetery complex and finally the Mausoleum of the first president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov.
Registan Square, 3 mosques with amazing architecture and internal decoration
That evening was the first of many gala dinners and one thing you can say about the Uzbeks, they know how to party. The banquet that was laid on for us each night was amazing, and we were entertained by singers and dancers each night as well as having some fun games that usually involved embarrassing me by getting me to dance or dress up in costume.
Banquet tables filled with more food than i have ever seen at a table in my life
The conference itself was great. There were presentations from clients from all over Central Asia as well as presentations by myself and Evgeniya Shulga from our Moscow office. The client stories and use cases were excellent. It’s always great to hear and see how clients are able to utilize Micromine to meet the needs of their particular operation. No two operations are the same and these user stories show you the power of the Micromine toolbox.
For the rest of the week we also did afternoon tours and got to see the ancient Afrasiyab ruins and visit the museum. One of the interesting things these guys did was bind their babies’ heads from birth so that the skull grew in an unusual/disturbing way. Apparently, this practice was reserved for the elite.
Afrasiyab skull recovered in Samarkand, the binding of the skulls at birth caused this defect
We also visited the mausoleum of Imam Bukhariy who was one of the great scholars of Islam. As a young man he travelled the Middle East collecting Hadises (verbal teachings from the prophet Mohammed) and later wrote them down. This book is the second most important book in Islam after the Holy Koran.
The conference finished on the Friday but true to the concept of hospitality the local team were on hand from 4am on the Saturday to ensure that all our clients made it to the train station, bus or plane to get home.
To celebrate a successful week and to unwind we took the rest of the Saturday to head up into the mountains outside of Samarkand to enjoy the scenery and to eat more Shashlik. We found an amazing restaurant in the mountains that was really a series of platforms built over a waterfall. Here we ate and drank and had lots of fun. I also got to see a novel concept of Car boot to Plate for my Shashlik that I am sure will catch on in Australia soon.
Car boot to plate Shashlik, how i expect all my Shashlik to be done from now on
The next two days were all about travel. Samarkand to Tashkent by train, Tashkent to Almaty to Hong Kong to Perth. The flying was fine but as always with travel it’s the layovers between the flights that kills you. I had almost 8 hours in each layover which tests the patience. However, that was not enough to ruin what was the best conference I have ever been too (and I have done a few) or the memory of Samarkand, my new most favorite city. I can’t wait to get back to Central Asia soon.
