Life's a Picnic in Uzbekistan

In this Central Asian country, picnics aren't just outdoor meals-they're a way of life woven with laughter and endless tea

- By TEJASHEE KASHYAP

It is 1 in the afternoon in Hayat, a hamlet of barely 20 homes tucked in the folds of the Nuratau Mountains in Central Uzbekistan. Lunch at the family-run Hayat Guesthouse is laid out in the open air, beside a murmuring stream and under the shade of tall, generous trees.

It is a little outdoor feast of steaming shurpa, hand-pulled noodles tangled with vegetables, the ever-present Uzbek bread, smoky grilled shashlik, and the freshest salads of tomato, cucumber, and onion brightened with dill and parsley. Beside it all sits a pot of fragrant choy tea that seems to define every meal in this country.

Later in the day, cushions and mattresses appear beneath a sprawling banyan tree. Here, in the cool quiet, the hours drift slowly by. The birdsong is unhurried, the stillness rare. By evening, the same lawn turns into a charming tea setting with candies and cookies gleaming on trays, and conversations meandering as lazily as the breeze.

The Nuratau Mountains, stark and bare from a distance, conceal an unexpected paradise. From almost every vantage point, the view stretches across rolling slopes and craggy hills where goats and sheep clamber like quiet sentinels. In the valley below, homes sit shaded by fruit trees that lean into their courtyards, and nearly every family has a garden brimming with herbs and vegetables, an open-air dining space waiting for company.