i didn’t like Bukhara or Samarkand. I found the recreations of the ancient cities like someone who has had plastic surgery. The blemishes that are so important to character had been shone, polished and fixed to an uncomfortable and false perfection. That aside, the Uzbek people were the friendliest we’ve met this side of Sumatra.
.
[Bukhara]
So I should start with Turkmenistan
I love walking down the ancient cobbled streets of the old city in these two towns, towering 15th centruy city walls to the side and 12th century soaring minarets in the background. Weather beaten intricately carved double doors keep secret the courtyards within, as i wonder who else has wandered along these stones? What scenes have these streets witnessed, what ordinary and extraordinary things have been happening here for literally thousands of years now.
Uzbekistan is as culturally rich and friendly a spot to visit as you can find. Once the infuriating visa system is negotiated [ only Turkmenistan is worse.... but i will spare you all the details] the rewards are there. We are in Bukhara / Bokhora for a few days while visas are sorted before we can drive to Iran via Turkmenistan. Some interesting political insights, but we will wait until we are in Europe before writing more on that.
Many of the historic sights in both these Silk Road cities have been restored to something approaching their former glory. The effect on visitors is to transport you back to whichever period in the last two thousand years you choose. Mosaic cladding on soaring minarets, carpet traders in every niche of an ancient meddrasah, torture chambers and steep city walls re all topped off by kebabs at every turn, steaming plov meals, the crispest naan bread and aromatic tea with every meal. Sum-sa potato filled pastry [forgive me if I have mashed the spelling] and Guma - parcels, still warm from the clay oven, filled with a mix of chillie and barley make a great snack while wandering.
But most of all the Uzbeks are very very friendly. We can barely walk ten steps without being asked where we are from, and having the sort of superficial conversation that limited common language restricts you to. And not always in the name of commerce, although that rich tradition is well excercised too. Fake antiques and “hand made by my grandmother” embroidery abounds, as well as exquisite calligraphy and gilt-adorned Koran pages ready for framing.
Turkmenistan may be an internet free zone, and different reports leave me unsure about access to the ‘net in Iran, but we will try to update again soon. And photos may have to wait until we get a speedier connection.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan: China seems years ago. We have been through the modern Chinese city of Urumqi, overnight to Turpan - a welcoming leafy oasis in theTalimankan Desert - and on to Kashgar. The fabled Sunday market was a highlight, amplifying the two Chinas we have seen; the ancient and the ultramodern. Electric scooters zoom past scenes that have not changed in hundreds - thousands? - of years.
Over the spectacular Torugart Pass and into Kyrgyzstan, which greeted us with a snowstorm. A puncture in heavy snow in No-Mans Land made for the quickest tyre change in history. Not sure if it was the minus 8 or the Kalashnikovs that made it so fast, but the removed wheel nuts stuck to the ice even in the eleven minutes it took to get the jack from under all our luggage and get the rear wheel into the air. Read the rest of this entry »
Not by choice, we spent last weekend in a brothel. A real one, no half measures. It all started like this, Jan…
We never planned to go to Mongolia at all. We wanted to drive across China from East to West, across the ancient Silk Road. Two days before we left home, we got an email form the Chinese guiding company NAVO who had agreed to be our hosts [foreign cars are not allowed into China without special permits and a guide in the car all the time]. NAVO told us we were not allowed to drive the Silk Road but instead we could only drive south to north, entering from Laos as planned but leaving to Mongolia. We reluctantly agreed. Read the rest of this entry »