THE SILK ROAD, continued...
So exactly what was this ancient Silk Road that I keep yammering on about? Maybe this map will help explain a bit more:
UZBEKISTAN
AGRICULTURE Cotton is a big business here in Uzbekistan. In October, the harvest nears its end. These fields bear pickable crops four times a year. Even the local tableware celebrates cotton!
FOOD Food...Let’s talk
about food. Almost always beautifully presented, the Uzbek cuisine uses local
fresh ingredients, including lots of cottonseed oil (the only negative). Pilaf
is a specialty of the country, cooked in cauldrons for big groups and stovetop
otherwise, but always with the meat and vegetables underlying the rice and
flavoring it as it steams
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| the many layers of pilaf |
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| Pilaf being prepared for our lunch |
TOILETS. Let's talk about
toilets too (a quintessential discussion among tourists...)
Not
one of my friends asked me about the toilets on this trip. Perhaps because
it’s not usually the subject of polite conversation, but I’m not letting that
stop me.
Most
of the toilets outside the tourist hotels are what is referred to as “Eastern
style“, also known as squat toilets. I have seen some real pits, as in pit stop
, and they are vomit-inducing gross. However, when nature calls, it calls.
One
of the nicest public toilets is at the Mosque of the 40 pillars in Bukhara, so
called because the 20 pillars reflect in the pond nearby. Because this toilet
is associated with the Mosque, it also has an ablution room, where devout
Muslim men clean their faces and chest and feet before they go in to pray.
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Mosque of the 40 pillars, Bukhara, so called
because the 20 pillars reflect in the pond
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| The dreaded pit toilet! |
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| A nice clean ablution room! |
A bit nippy
this morning, aren’t you Tashkent? But that won’t last long.
Next stop, SAMARKAND!
Another
roadside attraction, or rather, attractions... en route from Tashkent to
Samarkand.
Welcome
to Samarkand! Nothing like joining the local bus drivers for chose-your-kebab
dinner at a roadside fav!
Pickup
truck? Who needs a pickup truck? I can move anything through the streets of
Samarkand with my compact car and some twine.
So
many wonderful things to visit in Samarkand, but my favorite was the observatory built by Ulughbek, the grandson of Timur (Timur was also known
as Tamerlane). This building contains a giant underground sextant with
skylights — used to create what might have been the world’s first calendar.
THE
CLASSIC STOP IN SAMARKAND IS REGISTAN SQUARE, often called ‘the pearl of Central Asia’, It is regarded as
one of the most beautiful squares in the world. The place gained fame through
unique medieval oriental monuments surrounding it on three sides and forming a
beautiful architectural ensemble: the Ulugbek madrasah (1417-1429), the
Sher-Dor madrasah (1619-1636) and the Tilla-Kori madrasah (1646-1647). This
ensemble occupies a place among the most significant constructions of the
Islamic world. Thanks to
http://www.centralasia-adventures.com/…/registan_square.html for these details. Today it holds Shop
after shop of crafts, and a place you can put on costumes from the 1400’s and
do fake battles, and hear old instruments. Great fun!
Children,
mothers, grandmothers... all out for an afternoon stroll near the famous
Registan
October
15, 2017, we visited the Bibi Khanum Mosque. Built in Samarkand between
1399 and 1404, commemorates the favorite wife of Timur (he was also called
Tamerlane in history books). At the time it was built, it was the largest
mosque in the world.
Near
the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, a wonderful food market!
The museum at Afrasiab was one of my
favorite places to visit in Samarkand. This museum celebrates the
ancient part of the city, which has been only partially excavated. The
legendary king after whom the hilly part of the ancient city is named,
celebrated the Zoroastrian religion. Wall paintings from a palace dated to the
7th-8th centuries are a feature of the museum. Ultimately the town became the
capital of the Sogdians. Samarkand has had its ups and downs but as a key stop
on the Silk Road trade routes, it survived to be the intriguing place it is
even today.
Shahi-Zinda
(below) is a necropolis, that is to say, a place of graves. But these are very
fancy graves indeed! We marveled at the artistry and, along with Moslem
pilgrims, received a blessing from an Imam. This site is named after the patron
Islamic saint of Samarkand
On
the road to Bukhara, our guide Aziz stopped to get
us some of the famous “non” bread for which Samarkand is known. Later in the
day, friends of his asked “did you bring us any Samarkand bread?” It’s that
famous!
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More to see on the road: This caravanserai is no longer in use, but
was very important to travelers moving between Samarkand and Bukhara in the
10th-16th centuries. Now it’s just a quick photo opp.
From Wikipedia: “A caravanserai was a roadside inn where travelers
(caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais
supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of
trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe, especially
along the Silk Road.”
Bukhara
October 15,
2017: Good morning Bukhara!
I see blue skies above the outdoor breakfast area at the Omar Khayyam
Hotel. So I decided to go there for my morning meal...and took my bit of
America with me (do you see it near my coffee cup? An essential to pack!)
And so we begin our tour of Bukhara!
Many of my friends know that I acquired my first puppet in 1971, was a member of the Puppetry Guild of Greater New York (so was Jim Henson of Sesame Street muppet fame). I was never a performer, but have always been a great fan of this art. So I was happy to find it alive and well in Bukhara!
Bukhara was one of
those rare things on the Silk Road, an oasis. Therefore, water has always been an important topic in the city.
Chashma-Ayub provided a lesson in water conservation. Legend has it
that the saintly Job, visited this place and impact of his staff made a healing
water well. Many pilgrims come here to drink the water. During the Soviet
years, this building was not used for religious purposes, but the Soviets used
it as a means of talking about water resources.
You may have heard about the
disappearance of the Aral Sea; here are some pictures from the photo exhibition
inside this place.
Our tour guide Gary Wintz
takes a drink at the taps provided for pilgrims in Chashma-Ayub
In the heart of Bukhara, built in the 12th century, there rose a tower, a minaret that was part of the madrasah and mosque located there. Not only did it serve a religious purpose for many centuries, but in 1220 when Genghis Khan destroyed much of Bukhara, he left the tower. The reason was that it is also used as a lighthouse to guide caravans, and this 140 foot tower can be seen 35 miles away, and illuminated during the dark – – which is when the caravans moved across the desert area nearby – – it provided guidance.
Every culture has a folk hero who is a “wise
fool” and in Bukhara he is memorialized in Lyabi Haus Square as
a larger than life bronze statue riding on a donkey. Named HOJA
NASREDDIN, he is the subject of children’s books too. I got this one for my
granddaughter!
Our last stop in Bukhara today was the old part of the city. So
much is being renovated all over Bukhara, pArticularly since it has been
declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. And as with every street in Bukhara,
the enterprising Uzbeks sell the most interesting things! Shall I buy a Russian
army coat or hat? (Darn it, missed my chance!)
One wonderful night in Uzbekistan’s best hotel:
Hyatt in Tashkent. Now onto Khiva;
bags out at 4:30 am. Adventure travel!
Another frequent flyer program to join? Maybe
not. One terrible flight and one decent one, both on ancient prop planes. But
we arrived in one piece so that’s good.
In two rows of 6 seats each, there were 10 lap babies, including one
that insisted in crawling on the aisle.
Very few passengers wore seatbelts.
Amazing!
October 18, 2017:
Arrived in Khiva just in
time to walk through one of the gates into the old city (where 3000 still
live), see the sun set, and hear the evening call to prayer. The people of
Khiva are said to be more traditionally observant Moslems than in other parts
of Uzbekistan. Remember that the Soviet rulers suppressed all religion for
decades before independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union essentially dissolved.
So much to see and do
in Khiva (also declared a World Heritage City by
UNESCO) and the fact that so much is packed within the walls of the relatively
small Old City makes it easy to visit. For example there is a life size display
of workers in the old Mint here. According to a guide, the men had to cut their
beards short so they couldn’t smuggle gold dust home! Khiva was also the only
place that money was made of silk and as natural dyes were used, it could
be washed when it got dirty. The original “money laundering” I guess.
Khiva was an important stop
on the Silk Road. It was known for
many things. It was an key center for the slave trade, and also a city of
scientists including an important contributor to the invention of algebra. It
contained more than 25 religious schools (“madrassas”) but none are in use
today; the last were closed by the Soviets. But even before that, Khiva was
changed immensely between the time Marco Polo visited in 1260 and now: a huge
change happened to the entire Silk Road when Vasco de Gama opened sea routes to
Asia in the 16th century. Caravans were
replaced by ships!
An Important handicraft of Khiva is wood carving. Photos from a museum show it in practice hundreds of years ago. Everywhere there are wood carved doors. And in the Friday Prayer Mosque, built in the 10th century, the 212 wooden columns are each carved differently and are said to provide inspiration to Khiva’s wood carvers even today. Ah yes, lots of carved wood souvenirs for sale.
As in many places in Uzbekistan (and the other ‘Stans we have visited) embroidery and weaving are important handicrafts. Ikat is everywhere. There is work in silk and cotton and soft wool from camel neck hair as well as sheep. Dyes are natural — made from plants, flowers, or tree bark— and as is usual, this is women’s work. Hard on the eyesight and back, poorly paid, and simply expected. As we feminist types say, some things never change... but should, someday.
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| IKAT, a famous fabric from this region. |
What about the harems? Yep, they existed and we visited a big one (um no longer operating...) in Khiva. The word comes from the Arabic “haram”, which means “forbidden”. The Khan (king) whose harem this was, had four official wives and 40 concubines... 150 years ago. It was a very secure place to dally, with all kinds of secret doors so the Khan’s enemies could never figure out what beauty he was visiting. Still, that bedchamber did NOT look like it had a good mattress.
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| A Khan's bedchamber |
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| Inner Sanctum of the Harem; note the apartments... |
You never know what you’ll see in a bazaar in the ‘Stans. They were crowded and active even hundreds of years ago. Here in Khiva today we saw: a wedding party, a woman making bread, a three year old dressed up and on his way to his circumcision ceremony (I’m sure he didn’t know...), a seller of hats for chilly heads (it is cold here now), and an impromptu dance in front of a CD sellers shop (tourists always welcome to join in).
I’ve had such an
interesting visit to Uzbekistan and will be sad to say goodbye to our local
guide Aziz. But at least I got a glamour photo here on our last day, in Khiva,
and a sneak shot of our Uzbek guide Azizbek Rakhmatov and our overall trip
leader Gary Wintz hamming it up (or shall I say, hatting it up?). Tomorrow: Turkmenistan
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| Farewell sunset in Khiva |
On to TURKMENISTAN. See "Central Asia and the Silk Road: Part 3 ~ Turkmenistan" Click here!
Did you miss Part One of Central Asia/the Silk Road: Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan? Click here to view that blogpost. |
