Trekking the Tien Shen

The best word to describe the trek experience is WOW!! Every aspect exceeded expectations....the camp set up, the scenery, the food, the guides and of course the fun group of people we trekked with. This is our group at the start of the trek. 

Our guides both spoke Russian, which is the National language. Ilya and Andre

We had [porters to carry 12 kg of gear for us, but the heaviest bags were 9 kg.

Tents were set up for us at each location. This is a typical camp set up. Two people per tent and then a large tent as the Dining Tent.

The scenery was spectacular

More to come in another week. We are just heading off for another week in the mountains. This time to the Al Archa area. 

Bishkek

The next morning we  met up with the group at hotel. There are 10 of us for the trek. I had met everyone before except for Robyn and she seems like a lot of fun. Part of the group went for a walk through Bishkek to see some of the sites , look at the local art and wonder through the parks. 

We all went for dinner and sampled the fermented mares milk. 

AND of course some beer!

Our day of driving towards the start of the trek included a visit at the Bryan's Minaret , a 26m tall structure made from fired brick. It originally stood at 45m. 

The area included a collection of old grave stones. The figures carved with goblets were wealthy men. The ones with carved knives were warriors. 

We also visited a Chinese Mosque, which is unique to Kyrgyz. The women all wore the robes to cover our heads. 

NEXT STOP.....the Tian Shen and 10 days of trekking!

Goodbye Uzbek Hello Kyrgyz

Our flight from Tashkent to Bishkek was cancelled so we opted to drive Tashkent to Osh and fly Osh to Bishkek. The distance to the border was 500 km. We had mountain views and drove through the Fergana Valley which is the breadbasket of Uzbekistan. Our drive could only take us to the border and then we were on our own. It was one of the hottest days we had and we were able to savour the heat as we waited in an building with no A/C for the internet to be restored so that we could be processed. Our luggage was x-rayed two more times before we left the country.

Entering Kyrgyz was a breeze, a quick look at our passports and we were done. We were met on the other side by Nurlan, our guide. Since we had 4 hours before we could check in for our flight he took us for “tea” at the directors house

 

We were treated to a full meal which included matey (meat dumplings) and Kyrgyz Plov (a rice dish with vegetables and spices) . 

From there we had a city tour to the oldest Church (1910) the statue of Lenin, the parliament buildings and a short hike up the mountain for a view of Osh. 

Mosques & Words

Getting tired of pictures of mosques, mausoleums and madrasas yet? This is the mausoleum of Tamarlane, a cruel but successful ruler from Uzbekistan.

The ceiling of his mausoleum was finished with 5kg of pure gold. Go ahead, do the math - that's over a quarter of a million bucks just on decorating. Tamarlane's bones were dug up by a Russian archeologist at the beginning of the last century, in spite of the dire warning on his crypt that bad news would follow anybody who disturbed his grave. Apparently, the day after the Russian dug up the bones, the Germans declared war on Russia.

Another site that we visited was an archaeological dig of the solar observatory of Tamarlane's grandson. He was able to calculate the length of the year to within 8 seconds, and plotted the location of over 1000 stars. His works were referenced by astronomers for the next 500 years. He was better known as an astronomer than as a ruler, as he was murdered by one of his sons who then destroyed his observatory.

The picture above was of the track used to observe the location of the sun. The picture below is a reconstruction of what the 7 story tall building would have originally looked like.

 The most impressive collection of mausoleums is also located in Samarkand - in an area called "Mausoleum Avenue". The last mausoleum supposedly contains the remains of the first cousin of the prophet Mohammed. Rulers & rich people liked to be buried nears saints and holy people, since they figure that God will come for the saints and not forget to scoop up others buried near by.

One of the last mosques we visited in Samarkand was the Bibi Khanym mosque, created by the eldest wife of Tamarlane as a surprise for him while he was busy conquering India. The architect of the mosque asked for a kiss from Bibi as payment for his work. Tamarlane was so pissed off after hearing that he declared that all women in his empire must cover their faces with a veil in public in the future to prevent tempting men. The mosque was mostly destroyed in an earthquake 150 years ago. When it was rebuilt, the front portal was made only 30m high, instead of the original 52m (about 15 stories high). Apparently, Tamarlane's palace in his home town was originally 75 m (20 stories) high, but the architectural technology hundreds of years ago was not advanced enough to support the design of such as structure, and it fell down less than a hundred years after being built.

Words in Uzbekistan re kind of funny. For one thing, everybody pronounces Steve's name correctly - must be the slavic influence. At a war memorial in Tashkent, Steve found plenty of Fedin and Fedun names on the list of those who fell in battle, but no Fedynas.
The other funny name is "baba". Our guide asked where Steve learned to read cyrillic & speak Russian, and he explained how his ancestors came from Ukraine, particularly his baba. Every time he said baba, the guide giggled - it turns out that that word in both Uzbek & local colloquial Russian is a rude term that means "old slut" or basically a very old women who dresses like a very young woman in order to  capture very young men!

The Weather

We are visiting at the start of the hot season. Temperatures this week have been in the mid 40’s. Yesterday was 47C. It is a dry heat, which makes it more tolerable. Our survival technique has been to visit sites starting at 8:00 or 9:00 am until 1:00-2:00 pm, then have a break in air conditioned space until  dinner at 6:00 pm. 

In the evenings after dinner we go for a long walk. The normal dinner time is 8:00 pm as this is when it is cooler. We are falling asleep by 9:30-10:00 pm, so are happy that our guide has agreed to the earlier dinner time. 

Summer temperatures……….in the 50C range. Consequently there are very few tourists visiting in July and August. The prime season for visiting is April/May and September/October. 

Winters are cold. They experience temperatures of -15C to -20 C. Quite the swing in temperatures.

The Registan

The Registan is the most visited site in Uzbekistan. It's main square is composed of three different Medressa’s each built at different times, The  oldest structure the Ulugbek Medressa was build in 1420 by the grandson of Timur who was the astronomer. It was decorated with mosaics that were geometric in pattern. 

The second oldest was built 200 years later, called the Sher-Dor  (Lion) Medressa and was quite “shocking” for it’s time. The religious leaders were very upset because the mosaics on the portal included animals and faces,  which was forbidden under Islamic law. The  ruler spoke with the master artisan to understand why he decorated the portal in the manner he did. The master explained that the lions symbolized strength and power, the white faces inside the bellies of the lions together with the rising sun symbolized rising to heaven, the gazelles symbolized intelligence and the colour white stood for peace. The master explained that these were all things that a great ruler aspired to achieve. 

The ruler accepted this explanation and asked the master how he wished to be compensated for his work. He said that he had fallen in love with the rulers daughter and wished her hand in marriage. The ruler, hesitated as he needed to appease the religious leaders who were upset with the mosaic representing figures. The ruler offered that if the master completed a third Medressa in a more traditional style, then he could have his daughters hand in marriage.  In 1660, a mere 24 years later the Tilla-Kari (Gold Covered) Medressa was completed.  Of course there is no mention of the wishes of the daughter in all of this arranging or long wait for her to be married.

Uzbek Food and Drink

The food in Uzekistan has been very tasty. Bread is always fresh and served with every meal.

Breakfast is a buffet at whatever hotel we are staying at.

 For lunches we have mostly been snacking on fresh fruit (the apricots are amazing), nuts and bread. One day we went out for lunch at a local cafe. Much to our delight, it was a cafeteria. Given that our Uzbek is limited to hello and thank you, we found it easy to communicate our had a selection  choices with pointing and nodding. 

We had a selection of salads, water and bread. For main Jackie had “moo” with barley while Steve had chicken balls with barley. The bill was 26,000 Som or US$4

Although this is a Muslim country alcohol is available and consumption is legal. Samarkand is the wine making center so we sampled a bottle of red with dinner one night. (US$7/bottle). It was a light red that worked well with the heat. 

The local beer is Pulsar(US$1.25) , made in the Czech style. 

Our favourite meal in Uzbek was a dinner in a garden with our driver, Daron and our guide Ayzat. This is where we sampled the Samarkand Red  wine

Love, Marriage and Celebration

Marriages are still arranged in Uzbekistan. 

The parents suggest a few matches to the son and then he chooses. The couple meets and if all goes well there is a marriage. The age of 25 is considered old for marriage. We have seen a few couples having photos and video made of their “love story”, similar to our “engagement photos”. 

The brides have been in hoop skirted white dresses with the grooms opting for dark blue suits. 

It is easy to spot a newly wed bride as the custom is that she where a crown until the birth of her first child. 

One night in Samarkand we were at dinner at a restaurant that was hosting a birthday party for a one year old boy. The party is mostly for the adults. Each of the tables had big bowls of fresh fruit, bread and a centrepiece that looked liked scoops of colourful ice cream and candles.

The other birthdays for kids that have a special celebration are: 7 (start of school although kids start kindergarten at age 3), 12 (maturity) and 18 (legal adult).

For adults the special celebrations are 40, 50 and 63 (the age that the prophets have died).

The Summer Palace

We visited the  Summer Palace of the last Emir, Alim Khan who was coronated in 1910.  The exterior was build by a Russian architect, while the inside was finished by local artisans.

The main Reception Room is all white alabaster.

The other rooms are all done in colourful glazed mosaics 

What would a Summer Palace be without peacocks

The highlight of the Palace was the harem, where the Emir kept anywhere from 40-100 concubines, aged 14- 25. Rumour has it that he would sit on an covered elevated pavilion overlooking the pool and would toss an apple. Whoever caught the apple was the “chosen one”

Steve trying his luck with the apple toss......

Having a little dress up fun!

Bukhara

This city recently celebrated its 2500 anniversary, although it was apparently founded in 600 B.C. Everybody who was anybody has attacked this city - Alexander the Great is 300 B.C., the Persians, the Arabs - eventually Genghis Khan trashed the place in 1220 and Tamorlane took over in 1370.

We arrived in the city after a 7 hour drive across the Kyzlkum desert. Sand drifts covering the road are occasionally a problem. In the middle of the desert, we went hours without seeing another person except for a single shepherd with a flock of goats. We also saw the skinniest cows I have ever seen in my life.

The challenge with being in a place that is so old is that its easy to get confused. The building above was considered a landmark design during the era around 800 to 1100 A.D. when "Noble Bukhara" was the intellectual & economic capital of Asia. The building below was built as a copy / replica / advancement of the design - 300 years later!! At this time, Bukhara was home to over double its current population of 260,000.

This small square building is a mausoleum - a tomb for the father of the king who ruled in the year 905. When Genghis Khan was at the gates of the city 300 years later, the inhabitants each pledged to bring a bag of sand to cover it - so it was successfully disguised as a hill. In the 1600's, the city was destroyed by a huge earthquake and abandoned for decades. This building was uncovered by a subsequent earthquake in the 19th century and dug out. This building is original - nothing has been restored. Part of the reason that it has lasted 1100 years is that its walls are 2 meters thick. If you have a wish, you are supposed to say it at the entrance & then walk around the building 9 times to get it to come true. It was 43C when we did our laps, so I think that we paid well for our wishes!

 And even though this UNESCO site has 170 ancient buildings, some things just stay the same everywhere in the world - like everybody likes ice cream and bouncy castles!

The ruler in 1807 couldn't decide what religion was true, so when he built the Char Minar entrance to a local medrassa (Islamic university) he built 4 towers - one for each of the major religions - Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity - just to hedge his bets.

This statue was of a local Don Quiote type character - known for fooling the rich out of their money & giving it to the poor. Yup, that's a couple in the back ground getting their wedding photos. He's in a suit; her dress must have about 20 kilos of taffeta - at 41C!!!

Off to Samarkand today, which is supposed to have even more old buildings!!