Part 1 - The Silk Road: Bukhara, Uzbekistan

    The Silk Road, a name that conjures up ancient caravans of camels and traders traveling mind boggling distances for hundreds of years across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. A time, when not only goods were traded, but also ideas about religion, culture, and education. A time, when tales from the Orient came from men who traveled far and wide to see for themselves the mysteries that the great East had to offer. Fast forward a few hundred years and we have photography, the Internet, and television to take us wherever we want to go. Far less imagination and wonder on our part is required these days to become excited about distant lands, and sadly, often times we are bemused by what we see as it is nothing we haven't 'seen' before.

 After traveling six days in the remote nation of Turkmenistan, I found myself at the heart of this ancient trade route. It all began at a dusty old border crossing in the middle of the Karakum desert. Upon arrival at the border, a hideously disorganized group of people were waiting to get through immigration, who had conveniently just gone for an hour lunch. Great. Stuck in 100+ degree heat, little water, and a crowd of people looking at the only two foreigners within a hundred miles of anywhere. Yes, this was the scene at the moment.

 Put a smile on your face however, and things do change. Somehow I started a half-arsed conversation/game of charades with two ladies who were next to me. One was clearly older than the other, I'd guess mid 30's, while the younger one was perhaps my age or thereabouts. After a couple of minutes, it became abundantly clear that the older sister was suggesting that I marry her younger sister. Amused, I played along for a bit and made a couple compliments as to this women's beauty - she was nice looking after all.

 Immigration finally returns from a long and lazy lunch, and we, my friend Erin and I, made our way through the checkpoint and found ourselves waiting to be put into a van to go to the Uzbek side of the border. This side was much faster and convenient. It's also the only border that I've ever gone through that made me see a doctor to take my temperature, something that apparently is the norm.

 With my new found health now confirmed, Erin and I charted a taxi cab to take us the 100+ kilometers to the ancient city of Bukhara! Yes, Bukhara!!!! You're not saying it loud enough people!!!! This was one of the great epicenters of the Silk Road, a city that was up and running before Christ was born. An oasis of trade and education that was world renowned.

 Famous for it's covered XV and XVI century markets, madrassahs, and the famous Kolon minaret (which was the only part of the city not pillaged my Genghis Khan due to its magnificence), I now found myself at the heart of ancient history, which was easily conjured up since the town was well preserved with dusty roads, covered markets, and tiled madrassahs.

 Yes, tiles! Blue tiled buildings that were and are the main trademark of Timur, the leader of an ancient empire in these parts that made the desert sparkle like crystal and brought up a civilization that would stand for hundreds of years. The main artery of this empire was situated in the city of Samarkand, another jewel that will be told about in a separate post.

 Aw, I had arrived. History at my footsteps and centuries old markets to browse through. I was elated to be in this part of the world, for however brief a time. After settling into a nice B&B, I set out to explore this ancient wonder of the world that is often overlooked by travelers to Asia.

 I began the next day by seeking out the Kolon minaret, an ancient tower that even Genghis Khan did not destroy due to its beauty. It's quite unique in that is has over a dozen different designs carved into it, all intricately done and preserved over the years. Next to it, is a huge open-courtyard mosque with a tree in the center. The mosque is decorated with Timur blue tiles that sparkle in the sun and that cause a nice shine to cover the building. Across from the minaret, lies the cities oldest madrassah with blue-tiles and a very unique entryway that is carved and decorated with a sort of Arab design, including the archways.

 After a nice introduction to the city, I felt my way around the covered markets. And what did I hit up first, you might ask? The carpet shop, of course! Within seconds I was swept into a dome covered room that contained loads of carpets, both new and old. I looked around, saw some nice silk rugs for $850 and bid adieu to the beautiful sister of the lady who dragged me in, but spoke little English. Of course, she took me to her shop next where she unsuccessfully tried to sell me some hand embroidered pillow cases.

 I also came across a very small spice shop where the man carved out gourds to be used as spice containers. Intrigued, I looked at the spices and decided on a spice that I no longer remember, but had it filled into a gourd thinking it would be a unique souvenir. The gourds had a nice leather strap that plugged the top so that you could carry it and not have your spices all over the ground. I took a rather good photo of this nice place and it is currently the cover photo of my Facebook page. Take a peak.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention the Ark! This was the first place that I visited. It's an ancient fortress that was the seat of power for the local 'king' or 'sultan' back in the day. It's a huge, rundown complex that is being restored and contains many great examples of Islamic architecture and battle-defenses from back in the day. Definitely worth checking out if you pass by Bukhara!

The rest of Bukhara can be described as bliss. Teashops, old streets, intricately designed mosques, blue-tiled domes and madrassahs, nice people, and a very cheap place to travel. Bukhara is a place that I will always remember, and if I'm lucky, will bestow another, perhaps longer visit in the future.

Off to Samarkand....

 

The 'North Korea' of Central Asia: Turkmenistan

      Nearing the end of this current vacation, I feel like I should start to compile all of my thoughts of the various countries that I've been traveling in. In total, four countries have been visited this time around - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Bulgaria. While still in Bulgaria, my thoughts are else where pondering all that I've done and wondering what the next adventure will be in the coming months. This first post about my current excursions in Asia focuses on the mysterious country of Turkmenistan.

    They call it the 'North Korea of Central Asia.' It's a totalitarian dictatorship in the middle of a vast desert that has some of the largest natural gas reserves on Earth, which gives it the vast wealth that has enabled it to flourish in the past few years. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashgabat, a beautiful, modern capital city that has enjoyed a fast level of modernization thanks to the pet projects of former president Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmen) and also the current ruler. It's a city full of white marble buildings, wide boulevards and guards on every corner of the capital.

  To get the visa for this haven of extravaganza, I had to wait three months and fill in various forms related to my profession, current work status, etc... On top of this, I had to pay $95 in fees to get the damn thing. Upon arrival in Ashgabat with my friend Erin, from San Francisco, we walked into what resembled an abandoned warehouse, this was their airport. Being that we arrived in the middle of the night, the custom officials took their sweet time before starting to process the small plane that carried us into this tyrannical paradise. After roughly an hour of getting the visa, customs, and finding our driver, I was ready for bed.

 The funny thing about Turkmenistan is that you have to travel there through an official tourist agency. The one we chose was called Owadan Travel, a nice company that fulfilled all of their contract obligations that we paid for. A nice 19 year old Turkmen picked us up from the airport and brought us to the Ak Altyn hotel in Ashgabat, a four star hotel that is slightly outdated in certain amenities, such as the Soviet era hairdryer in the bathroom.

 Ashgabat was a lovely town, and so were the people. The women wear colorful dresses with floral patterns and interesting bonnets that cover their hair, but not in a traditional Muslim way that you would think of. The men wear very western clothing and act socially in public with women, going out, holding hands, laughing, etc... on comparison to other countries in the Islamic world.

 The town is ultra modern with golden statues of their 'leader for life,' Turkmenbashi littered all over the parks and lawns of official government buildings. This man, who was the leader of Turkmenistan before its independence from the former USSR, declared himself president for life and created a cult status for himself that continues to be indoctrinated into the youth of the country.

 White marble buildings, green parks, roads to be glorified compared to America, can all be found in this truly lovely town. Sadly, it's forbidden to take pictures of many buildings in the capital and the guards are very strict about having their pictures taken as well. One time, I was yelled at by a guard for walking on the sidewalk next to some unknown building with a fancy gate... the same thing happened the next day.

 On my two day stay in Ashgabat, I went up into the green hills surrounding the city in a cable car journey that will not soon be forgotten. The scenery was stunning and the ride was scary. Luckily for me, my travel buddy didn't rock the car like he threatened to do. I also saw the various monuments, buildings, and parks that are sparsed throughout town and was really impressed with how modern the 'country' appeared to be.

 The next stop on this eery tour of Turkmenistan was a gas crater that was set on fire by the Russians in the 1970's. This crater is quite large and is totally engulfed in flames. The smell of gas proliferates around the area. This site has become the biggest tourist attraction for the 7000 tourists that pass through this country. Erin and I camped behind a small dune nearby with our guides for that day. We  had some lovely shaslyk - lamb kebabs that were roasted over the fire and enjoyed a night full of gazing at the crater and the stars that you could see through the gleaming lights of the fire.

 The crater was the best part of the trip for me. The last three days of our trip were spent on some of the most horrible roads you could imagine. As soon as you leave the capital, the great infrastructure that you are meant to believe exists, goes away and turns into pot-holed roads for hundreds of kilometers. If you don't like to go off roading, I would not reccomend traveling to Turkmenistan. Erin and I spent hours wishing we stayed in the capital. The last part our stay in the country was to see the UNESCO sites of Konye-Urgench and Merv.

 Overall, Turkmenistan was the oddest country that I've ever been to. First off, there are very few ATMs in the country. I found one. As such, you have to bring in all of the money that think you are going to spend during your stay, oh, and your US dollars MUST. BE. PERFECT. They cannot have any writing, blotch marks, stamps, wrinkles, etc... or else they will be rejected and useless to you. Erin and I found this out the hard way and were scraping for cash in a country where an electronic debit/credit card is almost useless.

 The nightlife in the country is very quiet from what we found. We found on British Pub that was rather expensive and during the course of my stay, I was hit on by a Ukrainian hooker, whose phone number of passed on to me at the end of the conversation we had. No, nothing happened.

 Once you leave the capital city, most of the country is a vast wasteland of desert shrubs and arid sand dunes. There's really nothing to see outside the capital that captured my attention in the three days that I saw from the roadside.

 These are just some of the details that I observed and remember at this point in time. There is a lot more that could be written, but suffice to say that I had fun in this very unusual country.

 For my friend, Ann Marsh, who would like to go here in the next few months. It is my opinion that four days in the country would be more than enough - 2 in the capital, one at the gas crater, and the last one stopping at Konye-Urgench while on your way to cross into Uzbekistan. Mary and Merv are not worth the extra two-three days of your time, and since you are paying for a tour company, this would cut your cost down a couple hundred dollars at least. Ashgabat and Darvaza is more than enough to see in my opinion.

 Greetings from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria!!!!!

Wandering again...

   Looking at my blog, it has been neglected since November 29th!

 Let's try to bring this thing up to date in not so many words.

 Afghanistan is going well, I've been here for nine months now and my contract renewal is coming up at the end of June. My classes are going well, and attacks in the city have been sporadic but nothing too bad as of late (fingers crossed).

 Winter was very mild. In Kabul we didn't have much snow. The temperatures were quite low sometimes, however.

 My carpet collection has grown by two or three rugs. To my credit, two of those are gifts....

 Tomorrow I'm off on vacation. I will be gone from April 3rd-29th. I'll be heading to Turkmenistan on the first leg of my journey. I'm looking forward to camping in the desert, seeing the Diwaza gas craters, swimming in an underground lake, and seeing the craziness that is Ashgabat!

 After that, I'm off to Uzbekistan. I'll be hitting up the ancient Silk Road towns of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent, before flying back to Istanbul, Turkey to meetup with my Colombian friend, Gustavo. I went to Istanbul last year and loved it. After 'mi Buenos Aires querido,' it's the best city on Earth!
 Finally, I'll be flying to Barcelona, Spain to stay at my friend's place while exploring the sites of Catalunya.

 That's all I have for now. I'll catch you guys next time.

 -  Jesse