Thursday, April 21st, Khujand, Tajikistan

Greetings!

I suppose it’s natural to notice the differences between what you’re familiar with, and what you see when you travel.  Here are some I’ve spotted in this country.

You don’t see many women drivers. Most men drive a couple of recent models of a Ford or Chevrolet.  There’s a huge GM plant in Uzbekistan.

There are no old trees.  Partly in response to the destruction of most old trees, 20 young poplar trees are planted to celebrate a child’s birth.

Every middle class house looks the same.  Their design is a 500-square foot, three-bedroom, one-bath detached house, selling for $60,000 on land they lease from the government for 49 years. 

Yellow gas pipelines are all above ground, wind up and down streets, making right angles over house gates and driveways.

Eastern-style toilets, and easily-broken lids for the western style in hotels (one of our travelers broke one and had to pay).

Meatball, chicken noodle, and vegetable soups and no salads for us westerners.

Discarded statues of Lenin, replaced by mythical figures representing a legendary character.  Usually riding a winged horse.

Royal Crown Cola.  Having it among our lunch drink choices brought back many childhood memories for our group.

Police checkpoints, most half-constructed, and very half-organized.  Border Entries/Exits, between countries who really don’t trust each other.

But enough of what makes us different.   Tajikistan is struggling with balancing security and freedom.  With hundreds of thousands of Tajiks in Afganistan to its south, and tense relations with the countries around them, Tajikistan fears the importation of anything which disrupts the independent state they have fashioned out of post-Soviet industrial collective society.  A recently re-elected President, not particularly liked but voted in for stability, has convinced his people that restrictions on immigration, and large public works projects to control the country's natural resources, are necessary.  Remember that Tajiks are 90% Sunni, and share language and heritage with Iranians.  There is a great concern about terrorist activity, and the government has restricted access by women to mosques, closed medrassas, and inhibited the use of other public forums and communications.

But the country looks pretty good from the tourist point of view.  Markets are busy, and goods are cheap.  Roads need work, but traffic moves well.  Hotels and restaurants are being built, and the service and food are great (you could speed up the internet a little).  

Most impressive is its children.  They are smart, mature, and ready to participate in their country and the world.  Everywhere we go, we have talked with them, and admired their responses and behaviour.  

Exploring 6,000 years of history on this trip, learning about civilizations and viewing what they have left behind, we are also getting a great glimpse into the future of this land as we get to know these young leaders of tomorrow.

To see the photos taken over the past couple of days, click on:

Thursday, April 21st  

Tuesday, April 19th, Ferghana, Uzbekistan

Greetings!

If you’re coming to Uzbekistan, and you need prescriptive drugs, you better have a note from your doctor.  Two senior travelers found that out this month at the Osh border, as they were forbidden entry until they voluntarily smashed all but the few necessary for their stay in the country.  Medicines for the rest of the trip were tossed into a garbage can.

“Not only did they say I couldn’t have them, but they said it’s illegal for anyone in the country to prescribe them for me.  These pills have been my daily routine for 25 years, and now I’m having to go cold turkey for the five weeks left on my trip’, said Susan of Birmingham, Alabama. 

Echoing in, Barbara of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (who was told she could keep five pills), said  “This is outrageous.  No one even keeps the doctor’s prescription.  Most pharmacies keep them, or it’s done electronically.  Do they want to close their borders?’.

The tour group leader, a veteran of decades of travel in this part of the world, responded that this behavior isn’t at all normal, and hopes that the medicines can be obtained in time to reduce the effects on his travelers.  But he wonders if travel to Uzbekistan will suffer from policies like this.

To see the photos taken today, click on Tuesday, April 19th.

Dinner Music in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Greetings!

Our hotel is in the center of town, nearby large public buildings and lots of parks.  Today, we explored the area, and were very impressed.  The Russian government spent plenty of money on this capital city, and did not spare the parks.  It has to be one of the greenest cities in this part of the world.

This is going to be a short post, because I've been working on producing a short video of some musicians we listened to at dinner tonight.  I'll include their contact info later when our guide, Ramil, gets it for me.  In the meantime, please enjoy their performance.




To see the photos taken today, click on Sunday, April 17th.

Saturday, April 16th, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Greetings!

We're in a hotel a few blocks from the park-surrounded Parliament buildings in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyzstan.  We've traveled a thousand kilometers from Kazakhstan into Kyrgyzstan, to a sport recreation facility on Lake Issyk-Kol, to one of the country's eastern door of the Silk Road, and back along it to Bishkek.

We've seen the impact of those who occupied this land over the past 5,000 years.  Carved in the rocks, and buried in the mounds, they left images and materials showing how they lived and what they worshipped.   They hunted goats with trained snow leopards, and fought and traveled on domesticated horses and camels.

Their flag is tribute to the sun and the yurt, and the nomadic tribes which moved about these steppe lands surrounded by long, high mountains have made the best use of both.

And what drew Asians west, and Russian south, is now attracting Europeans east.  Always a rich agricultural resource, and for centuries a pleasant outpost for Central Asia's energy researchers, the land still stirs foreign imaginations.  Oil, water, natural gas, and minerals fuel the pursuit, but don't overlook the skiing and hiking in 500 kilometer-long snow-capped mountain ranges, and trout-fishing and river-rafting on its even longer rivers.

The most impressive resource, however, has to be its people.   Etched into the faces of everyone you see are dozens of local cultures, languages, and tribal histories.  These folks have long histories of being ruled by invaders.  It's now their time to learn how to have their moment in the sun.  Their most recent confederation of independent states should build a powerful force to harness their entrepreneurial spirit.  I can't wait to see their future.
  
To see the photos taken in the last three days, click on:
Thursday, April 14th
Friday, April 15th
Saturday, April 16th

Wednesday, April 13th, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Greetings!

We suspected that we'd find that our fellow travelers would be well-traveled, so we were not surprised to find many who have been to places still on our travel bucket list.  And to hear persuasive rationales why we should look further into some that were not.  It was, however, rewarding to learn that we could provide some advice to others concerning places we'd been.   And a travel blog makes that easier.

The surprise I hope isn't appearing is that Central Asia is looking like anywhere else.  While it may just be that there are limits for travel operators to connect us with more than easy and familiar sights, I fear that ours hasn't pushed very hard against the flow.  Central markets, town squares, memorial parks, museums, side shows, and highly-rated restaurants have filled our time so far.  The presence of a young local guide full of curiosity and enthusiasm has made up for destinations and content which has left my socks still firmly on.

And it may be that my attention is still back home.  You'll not be surprised to learn that I'm writing this awaiting tuning into an all-day Santa Rosa public hearing through my laptop to watch the California Coastal Commission consider allowing the California State Parks and Recreation Department to place pay parking machines along Sonoma's coast.  And that last night, I watched the Santa Rosa City Council debate the method they will utilize to select their representatives on Arts in Public Places Commission.  Clearly, I am not exhausted from many hours exploring the mysteries of the cultural history of Central Asia.

But it's only been the first full day of this adventure.  Give it time.  The exhaustion will come.

For the collection of photos taken (mostly today), click on Wednesday, April 13th.

Tuesday, April 12th, Almaty, Kazakhstan

We’re just west of the point where the Old Silk road exits from China into Kazakhstan, on its way to Samarkand.   We arrived after almost 24 hours of travel, on an old United 747, and a Lufthanza 330 Airbus.  The recent movie selection (Hunger Games, Hateful Eight, Joy, Creed) was helpful, and so was the five hours sleep we got this morning before breakfast in the Kazhol hotel.  

The rivers in the north, south, and east result in rivers flowing west, and we’re headed that way on our journey.  The town we are in (Almaty) was the site of the formal end of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the birth of the Commonwealth of the Independent (five) States.  Founded in 1854, it was Verny, then Almatu, it was devastated by earthquakes in 1887 and 1911.  In 1927, it became the capital of Kazakhstan, and saw an immigration of Russian from the west fleeing Hitler, and an importation of resettled Koreans from the east.   In 1998, the capital was moved north to Astana, and Almaty has become the place to be for sophisticated suburbanites seeking a central transportation and business hub, with parks, museums, and shops.  We’ll be here for two days, and then head south to Kyrgyzstan.

Off to Central Asia on April 10th

Greetings!

Pat and I will be leaving for seven weeks in Central Asia.  Here s a map, containing placemarks where we are staying with the day's itinerary in the pop-up windows.