The 5-stans of the Middle East

Registan Square:

One of the madrassa building:

Example of a door:

And another:

Having visited Xian twice, I had always had the impression that it was that city that was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. However, when we were in Khiva, a map showed that the actual eastern terminus was Osaka, Japan. A little Google search indeed confirmed the fact that Osaka was active on the Silk Road; it was how Japan integrated not only buddhism, but advanced culture and technology arrived in Japan from Europe and North Africa. This international trade influenced the Japanese culture in unique ways that continues to live through the arts and crafts in Osaka and Nara even today.

I thought this was interesting enough to share.

My wife and I are heading out to the Sunnyvale Art and Wine bazaar today, so I will try to post pictures later in the day.

This man demonstrated for us his ability to play about a half dozen musical instrumets:

We were treated to a private fashion show at this ladies boutique:

Some of her fashions (a very small sample):





Our half-day journey to Tajikistan archway:

The archaeological site at Old Penjikent:

Some of the (questionable) artifacts at the small museum at the site:

At Victoria's boutique; a Renoir-isk garden:

Plates for sale at a madrassa:

Men for sale:

Uleg Bek's observatory:

At Uleg Bek's observatory (a clock?):

The Gir-Emir Mausoleum:

The steps at the mausoleum:

A scene at the mausoleum:

NOTE: Tamerlane's mausoleum is located at a different location than the Gur-Emir mausoleum.
Central Asian men at Tamerlane's mausoleum:


Central Asian young ladies at Tamerlane's mausoleum:

THese pictures are so interesting and captivating, Tak - as always, we travel vicariously through you.

I am taken by these two beautiful girls - amazing

Except for the two young ladies, from left to right from our group are (man with hand on chin) is Sid, our resident physician; Jack, my roommate from Florida; Ken from Carmel-London; and Karen, the lady who took two notebooks worth of notes during our journey.

Oh wow! That is fantastic!

^^ I agree.

I haven't looked through the entire series, ci, but I'm sure they are all as fascinating as these last few pages. Thanks for sharing.

Hope you're doing well.
J

The mausoleum crowd increased:

I think this is a painting of Ulug Bek (son of Tamerlane), the mathematician and astronomer:

They cooked up this huge pot of pilaf for dinner:

This was the restaurant where we had dinner w/pilaf:

Many of the madrassas and buildings in Central Asia had these types of windows (I love them):

We were provided with a private dance show at our hotel:

Dancers:


A poster we saw during our walk (I believe it's an ad for Madam Butterfuly):

Along the Silk Road to Bukhara:

A generation plant:

We had a stop here to look at this fenced area and across the street where there is a water well:



We saw this wedding (the bride bowed to us and clapped):

We had a tour of this ceramic factory:

A sample of their ware:

Our accommodations in Bukhara for three nites:

Bukhara is a wonderful city with its share of madrassas, historic sites, and home to Bukharian Jews who settled here during Roman times, and left after 1925.

The last emir of Bukahara was Muhammad Alim Khan (1880-1944), but its past included many notable people including Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughirah Ibn Bardiziyah al-Bukihari (810-870)m /abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037) - physician with encyclopedic knowledge; Blyami and Narhskhi (10c) - outstanding historians, and many more. This oasis has been inhabited since 3000BC. Bukhara was a vassal state of the Persian Empire and later passed into the hands of Alexander the Great.

The silk trade created a growth boom which ended around 350BC, and after the fall of the Kushan Empire, Bukhara passed into the hands of Hua tribes from Mongolia and into a steep decline. Bukhara became the intellectual center of the Islamic world, and many scholars wrote their treaties here. The most prominent, Imam al-Bukhari, born in Bukhara, gathered most sayings of Prophet Mohammad. The city was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220.

Bukhara continued to play a significant role in regional cultural and religious life into the 19th century. Damezon wrote "The madrasahs in Bukhara are famed throughout Turkestan. Students come here from Khiva, Kokand, Gissar and even from Samarkand and also from many Tatar regions. There are about 60 madrasahs in Bukhara that are more or less successful."

Now, on with the show.

Our Tour Director's hotel:

Addition of five rooms and dining room:

Our first day orientation walk of Bukhara:








[img]

Door treatment:

Statue on way to New Town:

Embroidery:

Children on the street:

Our room at Sasha and Son:

Our local guide:

Spice vendor:

The Arq:

The emir's palace:

Minaret:

Emir's palace reception hall:

Emir's palace vase from Japan:

The Kalyan minaret:

An important madrassa:

Inside court:

neat pics CI.

Thanks, farmerman. Glad you dropped by to take a peek.

On Wednesday, May 21, we departed Bukhara with a full day drive to Khiva, located about 270 miles from Bukhara, is one of the best preserved cities along the Silk Road.

The walled-in city is the museum, and our hotel was located only but a block away from the west gate.

Khiva has a very long history with links to Europe and Asia long before the Silk Road appeared.

The west gate of Khiva:

We stopped at this private home of what looked like nomads in the middle of nowhere living in this mongol tent. There seemed to be about six people living here with four adults and two children. One in our group gave his Road Scholar cap to the young boy.


We crossed this bridge with both a rail track and for cars on this important river.

Several of our WC stops looked like this.

The wall of Khiva.

An important minaret.

This minaret is a standout no matter where in the world.

This minaret has a history behind it.

The map of the Great Silk Road.

These bed-looking furniture are used by Central Asians as a sofa/bed in their yards for socializing, family gatherings, and just snoozing.

These "scholars" participated in this Silk Road journey.

113 pillars in this mosque.

This three year old boy was the star of the show we saw at one of the madrassa of Khiva.

He danced and sang for us.

Outside bread-maker in Khiva.

Going through over 2000 photographs to post on this thread makes for conditions that has me missing some "good" photographs, and posting some not-so-good ones. I'm noticing this problem as I finish one batch to the next, and decided I'll make up those I missed at the end of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

ITMT, I'll continue with Khiva tomorrow. We're in the midst of major renovation of our house, and I need to get some of the plus 200 cardboard boxes of our stuff organized, unpacked, and stored into its proper place.

Of the hundreds of paintings and pictures we had hanging on our walls before the renovation, we now only have less than six. That alone is a major undertaking, because I've decided to select about ten percent of what we have to hang on our newly finished walls, and store the rest.

The progress is slow, because our stucco is not finished, and there are other things like our new deck that must be put in. Most of my plants are cut back or dead, and we still have much interior work to be done.

Hope we're all settled in in a couple of months.

Chow until tomorrow.

Thank you, Tak, for these amazing and beautiful pictures.

I've to say that this is the most impressive travel report I've seen...

BM
(better late than never, I suppose )

This looks great, ci, I'll read it with more care later.