Gallivanting the globe 2019 - RTW and then some

[Antoallison]

Is there something you have forgotten to tell us ?
Lots of bridal photos in the last post

 

[JohnM]

Is there something you have forgotten to tell us ?
Lots of bridal photos in the last post

There were a LOT of weddings going on there.

The only thing I really like about weddings: lots of eye-candy among the bride's entourage and friends.

 

[JohnM]

About 40km out of Termez is Kampyr-Tepe, the oldest site in Uzbekistan, dating back to the 4th century BCE. It’s on elevated land above the Oxus river dividing Uzbekistan from Afghanistan and it’s heavily eroded. The river flats support rice-growing.



Afghanistan is over the other side of the river.

 

[JohnM]

The Sultan Sadat complex. Buried here are members of the Sayyid dynasty who ruled Termez from 11th-15th centuries.



Termez has an impressive archaeological museum.



Next morning, it was heading to the border to cross into Tajikistan with a stop to check out the unusual 12th century minaret in Jarkurgan on the way.

 

[JohnM]

As we approached Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan and our first stop, the first of many posters proclaiming the hero status of the president. He has held the post since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Tajik independence in 1994. Despite that seemingly oppressive overtone, the place is quite benign - like the rest of the 5 Stans.

On arrival in Dushanbe, we did a city tour, fairly quickly taking in various monuments, museums and general sights. Various influences at play over the centuries. Quite an impressive city in the centre at least.

 

[JohnM]

 

[Antoallison]

It looks fascinating and makes me realise I know very little (zilch) about the history of the area.

Did you read up about the culture beforehand ?

Everything looks so clean and well laid out, and there appears to be no graffiti ?

 

[JohnM]

I perused the Central Asia Lonely Planet.

The history is so deep and complex in those areas that, fascinating as it is, I tend to skim it. It would be more than a life's work to understand it.

I'm much more into natural environments and I reckon I've just about done my fill of most man-made stuff (I think I've reached peak ABC, ABM, ABT - not another bloody church/mosque/temple). And India is yet to come...

Dushanbe was very clean - as were most if not all of the other places. I can't recall seeing any graffiti.

It is very easy to be insular as an Australian...

 

[JohnM]

The next morning, it was out of Dushanbe and into the Fann Mountains with destination scenic Iskanderkul Lake – and a not unwelcome goodbye to mosques, mausoleums, museums for a while to take in some natural scenery.

 

[JohnM]

A pitstop and to get some beer before turning off the bitumen and up into the mountains. Our hero again. I don’t think the locals take it seriously.



And our destination for the night – cabins at the campsite at rather beautiful Iskanderkul Lake.

 

[JohnM]

Off for a hike in the afternoon, followed by beers on the deck at sunset.

 

[JohnM]

Heading back out of the Fann Mountains the next day to resume our journey NE across Tajikistan to Khujand via Istravashan.

 

[RooFlyer]

hero status of the president.

Frequently pictured in hard hat ... known to the group as 'Bob the Builder'

The history is so deep and complex in those areas that, fascinating as it is, I tend to skim it. It would be more than a life's work to understand it.

I agree, although I'm a bit more into the history than most others. It was a little satisfying by the end of the trip to discover a number of themes in the history coming together. But it was noticeable that the 'heros' of the eastern Stans (eg Genghis Khan) was the enemy of the western ones (Timur) and vice-versa. JohnM and I have also seen it from the Persian's point of view and I at least from the Ottoman's.

 

[JohnM]

Istaravshan is a busy town that was once a major staging post on the Silk Road. It was pillaged by both Alexander the Great and Chinggis Khan.

A highlight of the bazaar is Blacksmith’s Arcade where they make top-quality knives from better types of scrap steel, such as engine valves and bearings. It was stated that Russian cars were the worst manufacturing quality but made from the best quality steel!



I tossed up between the two small bone-handled and horn-handled knives at the top right, before opting for the weightier bone-handled piece.



We had lunch at a particularly good and spotless cafeteria with an amazing array of inexpensive food.



Our buddy was waving to us from across the street. The town was encircled by a 6km wall. What appeared to be a spectacular remnant of the citadel was in fact a re-creation – and merely the entry to the town’s sports stadium.



The run to Khujand continued through valley-floor farmland. Mid-summer hay-cutting and harvesting, with plenty of roadside-selling, of massive quantities of melons and onions was in full swing.

 

[JohnM]

The Arbob Cultural Palace is the former headquarters of a Soviet collective farm, built in the 1950s and modelled on the winter gardens of Peterhof, St Petersburg. The centre was built in the 1950s under the leadership of Urukhojaev, the head of the collective farm. He was a significant Tajik who sat on Soviet committees and was well known in the area around Khujand and in Tajikistan generally.

The main building consists of three wings, with an ornate theatre seating 800 people in the main wing. One of the side wings has a museum that tells the history of Arbob and of collectivisation and the soviet empire in Tajikistan.



The main square with a mosque complex on one side and the Panchshanbe Bazaar, reputedly the largest in Central Asia, on the other.



The Historical Museum of Sughd Province has a particularly fine set of modern marble mosaics depicting the life of Alexander the Great.



Our hotel was on the Syr-Darya River and it was pleasant dining on the terrace.

Next morning, we continued NE to cross back into Uzbekistan.



And that is an appropriate place to pause, as tomorrow I'm shooting through to the Southern Ocean for two weeks: The Galapagos of the Southern Ocean

 

[JohnM]

OK, resuming transmission after a little interlude in the Southern Ocean.

We only had a day for the second visit to Uzbekistan. A quirk of wriggly borders. We tracked along the fertile and heavily populated Ferghana Valley.



First stop was at Kokand, one of Uzbekistan’s three great 19th century khanates, and the Khan’s Palace.



A visit to a silk workshop. Unravelling the silk strands from the cocoons, spinning, a form of tie-dying, carpet-making and weaving – on hand looms and some ancient Dickensian mechanical looms that clanked and whirred prodigiously.

 

[JohnM]

The madrassa.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning, it was a short drive along the Ferghana Valley to the Kyrgyzstan border.



Once in the city of Osh, the first stop was Suleiman Too (Solomon’s Throne), a rocky hill that dominates the locality. It’s been a Muslim place of pilgrimage for centuries. The cave/museum takes you up inside the mountain to the view-point.



And then the path and steps to the top.



And on we go eastwards through the Ferghana Valley and into the hills to our homestays in the lovely village of Arslan Bob. Harvest and selling the produce was in full swing.

 

[JohnM]

Arslan Bob’s attractions are the picturesque spread-out village and outdoor activities centred around the nearby mountains and its location in the world’s largest walnut grove.

A very pleasant morning walk took us through the back parts of the village, past a waterfall and into the walnut forest. This year was on off-year for walnut production.

 

[JohnM]