England

Winchester

We got back to England and went to visit my grandparents in Winchester. Chantal and my dad had to leave to go back to the USA for work fairly quickly, but Lorelei, my mom and I hung around in England for about a week and a half. We relaxed  in Winchester, watching movies, strolling the High Street and eating my grandmother's delicious cooking.

Book of Mormon in London

We also went to London for a few days. We got to stay at my Aunt's lovely house and roam the city a little bit. We walked through various shopping areas and ate at delicious restaurants. Lorelei and I saw Book of Mormon, which was good, but didn't quite live up to all the hype I had heard. It wasn't as hilarious as I wanted it to be. I also cut my hair short, which was a big change for me as I've haven't had it short since 6th grade.

At the end of our summer travels, we waved Lorelei off as she headed to Spain for her semester abroad in Granada and my mom and I flew home to Austin.

Before and after my haircut

Quick trip into Istanbul

On our way back to England, we had a long layover in Istanbul. Chantal, Lorelei, my father and I went ahead and grabbed a taxi into town while my mother valiantly sacrificed herself to stay in the airport and watch our stuff. It was fun being back in Istanbul, even if just for a couple of hours. We went into the Hagia Sofia, ate doner kebabs for lunch, got Turkish delights and finished up with rooftop drinks from the restaurant Nathan and I had gone to during our trip. Short, but fun.

Rooftop drinks

Kyrgyzstan

Me in front of Son Kul 

We drove from Almaty to Bishkek. It was a pretty drive through the Kazakh steppes (this part of the trip became more about nature than seeing historic places). Bishkek was also a big city, but didn't feel quite as European as Almaty. We went straight to the mall to try and buy warm clothes for our trip up into the mountains. We didn't find too many options, but Lorelei and Chantal did get jackets. After that, we looked at the Eternal Flame monument and wandered through a park with a lot of amusement rides, then went to dinner.

The next day before heading to the mountains we made a shopping stop at a local felt workshop. My mom bought a lot of silk scarves decorated with felt which were handmade and gorgeous. We then started our long journey to Song Kul, the high, hard to get to mountain lake. 

Before we got to the mountains we visited one last tower that used to be a minaret. It was then a beautiful, winding drive as we headed up through the mountains. We passed by goats, sheep and herders riding horses. 

Yurt camp in the morning

We arrived after dark at the yurt campsite that was to be our accommodation for the night. The ones we thought we would be staying at in the main camp were fully booked, so we were sent to a nearby extension camp. This yurt experience was extremely different  from the first one we had in Uzbekistan. It was FREEEEZING. No lights. No running water. The staff spoke no English. It was rough, to say the least.

Petroglyphs of goats

The next morning we hiked up a nearby ridge to see some ancient petroglyphs. We then rode horses with two local boys along the edge of the lake. We had a quick lunch, then headed out back down the mountains to a town, Kochkor. We were staying at someone's house and it was surprisingly comfortable and sweet.  We spent the night there after a delicious dinner and the next morning went to a local felt workshop collective. We spent forever at the felt shop looking at carpets and various artifacts, and ended up buying quite a lot.

Felt Carpet

After shopping, we drove back to Bishkek. We went to a local fabric market to look for materials for my sister Chantal, but they were all imported Chinese fabrics. We visited the History museum and saw a couple other sights around the city.



 That was the end of our Central Asian adventure. The next morning we flew to Istanbul

Details of what we did:

Day 14, Wednesday, August 21, Almaty- Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)

·       Border crossing. Sove’t with us this time so able to get lots of help. More chaotic, more people than other border crossings as lots of Kazakhs going to Issy-Kul resort.

·       Sum Central Universal Mall: top floor of shopping mall to look for souvenirs, antiques and warm clothes for Song Kul stay.

·       Eternal Flame and walk through Panfilov Park filled with rides and amusement arcades

Day 15, Thursday, August 22, Bishkek- Song Kul (7 hours drive)

·       Philomonic Building stop

·       Stop at workshop house of “Seven Sisters” Bought lots of silk/felt scarves.

·        Drive to Song Kul

·       Burana Tower (minaret, with museum and grave stones)

·       Beautiful drive through mountains –see yurts and local herds of goats, sheep, horses, yak etc

·       Song Kul Yurt camp at 3016m above sea level  –arrived after sunset. The yurt was cold, the furnace not lit, the roof had plastic covering the gaps where the felt had gone. It was altogether cold and fairly miserable. This stay was the only major hiccup of the trip.

Day 16: Friday, August 23, Song Kul –Kochkor 140 km, 3 hours

·       Walk up hill (difficult at this altitude) to see rock petroglyphs of Ibex rams

·       Visit local nomad yurt lady and taste fermented mare’s milk –kynus –like a tasty lassi.

·       Horse ride along the lake for an hour.

·       Spectacular drive over “33 Bends” pass to Kochkor

·       Local home stay – surprised to find it very clean, pretty and comfortable

·       Fatima’s felt shop 

·        

Day 17: Saturday, August 24, Kochkor- Bishkek (200km 4 hours)

·       7.30am Breakfast at home stay

·       Fatima’s felt making workshop –very interesting and interactive. 

·       Drive 3 hours to Bishkek

·       Medina Market to look for embroidered local fabrics for Chantal but could only find cheap fabrics imported from China

·       National History Museum –needs to be updated but interesting to review what we have seen and learnt

·       Lenin’s Statue +Mana Statue in Square

Day 18: Sunday, August 25, Bishkek –London

·       flight to London via Istanbul

Kazakhstan

Orthodox Church

On the return from Tajikistan, we spent the night in Tashkent yet again before flying to Almaty the next morning and saying goodbye to Uzbekistan for good. In Almaty we met our guide for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Sove't. Sove't was very nice and young and intelligent, but with an extremely logical mind and pretty anxious. After laid back Bek, it took as a while to get used to Sove't careful calculations of exact departure times, but he grew on us.

View from the gondola ride

Almaty was the most "westernized" city we visited. Obviously Ashgabat was built recently and looks very modern, but it was empty. Almaty was a bustling urban center with lots of familiar brand name stores and a very fancy Folk Instruments museum. We also visited a Russian Orthodox church and walked by a World War 2 memorial before driving to take a cable car up into the mountains. The mountains were pretty, but fairly deforested in sections. We stayed in a very nice, full European style hotel for our one night. We were all almost tempted to just stay in the hotel and soak up their spa experience and delicious breakfast, but we had to leave the next day for Kyrgyzstan.

Before leaving for Krygyzstan, we went to the big main museum, another monument and a bazaar. We then set off on our drive. We were keeping the same guide, driver and car so we were able to have Sove't help us with the border formalities, which were busy and crowded. 

Details of what we did:

Day 13: Tuesday, August 20, Tashkent –Almaty (Kazakhstan)

·       Flight to Almaty –big thriving city very European in feel. Big brand name shops. Met by guide Sove’t 

·       Panfilov Park with Cathederal of Holy Ascension and Glory Memorial to the 28 soldiers killed by German tanks.

·       Museum of National Folk Musical Instruments –very modern, hi-tech museum well worth the visit. A good museum guide.

·       Mountains Shymbulak –take cable car to 1st observation stage and have drink and bun at Pappa Roti. On way up have great views and see famous ice-skating rink used in past by Russian Olympiads.

Day 14, Wednesday, August 21, Almaty- Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)

·       Central State Museum

·       Independence Monument 

·       Green Bazaar (bought more dried fruit and CDs)

·       Leave for Bishkek and drive through Kazakh Steppe

·       Border crossing. Sove’t with us this time so able to get lots of help. More chaotic, more people than other border crossings as lots of Kazakhs going to Issy-Kul resort.

Tajikstan

Traditional band

After our tattoo adventure and saying farewell to Selina, we drove to the Tajik border. Here we once again said goodbye to Bek and crossed through the border station on foot. We were met on the other side by our new guide, Khusrov. We then had an hour drive to our destination, Khodjand. On the way we stopped and observed a wedding party. Apparently there are tons of weddings in Tajikistan, and they're very big celebrations with traditional bands and big feasts. We felt awkward about stopping on the side of the road to watch the wedding procession into the building, but our guide had us get out and the people were so friendly that the band played again specifically for us and we were invited to join the party. We declined, and carried on with our journey.

Buying bread at the market

Once in Khodjand, we stopped to see a beautiful, huge tea house (there was another wedding so we just peeked inside) and looked at the nearby government meeting house in the park. Tajikistan is one of the poorer countries in Central Asia, and the hotel that we stayed in was pretty dismal. However, it did feel like the people that we met were more friendly and vivacious then those we had come across in other places. We went to the main square and there were so many people! We must have seen 5 wedding couples getting their photos taken in front of the fountain and statue. It was a lot of fun to see all the little kids running around and teenagers hanging out. This was the kind of "scene" that I felt was missing in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. I could've hung out at the square all evening, but we left for dinner.

We only spent one night in Tajikistan. The next morning we visited their two big mosques, bazaar and handicraft area. We all snacked on bread and bought local tapestries, called suzannis. We visited a couple of park-type areas with monuments and a small fortress, then went to two nearby lake beaches. One was public and one was private. Not exactly pristine, white sand beaches, but it was fun once again to see people out and splashing around. We then drove back to the Uzbek border and were met again by Bek who drove us to Tashkent.

In front of the two mosques and mausoleum

Details of what we did:

Day 11: Sunday, August 18, Tashkent-Khodjand (Tajikistan)

·       Drove to border 

·       Met by new guide Khusrov. Khusrov very likable and proud of his country and wanting us to love it. Had been on eco-tourism course in Washington DC and very enthusiastic about needing to improve tourism in Tajikistan)

·       Drive to Khodjand (I hour) with stop to see local wedding at a restaurant

·       National Tea House (another wedding taking place), Government meeting house, Somine Square with its huge statue, large crowds and wedding parties –all very vibrant and fun to watch.

Day 12: Monday, August 19, Khodjand-Tashkent (Uzbekistan)

·        Friday Mosque, Mausoleum and New Mosque

·       Bazaar –fruit, bread and vegetables

·       Handicraft area near Bazaar

·       History Museum (from outside as closed) + run down and bare Archeology museum

·       Temurmalik Fortress

·       walk through park to bronze busts of famous Tajiks on a riverside area

·       Lenin’s Statue + Afghan War Memorial

·       Kayrokum Lake/resevoir –visit public beach (collect sand) and private club area –not very attractive

·       Cross border –empty and go through relatively quickly. 

·       Bek picks us up 

Uzbekistan Pt. 2

Lorelei surveying the mud fort

We crossed back into Uzbekistan from Turkmenistan to see a couple places in the northern part of Uzbekistan. We went to Nukus specifically to visit a museum. It's an unusual museum in this random town in the middle of the desert filled with a world class collection of art mainly from the Soviet period. We had a great tour guide who made the visit very interesting.

Yurts on yurts on yurts

That night we traveled to a "yurt hotel," stopping to see another ancient, mostly eroded mud fort on the way (we saw baby snakes!). Yurts are what the nomads of the are live in. These were super nice yurts, built on concrete bases with a light in each yurt and plenty of carpets on the ground and walls and comfortable bed pads. The "hotel" was on a mesa in the middle of the desert, and it was breathtaking. I loved it. We met some of the other visitors, but mostly just enjoyed soaking in the sunset and then the beautiful morning light the next day. Definitely was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me. 

One of the many restored
 buildings of Khiva

We then visited Khiva, where we had an awesome local guide who I really liked. However, it was basically one big reconstructed ancient city. This meant that there were a ton of things to see and it looked cool, but it also felt really touristy and fake. Everything was too perfectly repaired- it didn't feel very ancient.

Family tats. We're practically a gang.

We went back to Tashkent and this second visit left me with a different impression as we visited more local and lively parts of the city, like the market. We also got tattoos! My sisters had been discussing getting a "sister tattoo" for a while. Something inconspicuous and small, but sweet with a good story behind it. We settled on four small dots on the inside of right ring finger. It took us a while to hunt down a place to get them, but we managed. My parents also got the four dots, but under their wedding bands. The sad news is that finger tattoos don't last very well since hands get so much use and the skin wears off. So mine is mostly gone by now, I think I'll have to get it redone. 

This is the point at which Selina left us to go back to work. Very sad. 

Details of what we did:

Day 9: Friday, August 16, Ashgabat-Dashoguz –Kalas (Uzbekistan)

·       early morning flight to Dashogus

·       Drive to Konye-Urgench: explore Turabeg Khanym Complex, Sayid Ahmed Mausoleum, Gutlug Timur Minaret, Sultan Tekesh Mausoleum, Kyrk Molla (Forty Mullahs Hill), Il-Arslan Mausoleum. Meant to be 2nd most important place to go on Hajj after Mecca. Busy with genuine pilgrims but not as spectacular as some of the other monuments and rather dusty and unkempt.

·        Border crossing. Arrived at empty border office as guards going on lunch break. 

·       Met by Bek

·        Savitsky Museum – worth the visit to see such a huge collection of Russian impressionists and other relatively unknown artists. Museum is expanding and the main reason why Nukus survives in this drought stricken region. Very close to Aral Sea (3 hour drive north). Spoke about going but couldn’t fit it in last moment and would need four wheeled jeeps.

·       Drive through desert with stop at striking and huge Tuprok kala mud fortress (saw small snakes)

·       Arrive at Ayaz Kala yurt hotel at sunset so miss viewing the yurt lifestyle during the day. Did see camels wandering around camp.

Day 10: Saturday, August 17, Kala-Khiva-Tashkent

·       Breakfast in yurt and coffee/watermelon/biscuits outside on rug overlooking desert –perfect- could have stayed all day

·       Leave yurt hotel

·       Arrive in Khiva –explore Ichan Kala with local guide Timor. Very good at his job. However, so much to see that difficult to remember all the sites looking back. Ichan kala was a little too perfect and felt almost like a fake Disney attraction. Very lovely though lacked the hustle and bustle of Bukhara as not a residential city.

·       Medreseh Mohammad Amin

·       minaret

·       Madre Niyaz Dayvoon Bege (toilet stop)

·       Khiva Square with majolica place

·       Kuhna Ark –Han reception

·       Lunch at Yasavol Bashi Restaurant (old bodyguard training center) (Bek pays?)

·       Mohammand Rakhim Khan Medreseh (Feruz)

·       Juma Mosque (213 wood pillars –fabulous!)

·       Caravanserai (door)

·       Harem (rectangular majorca all around large courtyeard) + Tash Hauli Palace

·       Slave market

·       + minaret

·       Kheivak Well

·       Islom-Hoja Medreseh and minaret

·       Museum of Applied Art

·       New State School

·       Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum

·       Khiva Silk carpet workshop

·       Wood Carving workshop 

·       Late flight back to Tashkent 

Day 11: Sunday, August 18, Tashkent-Khodjand (Tajikistan)

·       Abulkasium Medreseh and Handicraft Center 

·       Chorsu Bazaar – (bought more dried fruit, nuts and halva sweets –snacks very successful throughout the trip)

·       Everyone got 4 dot “sister tattoos" on fingers and my parents got them under their wedding rings.  However, we have found that the marks are already fading –apparently tattoos are very iffy if put on fingers because the skin comes off easily on the hand. We might have to have them redone.

·       Bek took Selina to airport to return via Bangkok to Singapore.

·       Drove to border 

·       Met by new guide Khusrov. Khusrov very likable and proud of his country and wanting us to love it. Had been on eco-tourism course in Washington DC and very enthusiastic about needing to improve tourism in Tajikistan)

·       Drive to Khodjand (I hour) with stop to see local wedding at a restaurant

·       National Tea House (another wedding taking place), Government meeting house, Somine Square with its huge statue, large crowds and wedding parties –all very vibrant and fun to watch.