“Where once merchants had travelled at will between decaying Muslim knanates, the frontiers of the new Central Asia were a bureaucrat’s paradise”. (Shadow of the Silk Road, Colin Thubron). So, so true. The kindest thing…
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From Khiva we returned to Urgench and caught a train to Nukus for a trip out to the Aral Sea, or what is left of it. The Aral Sea is not a sea. It is…
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Another day, another Silk Road city. It must be said that by now John was a little over ‘the four M’s’ (mosques, mausoleums, minarets and medresses) but hey, we are unlikely to ever be back…
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“Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells, when shadows pass gigantic on the sand, and softly through the silence beat the bells, along the Golden Road to Samarkand.” (The Golden Road to Samarkand,…
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From Bukhara we drove out to a yurt camp near Lake Aydarkul. On the way we stopped to see an ancient water reservoir. And some even more ancient petroglyphs. When we arrived they were setting…
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