Category Archives: Central Asia
Uzbek football, Korean streets and the Games. A 2018 wrap-up.
The last trip of the year ended today. I crossed the crucial threshold somewhere between the Brazilian rainforest and the Atlantic, blissfully unaware of it as I slept in my airplane seat wrapped in one of those duvets that are … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Tagged 2018, 2018 retrospective, 2018 World Nomad Games, Beirut, Bukhara, Buxoro, Cholpon Ata, End of year, Football, Incheon, Korea, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Night, Seoul, South Korea, Sport, Uzbekistan, World Nomad Games
15 Comments
The devil’s horsemen.
For the Parthians shot as they fled, being, indeed, more adept at this than anyone except the Scythians, and it is certainly a very clever manoeuvre – to fight and to look after one’s own safety at the same time. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Ammianus, Asia, Carrhae, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Crassus, Genghis, Giovanni da pian del carmine, Hungary, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Kazakhstan, Kyrchyn, Kyrgyzstan, Magyar, Marcellinus, Mongol, Nomad, Parthians, Photography, Plutarch, Res Gestae, Scythians, Travel, WNG, World Nomad Games, Ystoria
14 Comments
Genghis’ Camp.
This didn’t feel like Central Asia. The road was smooth, the ride quiet, the old Mercedes van that did the honours as our marshrutka, or collective taxi, wasn’t packed to the gunwales. Our driver, a faded Denver Broncos hat planted on … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Ala tau, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Ethno Park, Felt tent, Food, Gorge, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Jew's Harp, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Lake, Lenin, Lenin statue, Mountains, Music, Nomad, Throat singing, Tien Shan, WNG, World Nomad Game, Yurt
19 Comments
Throwing wolves by the lake shore.
Generalisations are often prone to error and misrepresentation, but – sometimes – they do hit the mark. I, for instance, always attached an aura of upper class, or in other words a certain whiff of snobbery, with all activities performed … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged 2018 WNG, 2018 World Nomad Games, Altai, Buzkash, Cholpon Ata, gögbörü, Grey Wolf, Hippodrome, Horse, Horse riding, horsemanship, Ippodrom, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Kazan, Kok Boru, kokpar, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Lake, Mongolia, Nauryzkhan Khajnabi, Nomadic sports, Polo, Russia, Sand, Sport, Wolfpack, World Nomad Games
15 Comments
Be Right Back.
I’ve been in a place where Hungarians dress up like they used to do a millenium ago, speed to a full gallop and then throw arrows into a padded target, whilst Kyrgyz flags flutter in the wind, yurts are everywhere … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Archery, Asia, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Issyk Kul, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, World Nomad Games
12 Comments
The 5.29 train to Aktobe.
This post dates from over a year ago. It wasn’t meant for publication on this blog; a book was going to be its destiny, a book on travels in Central Asia. Alas, this wasn’t to be; yet, I liked this … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aktobe, Aktyubinsk, Aqtobe, Aralsk, Aralskoye More, Asia, Bas relief, Carpe diem, Central Asia, Failed books, Family, Kazakhstan, Kupe, Kyzyl Orda, Kyzylorda, Lenin, Long distance, Long distance trains in Kazakhstan, Plazkart, Propaganda, Russia, Steppe, Train, Train journeys, Trains in Kazakhstan
16 Comments
To the last city.
No, that’s a misnomer. Tashkent was, if anything, Uzbekistan’s first city, at least in the modern sense of the term. First one to be occupied by the Russians, first one to be reached by a railroad, first to host all … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Asia, Central Asia, Christianity, City, Cityscape, Cycling, Earthquake, Food, G55 AMG, Hotel Uzbekistan, Islam, Islam Karimov, Karimov, Kazakhstan, Korean, Kosmonavtlar, Lenin, Marx, Mercedes, Mirobod, Soviet, Soviet Union, Street photography, Urban photography, USSR, Uzbek Koreans, Uzbekistan
9 Comments
Looking up in Uzbekistan.
Remember shoegazing, that 1980s genre? Well, had any of those musicians been in Ulug Beg Madrasa, in Samarkand, they’d have missed this. Sometimes it’s useful to be walking with one eye to the heavens and one to the floor. Especially … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Amulet Hotel, Bazaar, Bibi Khanum, Bukhara, Chasma Ayub, Chorsu, Chorsu Bazaar, Cupola, dOMES, GoPro, Hero, Islam, Job, Madrasa, Madrasah, Mausoleum, Religion, Samarkand, Tamerlane, Tashkent, Ulug Beg, Uzbekistan
15 Comments
Buxoro PFC home: an excursion into Uzbekistan’s Premier League.
It is normally the case, at least for me, to be stumbling upon great finds almost entirely by chance, and today was exactly one such case. We were sitting on a topchan at the hotel, yet again cheered by endless … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Bukhara, Buxoro, Central Asia, Fans, Football, Goal, Pakhtakor, Paxtakor, Premier League, Soccer, Super League, Tashkent, Ultras, Uzbekistan
11 Comments
