Tag Archives: Central Asia
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
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
Confessions of a graphomaniac.
Doctor, dear doctor, help me for I’m a graphomaniac. Yes doctor, I love paper. I adore the smell of the thing, the muffled noise of a pencil running on a smooth sheet. In a nutshell, doctor, I love writing. I … Continue reading
Posted in Odd ones out, Random memories
Tagged Asia, Beirut, Central Asia, Drawing, Graphomania, Graphomaniac, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mapping, Maps, Memories, Middle East, Mitsubishi, Moleskine, Norris, Note, Pamir, Pen, Sri Lanka, Staedler, Travel, Travel literature, Travelling, Writing
26 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
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
A sunset over Po-i-Kalyon
Showcasing Bukhara must be the easiest job ever, or so I thought with the clarity that suddenly comes when you’re into your third pint-sized bottle of Portland beer (the fact that an Uzbek brew had the picture of a clipper … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Afghanistan, Bokhara, Bukhara, Central Asia, Chor Minor, Dushanbe, Eastern Approaches, Fire cult, Fitzroy Maclean, Genghis Khan, Iran, Isfahan, Islam, Madrasah, Madrassa, Mausoleum, Minaret, Mir-i-Arab, Muslim, Nadir Divan-Beg, Po-i-Kalyon, Portland beer, Siddikyon, Somoni, Tajikistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Zoroastrianism
16 Comments
And then I was invited to tea.
Bukhara the holy, Bukhara the saint, Bukhara the erudite, Bukhara the city where light floods from the ground up and not from the heavens down. Or perhaps the Bukhara, in the words of traveller and linguist Ármin Vámbéry, ”whose whole … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Abdul Aziz Madrassah, As salaam alaikum, Asia, Backgammon, Bokhara, Bukhara, Buxoro, Central Asia, Chai, Children, Chor Minor, Doors, Madrassah, Masjid, Mosaic, Mosque, Mud walls, Old town, People, Po-i-Kalyon, Registan, Samarkand ko'chasi, Stork, Stork next, Street photography, Tea, Topchan, Urban decay, Urban exploration, Urban tourism, Uzbekistan
22 Comments
