The silk road & Central Asia
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Depósito de agua Sukhov, en Bujara (1929), del ingeniero Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov. Uno de los primeros ejemplos de estructura hiperboloide, junto con el depósito de Polibino (1896) o la torre de Moscú (1922), también de Sukhov. En funcionamento hasta 1975, fue restaurada a inicios de los 2000.
Another shot from the border river between Tadzikistan and Afghanistan (see also www.flickr.com/photos/115540984@N02/49429860523/in/datepo...).
The light was still very nice and the river was flowing calmly through the valley. This part was as already earlier said fantastic.
20 September I came back from my journey over a part of the Silk Road to and through Central Asia. 4 months of traveling through 14 countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran) before I flew home from Teheran. An impressive journey in countries that are extremely beautiful, with lovely and welcoming people and diverse cultures and history.
Intense traveling with more than 20000 kilometers in our mobile home on sometimes roads that hardly could be called that way. We saw many villages and cities (some wonderful, others very ugly), countries that are transforming from the old Soviet era into something more related to older cultures and the way people live, often funded by oil readily available around the Caspian sea. We saw the amazing mountains south of the Black Sea, the wonderful Caucasus, and the high mountains in the far east close to China with peaks over 7000 meter, and not to forget the (Bulgarian) Alps!
We crossed the great steppe of Kazakhstan. a drive of at least 5000 km, the remnants of lake Aral, once one of the biggest lakes of the world, saw a rocket launch from Baikonur (this little part is Russian owned), we crossed many high mountains passes, and drove the breathtaking canyon that comes from the Pamir, beginning at ca 4500 meter, and going down for ca. 400km to an altitude of 1300 meter, driving for 100's of kilometers along the Afghan border.
And then the numerous lakes with all sorts of different colors from deep cobalt blue to turquoise, and one rare spectacle in Turkmenistan where a gas crater is burning already for more than 40 years. And finally and certainly not the least to mention an enormous amount of wonderful, hospitable and welcoming people. The woman often dressed in wonderful dresses, and bringing a lot of color in the streets of almost of all countries we visited.
A street cleaner sweeps the pavement outside a bookshop selling former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's books in Ashgabat.
"Neat presentation"
Douchanbé (Asie Centrale - Tadjikistan)
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Khiva. Just a glimpse of some of the main landmarks of the town: the green dome of Pakhlavan Mahmoud Mausolum and the impressive Islam Khoda Minaret.
Women selling vegetables in the Central Osh Bazaar begin to close up shop for the day. Photo taken on July 13, 2012 in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
The most Cold City and the capitol in the World: Astana.Its the capitol of World's largest Muslim country: Kazakhstan by area.
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In Winter the temperatures drops as low as -40 *C and even in Summer it only as high as 10*C
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Its new city and very well planned and have amazing architecture. Night Life is great here and Summers is the best time to explore it.
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in this city i walked for more than 38 Kms which is till date my personal best. It has the best Sunshine is the world.
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#Traveller #Astana #Kazakhstan #CentralAsia #Asia #TravelDiaries #Worldtour #Travelblogs
Out in the middle of a green valley in the western Tien Shan mountains lies a stone refuge. At 3200m, this seemingly desolate refuge is miles away from the nearest village, with nothing but tall treeless mountains with grassy slopes all around. The setting is remarkably beautiful, but for what purpose was this built? Why does it have 31 rooms, with many hidden passageways? And why was it so far away from anything? Mysteries abound this stone refuge, the Tash Rabat Caravanserai.
I had heard about this place during my initial research into Kyrgyzstan. My interest was piqued by the fact that it was a caravanserai that was not built along any major caravan route. But being so far off from the main cities, I had put off visiting this attraction. Thankfully, not only did I get an opportunity to visit, I also got to spend a night by one of the yurts next door.
Despite the half-moon, the clear night sky, bereft of any haze thanks to being at 3200m, afforded a great opportunity to capture some star trains. I set up on a nearby hill, and with an entire retinue of herding animals to provide company: galloping horses, barking dogs, and grazing cattle wandered all over, but thankfully never knocked my tripod. 15 exposures and 90 minutes later, I ended up with this star trails image over Tash Rabat
Tash Rabat Caravanserai
Naryn Kyrgyzstan
Erdene Zuu Monastery
Founded in 1586 by Altai Khaan, Erdene Zuu (Hundred Treasures) was the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. It had between 60 and 100 temples, about 300 gers inside the walls and, at its peak, up to 1000 monks in residence.
The monastery went through periods of neglect and prosperity until finally the Stalinist purges of 1937 put it completely out of business. All but three of the temples in Erdene Zuu were destroyed and an unknown number of monks were either killed or sent to Siberian gulags.
However, a surprising number of statues, tsam masks and thangkas were saved – possibly with the help of a few sympathetic military officers. The items were buried in nearby mountains, or stored in local homes (at great risk to the residents).
The monastery remained closed until 1965, when it was permitted to reopen as a museum, but not as a place of worship. It was only with the collapse of communism in 1990 that religious freedom was restored and the monastery became active again. Today Erdene Zuu Khiid is considered by many to be the most important monastery in the country, though no doubt it’s a shadow of what it once was.