I am getting an early start on my
newsletter this year because I am spending a month in Arizona and California
over the holidays. I’ve always wanted to
go to The Rose Parade and this year I hope to be in the crowd as it passes down
Orange Grove Boulevard so watch for me on TV.
I started the year off by
planning a trip to The Five Stans.
Whenever I mention it to people they say ‘Where is that?’ It is along The Old Silk Road and takes in
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It was a great trip and covered a lot of
territory and a lot of diversity in the things that we saw.
In April I set off to visit Ozgur and his family in Istanbul for a few
days before flying to Almaty in Kazakhstan. We visited a falcon farm where they
train raptors for hunting,
and the Museum of Musical Instruments where we saw the various types of
instruments from ancient times up to present day, most of which were hand-made.
After the Museum we continued through the park to the Zenkov Cathedral one of Almaty’s few
surviving tsarist-era buildings, built entirely of wood, including the nails,
and restored with colorful icons and murals, this one made entirely of pearls.
We spent some time at the Green Market, central to everyday life in
Almaty, where we got to sample some of the local specialties. We decide to pass on the horse meat and
fermented camel’s milk though in favor of the chocolate they are famous
for. We had lunch in a yurt high up in
the mountains where they have year round skiing and ice skating near Central
Asia’s top skiing center.
In Kyrgyzstan some of the
highlights were the ancient petroglyphs at Cholpon-Ata from the Neolithic
Period which have just been open to the elements for centuries and only
recently money was gifted by the German Government to build a fence around the
majority of the area. Before that people
would take the rocks with the petroglyphs on them for their construction
projects with no thought to their historic value.
We traveled along the shores of Lake Issyk Kul for a couple of days with
the magnificent Tian Shan Mountains on both sides of us. It is the world’s second largest alpine lake,
after Lake Titicaca, and the lake and the mountains made for some spectacular
scenery.
We also had fun at the horse games which consisted of three games where
we cheered on the participants. Since
they are very famous for their horses and horsemanship it was an interesting
look at their culture.
Then on to for Bishkek, the capital city, where the
evening entertainment at the restaurant featured these women playing their
traditional instruments and dressed in their beautiful costumes.
In Uzbekistan we enjoyed the Magilan market where we were greeted by
people selling bread so ornately decorated that several people had to buy the
stamps they use to make the designs in the bread.
At the Yodgorlik Silk Factory
they showed us how they dye individual threads and then weave them into a
pattern. It was amazing to think that the colors come out in the correct
proportions to create a specific design.
One day we had lunch at the home
of a famous ceramics artist, where we ate a delicious lunch amongst his
beautiful hand-painted plates and after lunch his son demonstrated the making
of pottery and hand-crafted tiles.
We actually had a lot of meals in private homes.
This is the palace of the last Khan of Kokand. It was built between 1863 and
1874. Upon completion, it was one of the largest and most opulent palaces in
Central Asia. Nineteen of its original one hundred and thirteen rooms survive
and it has become a museum. Everywhere
we went the tile work on the mosques and madrassahs was exquisite and the
embroidery and ceramics were outstanding. Amazing when you see the exterior is all tile work and the interior has this painted ceilings.
Everywhere we went there were beautiful hand-painted frescos, exquisite tilework and amazing architecture.
At the Meros Silk Paper Factory they demonstrated the method for making silk paper that is more than 1000 years old. The process involves no electricity, and no added colors, chemicals, or ingredients – the final product consists only of the bark’s fibers, from the mulberry tree, and water. Silk paper, which was used for many Arabic manuscripts in the 9th and 10th centuries, is water-resistant and said to last for 2000 years (as opposed to the 100 year life-span of typical printing paper). Here you see silk paper clothing and silk paper money.
At the Meros Silk Paper Factory they demonstrated the method for making silk paper that is more than 1000 years old. The process involves no electricity, and no added colors, chemicals, or ingredients – the final product consists only of the bark’s fibers, from the mulberry tree, and water. Silk paper, which was used for many Arabic manuscripts in the 9th and 10th centuries, is water-resistant and said to last for 2000 years (as opposed to the 100 year life-span of typical printing paper). Here you see silk paper clothing and silk paper money.
Just before dinner one night we were invited to the home of a famous designer for a beautiful fashion show where
the she designs fabulous clothes using scarves.
We visited a puppet factory and learned how the puppets are made, then
hand-painted, dressed in costumes and then were given a demonstration of how
they work.
At a carpet factory we watched the young women making silk carpets. It
takes 2 or 3 girls one year to make the large sized carpets.
In Bukhara we were also treated
to a jazz concert by some local musicians.
There were a lot of musical and dance performances in our honor with
colorful costumes and several fashion shows that were put on for us.
One day we traveled
through fields of red poppies and stopped at a farm to visit with a local
family. We watched several women making wall hangings and carpets that
decorate their yurts and another woman making bread.
Traveling across the Kyzyl Kum or
Red Sand Desert we had to drive through a sandstorm which made it all seem
pretty authentic. The desert is the 16th largest in the world and
covers 115,000 square miles. It must
have been hard to be out there on a camel especially in a sand storm.
We were fascinated by the fake
police cars along the highway. They are
made of cardboard with what looks like a policeman inside – we figure they must
be to slow down traffic but one look at them and you would know they are fake.
Emir’s Summer Palace (Palace of Moon
and Stars) built by the Russians in 1911 for the last Emir
Alim Khan, as an inducement to get him out of the Ark fortress and safely
ensconced in a strategic and cultural no-man's-land on the edge of town. The palace is quite beautiful as we walk through
the various rooms.
Char Minar Mosque Each of four
towers that form a square has its own original design, but all are topped by
stunning, harmonizing blue tiled domes.
At the Desert of Forbidden Art we
learned how Igor Savitsky rescued the artwork of 40,000 forbidden fellow
artists and created a showplace for them in the desert of Soviet Uzbekistan, a
collection that is now worth millions. During lunch in the museum we also
had a lecture by a geologist who is a member of a small group of people concerned
about the drying up of the Aral Sea. He was very interesting and very
informative about the sobering details of what used to be the third largest
inland sea and which is now 10% of its former size.
Before we got very far into Turkmenistan we were hearing about the First President and the Current President and how all the old buildings have been torn down and new buildings, built with white marble, are everywhere. We spent four days exploring the city and the nearby countryside.
One day we drove out into the country to see the famous Akhal-Teke
horse breeding farm. Each horse the owner brought out to show us was more
beautiful than the one before. They are known for their speed, endurance, and intelligence. Adapted to severe climatic conditions they
are thought to be one of the oldest existing breeds of horses dating back 3,000
years.
Another day we flew to Mary for
the day so we could visit the ruins at Merv, an oasis city along the Silk Road
in the 12th century which covers 600 hectares. Very little of it has been
excavated and it would probably take hundreds of years to do so. They
think the ruins covered 9 cities, and more than 300 villages and traces of
prehistoric life back to the 3rd century BC have been found there. This
spot known as the girls’ fortress from the 3rd century was where 44
women barricaded themselves in the hopes of evading the army of Genghis
Khan. You can see the hole created when
the army catapulted the wall and the women didn’t have a chance. They jumped to their death rather than be
captured. Unfortunately the birds have
taken over and are destroying what is left of the walls.
In Turkmenistan I was captivated by the beautiful traditional dresses which the ladies wear had to buy one for myself at one of the fashion shows.
Well that is probably more than you wanted to know about The Five Stans. As you can see it was quite an extensive tour and hard to condense into a few paragraphs – there was a lot more but those are some of the highlights.
Well that is probably more than you wanted to know about The Five Stans. As you can see it was quite an extensive tour and hard to condense into a few paragraphs – there was a lot more but those are some of the highlights.
In May there was a wedding in the
McCullem family when Ryan and Evangeline got married near Seattle. It was a beautiful wedding and fun to be part
of the McCullem clan gathering.
We had a spectacular summer in
Seattle with next to no rain and a nice long hot summer.
In September I was off to my
niece’s wedding in Golden, BC. Jamie and
Graham were married at a resort with a beautiful outdoor venue overlooking the
mountains and river for the ceremony. If
you have ever been to Banff you will know how beautiful it is around that
area. We had three days of celebrations
and I had fun making a video of their wedding and reliving all the festivities
once again through my film.
In October we had to say goodbye
to my mom as she passed on. She had a
wonderful, long life and was able to be in Invermere where my brother and his
family live for the past few years. It
was her time and we have wonderful memories of her long life.
I went to Salt Spring Island with
my former roommates for our get-a-way this year but unfortunately there were
just the three of us as Judy got sick at the last minute and couldn’t join us.
Salt Spring is one of the Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the
Mainland. It was a charming little
village with interesting shops, great restaurants and we had a lovely condo
overlooking the harbor.
I went to the Husky football game
with Robert and took Ana Lilia to Disney on Ice which she really enjoyed since
she is now a figure skater herself. For her birthday she had a ‘high tea’ for
six little friends. They wore my hats
and scarves and Robert was the waiter.
One of the mom’s does henna and after the tea she did beautiful henna
designs on their hands and arms.
So all in all it has been a great
year. I am happy, healthy and enjoying
my friends, family and most importantly good health. I wish you good health and happiness in the
coming year and look forward to keeping in touch.
P.S. If
you haven’t seen enough photos and you have access to Facebook I have more
albums of my travels on Facebook
