Tajikistan

 Tajikistan

We crossed into Tajikistan. It was relatively painless and after some of the other borders, it was a breeze. The English had to pay USD35 fof an e-visa. Everyone else were straight through. We gathered together on the far side and were all through in under 10 minutes. Alan and Frida took a bit longer.

The flat green plain is surrounded by mountains in the distaance. As we drove deeper into Tadjikistan, the mountains closed in. Our first stop was just a quarter of an hour away from the border.

We stopped at Panjakent.  This was a thriving Persian city between the fifth and eightth centuries. It was a mub brick built city so not a lot  survives.

It has a great defensive position at the mout of a valley leading into the mountainsm and on the edge of the fertile plains. It sits on the top of a hill with long steep sides ovrtlokking the modern city nestling next to the river.

Some buildings have been recreated to give a few of what it might have looked like///

...but much of it lies in a confused heap.

A view across the city. There is a museum but it was closed when we visited.

The main road follows the river in the bottom of the valley. It is a steep sided valley but where the land i flatter, there is water and decent soils, there are firlds and orchards. The parched upper slopes are used for rough grazing.

Looking across the river to the dry pastures.

Looking up the river There is a lot of snow melt and the river isfull of grey silt.

There are a few road bridges across the river, but many are suspension footbridges, often doubling to take electircity or water to the far side.

A side valley.

Another view up the valley

In the upper reaches of the valley, there is so little room that the road has been hacked out of thre side of the slope. There is no farming here, just rough summer grazing for goats.

A traffic jam of a different sort as a trailer had become unattached from a lorry and blocked the whole roqd. We waited but inpatient drivers overtook us and blocked the road when they couldn't get pst.

The river shrunk as we headed into the top of the valley. We clmbed away from the river to cros a pass.

There were a couple of tunnels as we climbed around hairpin bends towards the pass. The road no longer goes over the pass but takes the Anzob Tunnel. It is 5,040 metres long and its highest point on the pass is at 2,740 metres. A second tunnel to the right is still under construction.

It also has a second name, the Tunnel of Death as there is no ventialtion, no lights and despite the amount of traffic, both lanes use the same tnnel with no central reservation.

The entrance to the tunnel of death.

Another local traffic jam caused by goats being taken yp to their summer pastures. There are paths around the tunnel but they are narrow and there is an inevitable pile up by the portals.

one unfortunate incident where a lorry had becomw unattached from its trailer, blocking the road.

Samarkand

 Samarkand 

                                        

The truck was due to leave Bukhara at 7.30am and it was expected to arrive ib Samarkand, our next city stop, in the early afternoon sometime after 2pm. John and I decided to have a day off the truck and take the train fron Bukhara to Samarkand. One small issue was the train tme. It departed at 5.30am which meant getting up at 4am and missing breakfast. It was anearly start but would give us a full day in Samaskand.

We were dressed and packed ready for the taxi to take us to the train station 15 kilometres away.

The train.

The signal box.

The journey was largely through flat, featureless, desert.

Only when we were getting close to Samarkand were there irrigation canals and rolling scenery full of trees and green fields. After two and a half hours, we arrived in Samarkand, Uzbekistan's second largest city after the capital, Tashkent. We dropped our luggage at the hotel and hired a guide with a car to explore Samarkand.

Our first stop was the Ulukbeg Observatory. He was a grandson of Amir Timur, who along with Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, became infamous as they fought their way across central Asia. Timur was born nearby to the city.

The doorway of the observatory.

Inside was a map showing several of the Silk Road routes with Samarkand at the centre where the main route in yellow is crossed by a minor route in red.

A map showing how large the empire Timur created covering parts of three continents

Writing was originally on animal skin until the art of paper making was introduced from China in the 8th century. Samarkand became a najor paper making area. The secret of silk manufacturing also passed along the Silk Road and Samarkand became a major silk producing area.

Ulukbeg was not just a great king that ruled for 35 years, he was also a scientist. He built a 40 metre high observatory and calculated the length of a year to within one minute. He also charted more than a thousand stars. Little of the oryginal building survives.

The entrance to the last surviving part of the observatory

The part of the original observatory that survives. It was spared from earthquakes and demolition as this section was underground.

The guide drove to Shakhi Zinda, a collection of mausoleums of famous people and relatives of Amir Timur. The entrance.

...and lots of archetecture and decorations...

... a detail of the roof...

...steps up to the main thoroughfare...

...an unusual double dome...

...a detail of an entrance...

...the main route...

...more elaborate decorations...

...etensive use of gold...

...inside one of the mausoleums...

...unusual decoration as red has been included in addition to the standard predominance of white and blue...

Next stp was the museum and archalogical site of Afrosiab, a civilisation dating back more than 2,750 years until it was destroyed but only discovered in the last few decades.

The Plov Centre which makes the best plov, the national dish of the country.

Plov.

 

After lunch, we visited the Amir Temur mausoleum with its distinctive ribbed dome.

...another view of the mausoleum...

...some gold decoration inside.

The last stop was the Registan, where there are three ancient madrassas facing each other.

A view of the decoration of one of the domes although this is an optocal illusion as te roof here is in fact flat.

...more views of the nadrassas...

Typical of the style found in Uzbekisatan. The material used indicated her social status and wealth of the family ranging from cotton, through silk to Kashmir. The embroidery on the lapels showed her age within a couple of years. The two long tails from the side or from the head showed whether she was married, spoken for, or single divorced or widowed.