Never seen anything like this before - reflections galore!

Iskanderkul or Iskander Lake, to give it the correct English form, is written about in my blog on Interacting with mountain shepherds in Iskander kul, Tajikistan. The day we left our guest house, we left at a critical time so that we would get to see some reflections on the lake. Diana, our group’s mentor and guide, did not reveal much. She just wanted us to experience it. So, here we were, at a central spot facing the lake.

Don’t forget that we were up in the mountains. The mountain ranges are awesome – their colour striations turn from red to blue to grey. This spot where we stopped is well before the Five Springs or Panchchashma, near the Governor’s house.

There is not much to say except try and count the many layers of reflections that you will see in the different photographs. Enjoy the beauty of nature.  

Text and photographs copyright of the author. No part of this article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com

Bukhara's hidden gem - Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace: the Summer Palace

Bukhara was one of the main centres of world civilisation from its early days in 6^th C BC. Turkic speakers gradually moved in. Its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the pillars of Central Asian history and art. The Bukhara and its surrounds were part of the Persian Empire.

Bukhara was the last capital of the Emirate of Bukhara.  It was besieged by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. In 1920, an army of well-disciplined and well equipped Red Army troops under the command of General Frunze, attacked the city. On 31 August 1920, the Emir fled to  Dushanbe now in Tajikistan. On 2 September 1920, after four days of fighting, the emir’s citadel was destroyed, the red flag was raised from the top of the famous Kalyani minaret.

In the mid-XIX century Emir of Bukhara Nasrullah Khan decided to build a new country seat for himself. To choose the coolest place not to suffer from summer heat, the architects made recourse to an old method - dressed muttons were put on the potential sites of construction. The place, where the meat got spoiled last, was chosen for the construction of the suburban pearl of Bukhara. Unfortunately, this palace did not survive to the present day.

Several decades later, another emir of Bukhara Mir Sayyd Muhammad Alim Khan initiated the construction of a new palace there. A legend has it that, Emir devoted the palace to his wife Sitora. The construction work which lasted several years resulted in the residence of unprecedented beauty. The Bukhara architects having trained in Russia managed to combine oriental and western styles in their creation. After a while the Emir’s wife died, and her name was given to the palace. It was named Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, translated from Tajik as “Star, like the Moon”, and this name was preserved to this day. Unfortunately, the Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa also shared the fate of the first palace – it was destroyed.

The current Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace was built in 1912-1918, by order of the last Emir of Bukhara Mir Sayyd Muhammad Alim Khan. The construction involved the best Bukhara masters of the time, along with two Russian engineers Margulis and Sakovitch.

The palace main building consists of several reception halls and emir’s private rooms. Special attention was given to White Hall, see below, decorated by the famous master Usto Shirin Muradov who was subsequently perpetuated in a monument installed in the territory of the summer residence. White Hall was decorated with ganch, laid on walls covered with mirrors. None of the patterns was repeated. It is worth pointing out that mirrors in the Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace are used everywhere, quite liberally. You can see Venetian mirrors, Japanese mirrors set in fancy frames, and even trellis, which creates a reflection, repeated 40 times. In addition, the summer palace includes a tea room, small minaret, and guest house, richly incrusted with  gold braid. Each place has its own story and legends.

    In 1927, shortly after the fall of the Emirate of Bukhara, the palace was transformed into a museum. Its exposition was periodically changed. But today, it houses the Museum of Arts and Crafts. The exhibition includes palace furniture of the XIX-XX centuries, jewelry and golden-embroidered products made by Bukhara masters, objet d’art from Russian and Japanese porcelain of XIV-XX centuries.

Over the past century Bukhara has considerably expanded, and nowadays the Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace is located as close as four km to the city outskirts. The residence of the last Emir of Bukhara, where, today as a hundred years ago, it salutes the visitors in the reflections of its former magnificence, as though still available to receive royalties and overseas ambassadors.                                                           

Strolling around the palace grounds, I saw the poorly maintained outer structures whereas inside, ancient gems were displayed beautifully. The entry to the Palace is through a arch and a gate and one would never dream that a palace lay beyond, hidden somewhere as  the grass lies uncut, the paving is all over, the paths are uneven and the fencing inside often broken. There are a few peacock babies in cages - away from feral cats presumably. At the far end, in a small white building, you see a minaret which was the Emir’s private prayer area and opposite that a group of ladies gossiping. On our arrival, they immediately took out carpets and fabrics – we were not interested as we had come to see the hidden gems inside – the array of exquisitely crafted suzani took our breath away. The only other place where we saw such incredible embroidery and fabrics was in Tashkent at the Museum of Fine Art. 

Bukhara is also one of the most ancient cities of Uzbekistan, situated on a sacred hill, the place where sacrifices were made by fire-worshippers in springtime. This city was mentioned in a holy book "Avesto". Bukhara city is supposed to be founded in the 13^th C B.C. during the reign of Siyavushids who came to power 980 years before Alexander the Great. The name of Bukhara originates from the word "vihara" which means "monastery" in Sanskrit. The city was once a large commercial center on the Great Silk Road. Bukhara lies west of Samarkand and was once a center of learning renowned throughout the Islamic world. It is the hometown of the great Sheikh Bakhouddin Nakshbandi. He was a central figure in the development of the mystical Sufi approach to philosophy, religion and Islam. In Bukhara there are more than 350 mosques and 100 religious colleges. Its fortunes waxed and waned through succeeding empires until it became one of the great Central Asian Khanates in the 17th century.

So, aside from the Summer Palace, go visit as many of these monuments as you can when in this beautiful city. Its the Rome of the Silk Route. 

Text and photographs copyright of the author. No part of this article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com

Mulberry's contribution to paper

One of the excursions in Samarkand is to a paper factory where mulberry bark is made into handmade paper. Its named the Samarkand Koni Ghil Meros – it’s in Koni Ghil village, say 10 kms from the town.

As usual, the first thing we were asked to do was pay a sum of 15,000 Som around $2.50 each. We had not been told that when we began the journey so I said that it would be adjusted against any purchases. If we did not buy, then fine, we would pay.

I have seen handmade paper mills in India and elsewhere and this was on a far smaller scale. The staff appeared to be undertaking labour to earn their salaries rather than enjoying creating something interesting. The shop itself had limited items on sale so we ended up paying the entry fee at the end.

There is not much to write about how paper is created – have look at the photos as they are self explanatory. I did not take notes due to the language problem. 

Text and photographs copyright of the author. No part of this article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com

A Yurt experience in the south-eastern Kyzylkum desert of Uzbekistan

Conn Iggulden is to blame for my wife's and my fascination with Mongolia and the Mongol Hordes. He is a British author who mainly writes historical fiction. After completing the Emperor series (based on Roman emperors), Iggulden’s new series was based on the life of Mongol warlords Genghis, Ogedai and Kublai Khan. His five books, Wolf of the Plains, Lords of the Bow, Bones of the Hills , Empire of Silver and Conqueror – revolve around the fascinating, cruel and harsh life of Genghis Khan and his descendants and the Mongol empire which was subsequently created. It’s a series which once begun, we had to finish. In fact, I have read one or two of the books again as one does not get tired of them.   

We have not been to Mongolia as yet (the diet is of great concern and I don’t like carrying food with me on long trips) but we did recently travel the lower part of the Silk Route and most important of all, stayed in a yurt – yes, okay, we did it in relative comfort and did not sleep on raw hide carpets, but it was a yurt in its full colourful glory. 

The whole camp is dismantled at the end of the season and re-made each year. The weather is too harsh to leave the yurts out in the winter and spring months. 

shows the lake

One of the adventures planned by our travel company (and you need a local agency there as per Govt requirements) was a stay in a yurt camp. Like many of the days, our departure was at 8.00 am sharp. Surprisingly, we were all punctual participants. We had been clearly told to take minimum clothes for the 24 hour stay so we had small backpacks on average. 

We left Samarkand for Navoyi where we bought water and some bread to eat at lunch... we were carrying cheese and fruit already. It was here in a small shop by the roadside that I was stunned to see at least 25 brands of vodka in bottles of various sizes and shapes. Shelves of the stuff. Later, in Tashkent, I found that alcohol shops abound. Near our hotel Gloria, within less than a kilometre distance in a single direction, there were six liquor vendors. 

We stopped at Nurata with its famous ruins of Alexander the Great’s fortress and Chashma complex of the holy water spring and Marinka fish – see my blog “The road less travelled -to Nurata” for details. 

En route to the yurt camp, out in the middle of the desert, we stopped for a swim!! This is the Ayderkul Lake which was a complete surprise to us. 

Lake Aydarkul is part of the man-made Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, which covers an area of 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 mi²). This system includes three brackish water lakes (Aydar Kul, Arnasay and Tuzkan) located in the saline depressions of the south-eastern Kyzylkum desert (now in  Uzbekistan and  Kazakhstan). The lakes are the unintentional by product of Soviet planning. This and many other "unintended" lakes, such as Sarygamysh Lake with the immense capacity of 70 cubic kilometres of water) on the lower Amu Darya, created by the negligent Soviet planners, deny the Aral Sea about 150 cubic kilometres of annual inflow of water, directly contributing to, if not actually causing the latter's drying up. We went to the museum in Bukhara which teaches visitors the history of water supply in the Bukhara oasis. They feature a large scale map showing how the Aral Sea has dried up – see the photograph.

Today the area of Aydar Kul Lake is 3, 000 square meters; the length is nearly 250 km and width from 8 to 15 km. The area around the lake best suited for walks and rides on horseback and camelback. Fauna is rich. In spring and in summer alpine grasslands abound in variety of colours – bright-red tulips and snowy-white acacia. 

High up in the mountains black storks build its nests. In early spring, when Arnasay is filled with water, thousands of ducks, geese, pelicans and herons flock together here. 

We stopped for 45 minutes whilst most of the group swam in the warm water. Outside temp was in the high 30’s so I was not inclined to get out of the shade other than for photography. There were swathes of wool lying around on the sand – source unknown. 

 At a particular place, after the swim, we moved over to a minivan as our large coach would not be able to use the sandy rutted roads in the desert. At 5.00 pm, we reached the yurt camp. We were thrilled to be staying in one of these as we had no idea what to expect. 

First view of our camp 

My wife and I were sharing, once again, with Robyn and Tim, an Australian couple.  There were yurts for single men and single women. Out of the total 14 yurts, our group occupied the maximum – there were three other smaller groups. Having left our bags, it was time to explore. The yurt had power points and sufficient electric power wattage for me to see clearly at night.  

There were two toilets each for women and men. There were 8 sinks – four with mirrors and four without. With a sinking heart, I felt we would repeat the saga of queues as in the Iskander kul guest house. However, to my complete surprise, despite there being nearly 30 people present (including all drivers, guides, travellers etc), I did not find any queues at all for the facilities.

5.10 pm saw us all having tea followed by a camel ride for those interested. These were actually dromedaries – two humped species. The ride was for around 10 minutes and made a pleasant change from a car journey!!  We all flocked up the small hill to see the sunset which was scheduled for around 7.00 pm. It was a beautiful sight as the sun went down. 

Then we gathered around in small groups and had a few drinks before dinner was served, as you see the spread for the starters was quite magnificent and luckily quite tasty. 

Meals locally are generally bland, less salt and no spices of any sort. Even the kebabs are plain bar-b-q. So, we ate the starters more than the main course. Dessert was fruit – melons and grapes. 

In the late evening, we had a bonfire going and nearly everybody joined the crowd around the fire. 

Sleep, beautiful sleep.... was I worried at all? No. The yurt has no lock except for a wooden door to keep out the cold and possible wild animals. There was ample ventilation through the slats of wood. 

The beds were comfy and soon, I was asleep. I was surprised to learn that after each season, these yurts are fully dismantled and put away as they can’t take the winter weather. There is only the kitchen structure which is semi solid. 

Early next morning, as you see from the photos, around 5.30am, I woke up. Never without a camera in such areas, I was glad as I saw the sun gently coming up until one side of the camp was lit and the other still remained in shadow. It was time to move on soon after breakfast. ...............a yurting experience, if there was one. 





Don’t miss it if you get the chance. The silence, the flight back into Mongol history, the ambience and camaraderie with total strangers. One of a kind.  

Text and photographs copyright of the author. No part of this article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com