FIVE ‘STANS, IRAN
My mother and
step-father had been posted to Iran
in the early 1970's and I had worked in Saudi Arabia Poway , CA that own Advantage
Travel and Tours Iran Saudi Arabia
and one of the Gulf States Iran Africa
cruise. This saved me the single
supplement. They also arranged for me to
join a couple from their Saudi Arabia
tour to tour the Gulf States Iran
and the Gulf States
Map of the
tour route:
Oct 17 (Wed) Depart U.S.
At 10:45AM I was picked up at my house by the same driver that had
picked Judy and I up on our China Frankfurt .
Oct 18 (Thu) Frankfurt
The plane arrived in Frankfurt on
time at 10:30AM. The Frankfurt
terminals are under restoration and the Lounge near my gate was closed so I had
to take a train to another terminal and much to my surprise I didn’t have to go
through a security checkpoint like last year.
I had a three-hour layover. The
lounge was crowded and the internet was not free so after a bit to eat I took
the train back to my departure terminal.
The flight to Almaty was not full; again I was in a middle aisle
seat with an empty seat on my right.
Across the aisle was Dr. Jerry Ray Willis, a “good old boy”,
Chiropractor, from Wytheville , Virginia ,
who would be my roommate for the Five Stans and Iran Kazakhstan Washington ,
DC Kazakhstan
We arrived just before midnight in Almaty and were met by a
driver that drove us to the Hotel Otrar, Gogol 73, 050002, Almaty, in a right-hand-drive van although the streets are set up like Europe . The driver told us a few second-hand vehicles
are imported from Japan
Oct 19 (Fri) Almaty, Kazakstan
When we arrived at the hotel there was a note at the desk
informing us that tours would start at 9AM.
I was unable to find an outlet next to bed so I had to string an
extension cord across the room for my Sleep Apnea Machine. I set the alarm on my Treo for 6:30 and fell
into a deep sleep. We started the routine
where Jerry Ray showered and shaved first and then went to the hotel lobby to
handwrite his journal while and showered and shaved before joining him for
breakfast.
Breakfast was in a large room shaped like a yurt (the local nomad
tents) it had beautiful murals on the
walls. When Jerry Ray and I walled in
Bob and Cathy recognized us and introduced us to the group. All are seasoned travelers.
Bob and Cathy own Advantage Tours.
It is a two-person agency. Cathy
is the President, a Chinese Vietnamese who met Bob when he was stationed with
the US Navy in Saigon in 1972 and then corresponded with him when she attended
college in Vancouver Naval
Academy in 1969 and spent 20 years in
the US Navy specializing in Asia . During his last tour in San
Diego , Cathy started in the tour business taking tours to China
I recognized Ed and Gloria from last year’s Holland
America cruise to Africa . They are a
couple from Tulsa , Oklahoma Rocky Mountain
“IQ” and Maggie are an Arab couple from Los Altos Hills , CA Egypt Egypt
and came to the US when an
older sister married an American who encouraged her brother to attend
university in the US US Military Language
School in Monterey , California
Mary Jane and Louise are a couple of old friends from Bethesda , MD Florida
At 9AM we met our guide, Shamil
and started our tour of Almaty by walking across the street to Panfilov Park
Shamil lead us through the park which had a number of Russian
monuments and statues. We boarded a bus
to drive to the Fine Arts Museum which didn’t allow photos. After a tour of the museum, we drove to the
downtown area where we stopped to take photos of the Central Blue Domed
Mosque. The next stop was the Central State
Museum which displayed the history of Kazakhstan
Back on the bus we drove south out of the city into the mountains for
lunch. The driver had a little trouble
finding the restaurant at the winter
park Kyrgyz Republic
(Kyrgyzstan
When we returned to the bus Shamil briefed us on the scenery. Our lunch overlooked the Medeu Russian
Olympic Ice Skating Training Arena, and above what appeared to be a reservoir
was actually a dam to prevent avalanches, rock slides and floods from descending
down the Malaya Almatinka valley to the city.
We drove down to the Arena and walked up to the
ice rink where couples were skating – some good some beginners. Shamil told us that 122 world records
are held at this skating rink and the stands hold 10,000 fans. As we descended back to the bus I noticed a
number of wedding parties below with White Stretched Limousines. The couples were having their wedding photos
taken with the Ice Area in the background.
From the Area we drove up to the dam which is 6,000 ft above sea level)
we discovered that the Chimbulak Ski Resort behind it and more wedding parties
having their pictures taken.
Back in the city we stopped at the Kazakhstan Museum of Arts
which had the paintings of artists banned during the Soviet period. I enjoyed the sculptures. In the lobby of the museum, we listen to a
boy’s choir. From the museum, I walked up
the hill to Resublika Alanghy, with its monuments and the “Monument to Independence
Dinner was in the hotel in a room next to the large room I had
breakfast in, that room had a large party including belly dancers which I observed
in a hallway next to our table wanting to perform at the party. I ate at a table with Lou and Mary Jane. Jerry Ray sat at a table with IQ, Maggie, Bob
and Cathy. After eating the ladies left
along with IQ and Maggie. I joined Jerry
Ray, Bob and Cathy and was immediately asked if I believed that Israel US
Oct 20 (Sat) Almaty—Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan
We checked out of the hotel and loaded the bus with our
luggage. During that procedure, the driver broke the passenger door handle which meant that until it was repaired
they had to use a screwdriver to open the door at every stop. We were a half-hour late starting out and the
traffic in the city clogged our route so it took an hour before we fully exited
the city on our way to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan along the foot of the mountains
that form the border between the countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
As we drive I saw fields of wheat, barley, corn, and some
cabbages. There were also a number of
monuments along the road – Shamil told us those are the local leaders who are
honored for protecting their areas. He
also told us about walnuts. They are
native to Kazakhstan , and
were discovered by Alexander the Great when he took his warriors through Central Asia and some of the men became ill. He sent for the local doctor and told him
that he had two days to make the men well or else he would be killed. The doctor brewed some tea from the walnut
leaves, he cooked some of the shells and made broth from them, and he gave them
some of the meats to eat. The men got
better, Alexander liked the taste of all and took some of the nuts back to Greece Greece
claims to be home of the walnut – but it really came from Kazakhstan
In the open fields, I saw
cows and sheep, some horses. We passed
many country cemeteries some with very fancy headstones or tombs. Shamil told us that the early people of this
area were all nomads and because they never had a real home, moving constantly
and living in yurts they wanted to have a "fancy" or beautiful place
for eternity. That conflicts with the
Islamic belief of very plain gravesites.
Muslims believe that only fresh-clay bricks should be used so that over
a period of time the marker will fade into the ground, just as their bodies
will. But many Muslims today also build
the elaborate baked-brick edifices for their tombs.
At one point where a monument and a cemetery were together
we stopped for a photo op. As the
photographers took photos, a man walked from a nearby house and talked to
Shamil – telling him that he was the 7th generation from the hero on the horse
monument.
The road did have a form of “truck stops” and we stopped at
a restaurant complex for a bathroom and snacks stop.
We arrived at the border crossing, at a small town called
Korday. I walked to the Kazakh
immigration window and got stamped out of the country and then walked across
the bridge on the River Shue, which divides the countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Shamil took all our
passports and entered the Kyrgyzstan
(Kyrgyz Republic
Once we were all in Kyrgyzstan we stopped for some snacks as
the day had gone past lunchtime, and then while driving into Bishkek Shamil
gave us some information about his country.
Some 90% of the country is mountains. The highest point is Mount Victory Kazakhstan Central Asia . Kyrgyzstan China
The early-day nomads lived in the mountains and the valleys
and today 80% of the people live in two valleys of the country (the Shu River Valley and the Naryn
River Valley ,
on the other side of the Fergana
Bishkek has about one million people, is the capital of the
country and is 30 kms from the border.
There are 28 universities in the city, including the American University
of Central Asia .
When we reached Bishkek we stopped for lunch at the Captain
Nemo restaurant before checking into the hotel.
Lunch was a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, a bowl of chicken noodle
soup, then a plate with rice, french fries and a crepe of a thin bit of lamb
wrapped around cheese and mushrooms, dipped in egg and flour and fried, then
tea.
First tourist stop in the city was the Ala-Too Square,
where we watched the changing of the guard at the historical “checkpoint” at
the former Lenin square in front of the STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM. Next we visited the museum. It displayed yurts, a mummy, carpets,
embroidery and open-air balbals (Turkic totem-like gravestones). The highlight is the mural-cum-shrine to Lenin
and the Revolution upstairs. Former US
Next stop was a tour of the opera house. My roommate, Jerry Ray, is an opera fan and
he bought tickets for the evening’s performance.
We checked into the GOLDEN DRAGON HOTEL at about 5:30. Our room was large, with, extra chairs, safe,
ironing board and iron, big desk, big TV, coffee pot and mini bar, but even
though the hotel is new and claims to be 5 stars they have no mattress on the
box springs. I slept on top of the comforter
to get a little cushion. (So it is not
just the Chinese that don't know how to configure a hotel bed. Shortly after check-in, Jerry Ray headed off
to the Aida opera and I went to dinner at the Arzu Restaurant. After dinner, I attempted to access the
internet without success. The hotel
staff told me that they have not been able to configure Windows Vista to work
with their LAN server.
Oct 21 (Sun) Bishkek
Jerry Ray and I have worked out a schedule where he raises
first to shower, shave and get dressed.
I then take my shower while he goes down to the lobby and writes his
journal. I then join him and we have
breakfast together. The hotel breakfast
included a mix of European and Asian food.
At 8:00 AM we left for the day’s tour of Lake Issy-kul, a
popular resort area lined with hot springs, around 140km east of Bishkek. The lake is 5,250 ft above sea level,
measuring 105 miles long and 43 miles wide, Lake
Issy-kul is the second largest alpine
lake in the world after Lake .
As we headed out of the city, Shamil gave us some info about
the city of Bishkek China
The road was rough and there were few villages along the
way. We went through some police checkpoints, made
some bathroom stops at very decrepit, dirty bathroom stops and it rained all
morning as we drove to the lake through the 40 km-long Chong-Kemin Valley with
rocky hills on the sides. The valley is
famous locally as the birthplace of deposed president Akaev.
We drove by a old
Russian Air Force Base, with a missile mounted on a base out next to the road;
Shamil told us the base is now used by the CIS, which is the association of the
old Soviet republics and stands for "Commonwealth of Independent States."
In some places along
this route east, we were parallel to, or actually back into, Kazakhstan
At the little town of Tok Mak, best known for their Sunday
animal bazaar (which I didn't see), we made a turn to head off the main road at
this place and headed to an old settlement, the 10th-century Karakhanid ruins,
but now referred to as the Burana Tower, an 11th-century monument that looks
like the stump of a huge minaret. A
mound to the northwest is all that's left of the ancient citadel of Balasagun,
founded by Sogdians and later, in the 11th century, the capital of the
Karakhanids, which was excavated in the 1970s by Russian archaeologists. On the other side of the citadel mound is an
interesting collection of 6th- to 10th-century balbals (Turkic totem-like stone
markers).
It was still a light rain and the road from the parking area
was a little muddy. We first stopped at
a small museum which contained 11th- century Christian carvings, Buddhist
remains, and Chinese coins, as well as info on local literary hero Haji
Balasagun and his masterwork, the Kutudhu Bilik. Next door are the foundations of several
mausoleums."
Leaving the museum the rain had stopped and the group hiked to the top of the hill to look down into
the excavated mausoleum openings and see a few walls. On the way down the muddy hill, I slipped and
fell on my back with my head taking a good bounce. I did not lose consciousness but had a
headache for quite a while. My backside
was covered by mud and as Jerry Ray, Bob and Shamil climbed the tower, I
returned to the van and the driver helped me wash the mud off.
When we drove back to the highway toward the lake, we
encountered snowflakes, floating down.
All along our drive to the lake we enjoyed seeing cows, horses and
sheep, a few times up close and personal as cows or sheep crossed the road
right in front of the van. By and large
the valleys we drove through were barren; we could tell there should be
mountains around us but they were covered by clouds all day, and we had a
stream alongside us for a while.
We drove through the Shoestring Gorge (Boomskoe ushchelie)
which is 40-km long and landslide-prone, also slightly sinister. A howling wind blew up in it most of the time,
and we did have a good tailwind. We saw
a monument honoring the 1916 Soviet uprising in the valley. We stopped for lunch at a poor restaurant
along the way, where we could order what we wanted. I ordered Russian borscht.
After lunch the snow stopped as we approach the town of Balykchy
After tsarist military officers and explorers put the lake
on Russian maps, immigrants flooded in to find low-rise, laid-back, rough and
ready towns. Health spas lined it shores
in Soviet days, with guests from all over the USSR ,
but spa tourism crashed along with the Soviet Union ,
only reviving in the last few years thanks to an influx of moneyed Kazakh
tourists. The lake was used by the
Soviet navy to test high-precision torpedoes, far from prying Western
eyes. An entire polygon or
military-research complex grew up around Koy-Sary, on the Mikhaylovka inlet
near Karakol. In 1991 Russian President
Boris Yeltsin asked that it be continued but Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev shut
down the whole thing, ordering it to be converted to peaceful pursuits.
We turned north of the lake to an area of ancient petroglyphs,
some dating from 1500BC, and a group from 8th century BC to 1st
century AD. This was the extent of our
drive east. On the way back we stopped
at a beach and a cemetery for photo ops.
We had a refueling stop and also stopped at a roadside fruit stand to
purchase some fresh fruit.
It was 7:30 PM when we arrived back in the city stopping the
Monarch restaurant. The meal was the
typical salad of tomatoes and cucumber in vinegar and oil, then a soup (this
time cream of mushroom with clams in it) and some minced lamb on a skewer with
gravy over it and some rice, then a scoop of ice cream with fruit for dessert
and green tea. I enjoyed the rice, the
fruit, and tea.
We were back at the hotel about 9:30, and I headed out to an
internet café to learn that the Red Sox had won the sixth game of the American
League Series, over the Cleveland Indians, so a seventh game is necessary. I was able to send out an email.
Oct 22 (Mon) Bishkek—Tashkent ,
Uzbekistan
I was able to sleep late and not check out until 11:00
AM. After checkout we set out to tour
Bishkek. First stop was the Manas Square
Next, I walked along and through Oak Park
square – by the American University of Central Asia ,
which was opened by Hillary Clinton, while Bill was president. Then by a building from 1953 that is used for
the country's Parliament. Then on to Victory Square Bishkek
Lunch was at the Condor Restaurant. It was the best meal I'd had yet. It began with a series of salads, served
family-style: carrots grated with corn and a mayo dressing, some lettuce,
tomatoes, marinated meat, a chicken salad with grated cheese on top and
containing green peas and corn; then a vegetable beef soup, followed by a plate
of chicken stroganoff, rice, and steamed veggies. Dessert was a fresh fruit compote and green
tea for the last course – all very good.
After lunch we drove to the downtown area where we walked to
the post office where many of the group bought stamps and to mail postcards. Then we walked to the department store SAM,
where we could shop for souvenirs. It
had multiple floors full of electronics, clothes and souvenir type items. It was crowed so after exploring all the
floors I sat outside to watch the people.
Then it was time to
head to the airport. We went by an
American Air Force Base, now called GANSI, in honor of one of the 9-11 New York Manas International
Airport
Our plane was a TU-154G; we flew on Uzbekistan Airways. It was Russian-built and not a pleasant ride
since my seat was broken. We were served
a supper of a sausage, a dried-up small zucchini, a small serving of a
strange-tasting cream cheese and a hard roll.
It was only a one-hour flight, and we changed time zones, going west far
enough to move one hour back. We landed
at Tashkent , Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
I found a young man with an “Advantage” sign and with him
our Uzbekistan Tashkent Sweden Tashkent is like Arizona
We drove directly to the Radisson Hotel, north of the city.
Oct 23 (Tue) Tashkent
With the one hour time change, I would have liked to have
slept a little longer. I had an
excellent breakfast and started the tour at 9AM.
We went just a few blocks to our first stop, to take photos
of the Amir Timur Museum
Next we drove over to the Navoid opera and ballet hall,
built from 1939-1947 with one of the first fountains in the city, placed in
front of the entrance. The center of the
fountain has a sculpture of a cotton ball.
The music hall was built by Japanese people who were brought here during
the time of Stalin, and then forced into working on projects such as this when
they did something to displease officials.
Over 1500 of these people were eventually executed by Stalin. The first performance was done in 1939 and is
has 1410 seats; operas are offered in Uzbek, Russian and Italian.
Our next stop was the Museum of Applied Arts
As we left the museum, driving along a street with some nice
houses; Bek told us houses can go for as much as US$10 million. There are some very well-to-do people in Tashkent
It was now time for lunch and we stopped at the Shumbola
Restaurant. We ordered from the menu and
I had a delicious meal.
After lunch we drove to the “Old Town USSR
We drove over the Anhar
River , which separates the Old Town
from the new part of the city, went by Independence
Park with its eternal flame, fountain
and the Senate House, by the Romanov House and to the History Museum
At
6PM we attended the performance of the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, from the
Scottish work "Lammermoor". It
was sung in Italian, set in Scotland
After
the opera we had a late dinner at the Afrosiyab,a shish kaboba restaurant with a piano player that played my type of music. I guess when he
saw the age of our group he knew what to play.
I was
able to stop at an Internet Café near the Hotel and was able to check my mail
and the news. The freighting news is
that Bob and Cathy live on a four acre home in Poway , CA Malibu fire is burning away from Topanga Canyon
Jerry
Ray skipped dinner because he stayed up late the last three nights reading and
writing his journal (he is also a scotch lover) and I think we both are coming
down with colds.
Oct 24 (Wed) Tashkent —Penjikent ,
Tajikistan —Samarkand , Uzbekistan
We checked out of the hotel early and started out at 7:30AM
for the drive to Samarkand with a detour to Penjikent , Tajikistan Tashkent and Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
The road was well paved, with cotton fields just after we
left the city, and later wheat, corn, non-tropical fruit trees, grapes,
sunflowers. I saw stork’s nests and few
storks feeding in the grain fields. Also
saw melons and pumpkins in one area.
Other places I saw cabbages, potatoes and onions in large farms. On a small farm I spotted several men out pulling
up carrots.
There is a little friction between the governments of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
and the highway to Samarkand passes though Kazakhstan
About 1 PM. we reached the Tajikistan
Niyozkul gave us information about his country: 93% of the
country is mountainous; the highest mountains are about 7,000 meters, and the
lowest point in the country is about 3,000 meters. Seven million people live in Tajikistan Silk Road ,
it was a favorite of Alexander the Great and impressed Ghengis Khan. Many of the surviving attractions date from
the time of the 14th-century tyrant, Tamerlane (Timur). The surrounding areas
though have taken on a less flattering Central Asian sprawl. The city has a multi racial and multi lingual
population. It was destroyed by the
Arabs, and the original town's ruins were never built on, leaving an intriguing
excavation site for us to visit.
After lunch of tomato salad, barley soup, potatoes and other
veggies in a broth, then a tasty pilau (pilaf) of rice, squash strips and four
small pieces of beef, then green tea – we went to the nearby: RUDAKI MUSEUM. In the museum are reproduction frescoes and
tools from the nearby Neolithic site of Sarazm and a copy of documents found at
Mt Mug, where the Sogdians made their last stand against the Arab invaders.
We reloaded the bus and drove to the ruins of ancient
Penjikent, founded in the 5th century and abandoned in the 8th century. At its height the settlement town was one of
the most cosmopolitan cities on the Silk Road
and a rich trading center, whose palace was decorated with ornate hunting
scenes and pillars carved in the shape of dancing girls. Since the ancient city has not been built
upon since it was abandoned I can make out the faint foundations of houses, two
Zoroastrian temples and the shop-lined bazaar of the main shakhristan (town
center), as well as the obvious citadel to the west, but the best of the
frescoes (some of them 15 meters long), sculptures, pottery and manuscripts
were long ago carted off to Tashkent and St. Petersburg. A small museum chronicles the
excavations. Surrounding the site are
scattered remains of a rabad (suburb) and necropolis.
Niyozkul told us the ruins were discovered in 1932; papers
were sent to the Hermitage in St.
Petersburg
Back on the bus we started back to the border along the way
we passed by the statue of Devastich, who was the last leader of the first
people of this area.
At the border we had some difficulty getting all our people
quickly processed. IQ and Jerry Ray
carry a large amount of US Dollars that they plan on using to buy Iranian
carpets. At each border crossing we have
to declare the amount and they are always questioned taking time. It was after 6:30PM before we started back on
the road to Samarkand Samarkand
Oct 25 (Thu) Samarkand
History – Samarkand
(Marakanda to the Greeks), one of Central Asia 's
oldest settlements, was probably founded in the 5th century BC. It was already the cosmopolitan, walled
capital of the Sogdian empire when it was taken in 329 BC by Alexander the
Great, who said, ‘Everything I have heard about Marakanda is true, except that
it's more beautiful than I ever imagined.'
It was a key Silk Road city, it sat
on the crossroads leading to China ,
India and Persia
In 1370 Timur decided to make Samarkand his capital, and over the next 35 years forged a
new, almost-mythical city - Central Asia 's
economic and cultural epicenter. His
grandson Ulugbek ruled until 1449 and made it an intellectual center as well.
When the Uzbek Shaybanids came in
the 16th century and moved their capital to Bukhara ,
Samarkand Bukhara Samarkand was
declared capital of the new Uzbek SSR in 1924 but lost the honor to Tashkent
Orientation – A map of Samarkand Tashkent
Most sights are within a couple of
kilometers west and north of the Registan.
The newer downtown area is also centered around a pedestrian
thoroughfare, Navoi. A useful tourist
landmark, roughly betwixt the city's two halves, is moth-balled Hotel Samarkand
on the park- like boulevard called Universiteti."
A major attraction is THE REGISTAN. It is an ensemble of majestic, tilting medressas - a
near-overload of majolica, azure mosaics and vast, well-proportioned spaces –
is the centerpiece of the city, and one of the most awesome single sights in Central Asia . The
Registan, which translates to ‘sandy place' in Tajik, was medieval Samarkand
Ulugbek Medressa on the west side
is the original medressa, finished in 1420 under Ulugbek (who is said to have
taught mathematics here; other subjects included theology, astronomy and
philosophy). Beneath the little corner
domes were lecture halls and at the rear a large mosque. About 100 students
lived in the two stories of dormitory cells here.
The other buildings are rough
imitations by the Shaybanid Emir Yalangtush.
The entrance portal of the Sher Dor (Lion) Medressa, opposite Ulugbek's
and finished in 1636, is decorated with roaring felines that look like tigers
but are meant to be lions, flouting Islamic prohibitions against the depiction
of live animals. It took 17 years to
build but still hasn't held up as well as the Ulugbek Medressa, built in just
three years. In between is the
Tilla-Kari (Gold-covered) Medressa, completed in 1660, with a pleasant,
garden-like courtyard. The highlight
here is the mosque, intricately decorated with gold to symbolize Samarkand
I woke up early to see if I can get the Red Sox game on the
internet. Two other groups are in the hotel right now:
MIR's 5 ‘Stans trip and the Lost Cities group which is arranged by CCS and runs
through various museums, History Channel, et al. It turned out that the Lost Cities Group had
rented the Internet terminals. I was
able to watch the first game of the World Series over the shoulder of one of
the Lost Cities Group members. Fortunately,
we did not have to start until 9AM so I was able to watch the whole game. The Red Sox won game one!
The first stop was mausoleum Timur built-in 1404 to hold his
grandson and proposed heir Mohammed Sultan, who died at age 19. Other people important in Timur's life are
also buried there. His teacher is buried
in the grave marked #4. Temur wanted to
be buried at the feet of his teacher who had given him all his knowledge. The teacher's marker is the one with the dome
on it. Temur's gravestone is a dark green
jade. Other graves are of his sons and
grandsons. And the special grandson
Ulegbek is buried at the feet of Timur.
Bek pointed out to us that there are 63 ribs on the dome,
which represents the age of Mohammed when he died. The minarets here were restored in 1986. And on the outside of the mausoleum was a
large "vat" that is believed to be Timur's bath. Another large stone nearby is believed to be
his throne stone.
On either side of one of the medrassas are two columns that
like beautifully decorated in blue tile smokestacks. The one on the right side of the building is
curved. Bek told us that it was bent
during the restoration by the Russians. Embedded
in one of the stair steps that had been remodeled I discovered a cap form a
classic style coke bottle. Here we were
walking around century-old buildings and we get quickly brought back to the
twentieth century. I would love to know
how many years that bottle cap will survive.
Next, we went to the Registan. We saw a medrassa, which is a school,
here. We had a musical concert at one of
the shops, where a man demonstrated the rubob, guitar, tambour, homra (was
invented about 12 years ago by a man of the same name), another instrument that
I didn't get the name of, then a chung (which is like a hammered dulcimer but
has a much tinnier sound), nay or nigh (which is a flute made of bamboo and he
did some of the Sounds of the Dessert on it), lapschong (Jew's harp which he made
sound like a digeridoo) and a dirab (like a tambourine).
Then to a carpet shop in the Registan, then into the
mausoleum part where we saw the grave of the founder of the Uzbeks, Shibaqan
(aka Shayban), a grandson of Jenghiz Khan.
Next we went into a mosque-medressa that was named "covered in
gold." There Bek told us that 99%
of all Uzbek Muslims are Sunnis. In one
section of the Registan we saw pictures and a model of the restoration work
done. This religious place had a lot of
shops – reminded us more of a market than any religious place. Many of the medressas' former dormitory rooms
are now art and souvenir shops. In the
high season a variety of traditional shows are put on for tourist in the Sher
Dor courtyard, including mock Uzbek weddings and kurash, a form of Uzbek
wrestling. There are also tacky evening
sound-and-light shows put on for tour groups in the square, which can usually can
be watched for free from afar.
Bek told us that Timur's other name was
"Tammerlame" which means "limping leader." (He was wounded
in his battles) and that Samarkand Samarkand
was chosen as the site of the base of all operations throughout Central Asia
because of the pleasant climate (doesn't have extreme temperatures), is at the
intersection of main routes through the area and on the main Silk
Road .
Lunch was at the Besh Chino Café and Bar, a “well known”
local restaurant. We were served salads, bread, noodles soup, plov (rice,
yellow carrots and some meat), and green tea.
After lunch we went to the Bibi Khanym Mosque, which was built by Timur's
second wife, a Chinese woman. It was
built to be a "Friday-praying" mosque, but it was never safe for use,
so was closed immediately. It has never
been used, it seems. At this place we
saw a bookstand out of stone and the inside are ruins only. From the end of the 14th century it has been
used for other purposes; it has been a cotton storage facility, during the
Soviet era it was a garage, one niche was used as a place to burn books. The Mosque is northeast of the Registan, was
finished shortly before Timur's death and must have been the jewel of his
empire. Once one of the Islamic world's
biggest mosques (the main gate alone was 35 meters high), it pushed construction
techniques to the limit. Slowly
crumbling over the years, it finally collapsed in an earthquake in 1897.
Legend says that Bibi-Khanym, Timur's Chinese wife, ordered
the mosque built as a surprise while he was away. The architect fell madly in love with her and
refused to finish the job unless he could give her a kiss. The smooch left a mark and Timur, seeing it,
executed the architect and decreed that women should wear veils so as not to
tempt other men.
Recent restoration, though shoddy in places (note the tiles
falling off the cupolas), has reinstated the main gateway and several comes.
The interior courtyard contains an enormous marble Qaran stand that lends some
scale to the place. Local lore has it
that any woman who crawls under the stand will have lots of children.
Then we went to the necropolis Shah-I-Zinda where Bek took
us into the side room where Abbas, a cousin of the prophet Mohammed is buried,
through the "Doors of Paradise, which are open to all who are believers." While we were there a few Muslims came in,
entered another side room and did their 3:30 prayers. It was restored in 2005 has been called an
abomination by some, but this avenue of mausoleums remains Samarkand
A shrine to Qusam existed here on the edge of Afrosiab long
before the Mongols ransacked it in the 13th century. Shah-i-Zinda began to assume its current form
in the 14th century as Timur and later Ulugbek buried their family and
favorites near the Living King. These
tombs featured the finest un-renovated glazed tile-work in Central Asia until
they were controversially restored as part of the Karimov administration's
drive to ‘beautify' Uzbekistan's architectural monuments. While still stunning, the tombs have
undeniably lost some of their power.
The most beautiful tomb remains the Shadi Mulk Aka Mausoleum
(1372), resting place of one of Timur's wives, second on the left after the
entry stairs. The exquisite tile-work
here was of such exceptional quality that it merited little restoration. Shah-i-Zinda is an important place of
pilgrimage.
Next we climbed steps to other rooms in the avenue of
mausoleums. Then we walked through the
adjacent cemetery, where we saw a number of very expensive grave markers.
Our next stop was a rug factory; Ed, Gloria and I stayed in
the bus while the others went in to see how the rugs are made. The three of us have seen enough rug
factories.
Our last stop was Ulubek's Observatory where we saw how he
did his celestial observations and mapping of the stars. The observatory was built in 1420 and
destroyed by fanatics in 1449. A museum
at the site also gave us a good history of the area and told more about the
observatory where Ulubek’s pioneering astronomic research was performed and
documented in star catalogs and astronomic tables.
When we returned to the hotel the Lost Cities Group had
checked out and the internet terminals had been removed.
On the way to dinner we stopped at a winery for wine tasting. It was a great experience and we had a good
dinner afterword.
Oct 26 (Fri) Samarkand —Bukhara
Today’s agenda is to drive from Samarkand
to Bukhara along the old Silk
Road . I have either an
allergy attack or a cold so I am taking pills that make me drowsy. The rest of the group are also feeling under
the weather so the van is quite as we drive through country. Before we left the hotel I was able to see
part of the Red Sox – Rockies second game of
the series.
An hour out we stopped at a village for a rest stop. All the buildings were mud adobe type. The land in the area was barren. A river near by provides water for a village
garden. The outhouse was a concrete
building a fair walk down the hill from the houses. When I returned after taking my turn in the
outhouse which just had a small hole in a concrete floor I found a display of
locally made carpets. There was an old
woman with a weaving machine sitting outside with an extension cord strung out
a window. Her daughters were doing the
selling.
Before we re-boarded the van I dug out a short wave portable
radio that I had bought along specifically to listen to the games. Unfortunately, I could not find the game on
the radio but I did find a BBC station and heard “ 2 to 1, and that is sport news. I listen to the BBC for hours and they never
repeated the World Series news so I spent the whole trip wondering which team
won. Very frustrating!
We drove though a number of small villages for another hour
or so and stopped at the Orient Star Hotel in the city of Shakhrisabz
The background on Shakhrisabz from Lonely Planet is:
The city has a population of 75,000 – it is a
small, un-russified town south of Samarkand
It is Timur's hometown and one upon
a time it probably put Samarkand village of Hoja Ilghar
Bek gave a little more information about Uzbekistan
After visits to the hotel's western-style toilets we walked
to a square with a statue of Timur. After
taking a photo op of the statue which was surrounded by wedding parties lined
up to have the bride and groom having their pictures taken in front of the
statue. I remarked to Bek that it seemed
that the brides did not look happy and he replied that it was part of the
tradition for the brides to look embarrassed with their heads down, the groom
should look serious while the groomsmen and bridesmaids whoop it up. We have observed a lot drinking by the
wedding party members in all the cities.
We walked across the square to the WHITE PALACE
Today there's actually little left of Ak-Saray except for bits
of the gigantic, 40-meter high pishtak, covered with gorgeous, un-restored
filigree-like mosaics. Ak-Saray was
probably Timur's most ambitious project, 24 years in the making, following a successful campaign in Khorezm and the ‘import' of many of its finest artisans.
We re-boarded the bus for a short ride to the Kok-Gumbaz
Mosque, Dorut Tilyovat, and Khazrati- Imam Complex. Kok-Gumbaz is a large Friday mosque that was
completed by Ulugbek in 1437 in honor of his father Shah Rukh (who was Timur's
son). The name, appropriately, means
‘blue dome.' It has been in an almost
constant state of renovation for years.
The palm trees painted on the interior walls are calling cards of its
original Indian and Iranian designers.
Behind Kok-Gumbaz was the original burial complex of Timur's
forebears. On the left, as you enter the
complex is the Mausoleum of Sheikh Shamseddin Kulyal, spiritual tutor of Timur
and his father, Amir Taragay (who might also be buried here). The mausoleum was completed by Timur in 1374.
On the right is the Gumbazi Seyidan
(Dome of the Seyyids), which Ulugbek finished in 1438, as a mausoleum for his
own descendants (although it's not clear whether any are buried in it). A walkway leads to a mausoleum complex called
Dorus-siadat or Dorussaodat (Seat of Power and Might), which Timur finished in
1392 and which may have overshadowed even the Ak-Saray Palace Samarkand
In an alley behind the mausoleum (and within the perimeter
of the long-gone Dorus- siadat) is a bunker with a wooden door leading to an
underground room, the crypt of Timur.
The room, plain except for the Quranic quotations on the arches, is
nearly filled by a single stone casket.
On the casket are biographical inscriptions about Timur, from which it
was inferred (when the room was discovered in 1963) that this crypt was
intended for him. Inside are two
unidentified corpses. The local guide
told us that the two corpses were of women, believed to have been some of his
‘unofficial' wives.
We spent some time in the shopping area and re-boarded the
bus for a ride to a country restaurant for lunch. They served us samsas (pie dough with soft
potato filling, but can sometimes have meat), red beets salad, rice, and corn
salad, bread, soup with potatoes, rice and broth, and a main dish of cooked
potatoes and carrots. Dessert was a
small sugary cookie.
We were back on the road by 2 PM – I saw lots of desert
scenes, then a gas field, storage farm and rail yards for sending off the
natural gas, at sunset I saw the red ball of fire going down in the west as I watched
a full moon rise in the east – at the same time!
At 6PM we arrived at the Omar Khayyam hotel in Bukhara Bukhara
Parked in front of the hotel were three 1930 era cars, (a
Bentley, a Bugatti and a LaGonda) and a European Army Truck. The cars are taking part in the Amsterdam Dam Square Amsterdam Silk Road trough 26
cities. They store the cars in the
winter which is why it is scheduled to take two years to arrive in Beijing
We walked down the road to the Chasmai-Mirob
Restaurant. We had a private room
upstairs open on one side to afford us a fantastic view of the beautiful
building and monuments of Bukhara
Oct 27 (Sat) Bukhara
Our day began with meeting our guide, Masuma (ma-su-ma), in
the hotel lobby at 8:30. I learned that
the city is now about 2500 years old and has a population of 270,000; the city
has always had many ethnic groups here.
We drove by the famous Ark
Our first stop of the day was the Ismail Sh Mausoleum, which is the oldest monument in
all of Central Asia . At the time of its construction, Bukhara was the capital of a vast empire which included
all of Afghanistan , Pakistan and Central Asia ,
under King Bukhara. Built for his
father, Ismail and several other family descendants are buried in this place,
so it's really a family mausoleum. It
was made of high-fired bricks with glaze, which is why it had held up so well. The walls were restored in the 1930s; the
doors are from 2005. I took photos of
the building reflected in the pool – shades of Angkor Wat! The pool was full of stagnant water and I
read in the guide that the city has over-200 pools that have been breeding bugs
over the years so that this has been the city of plagues in the past.
Next, we walked over to the Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum-museum
with a new memorial tomb just across from it.
The tomb is in the small original building behind a spring. We walked along the street, saw the new
memorial, walked to the Bolo-Hauz Mosque.
This place has a tower, a mosque left of the old complex and I went
inside to get some photos.
Then we walked over to the Ark Bukhara became an emirate or
semi-colony of Russia museum
of Bukhara and all of it in these
various rooms of the Ark.
We rode in the bus to have lunch in the courtyard of a home
owned by some Russian people. The place
is named "Corner of the Fortress."
We had low tables and our knees bumped constantly. We had the typical salads, bread, Fanta,
soup, veggie plate of carrots, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes boiled together,
tea and melon dessert.
The afternoon tour began at the Kalon Minaret which is a
mosque beside a minaret on the right side, a medressa on the left side, which
is still used as a boy's school. The
nearby domed building is now a library for the students. About 165 boys go to schools go here. The mosque is all restored and is the largest
mosque in Bukhara
Then we went into the medressah, where Masuma told us the
students have lessons in Uzbek, Arabic, Persian and some Russian. It is still a working school and we were not
allowed to go beyond the lobby area. The
students live on the top floor and classes are held on the lower floor. The staff at this school are especially well-educated,
so this is the "premier" medressah of the city. The students have finished the first 9 years
of regular school, so they are 16 when they arrive here, they stay (room and
board) for four years.
Next, I walked by the Amir Kohlon mosque, through a covered
bazaar named Taqi- Zargaron bazaar. I went
to the Ulugbek Medressa and saw the Abdul Aziz Khan across the way with
scaffolding and a stork nest. Then the
group did some shopping and I walked to the Maliki Attar which is now a carpet
museum.
Following the carpet museum, I walked to a covered bazaar,
called Taqi Sarrafon, where money was traded, and which is part of the Lyabi –
Hauz. I walked by some silly camel
statues, where Bob posed for some of us; then I saw the statue of Hadja
Nasretdin Afandi (who is known under other names in countries like Egypt,
Turkey, Palestine) but he was from Bukhara and quite a folk hero.
Jerry Ray and I had a beer while we waited to attend a
folklore show in Nadir Devon Beji with have two phoenix birds and the God of Sun
over the arch. The folklore show has in
addition to the music and dancing, present a collection of clothes made of
traditional fabrics (silk, shanatlas, cotton) and also evening gowns with
traditional gold embroidery.
The program had some dances done by six young women in
elaborate national costumes, interspersed with the 5-model fashion show and was
very well done. The music was provided
by a 7-piece band, of men playing various local instruments. Also, a young woman served as an MC and an
older man was a singer – well he made noise anyway. Approximately 170 patrons were there and we
had a sufficient meal, but nothing special.
Oct 28 (Sun) Bukhara
We were up early for a scheduled 6AM departure for the long
drive across Uzbekistan
The route was void of villages or rest stops as we drove
across the Kyzylkum
Desert Las Vegas to Salt
Lake City
As we drove Bek gave us some more information about Uzbekistan
We drove along the edge of the Oxus
River which forms the border at this
point with Turkmenistan Iran
We drove along the canal coming off the Oxus River (also
known as the Ama-Darya), we crossed the river, saw a train, got our desert and
sand photos saw a camel alongside the road but didn't have time enough to
grab a photo, entered into irrigated land where cotton, rice, fruit, and hay are
raised. We took back roads into Xiva (in
local language or Khiva in English) and arrived at the Hotel Malika Khiva just
across the street from the West Gate entrance to the old city of Khiva
I noticed an Internet Café in the building next to the
hotel. After we checked in I ran over to
the Café to check the outcome of the ball game.
It was slow dial-up so I was only able to get the score and had to wait
until the evening to get the recap from the hotels single terminal. The Red Sox had won 10-5 and I whooped it up
thanking the guys in the Café for letting me just log on long enough to get the
score before I had to rush back to join the tour group.
Our local guide had arrived and the group assembled to for a walking
tour of the ‘Ancient
City Central Asia . I saw a statue of Al-Xorazmiu Hay Kalli who
invented algebra and the word ‘algorithm' came from his name. As we entered the city, we met a double
wedding party coming out after doing all their photographs – it was brothers
marrying at the same time, our guide told us.
We walked into Itchon Kala via the Father's Gate, now called
Mother's Gate and also known as West Gate.
Then into Kuhna Ark
Our next stop was the tallen minaret, Islom-Hoja which has
120 steps up it, then into the Pavilion Mahmud where I saw another well in a
courtyard and people going into the mausoleum.
I learned about the man Mahmud and then went into the inner rooms
ourselves, shedding our shoes. Inside
this small mausoleum is an inner room with Mahmud's tomb and the walls and
ceiling are completely covered with tiles - Very ornate for this part of the
world.
Then on to the complex of Islom Xoja – the first school in
Khiva, with a museum of photography in the building with local and European
architecture. There were dishes, photos, a camera, and an old gramophone on display.
Next to it was a cemetery of wealthy people who wanted to be buried as
close as possible to the great people.
This was followed with a visit to a Friday praying mosque
Jama Masyidi Va Minoiessi – the oldest mosque in Khive and one of the oldest in
Uzbekistan. It is a sea of columns, but
a restoration and only half its original size.
There once were over 500 columns, now only 220. Our guide told us there are three types of
mosques in Uzbekistan
1. Congregational
– these are Friday praying mosques where the men go once on Friday to
pray. These mosques have domes and use
the call to prayer.
2. Neighborhood – these are small and located
close to where people live or work. They
are very small and usually have no domes.
3. Country – these are very large mosques that
are only used twice a year on special religious ceremonial days of prayer.
Before dinner, we had a cocktail party in the lobby of the
hotel. Many members of the group had
brought liquor with them and had bought wine at the wine tasting in Samarkand Iran Turkmenistan
The room was not the best with a very thin mattress on the
bed and no internet connection.
Oct 29 (Mon) Khiva—Ashgabat ,
Turkmenistan
I was up early to see Bob Parda off. He was headed off to Tashkent ,
via Moscow on his way home to Poway , CA Boston
Our bus arrived and we headed out, driving through some
other small communities, one of which is named Boston ,
en route to the border with Turkmenistan Boston , Uzbekistan
We had a very easy crossing with Bek shepherding us through
on the Uzbekistan side and
the driver and guide from the other side coming over to help us through to Turkmenistan
Our first stop was in the city of Dashoguz
Next, we stopped for lunch at the Nadira restaurant what was
supposed to be the only nice restaurant in Dashoguz, the Nadira. I had the traditional salad of cucumber and
tomatoes, then lentil soup, a chopped beef grilled cutlet with fries or rice, beer,
and tea.
After lunch, we headed out of the city toward the UNESCO
World Heritage Site of Kunya-Urgench, where we stopped at the Mausoleum, which Olek
told us that now it is not believed to be a mausoleum but used as a
palace. The reason for thinking this is
that there are too many windows for a mausoleum, and the building is also the
wrong style for a mausoleum. Across the
road is the greater part of the site.
The weather was not very warm and instead of walking the site we
re-boarded the bus to visit the various buildings.
First in the site was the 14th-century Turabek
Hanum mausoleum with beautiful blue tile ceiling in the dome (outside the
building is just very ornate brown brick).
The tomb is in an area down some stairs.
Next was the Kutlug Timur minaret, which was started in the
11th century and listed as the 3rd tallest in the world. The Kipshek Mosque in Ashgabat has the
tallest and the second tallest is in Malaysia
or Indonesia
I then walked over to the Sultan Tekesh mausoleum with a
pointed blue tile dome (almost al the domes I have seen on the trip have been
round) which is under restoration and had scaffolding around part of the dome. This is believed to have been a Zoroastrian
building because the bricks are from that time.
The Zoroastrians were pushed out by the Muslims. The building is oriented true
north-south, east-west and the entrances
are equally spaced in the building; the shape never could have been a mausoleum
for that reason. It was a palace for
Horam Urgench with a famous library. I walked
by the Alow Pir building which was not described by our guide or in the UNESCO
World Heritage Site literature and then up a hill to the Kyrk Moll mounds of
graves. It is a sacred place where the Kunya-Urgench
inhabitants held their last stand against the Mongols. It is also a superstitious site were women
leave miniature monuments for the health of the baby and women roll down the
hill in a fertility rite. Several women
were there when I arrived building miniature monuments with stones. I waited for one to roll down the hill but
they never did so I walked on to the next site.
Sultan Il Arslan mausoleum dates back to the 12th
century. It is a small building with a
point roof that has flat octagon rather than round sides. The plaque at the next site called it “The
portal of an Unknown building” – 11 to 12th century. I took some photos and then re-boarded the
bus for a ride back to the town where we stopped at the Dashmetjt Mosque which
is now a museum, and then walked around to see the Matkirim Ishan Mausoleum and
the Nejameddin Kubra Mausoleum complex.
The town is called Kunya-Urgench which means “Old Urgench”
and is south of the Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
is the town of Urgench Samarkand Samarkand
We drove to the Airport at Dashogus to board a plane to
Ashgabat. Dinner was snacks in the
airport lounge. Mary Jane and Gloria did
not hold up well in the crowds as we waited to check-in.
I was assigned a middle seat on the Turkmenistan B-717 and
found it occupied with a burly Russian with equally as large men on both
sides. They motioned for me to take the
seat behind next to a teenage girl and across the aisle from Jerry Ray and Mary
Jane. She moved to the middle seat and I
sat on the isle. Another large man had
the window seat which was reclined. He
flew the whole flight without buckling his seat belt and the flight attendants
didn’t seem to care. During their
service, I noticed that Mary Jane didn’t respond to questions from the flight
attendant. She appeared to be passed out
in her seat. Approaching the Ashgabat Airport Las Vegas
When we landed Jerry Ray had to shake Mary Jane awake and
she appeared very disoriented. She had
trouble identifying her bag in the overhead and Jerry Ray and I had to take
turns guiding her to the terminal, gathering her luggage and getting her to the
bus. Olek had the bus stop to purchase
water and ice cream snacks since we had not dinner tonight.
We checked into the PRESIDENT HOTEL which was the fanciest
we have stayed at on the tour. After
getting to our room, Jerry Ray left to check out the bar and I hooked up my
equipment.
Oct 30 (Tue) Ashgabat
When I arose and looked out the window the sight further
confirmed the similarity to Las Vegas Iran Turkmenistan
I am so impressed with the city that I think it is import to
understand the background on Ashgabat.
Ashgabat was once an important stop
on the Silk Road . The name means “city of love” in the local
language. The Russians built a fortress
here and it became the administrative center for the Trans-Caspian region on
May 6, 1881. An earthquake killed
170,000 people on October 6, 1948. On
October 27, 1991, the country gained its independence from the USSR
The country has great wealth from
its oil and gas enabling the government to provide free houses for all
families.
We meet in the lobby to start the local tour. Olec, our guide from the day before had been
replaced by Aila (I-la) a young lady in her early 30’s. We started out for the Nissa UNESCO World
Heritage Site, along the way Aila pointed out one of Turkmenistan’s first
President Niyazov’s pride project – the Walk of Health: a concrete staircase
built into the side of the mountain with two trails of 8km and 37km (the string
of lights I saw from the plane) for fitness walkers or joggers that meet at the
Independence Park.
The Nissa site outside the city is ruins of the ancient
capital of Parthian. It is still
undergoing archeological excavations and restoration in a joint effort between
the Turkmenistan Central Asia , holding 20,000
people. It has minarets 91 meters high,
a cupola that is 60 meters across and it has 48 windows for the 1948
earthquake. We spent an hour walking
through the ruins and then headed back to the city.
The first stop was the National Museum
The next stop was the Monument to the Independence of
Turkmenistan; we saw the 5-headed eagle which represents the 5 provinces of the
country. We also saw fountains, the gold
statue of the president and learned that the monument is called "the
plunger" by the locals. The monument
looks like a plunger because it has a 118 meter high spire raising from a
dome shaped building with water flowing down four troughs on the sides into a
pool ring that circles the dome. The
monument has large statues of historical leaders around the platform. Down steps into the park area were more
statues and a large gold statue of former President Niyazov.
The bus was finally found and we boarded it for a 20-minute drive
to the center of the city. Along the way
we passed the monument to the Ruhnama, a book written by the first President; by
the Olympic Stadium which holds 35,000 people; this is where the Independence
Day celebrations are held, soccer is the main sport in Turkmenistan and games
are played there, especially tournaments, also foreign performers are presented
there; and a number of government buildings with gold statues of the former
President. We stopped across the street
from a large plaza with the World Trade Complex at one end and the President’s
Office building, the Congressional Hall on one side and the Arch of Neutrality.
The Arch of Neutrality has elevators that we rode to the top
to get the great views of city and a terrific photo op. I don’t know how many gold statues there are
of former President Niyazov around the city, but I saw at least six.
By now it was time for lunch and we drove to the Asuda Nusay
Restaurant for a great fish and chips meal.
From the restaurant we walked to a shopping center where I walked around
the huge open central market while the others either went to a Carpet Factory
or to the Post Office.
Next it was back to the Hotel for some rest before dinner. Jerry Ray invited me to join him in the bar
where I taught the bartender how to make a Manhattan
(shades of Botswana
At 7PM we left for the Turkmen National House Restaurant for
dinner and a folk dance show. We had lots
of starters, a soup with mutton, potatoes and broth, then plov for the main
dish, tea, sesame candy, fruit – plenty of food. The dances were interesting, one was a brides'
dance where Maggie was the bride and I was the groom. The dressed me in native jacket and a huge
wooly hat. Another dance was the story
of a girl losing her bracelet and the young man who found it wouldn't return it
until she agreed to marry him.
Mary Jane had decided that after her illness on the flight
in she did not want to venture on to Iran.
Cathy was already scheduled to leave tonight and Mary Jane decided to
join her. Starting tomorrow we are down
to seven of us to travel on to Iran
Oct 31 (Wed) Ashgabat to Mashad , Iran
We have completed the tour of the five 'stans:
·
Kazakhstan
·
Kyrgyzstan
·
Tajikistan
·
Uzbekistan
·
Turkmenistan
and we are now in Iran
for a week before I go to the gulf
states Mary , Turkmenistan Turkmenistan
National Museum US , London and Paris Turkey Ashgabat
is like Las Vegas
After the museum visit we rode to the Iran
We eventually arrived and had the traditional hassle going
through first the exit of Turkmenistan
and then the entry into Iran US is now
fingerprinting arrivals entering the US ,
Iran US
The fingerprinting was a joke - they used a black stamp pad
and pressed our fingers on the pad so hard that when it was placed on the paper
it was just a big blob of black ink. But they didn't complain since they
have no procedure to use our prints and it was only for retaliation. (Our
guide spend 4 hours at JFK last month entering the US US
living in Santa Monica , Seattle
and New York
The ride from the border crossing to Mashad took 4 hours,
half the distance over winding mountain roads and a slower safer speed with
photo stops at Kurd Adobe villages. The second have was on a four-lane
divided highway.
We checked into the Homa Hotel Mashad 2, Khayaam Boulevard
Tomorrow we tour Mashad which is a major religious site for
Shiite Muslims and then fly to Shiraz where we
start the drive to Tehran Shiraz and two nights in Isfahan
with a visit to Qom before our one day in Tehran
Mashad is the most important
pilgrimage site in Iran Iran ’s holiest
city, it provides a real glimpse into the religious life of the people and some
of Iran
So far the Iranian officials and people have been very
friendly. At one checkpoint the police stopped us just to welcome us to
the country.
Nov 1 (Thu) Mashad
Our first full day in Iran
is in the city of Mashhad Mashhad is the site of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza, the
largest shrine in the world for one individual.
It is located in a 185 acre complex of buildings and plaza known as
Astan-e Qods-e Razavi in the center of Mashhad . A large portion of the complex is off-limits
to non-Muslims. Mashhad
has a population of about 3 million and over 12 million pilgrims visit the
Shrine every year. It is the holiest
place in Iran
Our guide, Ali obtained head covering for the woman in the
group which a helpful passer-by fitted on the women’s heads correctly. It took Ali a long time to get the approval
for the group to enter the complex.
While we waited Iranians would approach us and asked us where we were
from. When we told them we were from the
US they welcomed us to Iran
Eventually we entered the complex with the men and woman
passing through separate entries where we were padded down and bags
searched. Apparently several years ago a
terrorist smuggled in a bomb that killed a large number of people. The crowds were heavy, but reported nowhere
near as heavy as when school is out. A
sign outside listed the things you are not supposed to take into the
complex. The pictures included the
standard items, guns, knives, cell phones, cameras, plus donuts, hamburgers,
and French fries.
Inside we walked through the plazas as they were laying
down large rugs for the upcoming noon prayer.
After seeing the beautiful mosques and buildings we entered the
museums. The first museum was called the
Museum of Carpets Mecca Main
Museum
After the tour it was lunchtime and Ali took us to the
Moein Darbary Resturant best restaurant in town (according to the guide books
and the Iranian-Americans we met there) for kabob. The friendly staff sat us at a long table
with Iranian and American flags at the end.
We had a great salad, soup and excellent meat. We arrived before the normal lunch crowd and
when we left people were lined up down the block to get in. To facilitate fast turn over the tables have
a dozen heavy clear plastic table covers and to clear a table after a meal they
dump the leftovers on the cover remove the dishes and bundle up the trash
and walla there is a fresh table cover in seconds.
Next, it was then back to the hotel for siesta and
checkout. On our way to the airport, we
stopped at the Bazar-e Reza next to the Shrine.
The bazaar has two long corridors, four blocks long containing the usual
shops.
We arrived at the airport, two and one-half hours before our
flight. There is only four check-in
counters which do not process a flight until 90 minutes before the flight. We sat in chairs awaiting the flight to be
listed over a counter. When it finally
was listed there was a mad dash to line-up with our bags. Ali was at the head (he had our tickets) and
we waited 30 minutes before someone started processing us. Gloria suffered an anxiety attack and
suffered throughout the flight and the next day. She is a large woman who usually takes charge
and is really disturbed having to cover her head see the treatment of women in
the country. She also had a severe case
of the trots and the “bomb site” style toilets upset her.
Eventually, we processed our luggage and passed through
security. Again I had the feeling that
it showed since I set off the alarm and just pointed to my knee which they
padded and let me through with my camera in my pocket and my Treo on my
belt. The aircraft was a Fokker 100
which has 2-3 style seats and holds 109 passengers. The flight left on time actually rolled down
the runway on the scheduled departure time.
It was a smooth one and one half hour flight to Shiraz
We checked into the Homa Hotel, Meshkinfam Avenue , Shiraz
Nov 2 (Fri) Shiraz
On display in the hotel lobby was the:
TOURIST’S OATH
Thank God that I have found the opportunity to
travel and visit other countries and considering the fact that everyone should
play his : her role in achieving peace and friendship in the world, I undertake
to travel:
Sincerely, and consider others opinion open-mindedly,
Protect environment and natural resources during my journey,
Respect all cultures and customs of people whom I come across,
Befriend whom I meet during the journey,
Protect practically and theoretically all agencies, organizations
or people having other opinions and viewpoints.
Encourage others to travel throughout the world peacefully.
We started the day at the Eram Botanical Garden Qajar Place School of Botany
The next stop was Mausoleum of Hafez. The story goes that every Iranian has at
least two books in their house the Quran and the Poems of Hafez. Ali again read us some Hafez’s poems.
It was now lunchtime and Ali picked the Soofi
Resturant with a salad bar and taste Lamb Kabob with rice. The flatbread was outstanding and we were
able to see the open kitchen with the oven that they used to bake the bread.
After a siesta at the hotel we toured another
Garden with a large mansion that is now a military museum. It has beautiful grounds and served as place
the Shah stayed in when visiting the city.
Our next stop was at the Nazzir-El Molk Mosque down an ally in a poor
section of time. It is one of the oldest
most beautifully tiled mosques we visited.
It is rarely used and the caretaker had fun showing us postcards from Chicago
By now the sun had set and we drove up to the
Quran Gate to the city where we walked through the structure which is supposed
to bring good luck.
Dinner was at another Traditional Restaurant
where I had fried shrimp and great flatbread.
Nov 3 (Sat) Shiraz to Esfahan
This morning we departed early in a rather
cramped van with all-out baggage occupying the two back rows of seats for the
full day trip to Esfahan . An hour north of Shiraz
we stopped at the magnificent Persepolis
A few miles up the road we stopped the site of
Noqsh-e Rostam which has four tomb sites carved into the side of a rock
mountain. It is difficult to
describe the stone reliefs that decorate
each tomb. They believe the tombs
contain Darius I, Artaxerxes I xerxes I and Darius II.
We continued on our way north on a four-lane
divided highway past granite rock quarries and across desert areas, much like
parts of California or Arizona
Back on the highway, we continued north across
the same terrain. We had a rest stop at
a Gas Station in a small village. Every
23 km we passed ruins of caravan-serils which were the motels of ancient
times. Twenty-three kilometers was
considered the distance that caravans could travel in one day and these caravan-serils
were designed to provide rooms for the travelers and there animals with a large
courtyard that served as a trading place for goods. If caravan A was traveling north with goods
needed in the north and stayed at a caravan-serils where a caravan was
traveling south with goods needed in the south the travelers would often trad
goods and turn around and head home.
After the sunset Ali had us stop at one of the caravan-serils that is
being restored to serve as a hotel. It
was fun to tour the site as the caretaker turned on lights to show us the rooms
under restoration.
We eventually arrived at our hotel in Esfahan , the historical Abbasi Hotel, Amadegah Avenue
Nov 4 (Sun) Shiraz
Next
we visited the Imam Mosque considered one of the most beautiful mosques in the
world with rich blue and yellow colors.
Every inch above the lower wall is tile.
It is offset 45 degrees from the plaza to be oriented towards Mecca
We
then visited Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque across from the plaza from the
Palace. It is also offset 45 degrees. It differs from other mosques in that it has
no courtyard or minarets. It has
underground tunnels that were used by the Shahs woman to hide out and/or exit
when religious visitors visited the Shah.
Next
we toured the Chehel Sotun Place
Lunch
was at the Hotel Julfa with a nice cream of mushroom and lemon soup and more
kababs.
After
lunch we returned to the hotel. Most
stores close for siesta until 4 PM. I
checked email and then started on a search to find a yellow hi-lighter. I had two addresses near the hotel and set
out to find them. The first was sold out
and after a long walk the second one was also sold out as I returned to the
hotel I saw a group of schoolgirls and figured that they would best know where
to find a store that would carry hi-lighters.
They had fun attempting to understand my request and once they did they
produced one from their school bag and refused to take any money for it and
insisted that I take.
Earlier
at the plaza we were approached by many Iranians who were very friendly and
wanted to talk to us all stating they were happy to see Americans visiting
their country, assuring us that they are peaceful and indicating that their
President is touched in the head.
We
were scheduled to eat dinner in the Hotel - I missed dinner with the group, so
I ordered a cheeseburger in the Coffee Shop.
What a mistake. They didn’t use
sliced cheese and whatever they used turned into soup on the meat. The flavor was not good and thankfully I had
also ordered a salad which was very good – so I didn’t starve. Jerry Ray joined me.
We
retired by 9:30PM
Nov 5 (Mon) Esfahan
Jerry Ray and I get up early, he showers first and then goes to
the lobby and writes his journal. We are
usually, the first one at breakfast and then I have time to connect to the
internet before we start our tours at 8:30AM.
Today, we started by driving along the Zayandeh River Shahrestan
Bridge
Next, we stopped at the Khaju, the most decorated of the
bridges. It is also a footbridge with a
small place in the center where the Kings would sit to watch water sports in
the river. The bridge also serves as a
dam controlling the water in the river and is a popular meeting place for
people to just sit, talk and view the river.
The bus met us on the other side and we were off to the Vank Cathedral,
an Armenian church with beautiful paintings on the walls inside. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed. There is a museum attached with historical
references to the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians.
Our last stop before lunch was the Manar Jomban tomb with its
shaking minarets. The tomb was built in
the 14th century with the two not very tall minarets. When someone leans or shakes one of the
minarets the other minarets shake in unison.
The explanation is the sandstone used to construct them contains
feldspar which dissolves over time leaving the stone flexible.
Lunch was at a Traditional Restaurant at the plaza where Ali
ordered varies stews. Some we tested,
some were strange. I liked the walnut
sauce over chicken the best.
After a siesta we started out again, this time to the Jameh Mosque
which is the biggest mosque in Iran
Following our tour of the mosque, we headed for the Bazar-e Bozorg
for shopping. The bazaar stretches from
the mosque to the plaza and we visited many shops.
Back at the hotel four of us dined in the hotel’s Traditional
Restaurant which is buffet style. This
allowed us to take a taste of items before we had to commit to a meal size
plate. The salad choices were excellent
and I bulked up on it and had small portions of various eggplant dishes.
Nov 6 (Tue) Esfahan to Tehran
Today is my last full day in Iran Toyota Qom
and then Tehran California , Nevada ,
Utah Natanz
Eventually we reached the outskirts of Kashan where we exited and
entered the old section of the city.
Kashan is reportedly the city that the three wise men started their trek
to see Jesus. We stopped to take pictures of the remains of the city wall and
an ice house. In olden times they would
creat small ponds in the freezing weather, cut the ice and store it packed in
There is a story that when the Arabs tried to capture the city in
the 7th century they found the wall impregnable so the Arab General
had his men gather scorpions and throw them over the wall and the inhabitants
surrendered.
The major sites to tour in the city are the traditional houses
built in the 1800s by wealth merchants.
The first house we stopped to tour is supposed to be the most
beautiful. It was closed for the
holiday. Across the street we were able
to tour the Khan-e Tabatabei which has beautiful intricate relief designs
carved into stone. The house was designed
with a central courtyard with a reflecting (not swimming) pool and on one end
was the “exterior” rooms used for entertaining; the other end had the
“interior” rooms where the families (father and sons families) lived. Below their rooms were underground rooms that
were cooler in the summer. Off to the
side were the servants quarters.
Around the corner we toured the Khan-e Abbasin complex which has
six buildings and numerous courtyards.
The rooms had beautiful decorations and stained glass windows. Ali reported that all other sites worth
seeing in the city were closed for the holiday, so we boarded the bus and
resumed our journey north.
At 1:30PM we stopped for lunch at one of the Toll Road
Inside there was fast food on the left and sit down on the right
with a very long line waiting for tables.
The restrooms were large and clean but without western toilets. We elected to order from the fast food
side. Over the counter were pictures of
the selection, including hamburgers, fried chicken and pizza. I ordered fried chicken and a tossed
salad. The chicken arrived with coleslaw and French fries. It was quite good
although not the same flavor as KFC.
After the meal we stopped in the Ice Cream Shop and I had two scoops of
a delicious coffee ice cream.
Back on the road we by-passed Qom ,
a scheduled stop to visit the shrine of Fatima ,
after Ali received word that it was too crowded to get in. We pressed on to the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini,
an impressive site which had a large enough parking lot that despite the crowds
we were able to find a spot to take photos.
The gold dome over his tomb has been removed and is under
restoration. There are two other domes
and four gold minarets in the complex.
We arrived at our hotel at 5:30PM.
It is the former Intercontinental Hotel, Fatemi Avenue
The Internet room had one direct hookup and I had to wait to get
on before dinner, but after dinner, I got right on but there were few messages.
Nov 7 (Wed) Tehran
My last night in Iran
Breakfast was slightly different.
They had a chef cooking omelets and I had a nice one egg cheese omelet
along with a taste orange I had bought in Esfahan
and had refrigerated in the room all night.
After breakfast, I was able to get on the Internet with ease
although they have charged me for one hour since I arrived and I have not been
hooked up for more than 20 minutes.
Our tour started at the Carpet
Museum
We boarded our bus and drove past the former American Embassy,
with large banners on the fence with anti-American statements made by Ayatollah
Khomeini, in 1979 such as:
“Today, the United States
“Down with the USA
And several others I was not able to get a good picture of.
Our next stop was the National
Museum which was a large building
containing items from Persepolis Ceramics Museum
Lunch was at the Luxe Talaee Restaurant where we had nice
kababs. After lunch we drove north to
the Sa’d Abad Museum Complex on the slope of the Alborz Mountains White Place Green Place White
Place
The Green
Place
On the way back to the hotel Ali had the bus driven past
the Foreign Residence Compound where I believe my mother lived in the early
1970’s. It had many two-story homes with
garages behind walls and a small shopping center with several US
Back at the hotel the group leaving (everyone except IQ and
Maggie, who are going to the Caspian Sea for a few days before flying to Vienna
for a family reunion.) decided to meet for dinner in the Coffee Shop at 6PM (I
have to check out by 7:30PM to leave for my flight).
We ordered items that we had had since we left the states
and had a grand time recounting some of the highs and lows of the trip. I had trout (yes, Judy the head was still on
it) which was delicious with apple pie-la-mode for desert. Lou wanted a smaller desert and ordered just
ice cream and ended up with a bowel of four different flavors. She asked if she get a doggie bag so she
could take it on the flight. We finished
by 7:10 and I rushed to the room to finish packing and meet Ali in the
lobby. He drove me to the airport in his
own car. We had a lengthy discussion on
cruise ship travel. Next month he takes
a group of wealthy Iranians to tour the US
(NYC, LA, SF, Hawaii Dubai Ayatollah Khomeini International Airport
When we drove past Ayatollah Khomeini's tomb
there was a strong odor that caused Ali to close his window. He told me they raise cows in the area. It smelled like the Omaha
Ali left me at the door of the terminal because
passengers have to go through a Security Check Point to get to the ticket
counters. It took an hour to get to the
airport. My flight was scheduled for
11:30PM and I arrived at 8:30PM. The
Gulf Air ticket counter was empty and one of the Iran Air agents told me not to
expect it to be staffed until 9:30PM.
There were internet kiosks throughout the terminal area and I signed on
and cleaned up my email and read articles about Curt Schilling resigning with
the Red Sox which made me happy. Eventually, the counter was staffed and I received my boarding pass. Next, I had to process through Customs and
Immigration which had us wait even though there was a woman on duty, for 30
minutes. Passed her there was another
security checkpoint near the gate. It
was staffed but I was told to wait until one hour before takeoff. Eventually, I arrived at the gate and they
didn’t start boarding until 11:20. Onboard I found that the A-320 which seats 109 passengers had only a couple of
dozen passengers and the flight attendants wanted us all to set near the front
of the plane so they could better serve us.
The plane broke ground at 11:40PM and I skipped the meal and slept most
of the way.
My instructions for Bahrain
By the time I got to my fabulous room (the best
on the trip) in the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel, 6 Palace, Avenue, Manama
Map of the Gulf States
Nov 8 (Thu) Manama , Bahrain
I arose at 6AM from a sound sleep, had
breakfast (the usual options except the orange juice was fresh squeezed,
checked out the internet (cable in the room but you have to purchase a
password), and gathered my hat and fanny pack for the day’s tour.
At 8:30AM, Abdulla was in the lobby and my
companions showed up. They are Edna from
Santa Monica, and Ed from Las Vegas Saudi Arabia
Our tour started with a drive around the city
viewing the new skyscrapers, the world trade center,financial harbor, Bab
al-Bahrain gate, and unique wind generators (three wind turbines installed
between two identical buildings).
Our first stop was at the Beit al-Quran
Museum
Next stop was the Al-Fatih Mosque. An impressive new building built on reclaimed
land in the mid-1980s. Young ladies
with veils guided us trough the mosque with detailed explanations on the
procedures of Muslim prayers and the religion.
The mosque is new with stain glass windows and shiny marble floors and a
solid carpet in the prayer area, but it was in sharp contrast to the
beautifully tiled and decorated mosque’s I visited in the ‘stans and Iran
From the mosque we drove around Muharraq Island
and returned to stop at the National
Museum
We then drove out of the city to the Qala’at
al-Bahrain Fort, overlooking the north coast.
The fort was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century to
guard their ships sailing the “Spice
Route
The mall was just like a US Al-Areen
Wildlife Park Bahrain
In the Wildlife Park
I worked on my journal and emails until 7PM
then wandered around the shopping mall under the World Trade
Center
Nov 9 (Fri) Manama to Doha , Qatar
We checked out of the hotel at 8:30AM to drive
to the airport for our flight to Qatar Tehran
The flight to Qatar
was 30 minutes and when I exited the aircraft (Qatar
At the customs desk the young lady handed our
passports to a supervisor and he waved us through handing us back the passport
as we passed by him. Our bags had to be
screened again. I had Edna’s suitcase on
my cart and my load passed right through.
Ed’s was singled out to be searched and I exited the arrival hall and
was met by another young lady who directed me to the tour agencies booth. After a while Edna and Ed joined us. They told me that he was caught with the wine
and they took it and will return it to him when we depart – which is for Kuwait City
We were deposited in the former Sofetel (now the
Mercure Grand Hotel), Musherib Street, Doha
I had a buffet lunch in the Hotel Restaurant
(salad and fish). The city has siesta
from noon until 3PM every day. Essam is
a soft Muslim from Egypt
I had a buffet lunch in the Hotel Restaurant by
myself. At 3:30PM Essam picked us up and
we drove to a souk where we walked around visiting the various specialty
shops. One unusual shop sold falcons and
the support equipment (falcon hoods, heavy gloves, tethers and stands, etc.) to
train and hunt with a falcon. The souk
had wider passageways and little crowd compared to the bazaars we have been
in. In the open areas were Arab men
singing and acting out the songs.
We left the souk and drove to the camel
market. Unfortunately the sunset so it
was dark, but we were able to take some pictures. Nearby was the food market with fresh fruits
and vegetables similar to markets all over the world.
As we drove to our restaurant, Essam asked us
if we were interested in see some Arabian horses. Why not, so he took us to the Equestrian Center Qatar
Dinner was at a Qatar
Tomorrow we go on a desert safari and swim in
the Gulf with a BBQ cookout for lunch on the beach.
Nov 10 (Sat) Doha
At 9AM we were picked up by a driver in a Toyota 4WD
Land Qatar Lake Tahoe and is traveling on business
with a side trip to visit Ashley. Ashley
is originally from Ann Arbor , her Grandparents
live in Topanga Canyon ,
and she has been living in London and took a job
at a startup bank in Qatar Qatar England
After the picture taking we continued up and
down the dunes until we came upon a hard flat surface that looked like a
runway. Near the end of the runway was a
truck towing a large 4 wheel trailer full of trash bags. The driver and passengers from the truck
waved down the lead vehicle. We both
stopped and saw that one of the trailer’s tires was flat. The lead vehicle’s driver produced a portable
air compressor which he hooked to his battery and inflated the tire. Back on the road we came upon a campsite with
many tents on a buff close to the sea.
Fish were jumping out of the water and we could see the mountains of Saudi Arabia
The campsite is the Emir’s fishing camp where
the day before he hosted the King of Syria.
It was a beautiful spot. We waded
in the Gulf, took pictures and I found a nice seashell. Forty minutes later after more up and down
dune driving we arrived at the Tour Agency’s campsite with a beach on the
water. A series of tents which included
four of the Bedouin type with carpet floors and large colorful lounge pillows,
a volleyball court, stage, cooking huts and a shaded area with tables and
chairs.
Lunch was delicious kabobs with the Lebanese
spreads and flatbread.
Some of us changed into swimsuits and set out
to swim in the Gulf only to discover that a number of jellyfish had the same
idea. Ed brushed one and that ended the
swim. We sat in the shade and traded
stories of our lives and travels. Ron is
British by birth but has lived in the US Qatar England
Edna has been very active in the Sierra Club
and told us about her adventures climbing the highest peak in every state and
many mountains around the world including a base camp on Everest. Ed told us about having climbed Mt. Fuji
last month and Ron told us about dog sledding in Alaska
It was a very pleasant relaxing afternoon. At 3PM we started back and stopped to get the
tires re-inflated at Seawell
Beach
After a couple of hours in the hotel we were
met by Merriam, our guide’s fiancée to drive us to a local Indian Restaurant
for dinner. After so many kabobs it was
interesting to have a major change, especially when we saw so many Indians on
the streets. They are the predominate
ex-pats in the country. A little on
Merriam; she is from Morocco
We were back at the hotel by 9PM.
Nov 11 (Sun) Doha to Kuwait City
We checked out of the hotel at 9AM to tour the Qatar National
Museum Qatar Qatar
Both Ed and Edna had Turkish coffee and Essam
smoked a water pipe. The smoking is not
based on tobacco. It was relaxing to just
sit on the water edge discussing the Arab and Iranian attitudes toward the US Kuwait
The landing in Kuwait City
We drove into the city, toured around the
sights of the city and then stopped at the National Museum
Next, tour was the Beit Alsadu, House of
Traditional Weaving. When we entered
there was a weaving class for women in session.
They showed us a video of the history of traditional weaving and then we
saw displays of various styles. When we
left the building the sun had set and we then passed a huge shopping center and
stopped at the fish market. It was impressive
for several reasons: first, the vast number of stalls; second, the variety of
fish; and third, the lack of flies and smells.
It was now dark, so we decided to go to dinner. Our guide selected a traditional Arab
restaurant where we sat outside under a canopy and had the Lebanese dips, flatbread, shrimp and mixed kebabs.
Delicious!
At the Courtyard Marriot, Al Shuhada Street,
Kuwait City, we had to pass through security to enter the hotel ground floor and
the reception was on the second floor.
The room was as good as I have experienced on the trip with the Internet
connection in the room.
Nov 12 (Mon) Kuwait City
to Muscat , Oman
We started our tour at 9AM. The first stop was the Kuwait National
Museum National Museum
Next stop was the Tareo Rajab
Museum National Museum English language Grade School
From the museum we drove to the famous Kuwait
Landmark, Kuwait
Towers
By now it was time for lunch so our guide took
us to the huge shopping mall – very much like a US
It was now time to return to the hotel to check out and drive to the airport. At
the hotel we got our confirmation for a 1605 flight to Muscat
Our guide left us at the security before check-in and remarked that he didn’t see a 1605 flight to Muscat Kuwait
The Business Class passengers lined up at the
entrance to another hall that had the air bridge gateway at the end of
it. We sat and read (the plane had still
not arrived). Eventually, the plane
arrived and passengers disembarked and the standing line got longer. I started to get concerned about overhead
space and didn’t want to get stuck with no room. One of the Business Class women left the line
and sat next to us. She told us that the
crowd was from a canceled Kuwait Air flight to Dubai
and since our flight was stopping there en route to Muscat
It was an 1 hour and 25-minute flight to Dubai
At Muscat there
was no Air Bridge Oman
Our Guide met us – his name is Khalib and he is
from a fisherman’s family in the coastal city of Shinas
We were in our nice room in the Radisson SAS
Hotel, Al Kuleiah Street
Nov 13 (Tue) Muscat
We started our Muscat City
Leaving the mosque we started our tour of the
city passing through the city gate towards the sea. The rocky mountains come very close to the
sea. In the Mutrah area of Muscat
Following our time in the souk we re-boarded
our vehicle to drive to Old Muscat. The
Cornish leads through a gateway into a walled city with a beautiful harbor in
front of the Sultan’s Palace. After
stopping for picture taking of the waterfront and the fort above we drove to
the Place for more pictures. Khalib insisted
on taking my picture wearing his Omani skull cap.
Back in the vehicle we drove to Bait Al Zubair,
a museum in a restored ancient merchant’s home that displays pictures and
artifacts of the history of Oman
Back at the hotel we were scheduled to purchase
our own lunch. I walked across the
street to a strip mall to eat at a place the Khalib recommended named the Automatic
Lebanese Restaurant. I don’t know what
is automatic about it but I had a nice hummus with meat dish.
Back in the room I attempted to write my
journal and got to review my pictures to create an outline and start dozing
off. I lay down for a nap and slept 4
hours. The two short nights due to
flying had gotten to me.
I awoke to met Edna and Ed for dinner in the
hotel restaurant at 7:30PM. I had two
Foster beers with my meal which was a pick your own BBQ. My picks were rock lobster tail, salmon, beef
and a white fish, very delicious.
Back in the room by 9PM, I checked email and
finished my journal for the 12th.
Nov 14 (Wed) Muscat
We started at 8AM on a two-hour drive to the
city of Nizwa in the mountainous region of
Al-Dakhiliyah Region, southwest of Muscat high
point overlooking the village
of Birkat Al-Mawz
Once we arrived in Nizwa we toured the Nizwa
Souk and the Nizwa Fort. The fort was
built in the 17th century and is considered one of the best ones to
tour in the country which has hundreds of forts. I climbed to the top where I was able to take
pictures of the city, the souk area and the mosque next door.
Back on the road, we stopped for a photoshoot
of camels grazing on the side of the highway and then at a high
point overlooking the village
of Bahla
It was now lunchtime so we drove to the Jabrin Castle
After lunch we toured the Castle which is the
best-preserved castle in the region and possibly the country. It has many rooms connected by hidden
passageways. It is not lavishly
decorated but the stairs and the walls are in good condition.
After the tour Khalib took off across the rocky
desert on what he told us was a short cut to the highway back to Muscat Oman
The scenery on the road to Muscat
was desert with rocky mountains – like so many other areas I visited on this
trip it reminds me of driving in southern California
to Las Vegas or Palm Springs
Once we arrived in Muscat
The evening dinner was scheduled to take place
in a traditional restaurant which Khalib selected as the Automatic Lebanese
Restaurant that we had lunch in the day before.
Ed was to pay for the three of us and be reimbursed by Khalib the next
day. Our eyes were bigger than our
stomachs, we each ordered an appetizer, hummus, tabouleh, and mojabal, and
then swami, lamb chops, and shish kebab.
We left half the foot and still felt stuffed.
Nov 15 (Thu) Muscat
We checked out of the hotel at 8AM and started
the drive north along the coast to Sohar.
An hour up the road we turned off the highway to the city of Barka
Nearby was a group gutting fish and across the
paved road from the parking lot was a covered fish market. I guess wholesale is conducted on the beach
and retail is conducted in the market.
As we left Barka we drove past meat markets and
supermarkets (hard goods and clothes, etc.) across the main highway to the road
to Nakhal. Nakhal is in a valley with
mountains close by and has one of the best forts to visit. The fort predates Islam and until the last 5
years was still the residence of the local Wali (Mayor). It was a beautiful tour and the view from
the top was spectacular. It was nice to
see most of the rooms containing rugs, books, dishes, beds, and colorful
pillows. The rooms were cleverly
designed to have gun ports that catch the breeze, yet still, make it difficult
to shoot through from the outside.
A few miles from the fort we stopped at the
Ath-Thowra hot spring. Hot water flows
from the rocks into catchment pools and troughs into the river, and since it
was the end of the week the place was crawling with teenage boys having swims
and BBQ. They were singing beating on
large water bottles (Arrowhead size) as drums.
When we approached they started singing American songs. For a group of sober young men, they were
acting like a wild fraternity party picnic.
In the river (which was not very deep) were small kids playing, and
across the river, families setting up picnic mats to be away from the noisy
young men.
When we returned to the highway at Barka, Khalib
stopped at a Camel Farm where we were able to take pictures of newly born
camels and special bread camels that were masked so they can’t eat between meals
and are fed a special diet when they do eat.
An hour and ten minutes later we entered the
gates of Sohar and Khalib turned off the highway into a restaurant. Khalib helped us order the fish specials. Ed’s was a local fish with a lot of
bones. Edna and I had Kingfish in a
sauce so we couldn’t tell where the bone was but it must have been cut like a
swordfish steak and we managed to get through it without swallowing any bones.
From the restaurant, we drove to the Sohar Beach
Resort to check-in. We were assigned
Chalets with an entryway leading to a kitchen.
To the right was a toilet and sink, to the left through double doors,
was a living room as large as my living room in Woodland Hills. Next to the kitchen was a door to the 10 x15
ft dressing room, off the dressing room a 15X15 ft bath and the bedroom which
is the same size as the living room. The
bedroom has sliding glass doors to the pool and a short walk to the beach.
I changed into my trunks and ventured out
asking a couple what the water temperature was like in the pool and the
ocean. Their answer was both are the
same as the outside air. I walked down
to the gulf and waged in and walked and walked.
The man that had given me the temperature appeared and told me it was a
long walk before you could swim without hitting the bottom with your stroke. Eventually we arrived at a point where the
water was chest high and I was able to swim.
When I returned to the pool and showered I
found the large pool to be the same temperature – not exactly refreshing but it
was my first venture on the trip. The couple was Dutch, one works at the seaport for a Dutch company and the other flew
in for a holiday.
Dinner was buffet style outside and I was able
to order a Fosters. That night I didn’t
sleep too well – it was like I had a temperature when I went to bed and when I
awoke I was soaking wet.
Nov 16 (Fri) Sohar to Dubai
We checked out of the hotel at 8AM for the long
drive to Dubai
Back on the highway we soon reached the UAE
border. The processing was handled by
Khalib and did not take very long. The
first Emirate that borders on Oman Al Fujayrah is on the coast and we toured the city on then just north is
the Omani village of Madha which is at the
base of a mountain. It is not entirely
clear why this mountain and its village are not part of the UAE but driving in
from Al Fujayrah you can notice the difference.
The street lights are different, as is the road surface and the style of
the houses. Since the houses are
provided free by the government they look the same and are a lot cleaner than
the UAE house on the road leading to the enclave.
The next stop was in the city of Dibba on the border between the UAE and the Omani Musandam
Peninsula
Ten minutes out of town we stopped at the Al
Bidya Mosque made of stone and mudbrick, and dates back to 1446AD.
Leaving the Gulf of Oman Arabian Gulf coast the traffic
increased. Along the way, we passed
through areas administered by the Emirates of: Fujeirah, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah,
Umm Al Qaiwain, Ajman and Dubai
Arriving in the city of Dubai Al Rigga Road
The hotel was in a hotel district. No liquor is offered (an Indian Hotel next
door has a nightclub where you can buy drinks), and my room was the smallest of
the trip. I did have a Fosters in the
hotel next door before dinner. The dinner
was buffet style and more western choices that Arabic choices then we have
experienced on the trip.
Nov 17 (Sat) Dubai
We met our tour guide at 9AM and set out to
tour the northern Emirates. Our Guide
was named Vinod, an Indian from Calcutta who has
worked in Dubai India Dubai
The first Emirate north of Dubai
is Sharjah which has lower cost of living so many ex-pats that work in Dubai Sharjah
Desert Park
and stopped at a gate to take pictures of a monument and then drove to the Natural History
Museum
Back on the road north retracing the previous
day’s drive we skipped by the exits to Ajman
and Umm al-Quwain (UAQ) on our way to Ras al-Khalmah (RAK). At 11AM was stopped as a service station just
outside of RAK for a rest break and to buy some water. We drove around RAK for an hour past the new
buildings, the old buildings, and the seaport.
Along the coast, there is massive resort construction and the large homes
of the Sheik and his family.
We were now headed south on the coast road and
soon we were in the UAQ area. The city
of Umm
Back on the highway towards UAQ, we came upon a
round-about that had a restaurant with a lot of cars in front, so Vinod circled
around and we stopped. Ed checked the
place and gave it his OK and we entered and were directed to the Family
Section. UAQ is not as liberal as Dubai
After lunch we toured UAQ and returned to the
Sharjah Natural History Museum. This
time we were able to see the airport, schools, universities, and museums that
were covered with fog earlier. The
Natural History Museum was excellent, well worth the wait. It had good dioramas of the UAE peninsula
terrain and videos of how the landmass was formed, the history of the animals
and people of the area. We were
pleasantly surprised.
Back on the road we still had to visit the
Emirate of Ajman, 60km away, which is the smallest and most liberal of the
Emirates. It is not that far from Dubai and is benefiting from the building and real estate
growth in Dubai Ajman we entered Sharjah and found the most conservative
of the Emirates. It has been designated
to be the cultural center of the UAE. We
stopped at a mud wall souk with tourist stores and I loaded up since my next
flight will be flying home without the one 40lb bag restriction that I have had
since I arrived in Almaty, one month ago.
By now the sun was setting and we had some nice
photo shots over the bay. Traffic
entering the city of Dubai
When I returned to my room I was greeted by a
bill for Internet charges of $27.41. I
questioned the front desk since a continuous connection for 24 hours was
$27.41. They charge a $1 per minute and
I had exceeded 27 minutes of connect time.
I remarked that it would be more acceptable if I could buy a beer in the
hotel and the desk clerk replied “beer was bad for your health” which I replied
“it is actually good for your health when taken in moderation”. They also told me that their internet was
less expensive than the Internet Cafés in the area.
I left the hotel to exchange some more money
for the next day’s lunch and to buy one more item that was not available in the
Sharjah souk. On the way back to the
hotel I passed an Internet Coffee Shop advertising Free Internet with a 10 EAD
purchase of a sandwich or breakfast.
That would be a $2.74 purchase.
This hotel is not going to rate high on my list
of the hotels, I stayed in on this trip.
Dinner was in the hotel’s Monsoon Indian
Restaurant. Again it was a buffet and
was not as good as the previous night but did had a nice mixed seafood dish.
Nov 18 (Sun) Dubai
We started earlier today because we have a lot
of driving down to Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi Handicraft Center
in the Women’s Union
Building
We then drove past Qasr al-Husn also called the
white Palace Fort built in 1761 which is Abu
Dhabi Heritage Village
From the hotel, we drove past the President of
UAE’s palace and then on to the boatyard were they still build the wooden
dhows that are used in the Gulf. As we
left the city we stopped for lunch at the Sea Shell Café, a little hole in the
wall but I had a nice fish burger.
After lunch, we set out for a ninety-minute
drive across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to Al-Ain, an oasis at the base of the
Mountains that border on Oman
Al-Ain is a green city with grass and trees
planted in the desert and fertilized and watered from the mountain springs. In the background of the city is the jagged
Jabel Hafeet rocky mountain raising over 4,000 feet with the President’s Palace
on top. We drove to the Green Mubazzarah
Park
We drove up the mountain pass the 5 star
Mercure Grand Hotel to a viewing area just below the palace to take in the view
of the park below, the city of Al-Ain Oman city of Buraimi and was able to observe the contrast between the
oil-rich, materialistic nation of UAE and the modest tradition nation of Oman
Back down the mountain, we toured the city of Al-Ain
Leaving Al-Ain we headed out on the highway to Dubai which was not as wide nor as landscaped as the
highway to Abu Dhabi
The sunset during our drive and it was dark
when we reached Dubai
Nov 19 (Mon) Dubai
My last day of the trip started at 9AM with a
drive around the Deira neighborhood of Dubai Dubai Dubai Museum in Bur Dubai which had great models of the
history of Dubai Dubai
From the Museum Vinod drove us to a water taxi
dock where we boarded a wooden boat where we sat on the engine cover under a
canopy and were ferried across the creek.
Vinod told us that until 1970 that was the only mode of transportation
across the creek. Of course, you could
drive southeast into the desert and come back around the creek which doesn’t
extend that far inland from the coast (7 to 9km).
Vinod met us on the other side and our next
stop was the Bur Dubai Souk. Edna stayed
in the car while Ed and I walked up and down the covered alleyways of the souk. It differed from other souk’s by having more
toys, school supplies and modern kitchen utensils than others – you could still
buy a knock-off Rolex.
From the Bur Dubai Souk, we drove to the Gold
Souk which has one of the largest numbers of jewelry stores in the world in one
area. There was a large parking lot
across the street but it was full so Vinod dropped Ed and I off and drove
around with Edna while be walked up and down the streets with the shops.
So far in Deira and Bur Dubai, we did not see
the skyscrapers Dubai
From the Gold Souk, we drove past the Cruise
Ship Terminal, the Dry Docks and into the Jumeirah residential area along the
beach. Here the buildings are two-story
high villas and stretch 25kms along Al
Jumeirah Road Arbain
Tower ) Hotel the symbol of Dubai
Our next tour was the mind-blowing drive up the
stem road of The Palm-Jumeirah one of the four offshore landfill developments
under construction in Dubai
We did not visit the forth offshore landfill
under construction called the World in which each individual island is being
constructed that when viewed from the air they will roughly have the shape of the
world. These islands will only be
accessible by helicopter or boat. Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie have purchased one of the islands.
Close by is the American University El
Jumeirah Road
South of the Dubai Marina the desert is being
transformed into a golf course and a series of little lakes. We drove along the edge of this construction
site and were soon in the desert and then the President’s Palace which where we
were allowed to drive by but not take pictures.
We now started back toward our hotel district,
passing the Internet City with Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, etc. buildings, the
mall with the indoor ski slope, more skyscrapers either recently constructed
or under construction to the Burj Dubai (the tallest building in the world and
still being added to), the Dubai Financial Center, the Emirates Towers and the
Dubai World Trade Center.
Back to the old six story buildings of our
hotel district – my tour of the Five ‘Stans, Iran
and the Gulf States
But, we still had not had lunch so we set out
on Al Rigga Road
Our last dinner was again the hotel buffet.
Nov 20 (Tue) Dubai to Los Angeles
We checked out of the hotel at midnight for our 3AM flights
to LAX. Ed and Edna were taking American
via London and I was on Lufthansa via Frankfurt . Vinod
