Strolling through the Stans...

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Hello!

Minor Internet difficulties have kept us from updating our blog.... But, here we are in Tehran with a reasonable computer and Internet connection!

Here's what we have been up to since Kyrgyzstan:

Uzbekistan

Farghana

Tashkent

Samarkand

Yurt Camp

Bukhara

Khiva

We really enjoyed Uzbekistan. All of the monuments (mosques, madrasases etc) were all covered in beautiful blue tiles. Meghan, especially, loved every second! Uzbekistan could not be captured on a postcard and Kwesi's wide angle lens was not wide enough. The best buildings to see were in the three old cities we visited: Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.

Uzbekistan was stunning. And, as an added bonus, they had beautiful things for sale! Amazing embroidery could be found on every street corner. We also found fantastic blue pottery.

We also had fun staying in a Yurt in the desert. Both Kwesi and Meghan rode camels (side by side!). They were two hump camels! So, we sat in between the humps. We walked around for about 40 minutes and that was more than enough... Maybe one day we will ride one hump camels...

Turkmenistan

Camping in the desert

Ashgabat

Turkmenistan was the strangest country we have visited so far (ever). We had fun camping in the desert. It was super cold one night and hot another. Good thing we are used to such crazy weather being Canadians!

We saw one of the craziest sights in Turkmenistan in the middle of the desert. When Turkmenistan was under soviet control, they did lots of experiments and excavations looking for natural gas. The soviets dug these huge (HUGE) round holes in the ground and then had "accidents". One of these huge holes (or craters) filled up with water. Oops! Hard to get the gas out of the water. So, today, the gas just bubbles up making the water toxic. The next crater we saw was on fire. Yep! Hard to believe, I know. There was some sort of accident where there was a spark and the whole crater has been on fire ever since. Believe it or not, but that crater has been burning for over 40 years. This is a HUGE crater burning HUGE amounts of natural gas day and night! It's very crazy.

There is one more crater that we didn't see. Not learning from their mistakes, this crater is full of mud.

That was our introduction to Turkmenistan. Ashgabat got even crazier. Apparently, Nostradamus predicted that there would be a powerful city in central Asia that was white. So, Turkmenbashi make Ashgabat white! White marble from Italy to be exact. There are huge beautiful white buildings with big water fountains all over the place. (Along with so many gold statues of Turkmenbashi that we lost count). Remember, this is a city in the middle of the desert. Water is scarce. The fountains run 24/7. Probably the oddest monument we saw in the city was the "arch of neutrality". This was a big arch that (to us anyway) looked like a space ship. On top, was a gold statue of Turkmenbashi that turns so that the statue is always facing the sun. Top that!

At night the arch is lit up with an array of different colours. We were waiting for the countdown so it could lift off!

We went to the Sunday market in Ashgabat. It was the biggest market in central Asia. There were lots of animals for sale including one hump camels. The poor camels! When they are sold, they are hoisted into the air using a crane into the back of a truck. The camels cry. They really don't like to be lifted (or tied up). They are called "flying camels". Meghan was sad. Kwesi was trying to negotiate to take pictures. (Niette is our new favourite word! But, it must be said with attitude. Niiiiietttte)

We will try very hard to upload pictures sometime soon.

Meghan and Kwesi

PS We are news deprived. And yes, Meghan has to wear a headscarf and manteau in Iran. Yes, it's very HOT to wear. Yes, Meghan gets grumpy...

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Comments

[Lee]

Where the photos !
I know you where have slow internet connection... keep post once you have chance ! Enjoy traveling !

[Sean Murray]

Need To Rent a Hall and Projector
When you get back, someone with a large living room and a projector should host a "Relive the Journey Party" to look at all the pictures and hear the stories.