Ship Cemetery in former Aral Sea at Moynaq

January 4th 2020
Mixed feelings about Uzbekistan. We’d saved it until last, partly to allow temperatures to drop into September (and so that we got higher temperatures in Kyrgyzstan by going there in August which we needed in the high mountains), and partly because we expected it to be the highlight of Central Asia. In some ways it was; many of the ancient Silk Road cities are beautiful and the people were extre ... read more

Asia » Uzbekistan » Karakalpakstan

Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the Soviet era, intensive production of "white gold" (cotton) and grain... ... read more

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David Walker

Donny

When I started this blog in 2007, it was more of a highlights package of trips generally focusing on one place or aspect. My rule had been one blog per country unless I lived there, but I eventually realised that fewer blogs were appearing. Having got around quite a bit, I'm now revisiting many countries. It's getting trickier to get to completely new countries so I might break that rule on occasion. The PhD fortunately didn't curtail travelling with research in sub-Saharan Africa and India as well as the chance to attend conferences with a sneaky bit of travelling tacked on before or after th... full info

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6th January 2020

Dancing Dave
David Hooper

The drying up of the Aral Sea
Thank you for mentioning the Russian obsession with cotton growing that sucked the Aral Sea dry. Fortunately the President of Uzbekistan has reduced cotton production dramatically as it is too thirsty a crop for the water available in his country. The Aral Sea desert is testament to the rape of countries by imperialist regimes that leave and then can wipe their hands of the destruction they have caused.

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