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Along the Silk Road...

dave.gt

Well-known member
Nice and very interesting images from places of which I have very little information. Do you have a general map showing the places you visited?:)

Thanks!
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Dave, Thorkil; thanks for the comments.

pegelli, Peter thanks for the likes.


I flew from Riyadh to Dubai. 2 days in Dubai.
Dubai to Tashkent by air.

Then a mix of road and air across these 5 countries.
Border crossings across some were considerably time consuming and arduous.

The remnants of the Soviet occupations were evident in all places to varying degrees. However, these folks are trying to overcome those associations in the fastest possible time.

Except for Turkmenistan, entry formalities were minimal in all countries.

Invariably, the people were the most courteous and friendly Ayesha and I have come across. This was a trip where we were treated as someone special. From the point of entry to exit and everywhere in-between. Our passports opened
doors..literally. We came from the holiest land of Islam!! The generosity was at times, embarrassing. Was certainly a very unexpected and surprising experience!!

Best.


Nice and very interesting images from places of which I have very little information. Do you have a general map showing the places you visited?:)

Thanks!
Hi Rayyan, nice to have you and the Df singing again!
Please let them come..
best thorkil
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Jorgen, Joel, Alan, Bart...thank you very much.

Tashkent..At the crossroads of civilization in days gone by.

The following images are taken at various stations of the Tashkent metro. Until recently photography was forbidden here.
A remnant of the soviet era; this was a nuclear attack shelter.






One of the things that struck us, wherever we went and in whichever city, was the cleanliness. The streets, the alleys, the houses, the shops, the eateries...immaculately clean!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Thank you for these photos, Rayyan. This is a region I planned to travel in some 20 years ago, but then I moved to Thailand. I seem to have missed out on something great.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Jorgen, it is just a hop and a skip away! And as Ayesha says, it is never to late.

And a thank you to a long lost friend, who has not been seen for sometime. Hope you and family are doing fine. My best regards to them.

Ayesha wanted to know how the Egyptians made and wrote on papyrus ( spelling? ).

I told her we were in the right place.
She found a tree. A bark was chiseled out of it.
She wanted it rolled. 2 days and it would be ready. We spent a morning watching the process that bark went through.

When we returned, they gave us this:


It appears making this today is a very expensive proposition!
 

rayyan

Well-known member
There are no great green vistas except when one scales the rugged mountains.
Notice from the map that not only do we have landlocked countries; the bordering countries too, in some cases, are land locked.

The caravans would travel across the deserts and, if a settlement was found, would hunker down for the night.

Some of these caravan Sara-ai-s have been converted into superb hotels ( those that have survived ).

The architecture across all countries is generally similar. And to the untrained looks the same. This is a consequence of the Islamic tenet not to draw, paint, carve etc. any animate objects.

As a result the artisans took to expressing their designs in calligraphy, ceramics, mosaics, silks, doors, domes etc.

Here is a simple mosque. Notice how clean the courtyard is!


The onion shaped domes are a hallmark of Central Asian and Persian design..
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Hundreds of years have gone by. The architects and artisans are long forgotten except for the academics.

However, the work survives. As a testament to the masters of their crafts.


Look at the complement of colors and dyes. The painstaking effort in the hot sun.
I can learn so much about color harmonies just by looking at these works of art.
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
Wonderful series of images, Rayyan - especially the portraits - thanks for sharing - what must have been a wonderful experience.

:thumbs:
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Folks, thanks to each one of you that have ' liked ' the posts :salute:

Ayesha, did have a Fuji XH-1 with her. But the wonderful wife she is, she damaged the lcd!! And stopped using it; making do with her iPhone. I love her:cry:

She took a snap. And told me in disgust ' here post this for your forum friends ! '...


The less said the better about this incident.

p.s the DF with the BR and one of the 2 lenses I carried. The PD sling was never used.

p.p.s looking at myself via a 28mm iPhone lens, seems that the debauchery and wild life of youth has caught up with me with a vengeance! Shhh!
 
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rayyan

Well-known member
Friends thank you so much for your ' likes ' and comments. It has been our pleasure having you along on this short journey. A lot of stories have been left untold.
Some other time, perhaps.

We shall leave you with this last image...this time looking up!
This is for real!!


May good light accompany your journeys always..wherever they lead.

Best regards.
Ayesha/Rayyan.
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
I'm sure you both, Ayesha and Rayyan, will be digging out some more nice pictures later on, so please promise to get us updated, if so, here or in Fun..
best thorkil
 

rayyan

Well-known member
A revisit from the saved copy...( Thorkil to be blamed for this!! )






Df, 50/85-1.8G​
 
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