Khiva - Uzbekistan

Samarkand and Bukhara were the magical cities on the silk road that called and lured me for so many years, but I wasnt aware that it was in the town of Khiva, I surprisingly found what I was looking for.

I am sure we all know some of the stories Scheherazade tell to King Shahryar to save her life in 1001 Nights or Arabian nights. For years I always dreamed of a place just like Khiva for the background of those stories.

It is a very well preserved town and a world heritage site, where you can jump into the history easily and be a character in one of the stories.

 The only unpleasent thing I remember from my day in Khiva was heat. Although it was early May, the weather was so hot, making it difficult to walk in the beautiful streets of the town.

If I were a rich (wo) man....

My journey in Central Asia continues...

Well, what if you want to show your wealth in a place where diamonds, designer bags, flashy cars are belong to the other part of the world.

Be brave, pack all your money and go to a dentist. Covering your front teeth with gold is an important sign of wealth in this part of the world.

On a fine Sunday

We are getting ready to move to our beach house for the summer. There are tons of stuff on my to do list. I cant believe that I neglected to do so many things due to my trip to central Asia.

As it happens every summer, there are millions of things ( OK that can be a bit exaggeration) that we have to carry from here to there: Books, Cds, DVDs,PCs, various electronic equipments, neglected projects, Hera's food and toys, etc.... I am constantly packing stuff.

So a wonderful barbeque party we have been invited yesterday was such a fine way to have some rest and saying good bye to İstanbul and friends until fall.

I still have many photos to share from my trip. Coming soon.

Desert Bazaar

As my travel agency handled all the visas, I wasnt aware that Turkmenistan is one of the most difficult countries to enter. They are not keen on issuing very many tourist visas.Although my visa was obtained from the embassy in İstanbul, it seemed like it took hours to please the customs officer at the airport. He showed great interest to every page of my passport as if it is a rare thing..

So with lots of patience, I entered the country in the early hours of a rainy day. Although I had only few hours of sleep, I couldnt resist to visit the desert bazaar near Askhabat in the morning. Well, they said it is the biggest in Central Asia and tell me how could I resist...

Locals called this bazaar as Tolkuckha, a name comes from the Russian days, and they were right it was big. You could find almost everything, from second hand cars to wedding dresses, from construction materials to cosmetics, you name it..It was such a perfect place to start my adventure on the ancient silk road.

I think you could probably identify most of the goods but in case you couldnt get the ones on the last photo, they are pop corns....and the puppy was not on sale, he only likes his picture to be taken..

I came back from the land of turquoise...

I came back from the land of turquoise, from the land of Tamerlane.... I am full of wonderful memories as well as tons of photos. I have to rest a bit and organize my notes and photos but in the meantime here are some teasers for you. See you very soon.