Tag Samarkand

Ulugh Beg’s Observatory

After taking a walking tour of several mausoleums and the ruins of Ulugh Beg’s (the famous Central Asian astronomer) observatory, we decided to search for the tomb of Daniel as well as an archeological museum around Samarkand. Walking in front of Timur’s family mausoleum, we saw a vast cemetery on the outskirts of Samarkand. Tombstones with engraved images of those buried below stared back at us during the long walk through the desert between Samarkand and the observatory. On the way, we saw caves and holes in the cliffs upholding the cemetery. It was easy to imagine people being put to rest all over the surrounding valleys hundreds of years ago. Long funeral processions probably carried bodies to these ledges by cart or human and paid enormous sums of money to have their loved ones placed on the hill overlooking Samarkand.

After a long walk in the sweltering heat, we arrived at an oasis of sorts, full of trees and shade. At the top of a long row of steps was the remaining wall of Ulugh Beg’s three story observatory, unearthed in 1908. A small museum with records and information about Ulugh Beg and other Central Asian / Middle Eastern mathematicians and astronomers stood on the north end of the hilltop. The only thing remaining of the observatory was the rail upon which the telescope rolled. It was quite impressive, standing at the top observing the curved stone rail with notches of grooves from the top, as well as the ancient stairs leading down into the chamber.

After a while spent admiring the observatory, we took the wrong road north after the observatory and walked an additional 3 km. Once we found the right road, we walked down a nice lane with tree rows planted on the sides and cotton fields spanning out into the distance. On the corner stood the Hazrat-Hizr Mosque, which was built in the 8th century and mistakenly was not facing Mecca. Later, an architect corrected this mistake and has since, been deemed a prophet. Ghenghis Khan burned the mosque, along with several of the cities’ inhabitance, to the ground in the early 13th century as the Mongol hordes made their way West. Down the road, Lauren noticed a small sign marked “mausoleum” in Uzbek. We walked down the long winding road along the banks of the river and discovered a tomb on top of the hill and a natural spring at the base. Several people were washing in the spring and drinking the water. Now, I would have considered taking a drink from Daniel’s spring if I was 100% sure that it was Daniels tomb – I enjoy taking a leap of faith occasionally. However, there are a reported six tombs of Daniel spread throughout the Middle East and Central Asia.

The Bible places Daniel from Daniel and the Lion’s Den, in Babylon – modern day Iraq – at the time of his death. Similar accounts also state that the location of his body is in Susa, as well as two other purported locations in Iraq, and one in Iran. Uzbekistan claims to have the real body of Daniel because a legend states that Timur (Tamerlane), unable to conquer modern day Syria, believed that the body of Daniel was preventing his success. After a successful battle, Timur apparently ordered the body exhumed and brought back to Samarkand for good luck. After burial a natural spring sprouted, which locals claim has healing powers. However, this is simply local lore and I grew even more suspicious as we viewed the tomb marker.  I ducked my head under a doorway and entered an elongated room that contained a 90-foot burial marker. My jaw dropped. The guard then explained that each year the body grows “x” amount. One person told us, 2 inches a year. If this were the case, the body would be more than 2000 inches long, which would be much longer than the marker. I have attached the picture of the tomb and I am curious to hear comments on peoples’ belief or non-belief of this miracle or mockery, depending on your perspective.

When traveling you get to met people from every walk of life with all kinds of beliefs ranging from the mundane to the insane.  In Samarkand one evening, Mike and I were sitting on the benches in front of the Registan people watching. We watched dozens of people try to sneak in without paying, all but two were caught by the guards. While we were watching an eight year old boy and his two friends walked by, the most flamboyant of them walked past, stared at me and said, “hello, baby!” We burst out laughing, but the boy was not amused, he took a seat next to Mike and proceeded to talk to him in Jar-Jar Binks tones, not saying anything but rather making noise, all the while he winked and nodded his chin at me.

In Kashgar, Xinjiang we were sitting in the courtyard enjoying the local tea when a very sick looking French man approached us and reported that he was recently quarantined in a hospital for people with suspicious illnesses. He then stuck out his hand for us to shake.

In the tomb of Tamerlane in Samarkand I was sitting alone in the corner trying to ease drop on a local woman giving a guided tour to an elderly man in English. A young girl came up to the old man and asked where he was from, whereupon he launched into the following: “I’m from a tiny island called Britian. We are a monarchy, our queen is the only queen and she rules many countries.” The little girl walked away and I burst out laughing again while the Uzbek guide glared at me.

In Urumqi we were taking a break in the hostel one rainy afternoon and put in a DVD while we were doing some writing. A young man traveling from Israel sat down to watch with us. We were watching, ‘Charlie Wilson’s War.’ At the end the man asked what we thought of American policy back then.

In Kashgar we were sitting at John’s Café after arriving, having starved on the train for want of variety. We encountered two Australians eating alone who invited us to join them. Conversation twisted and turned, but throughout we discovered that the two Aussies had travelled the globe in the 40 years on the planet, including 3 separate excursions to Antarctica.

Walking down the streets of Samarkand a local with all gold teeth approached us and said, “hey guys, where ya from?” We were so shocked to hear English with an African American accent come from this man that we stopped dead in our tracks. He looked straight at Mike and said, “yeah man, I used to live in New York, I drove a Cadillac. P.I.M.P, man…. Yeah, I had lots of black friends.” He actually spelled out pimp. Here is the clincher- he is the city’s foremost English instructor. Perhaps he taught the eight year old to greet women with a feisty “hello baby!” and a wink.
Also in Samarkand we met two Spaniards biking from Spain to south-east Asia by land. These interesting folks had really seen the countryside, the cities and were doing an A-rate, year-long trip. There is no funny story here, but this folks were just plain fun to talk to and hang out with. They had met an Italian economist who we spent dinner with the following night, another very interesting fellow.

Sitting at the hostel for breakfast one morning we met a man of about 27-29 who was living in Samarkand for a year cataloging the archives at the regional museum. He spoke Uzbek, Russian, English and could read Arabic and Persian. He was the most quintessentially British person I’d ever met, because although it was 90 degrees outside he was wearing a button-down shirt and a sweater vest.

We have met several other, very interesting people on the trip so far, this is just a taste of the type of people one encounters when traveling the world. Its amazing the stories we hear and the lives some people lead and these are the moments that make one realize that our lives are so much more than everybody’s quest for life insurance and a good job.

Scarab

Since arriving in Uzbekistan we have seen an inordinate about of insects of every shape, variety and color. In Tashkent, upon walking into the hotel, Mike was greeted by the most horrible sounds of my loudest shrieks. I had, naturally, found a large, black spider crawling across an otherwise white wall. This spider was no ordinary creature, for it looked up at me as if to say, “hold down the noise, lady!” and then blinked.

In Samarkand I was shocked to discover a distant cousin of the creature in Tashkent. Think back to your childhood and the conclusion to the epic tale “Charlotte’s Web” when Charlotte’s millions of children climb up a wooden fence post, shoot a string of web and then fly off into the sunset to propagate. This is a common occurrence in Samarkand. Not once, but on three separate occasions I saw a spider fly past me with a death grip on a bit of web. One stuck out its fury leg and waved as it flew past my head. Mike thinks I exaggerate, but I’m happy to live in my little world of hyperbole. Regardless, it is not inaccurate to say that Samarkand has flying spiders.

After a scorching walk through the ruins of Afrosiab we decided to rest for a while at the Hazrat-Hizr Mosque overlooking the city. From here you can see the ruins of the Registan, as well as those of Bibi-Khanym’s Mosque and mausoleum. It is, without a doubt, the best view in Samarkand, but I was distracted by giant, spider-like ants. Since you’ll think I’m exaggerating, I’ll provide you with pictorial evidence. These giant ant’s back legs would shoot out like a spiders, allowing them to propel themselves at incredible speed and survive jumps of up to 1000 times its height. I know because I kicked one off a step and it landed, looked back at me to stick up its middle leg and then ran off down the steps leaping off each one and landing mid step, ready to leap again.

After the mosque we walked to the burial site of the Old Testament prophet Daniel (who was unfortunate enough to be thrown to the lions in Babylon at one point). Supposedly Daniel’s body grows at a rate of two inches a year, so the kindly Uzbeks have provided him with a sarcophagus that is about 9 yards long and one yard across. But I digress, at the ridiculously long sarcophagus I saw one of the most exciting/disgusting things on the planet. We had just come out from measuring the resting place of Daniel when we found a rock path leading up into the hills, we followed it to see what there was to be seen from the top. Here is what lies at the top of this holy hill, readers beware that the faint should not read on:

I saw something resembling a trilobite resting in a tiny hole in the side of a bank. I went to poke it with a pen, thinking, “Oh my God, I found a fossil!” But, when I poked it and turned it over I discovered it was a giant, recently deceased beetle being devoured from the inside out by the crazy ant-spiders I mentioned above. I did a “Gross! Gross! Gross!” dance before taking a few pictures for you. Does this beetle not look like the scarabs from ‘The Mummy’ that ate humans alive? Because when my face was 5 inches away to take these pictures that was the only thought coursing through my brain.

After a long day of adventuring around Samarkand we returned to the hotel where Mike reported to me that he had found a daddy long legs in the bathroom and was watching him hang out under the sink. Perhaps all these bugs are only interesting to me because in one year of living in Shanghai I now realize I did not see a single insect other than flies and mosquitoes- as it should be!

The Registan

Our first day in Samarkand left us spell bound and awe-struck. There is no exaggerating this place, because exaggerations are impossible here. Our train from Tashkent left at 7:00:01 on the spot and arrived in Samarkand at exactly 10:30:19am. This was the shortest train ride we’d had on the trip so far, but the one that yielded the most drastic difference from departure to arrival. At the Samarkand station we easily found a local driver to take us to the B&B we picked online called Bahodir B&B, Bahodir himself met us at the door and, after a round of handshakes and bows, directed us to his nicest room for $20USD a day including breakfast and all the tea we could consume. Our room had a double bed and two single beds, a small wooden table, perhaps built by Jesus himself it is so old, and a tiled bathroom with a toilet and a sink which has an extension so you can hold out a rod and shower under it. It is much more than we expected and when we discovered the grape-vine shaded courtyard we were ecstatic about the find. The Lonely Planet does not recommend this place, but we beg to differ. For starters, it is located within spitting distance of the Registan, Samarkand’s biggest attraction and, according to locals, the only reason people come to Central Asia.

The Registan is a three building complex which was built between 1417 and 1660. The Ulugbek Medressa is the oldest of the three structures and was completed in 1420 as a school where Ulugbek himself was rumored to have taught mathematics. In 1636 the Emir Yalangtush completed the Lion Medressa, which is opposite Ulugbek’s and world renowned for the lion image on the front façade. In between these two is the Tilla-Karri Medressa completed in 1660 and famous for its gold-topped mosque.

We walked around the Registan in awe, not only because of the amazing architecture, creative and dazzling designs and unending variety, but because of when it was built and how well it has stood the test of time. A woman selling tickets told us it was 7,000 CYM a person to enter, but for locals the price is 600 CYM. We decided not to go in, as it was crowded and, we thought, a bit pricy. Instead, we strolled all around the complex. A guard came up to us and offered to take us to the summit of one of the mighty pillars if we returned at 6pm for 3000 CYM.

We left the Registan without entering, and decided to grab a bite with a view nearby. At a highly recommended eatery we had lamb kebab and bread. Afterwards we walked in 90 degree heat with no itinerary in mind. We strolled aimlessly past the art museum and down Tashkent Road, which ended up being the best place to be. We went into a mosque and then into a bazaar, afterwards we strolled down a large hill to the Shah-I-Zinda Mausoleums. This was the second most astonishing thing I’d seen on the entire trip, after the Registan that is. While the whole complex was rebuilt very controversially in 2005, I found it a delight to see. Here is why I do not disagree with their renovation. For starters, if things were not maintained or renovated they would deteriorate entirely, and though a history major and a history buff, I feel that preservation in the West means alienating a thing and trying to protect it from the natural decays caused by gravity and weather. Out here, history is still alive. The restorations done in 2005 are no different than repairs made to the Coliseum while it was still in use. Locals respect and adore their history and culture and want to keep it alive, lively and worthy of the fame it already has. The restoration artists retained before and after pictures of the complex and, for the most part, stayed true to the original designs, structure layout and floor plan.
We walked up adobe stairs and into several mausoleums with markers for where the tombs are located. The exterior of the mausoleums are covered in intricate patterns using blue, teal and white tiles forming designs, flowers, and images of the sun. The interior was usually simple brick with an even more simple white marker bearing no script or indication of who lies beneath. Each mausoleum had its own collection of pigeons jealously guarding their territory. One would think that such beauty and intricacy would become dull over time, but this is not true. My eyes watered from strain, but could not look away. We went in every room, climbed every set of stairs and even walked behind every structure. The complex is set on a hillside where thousands of others are buried with simple marble markers overlooking the complex. Each tombstone of black shiny marble in the surrounding cemetery has an etched carving of the person beneath it wearing their finest clothing, and it is a bit eerie to walk around seeing faces you know are beneath your feet.

The complex houses one of the most religious places in Sunni Islam, the burial site of the Living King, the grave of Qusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin of Muhammad who supposedly brought Islam to the area in the 7th century. While there, we watched a local woman prostrate herself in his attached prayer hall. At 5:00pm we were still in the complex and heard the men chanting their prayers and watched them gather in the entry halls.
While we were advised to dress conservatively and for me to wear a head covering, once in the complex we discovered none of the locals cared. My head was uncovered and no one glared or gave strange sidelong glances. In fact, as we were leaving several Muslim women approached and asked if we would take a picture with them. Three women crowded around me and held my arms so tight they left white knuckle prints on my sun burnt skin. They were incredibly friendly. Unfortunately my camera is like Blade’s sword, only I know how to use it, so I could not get their friend to take a picture with my camera. Nevertheless, it is a happy memory I’ll retain just as vividly in my mind.

Back at the B&B we chatted with two men from Barcelona (the day after the Manchester United – Barcelona game on the 28th of May) who were riding their bikes around the world. They left four months ago and have eight more months before they return home. They were an interesting duo. As they were headed for China and we are headed, eventually, to Azerbaijan, we did a quick money transfer with them at the B&B, which proved to be much easier than getting rid of RMB anywhere else in Central Asia.