Silk Road Trekking Dispatch
July 31, 2009 – Our Trans-Desert Central Asian Odyssey
We have taken two days to travel from the ancient streets of Bukhara to the glimmering mosaic domes of Samarkand, the place rated by no less a travel authority than Marco Polo as “one of the most perfectly beautiful cities in the world”.
On this trip we have traversed empty distances of the Silk Road in a manner that would no doubt have made Marco Polo envious: Alex’s large air-conditioned Dutch-made Vanttool bus. As we sail across the desert with Captain Alex at the helm and with Rustom in the front, microphone in hand, painting entertaining, educational and thought-provoking images with his words. The distances are great, Alex drives slowly and it seems at times that we are in a university on wheels across the desert.
The learning and the adventure continue when we are off the bus. The photos that follow show our experiences at a Yurt camp in the desert and two stops we made to view traditional, time-honored crafts of the Silk Road: ceramics and silk carpet weaving.