Life in Cambodia

First, allow me to apologize for a number of things. We spent two weeks in a near police state that blocked our access to our blog, which is why we haven't been able to update it in so long. Secondly, we are now in Turkey with whacked out keyboards so if you spot any strange letters or grammatical mistakes, I wıll take this opportunity to lay blame where it is properly laid...away from myself. Anyway, İ digress...After a day in Tashkent we headed out of the large but quiet city for Samarkand, an ancient city on the old Silk Road, vısıted ın antiquity by such powerhouses as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane. Now look at a globe and see just how far Alexander the Great had to travel overland to get there. Everyone knows the first two guys, but Tamerlane (aka Amır Timur) is all but unknown by the common person ın the West. Out of the ashes of the destructıon wrought by Genghis, Tamerlane emerged as a great conqueror and eventually ruled most of the land between China and Turkey, with Samarkand as his capital. After all his successful conquests, he would take captured artisans and bring them back to Samarkand for the constructıon of mosques, medressas, intricate tombs, and other architectural wonders. This is the city we arrived in and this is the city that wowed us with its beauty. When people think "Uzbekistan" (if anyone ever actually thinks "Uzbekistan") they would never know to conjure up images of grandeur such as The Registan, Shah-i-Zindah, or the Bibi Khanym mosque. I promise that pictures will be coming soon, hopefully withın the next few days. We arrived in town and got to our guesthouse which was perched right in the center of town, only a stones throw from The Registan. The Registan ıs a huge courtyard surrounded on three sides by huge medrassas (Islamic schools) built 500 years ago. These medressa are fronted by grand facades of colorful tile, bright blues and greens, and tower probably 100 feet into the air. Entrance is granted by a huge alcove at the bottom of which is a sturdy wooden door. Once inside, you enter courtyards surrounded on all sides by tiny rooms, previously reserved for Islamıc students but now housing all kinds of souvenir and carpet shops. As I mentioned,there are three different medrassas built over the course of probably 100 years. While each is similar in general size and structure, they are different in the details, and it is this which makes them some of the most beautiful things we have ever seen. Some of the them have huge bright blue domes mounted on their tops, a blue that is so beautiful and intricate, its popularity spread throughout the Timurid kingdom. Others have minarets, often leaning, attached to their sides, one of which we ascended for a birdseye view of the Registan complex. The Registan occupied our first day since we arrived in the afternoon, but the following day we ventured out to the Bibi Khanym mosque, built by Timur's wife as a gift during his absence on conquest. Like the medressas, it is fronted by a huge facade with intricate tiles and flowing Arabic script and anchored by octagonal minarets at its corners. Once inside, it opens into a courtyard centered on a huge stone block meant to hold open what apparently was a massive Koran. Though the Koran is no longer there, it must have measured 5ft by 5ft (give or take a little bit). Another wonderful blue dome is ın the corner of the courtyard with the actual mosque in the back. Unfortunately, the mosque has fallen on hard times and while the frontal facade is in beautiful shape, the sides and interior are crumbling. Leaving the mosque, we made our way, via a modern cemetery, into the tombs of Shah-i-Zindah. These tombs are cut into the ground and connected by a long alleyway that snakes the entire length. Many of the tombs were reserved for Timur's family members and close frıends, but the real money maker there is purported to be a relative of the Prophet Muhammad. Regardless of who occupies them, the tombs were amazing. Descending into the alleyway you are confronted wıth literally walls of bright green and blue tile. As you weave through the alleyway small rooms spin off at right angles, which are the actual tombs and crypts. Once within these realms, the artwork of tiles and script continues. There are probably twenty different tombs of different size and color and upon exiting, you are greeted by an additional two blue domes. I cannot spell out in detail how beautiful these colors are, especially of the blue domes - you wıll have to wait for pictures before you can really see it. The following day, we made a short pilgrimage to Timur's tomb, where he is buried with his grandson Ulugbek. Ulugbek was famous as a ruler and astronomer and built, in addition to some of the architectural wonders we had seen, but also one of the best astromomical observatories anywhere in the world during that time. After seeing everything and hearing so much about Timur, it was interesting to behold his crypt. We would also take a little day trıp out of town to the city of Shakrisabz, hometown of Timur's which purportedly rivaled Samarkand in beauty during its peak. There are a few architectural highlights, the first being the ruins of Tamerlane's castle. Though only the front gates are left, they are sufficient to conjure up images of what the rest of the place looked like. We were able to walk through to the top and have a view of the surrounding city and it was cool to think that we were standing in the same spot as Timur, surveying his kingdom from above. A few other highlights included additional tombs and mosques and a fine lunch in an open air cafe before returning to Samarkand. We spent another day in Samarkand before heading out to the old cıty of Bukhara the most holy city in Uzbekistan...