A few weeks ago, leaving the bustle (and cold) of London, I headed out to walk part of the Jurassic Coast with a few course mates. I’ve been traveling outside of England a lot, so it was nice to finally see part of the country that has been my home this year.
“This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect.”
It’s been a dream of mine to visit the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Since it’s January and far too windy and frigid to cross the choppy waters to Skye, I settled on visiting Edinburgh instead. Plus tickets from London are only 40 pounds–that might be because WHO goes to Scotland in January. Freezing!
We’ve only driven 20 minutes outside of the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, and it already feels like we’ve entered a different world. The soviet style apartment buildings and lush parks of Tashkent dissipate into dusty villages and farm land. We are off to spend the day in the unfamiliar of Zaamin National Park!
I first became interested in visiting Zaamin National Park after reading an article about the elusive snow leopard that exists in the park. I had no intention of finding any snow leopards but after seeing pictures of the mountains and Juniper forests in the area I knew I wanted to visit before returning home.
There were no direct trains from the city of Khiva to our new destination, Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Instead, we took a shared taxi the 5 hours east. I was dreading making the long, bumpy drive crammed in the back seat of a rusty 1962 Lada squeezed between three old Uzbek men headed in the same direction.
As it turned out, the drive wasn’t as horrible as the Lonely Planet forums had led me to believe. A new highway, and I use that term very loosely, has been built that takes you half the way between the cities of Khiva and Bukhara. From there the next road makes it feel like you are riding right through the middle of the desert. The sand seems to be overtaking the road, leaving only one-lane to drive on.
On our way to Khiva, we visited Chilpik or the “tower of silence”. Dakhams are circular walled structures built on the top of hills. The dead were left inside the walls to be exposed to birds which eat the flesh. The bones are then dried in the sun and put in a central well. In an arid climate like Uzbekistan, they disintegrate into a powder. This Zorastrian burial practice pre-dates Islam which arrived in the region in the eighth century.
From Nukus we were able to find a shared taxi to the former fishing village of Moynaq. The 220 km drive took 4 hours and was far less bumpy than one would expect for being so remote. As the 6 of us snuggled close in the tiny car, the clouds hung low threatening us with rain. Passing through the small villages we could see first hand how shaped the land had become from irrigation canals siphoning water from the Aral Sea to the cotton fields.
Spring break draws to mind images of toned bodies, fruity drinks with pretty straws, and an endless escape of soft sand and blue water. I’ve never had this idealized spring break, and this year was certainly no exception.
Sitting in an old propeller plane I gripped tightly to my seats’ armrests as we set off across Uzbekistan and its vast desert to the small city of Nukus, in the western portion of the country. “Will the propellers still work if we run out of fuel?”, I stupidly spat out. My mind was filled with irrational thoughts of hurdling towards the earth in something called a plane, but looked more like a small rusty tin can. “WHY is there black stuff on the wing!?” Breath. The older I get, the more terrified I get of flying. The best part, I’ve been skydiving 4 times. Let’s figure that one out.
After a few days in the desert, we caught a cheap bus to Wadi Musa (Petra) from Wadi Rum. The bus travels down the picturesque King’s Highway. Once in Wadi Musa we went for a coffee where we found someone to drive us out to Little Petra and then to Banda. Little Petra was deserted and there wasn’t an entry fee so we wandered around and then had the usual, tea.