Turkmen jewelry

I meant to post this before, to give an idea of the absolutely beautiful artistry of the traditional Turkmen jewelry.

A few final pictures from Ashgabat

Here are a few final pictures from Ashgabat--some young schoolgirls playing a traditional song on the dutar, and the mausoleum where Turkmenbashi, his mother, and his two brothers are buried.

Images of the Arch of Neutrality at night

In Central Asia, there is no such thing as too much of anything. Especially when it comes to color. At night, major monuments usually are illuminated by differently colored lights--it is definitely something to see. But I have yet to see anything that can top the lights on the Arch of Neutrality!

One more picture of Merv

This picture of ancient Merv somehow was overlooked in the previous post.

Northern Kyrgyzstan--pictures

After leaving Osh, we traveled up to Lake Issyk-Kul in the north of Kyrgyzstan. These pictures are of the regional capital, Karakol, and of the area surrounding some hot springs high in the mountains. We hiked up to the springs and spent a wonderful day relaxing and enjoying the snow that unexpectedly fell.

Scenes around Osh and Jalal-Abad--pictures

Here are a few pictures from Southern Kyrgyzstan. The ones from Osh were taken on Navruz, the Islamic New Year, while the remainder are from our trip to Kara-Alma (pronounced Karalma). These include a game of buzkashi, where men on horseback chase after a goat carcass, as well as a view of where we stayed. Our sink is clearly visible in one of the pictures. Needless to say, it was a little bit cold!

Sights around Termiz, Uzbekistan-on the Afghan border--pictures

These are some scenes from the bazaar in Termiz, right on the Afghan border. There are significant numbers of German Luftwaffe in the town, as it is a staging post for operations in Afghanistan. The town itself wasn't particularly great--in fact, it was probably the worst place we saw on the entire trip. But we got to see Afghanistan! The picture I was able to take of the border isn't that great, since it was taken from inside a moving car. But since we technically weren't supposed to take any of the border, it was the best I could do!

The last picture is of the water in our hotel. Tea, anyone??? There is a reason I stick to bottled water in these parts of the world!