Samarqand: Crossroads of the World

Standing in the middle or the Registan I could not keep my mind off of two things. First, I am standing in the middle of the world, the heart of it all. Second, I am suffering from major tile fatigue. I came to Uzbekistan, to Central Asia in fact, to see Samarqand. Some of you may remember that I wanted to live here for a year and study Persian. I suppose it's a good thing I didn't because they speak with some very funny accents (imagine what they're saying about me). The city is green and lush with some nice boulevards. I told my guide, Akbar, that I thought about coming to study here. He immediately gave me his phone number for when I come back, "you will have a home stay with my family." I thanked him.

Historically speaking Samarqand has had two major golden ages. The first was as a major caravan-stop along the Silk Road. The second was as the capital of Timurlane's Empire and later of the Timurid Empire (before it moved to Herat). People here revere Timur, which is amazing, because he was probably the most blood-thirsty despot ever to grace these lands…and they've had their share of crazed blood-thirsty despots if you know what I'm saying. I'm starting to realize that this region suffers from some historical curse of crazy leaders: Genghis Khan, some sadistic Khan or Emir, Timurlane (or as they call him here Amir Timur), Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia, or modern day Islam Karimov. Torture? It's always been used here and it's nothing new. Genghis Khan has a very bad reputation here, but Timurlane can do no wrong. In fact, Genghis Khan is responsible for opening up the Silk Road and creating the vast amounts of wealth that flowed through these bazaars and streets while Timurlane's signature was not free trade, rather he was notorious of stacking skulls in pyramids after he had slaughtered a city. Back to the leadership for a moment; I guess what I'm trying to get at is that Karimov's treatment of the citizens of Uzbekistan is nothing really new and for some reason it's tolerated. People just go on with their lives. This region has an insane history full of blood-shed and violence and I'm just starting to understand how that impacts the here and now of modern day Uzbekistan and its neighbors.

Samarqand had the good fortune to be located at the intersection of two crossroads of the Silk Road. Most famously it was at the center of the traditional east-west route (there were many east-west routes, but this was the largest, most heavily trafficked one), but it also was along a north-south route heading south to Afghanistan and into India. I believe that when I was in Turkmenistan I wrote about how beautiful the people were. Not to mention super friendly. The people here (as in Karakalpakstan) are equally friendly, but what I find interesting here is how diverse it is. In Turkmenistan everyone looked somewhat similar. Here, however, there is clearly ethnic diversity. I am also clearly incapabable of differentiating a Kazakh from an Uzbek from a Tajik from a Tatar and so on. But it's obvious again from the people that live here that this was the crossroads and the center of the world.

So what did I do in Samarqand? (btw the Q and K are interchangeable). I started out by visiting Gur Emir or the tomb of Amir Timur/Timurlane, conveniently located across the street from my hotel. The giant Mausoleum was actually built by Timurlane from his favorite grandson and he was meant to be buried in a simple crypt in Shakhrisabz that I saw on Thursday. But, on the way into battle with China Timurlane died and he was buried in Samarqand, his capital, since the pass to Shakhrisabz was snowed in. There's a great legend associated with Timurlane's grave. Legend has it that on his grave there was an inscription that said something to the effect of "whoever opens my grave will be defeated by an enemy worse/more fearsome than me." On June 21, 1941, a Soviet anthropologist moved the crypts and opened them up to see who was actually buried there. Opening the crypts confirmed that Timur was in fact lame (Timur the Lame or Tamburlane) and that Ulughbek (an Astronomer King who ruled a bit later) was beheaded). On June 22, 1941 the Nazis broke the Non-Aggression Treaty (Molotov-Ribbentrop?) with the Soviet and invaded the USSR. And slightly less eerie, after the Soviets re-entombed Tamerlane they won the battle at Stalingrad (I say less eerie, because it was like a month after). So that's the legend. Moral of the story: don't mess with the bloody conqueror

After Gur Emir we traveled outside of the city to check out Hoja Ismail. Now this is for all of you Middle East Studies people out there. Hoja Ismail is one of the holier sites in Islam as it hosts the Mausoleum of Ismael al-Bukhari who collected the Hadith about Mohammed. It had a very serene and beautiful courtyard. Inside there were also these very detailed and intricate wood carved doors with Persian inscriptions…which I read to my guide. I also had the good fortune to pose for pictures with my mother for a young lady from the Ferghana Valley.

We returned to Samarqand to visit the Ulughbek Observatory. Ulughbek was the astronomer king of the Timurid Empire. I believe he was the grandson of Timurlane. You can see the remains of what must have been the world's largest sextant and you can see how the sunlight still shines in to hit the instrument at different points throughout the day. Of course, I have no idea how to interpret any of this. There was also a good short and sweet museum on the premises containing some pictures and history of the city and region. The Observatory reminded me a bit of the instruments in Jaipur, India. The instruments in Jaipur are far more impressive (and working), but the ones here in Samarqand are older.

Next up was the Shahr-i-Zindah, one of the more impressive sights I've seen since being here. It is literally an avenue of tombs, each more ornately decorated than the next (although not all restored on the inside). To enter the avenue you have to walk through a mosque (quite tricky to do during Friday prayers as I found out) and walk up the steps. Now, if the number of steps leading up is not the same and coming down you are supposed to crawl up and down the steps forty times for the forty steps. Good thing I didn't count. What's sort of a shame in most of these places is that the most beautiful sites are often the most recently restored. The avenue must have at least a dozen beautiful edifices on each side. Here too I had to post for many pictures. Seven in total. The group who was photographing me also took me along with them from site to site to have the foreigner in their pictures.

We continued on to visit the Synagogue and the Bazaar. It was a very nice synagogue with a dome (it's called the domed synagogue by the locals) and we had a nice tour. Our tour guide seemed to be buddy buddy with the Rabbi. The Bazaar was super organized. Fruit section, vegetable section, bread section, sweets section, pasta, rice, etc. And each stall was neatly numbered, I wonder if you can rent by the day or how the lot system works. Sadly we did not find anymore of those sesame candies, but did taste a lot of fruits and sweets. Yum.

Our last stop for the day was the Registan. It is a pretty large piazza and it is surrounded on three sides by these enormous Medressahs (Ulughbek, Sher Dor (Lion), and Tilla Kari (Gold Covered)). They are all very impressive. Also completely filled with artist shops and tourist kitsch. Like in some of the other Medressahs that I've visited, you can see how students lived. Two or three to a two story room. Larger than the freshmen dorm rooms I've seen…but I guess they didn't have A/C or heating (except with a fire). The facades of these buildings are breath-taking, but I have to go back to see them again because I was suffering from major tile-fatigue. I slipped a guard 3,000 Soms and went up one of the minarets. Not so well lit I had to scamper to get to the minaret entrance proper. First I went up through a gate and then climbed up to the second floor of the Medrassah. That also gave me an opportunity to see all the non-restored parts of these buildings. Then I climbed up some crumbling stairs to reach the minaret. From there it was 56 very steep steps in not such good light. I was filthy when I reached the top. I popped the top half of my body out through the top of the minaret (there was no safety rail so that's as far as I was willing to go) and I got a breathtaking view of this legendary city. I really did feel like I was at the center of the world as I could pick out all of the famous monuments and buildings of this city. Sadly, I had to go down. This is actually where I picked up the most dirt, but I made it down without falling, so that's a plus. My legs hurt me now.

In other news, I have finally finished my doxi for my tick bite, which is good because I was as red as a tomato and breaking out all over my arms and neck. I'm much better now that I've finished the medicine and begun to take benadryl instead. To be fair, I am much groggier.