106post-event RepoRt
IMAGES © MICHAEL LEEIt was near the break of dawn when
I checked in, bleary-eyed, at the airport
in Singapore. The early rise was a
bit of a mood-killer. But by the time I
arrived in Kuala Lumpur for my transfer
to Tashkent – meeting three of my
fellow explorers there – I had traded in
my daybreak disposition for buzzing
anticipation. Seven hours later, we
descended into Tashkent International
We were up again early for our
flight to Urgench, piling into a minibus
and making our way through the old
Soviet city and into the countryside,
travelling alongside a seemingly
endless patchwork of cotton fields
before reaching the ancient city of
Khiva. Legend has it that some 2,500
years ago, a son of Noah stumbled
upon a well while in the middle of the
desert here. Upon tasting the water, he
exclaimed “khi-wa”! (meaning “sweet
water”), giving the area its name.
We stood dwarfed by the great
statue of Muhammad ibn Musa al-
Khwarizmi, the father of algebra,
before entering the walls of the
fortress Itchan-Kala – a UNSECO WorldPART 2: UZBEKISTAN
September 22–28, 2017IN SEPTEMBER 2017, A CREW OF
EXPLORERS EMBARKED ON AN
EXPEDITION TO TRACE THE HISTORY OF
THE SILK ROAD IN UZBEKISTAN. ASIAN
GEOGRAPHIC’S SPENCER NAH SHARES
HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE EXPEDITION –
THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF THREE
Discover the Silk Road
Airport, greeted by cool, dry winds
which welcomed me with reprieve
after sticky Singapore.
The first thing I noticed about my
host country was the presence of the
militsiya around the airport, who
served as a not-so-casual reminder
of Uzbekistan’s status as a police
state. This severe first impression
was quickly dismantled by Farruh,
our tall and lanky guide, whose
chatty personality stood in stark
contrast to the stony-faced officers.
We zipped through the bustling city,
assaulted by a cacophony of blaring
horns, screaming to a halt in front
of a colossal building in the heart of
Tashkent – our home for the night.The Shah-i-Zinda Complex
includes 9th century mausoleums