Turkmenistan has a few monuments. . . okay, a lot. A couple of us decided to spend a day exploring the monuments of Turkmenistan and taking pictures of as many as we could. There are more than we thought.
Our first stop was the Arch of Neutrality, which is perhaps the most infamous monument in Ashgabat. It is a giant, three legged arch that is topped by a gold statue of the former President, Niyazov. The statue rotates to always face the sun, though it sometimes seems like it's not working too properly. The latest word is that it will be taken down, but so far, the government doesn't seem to have figured out how to do so.
The Arch is in the center of the city and is surrounded by white marble government buildings and a monument dedicated to the devastating 1948 earthquake. It depicts a giant bull shaking the earth and the city falling down, but a golden baby is being presented from the cracks in the earth. The story I heard is that the former President stated that the earthquake happened in order to allow him to emerge from the devastation as a great leader (I think to physically emerge from the earth, but am not positive). Anyway, it's very strange and backs right up to the Arch of Neutrality. The other buildings include the Presidential Palace and a couple of museums and the World Trade Center in Ashgabat.
My group took the elevators to the top of the monument and got a true birds' eye view of the city. It's really beautiful with all the greenery and marble, and you are able to see for miles. You can go out multiple exits to see different parts of the city. A traffic circle goes under the arch, so I often passed it while going around town.
After the bull and the arch, we saw the monument dedicated to those lost in World War II. It's a circle of tall arching stones that have the years of the war at the base. It's very modern and one of the few monuments I saw without white marble. It leads up through a green field to the base of the bull.
The next thing we went to see, foreigners affectionately call "Forty Legs" as it's sometimes difficult to figure out the real names of the different monuments. This is perhaps my favorite monument. It is made out of ten horses (hence the name "Forty Legs) that are half rearing. They are modeled after the famous Akal Teke (I think that's the name) horses that are famously bred in Turkmenistan and are considered a national treasure. They are at the top of a fountain that has two manmade waterfalls cascading down the path leading up to it. It's quite beautiful and regal, especially as the flowers that border the walkway were in full bloom.
The next monument was the GINORMOUS Ruhnama. This is a book that was written by the former president. It's enormous. I'm not even really sure how to relate just how big it is. Apparently it used to open up and there used to be passages from the Ruhnama that scrolled on a giant screen TV but I haven't seen it, and I believe that the book no longer opens. Anyway, it's kind of insane.
So then we took a picture of the building that was built to look like an open Ruhnama and moved on to the last monuments of our tour, which are part of the Independence Day monument. There are two separate monuments that face a large, golden domed Presidential Museum. The first is shaped like a plunger, but has a golden crescent moon on top. The second has five fountains, one on each side, and has a restaurant in it. Both are made of white marble.
There are many other monuments, especially fountains and golden statues of the former President, that can be seen everywhere in the country, but these were the major monuments that I visited. It's quite the experience.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Nohur
On Saturday a group of us traveled out to a small town in the Kopetdag Mountains called Nohur. Again, not very sure how to spell it, but it's supposed to be a town that can trace its ancestry back to Alexander the Great's army, and it's particularly interesting to drive through. We traveled via four wheel drive for about three hours to get there.
To reach this town, you have to turn off of the main highway and start on a gravel and/or dirt road that winds through the mountains. It's quite beautiful, though some areas can lead to some rough driving. I'm not sure how some of the older, smaller cars are able to travel and not get stuck on the road. As you're driving through the canyons and valleys and winding your way up the mountain, there are cows that placidly plod along either side of the road. Then we turned a corner and there was a very large herd of sheep and goats that took up the entire road. As the herder tried to get them to part, another vehicle came from the opposite direction, complicating the situation further as it's barely a two lane road and there are rock walls on either side. By using the horn and slowly moving through the crowd, we were able to get through, but it was while surrounded by a sea of animals!
We wound our way to the village, which is nothing like Ashgabat. Most of the homes are mud brick, and locals use everything, including old car parts and scrap metal, in order to construct rough fences along the road. The houses themselves reminded me of the adobe houses from the Southwest part of the U.S. We wound our way through the village, which has tiny roads with high mud brick walls along them, probably dating back hundreds of years. It's obvious SUVs were not the intended users as we carefully made our way along.
While in the village, someone directed us to the local graveyard, which was like nothing I'd ever seen. On each grave there are horns, of either mountain sheep or goats, many of them painted bright colors. A huge cemetary was filled with these markers, one for each grave in the year. They were carefully tied to the top of poles to mark the gravesite. Our local driver told us that they are meant to represent the elements and offer protection and luck. As we saw similar horns above some houses in Ashgabat, I think that it may date back to pre-Christian traditions that are still used and observed here, which goes along with many of the superstitions in the region.
After touring the village, we drove out for another hour further into the mountains in order to see a waterfall. Though someone told us it would be cold, in a thick forest, and thundering, we did find a variation on this description. We hiked to the top of the waterfall after getting more detailed instructions from one of the local trucks we passed, and found some trees and fallen rocks along a small stream that led to the waterfall. The view from the top was breathtaking and overlooked a valley that was filled with brush and other greenery. It was a few degrees cooler, and had beautiful formations, even if not the "lush forest" we were told to expect. Strangely, while we were driving there, it looked kind of like the area near the black hills, until we saw the stone houses and other structures that were built there. The area around Nohur is truly a beautiful place.
Our last stop was to a carpet factory, where I broke down and bought, not carpet, but a looser weave of rug (and much cheaper). It was incredible to see as seven women squatted on a piece of timber and worked in conjunction with one another to make the complicated, hand made design on the carpet they were working on. The owner told us that one person can make approximately one square meter (approx 3 square feet) of carpet in a month. The amount of work that goes into a carpet blew me away. The colors and details, and the fact that everything is hand knotted, is rather hard to believe, especially as they were working on some carpets that were about forty square meters in size-- as big, if not larger, than many studio apartments.
Apologies for the brief description, but as things wind down, I'm beginning to be busy with packing up and making sure I have everything pulled together. I'll try to make a couple more entries describing some of the other experiences I've had in the last month-- but things have been really busy!
To reach this town, you have to turn off of the main highway and start on a gravel and/or dirt road that winds through the mountains. It's quite beautiful, though some areas can lead to some rough driving. I'm not sure how some of the older, smaller cars are able to travel and not get stuck on the road. As you're driving through the canyons and valleys and winding your way up the mountain, there are cows that placidly plod along either side of the road. Then we turned a corner and there was a very large herd of sheep and goats that took up the entire road. As the herder tried to get them to part, another vehicle came from the opposite direction, complicating the situation further as it's barely a two lane road and there are rock walls on either side. By using the horn and slowly moving through the crowd, we were able to get through, but it was while surrounded by a sea of animals!
We wound our way to the village, which is nothing like Ashgabat. Most of the homes are mud brick, and locals use everything, including old car parts and scrap metal, in order to construct rough fences along the road. The houses themselves reminded me of the adobe houses from the Southwest part of the U.S. We wound our way through the village, which has tiny roads with high mud brick walls along them, probably dating back hundreds of years. It's obvious SUVs were not the intended users as we carefully made our way along.
While in the village, someone directed us to the local graveyard, which was like nothing I'd ever seen. On each grave there are horns, of either mountain sheep or goats, many of them painted bright colors. A huge cemetary was filled with these markers, one for each grave in the year. They were carefully tied to the top of poles to mark the gravesite. Our local driver told us that they are meant to represent the elements and offer protection and luck. As we saw similar horns above some houses in Ashgabat, I think that it may date back to pre-Christian traditions that are still used and observed here, which goes along with many of the superstitions in the region.
After touring the village, we drove out for another hour further into the mountains in order to see a waterfall. Though someone told us it would be cold, in a thick forest, and thundering, we did find a variation on this description. We hiked to the top of the waterfall after getting more detailed instructions from one of the local trucks we passed, and found some trees and fallen rocks along a small stream that led to the waterfall. The view from the top was breathtaking and overlooked a valley that was filled with brush and other greenery. It was a few degrees cooler, and had beautiful formations, even if not the "lush forest" we were told to expect. Strangely, while we were driving there, it looked kind of like the area near the black hills, until we saw the stone houses and other structures that were built there. The area around Nohur is truly a beautiful place.
Our last stop was to a carpet factory, where I broke down and bought, not carpet, but a looser weave of rug (and much cheaper). It was incredible to see as seven women squatted on a piece of timber and worked in conjunction with one another to make the complicated, hand made design on the carpet they were working on. The owner told us that one person can make approximately one square meter (approx 3 square feet) of carpet in a month. The amount of work that goes into a carpet blew me away. The colors and details, and the fact that everything is hand knotted, is rather hard to believe, especially as they were working on some carpets that were about forty square meters in size-- as big, if not larger, than many studio apartments.
Apologies for the brief description, but as things wind down, I'm beginning to be busy with packing up and making sure I have everything pulled together. I'll try to make a couple more entries describing some of the other experiences I've had in the last month-- but things have been really busy!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Merv
A group of us traveled out to Merv for the day in order to see the ruins. Ancient Merv, as it is often referred to, is a huge national historical area that dates back to centures B.C. As we found out, there are many ruins instead of just one or two, and that each ruin is often due to a different civilization.
The first thing you see as you drive up to the historical sites is a huge wall that, I'm guessing, is more than twenty feet tall. Every so often there are structures built into the wall that had to have been guard towers. This wall extends as far as the eye can see. I'm not sure if this is the wall the guide was referring to, but one of them (yes, there is more than one) was built by an old king, one of the first to build a structure in the area, in order to preserve the oasis, flora and fauna that he found there. Though it is nothing but desert today, it had lush greenery and forests then, or that is what we were told.
We went from the wall to the first large fortress, which is said to be the Maiden's fortress. You can still clambor up the stairs to the second floor and see the basement and other structures. It is very, very tall-- about ninety or so feet. The outside is very striking and has ripples built into it in order to adjust and deal with the wind pounding against it. It almost looks like a series of mud brick columns that were built very close to each other. What is most incredible is that the entire structure is built out of mud brick and has survived for centuries.
Within a five minute walk is another fortress, though it is not as well preserved. This fortress is known as the Young Man's Fortress. Turkmen love stories and tales, and the happier one for these two is that there was a group of young men in the one fortress and a group of young ladies in the other. For great feats of bravery, a young man could choose his bride, and the common challenge was that if a man could throw an apple over the wall of the maiden's fortress (keep in mind, this is five- ten minute walk away, so a long distance, plus the height of the wall), he could choose any maiden he wanted. Well, the young men wanted the ladies so much and were so much in love that they kept trying and trying until they devised a catapult like device to get the apples over the other wall. Then all the men and women were happy when the men could choose their brides.
Stories such as these pervade the ruins, moreso than any real history that I heard, and they are all very beautiful. Our last major stop was at one of the old mausoleums. Though it was also ransacked during the time of the Moguls, you can still see some of the old tilework and designs that once were throughout the inside. It is a pilgrimage site for some people in the country. The legend of the king who built the mausoleum goes like this. A King fell in love with a fairy but was told that he had to obey three rules in order to marry her. The first was never to look at her when she was walking. The second was never to look at her while she was doing her hair, and the third was never to embrace her.
The King promised and the two married and were very happy and very much in love. Then the King broke the first rule and looked at his wife while she was walking. He saw that she was not walking, but was flying and floating along. She was very, very angry when she found out, but loved him so eventually forgave him, after he promised not to break the other two. Well, he eventually broke the second rule, and saw that while brushing her hair, she took her head off her shoulders to do so. He was not disgusted for he loved his wife very, very much. She was again angry, but forgave him.
Finally, the King could no longer resist expressing his love for his wife and embraced her. She told him that she had to leave, for he had broken all three rules and she could not remain with him. He was heartbroken and could not stand to be parted from her. She loved him very much, and she told him that if he built a structure that was very tall, and there was a hole for her to come down and look through, she would always meet him once a week.
So the King, bereft, built the mausoleum, and there is a hole in the ceiling. He was said to visit her every week on Fridays and became happy, for he was able to speak with his love. When he was dying, he asked to be brought to the mauoleum and begged to be able to speak with her one last time. She heard his plea and came down in time to see him.
Unfortunately I can't remember the full ending of the story, but such romance and tragedy is what makes Turkmen stories so beautiful and so common in the country.
The final two stops we made were impromptu and had nothing to do with the ruins. We were driving along and saw a herd of camels that had to have about a hundred in them. We all got out of the car and, very excited, began to take pictures. The boys in charge of the herd told us to come around and that they had a camel that was trained to allow people to mount her. We walked around the stream and over the low wall (that still went from the old fortress) and got to mount and (in my case) just stand next to the camel. There is a great photo of me looking nervously at the camel as her head came around. They are known to spit and bite. I was very excited to see so many camels, though!
The second stop was to a local store to buy this special type of cookie. Our guide told us that they were the best in Turkmenistan, and they were very good. They are soft, kind of like a firm cake, and have a glaze on them. Mine had honey in them. They were very good and we happily carried bags of the cookies back to the airport.
Mary had a very different feel from Ashgabat. You can feel the history pressing down from the past, as you can see ruins on the edge of town and see more of the neighborhoods that don't seem to exist as much in Ashgabat. There were fewer statues and grand marble buildings, which was nice to see as we got more of a feeling of the actual people in the country. I'm told that Mary is the second largest city in Turkmenistan, and it was a true pleasure to be able to tour, even if just for a day or two.
The first thing you see as you drive up to the historical sites is a huge wall that, I'm guessing, is more than twenty feet tall. Every so often there are structures built into the wall that had to have been guard towers. This wall extends as far as the eye can see. I'm not sure if this is the wall the guide was referring to, but one of them (yes, there is more than one) was built by an old king, one of the first to build a structure in the area, in order to preserve the oasis, flora and fauna that he found there. Though it is nothing but desert today, it had lush greenery and forests then, or that is what we were told.
One of the walls was said to contain a great city that included great scholars, happy people, and was the center of civilization during its day. The fortress and the great city that once was in these walls was eventually destroyed by the Moguls, to the point where tens of thousands of people were killed. The great king within the fortress walls was able to keep the Moguls from invading initially, but then their water was cut off. The Moguls told him that they would invade "peacefully" if the great walls to the fortress were opened. The King had no other choice and this beacon of civilization and research was quickly destroyed completely and set on fire. Unfortunately, tales like this (Monguls destroying great civilizations) seem to be common around Turkmenistan.
We went from the wall to the first large fortress, which is said to be the Maiden's fortress. You can still clambor up the stairs to the second floor and see the basement and other structures. It is very, very tall-- about ninety or so feet. The outside is very striking and has ripples built into it in order to adjust and deal with the wind pounding against it. It almost looks like a series of mud brick columns that were built very close to each other. What is most incredible is that the entire structure is built out of mud brick and has survived for centuries.
Within a five minute walk is another fortress, though it is not as well preserved. This fortress is known as the Young Man's Fortress. Turkmen love stories and tales, and the happier one for these two is that there was a group of young men in the one fortress and a group of young ladies in the other. For great feats of bravery, a young man could choose his bride, and the common challenge was that if a man could throw an apple over the wall of the maiden's fortress (keep in mind, this is five- ten minute walk away, so a long distance, plus the height of the wall), he could choose any maiden he wanted. Well, the young men wanted the ladies so much and were so much in love that they kept trying and trying until they devised a catapult like device to get the apples over the other wall. Then all the men and women were happy when the men could choose their brides.
Stories such as these pervade the ruins, moreso than any real history that I heard, and they are all very beautiful. Our last major stop was at one of the old mausoleums. Though it was also ransacked during the time of the Moguls, you can still see some of the old tilework and designs that once were throughout the inside. It is a pilgrimage site for some people in the country. The legend of the king who built the mausoleum goes like this. A King fell in love with a fairy but was told that he had to obey three rules in order to marry her. The first was never to look at her when she was walking. The second was never to look at her while she was doing her hair, and the third was never to embrace her.
The King promised and the two married and were very happy and very much in love. Then the King broke the first rule and looked at his wife while she was walking. He saw that she was not walking, but was flying and floating along. She was very, very angry when she found out, but loved him so eventually forgave him, after he promised not to break the other two. Well, he eventually broke the second rule, and saw that while brushing her hair, she took her head off her shoulders to do so. He was not disgusted for he loved his wife very, very much. She was again angry, but forgave him.
Finally, the King could no longer resist expressing his love for his wife and embraced her. She told him that she had to leave, for he had broken all three rules and she could not remain with him. He was heartbroken and could not stand to be parted from her. She loved him very much, and she told him that if he built a structure that was very tall, and there was a hole for her to come down and look through, she would always meet him once a week.
So the King, bereft, built the mausoleum, and there is a hole in the ceiling. He was said to visit her every week on Fridays and became happy, for he was able to speak with his love. When he was dying, he asked to be brought to the mauoleum and begged to be able to speak with her one last time. She heard his plea and came down in time to see him.
Unfortunately I can't remember the full ending of the story, but such romance and tragedy is what makes Turkmen stories so beautiful and so common in the country.
The final two stops we made were impromptu and had nothing to do with the ruins. We were driving along and saw a herd of camels that had to have about a hundred in them. We all got out of the car and, very excited, began to take pictures. The boys in charge of the herd told us to come around and that they had a camel that was trained to allow people to mount her. We walked around the stream and over the low wall (that still went from the old fortress) and got to mount and (in my case) just stand next to the camel. There is a great photo of me looking nervously at the camel as her head came around. They are known to spit and bite. I was very excited to see so many camels, though!
The second stop was to a local store to buy this special type of cookie. Our guide told us that they were the best in Turkmenistan, and they were very good. They are soft, kind of like a firm cake, and have a glaze on them. Mine had honey in them. They were very good and we happily carried bags of the cookies back to the airport.
Mary had a very different feel from Ashgabat. You can feel the history pressing down from the past, as you can see ruins on the edge of town and see more of the neighborhoods that don't seem to exist as much in Ashgabat. There were fewer statues and grand marble buildings, which was nice to see as we got more of a feeling of the actual people in the country. I'm told that Mary is the second largest city in Turkmenistan, and it was a true pleasure to be able to tour, even if just for a day or two.
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