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Tuesday 2004-05-11 - Palmyra, Syria
Impressive Romans
After lunch with (again) a cup of lentil soup we walk to the ruins of the Roman city of Palmyra. Enormously impressive, more so than even the Acropolis in Athens, we think. Not only is it visible that here was an enormous city here in Roman times (600,000 people lived here in the first century) but along the big avenue where a surprising number of columns are still standing we also see remnants of the sewer system that make it clear what an enormous feat of engineering this city was.
Apart from the museum (in the big temple of Bel) which happens to be closed when we get there, entry to the whole site is free, and we roam around for several hours. Of course, I take lot of pictures as well!
Wednesday 2004-05-12 - Krak des Chevaliers, Syria
Largest castle I’ve ever seen
On the way to Aleppo our first stop is at Krak des Chevaliers: An enormous castle built by the crusaders in 1110 on the spot of an older fort occupied by a garrison of Kurd troops. It’s hardly imaginable such a stronghold was ever taken, and indeed two sieges in 1163 and 1172 were fought off. However, a century later, in 1271 the Mamelukes came with much improved siege equipment and succeeded in taking the stronghold. Later, locals lived for many years in the castle which is now being restored again. One can roam around for quite some time through stables, storage areas, chapel, large rooms, and climb the command tower to oversee it all. On a clear day one should be able to see the Mediterranean from here — but alas not today.
Friday 2004-05-14 - Aleppo, Syria
City on a hill
After lunch with a very big glass of freshly-squeezed juice, we go to the Citadel, finding the entrance only after walking nearly all the way around — which gives us a good impression of the enormous size of this stronghold built on a natural hill. Much of it is still in rubble but parts are restored, such as the throne room; also two small mosques are restored now, as well as some other small buildings. Restoration is still in full swing though and well done, in a way that one can also see the difference between the old remains and newer additions to walls to complete the structures. From the top and the walls one also has a beautiful view over the city of Aleppo.
Sunday 2004-05-16 - Antakya, Turkey
A mosaic of history
In the morning we go to St. Peter’s Grotto: the natural cave high above Antakya where St. Peter preached and founded the Christian community, later made into a church, and designated by the Pope as a holy place. Interesting historically, but there’s not really much to see. Somewhat more interesting is a huge sculpture of the face of Maria carved into the rocks near the cave; the face has been removed by Muslims later, since their belief forbids making images of humans but the outline is still recognizable. It can be reached only by clambering up rocky paths (or not-quite paths) but it’s worth the effort, and from up here the view over the city is even nicer.
Then on we go in the bus, to visit Antakya Kalesi: the original spot of old Antioch on top of the mountain. The stronghold commanded the whole river valley below. Up there, about 665m high there’s only a crumbling tower and parts of the walls left but still it gives a good idea of the size and importance of the city and the walls that girded it.
In the afternoon, after a quick lunch, we first visit a small mosque in the “new” old city, with a lovely quiet courtyard shaded by trees. Then on to the museum. The Hatay museum has a superb collection of well-conserved Roman mosaics from the second and third centuries, as well as some sarcophages, one very detailed, in which also gold ornaments and the skeletons of a man, a woman and a young woman were found. When Syria was captured by the Romans in 64 BC, Antioch became the eastern capital of the Roman empire; the museum gives a good impression of the splendors of the city in Roman times.
Wednesday 2004-05-19 - Mardin, Turkey
Early Christian history
Our final destination for today is Mardin but to get there we have to go back to Şanlıurfa first: there is no other road. Once on our way out of Urfa again, the landscape gets gradually greener and after riding through the beautiful valleys we arrive at Mardin, an old city built hugging a mountain side. It’s now a little after 2 in the afternoon, and we have somewhat empty stomachs. Asking around for directions, we find out that our hotel is not in the city at all, but in Kızıltepe, 20km back! If we go there first, we won’t have time for our goals in Mardin, so we decide to do the tour before going to the hotel - and skip lunch.
That was a lucky decision: when (after quite a bit of searching through the confusing narrow streets of the city — all curving to follow the contours of the mountain) we arrive at the Antioch Syrian Orthodox monastery outside of the city at 3:10, we find it closes at 3:30! The monastery (Deynulzaferan) built like a fortress on the top of a mountain is interesting, but we cannot even see all of it any more — and the place is packed with day trippers: unfortunately we picked a holiday to arrive late… Still, we do get at least an impression: enough to want to spend more time on exploring this interesting complex and its history if we ever get back.
From there we go to the Antioch Syrian Orthodox church in the center of Mardin. Here a priest who speaks passable English gives us a nice lecture about the early history of Christianity and and all its different branches. The Antioch Syrian Orthodox and Alexandrian Orthodox churches were early branches, like the two Catholic ones, one of which became the Roman Catholic Church, the other Greek Orthodox. The Armenian Orthodox church (of which we visited a small church in Damascus) is a later branch off of the Syrian orthodox church. I hope I got all that right… The church building itself is very nice — and old — with many paintings, icons and embroidery, some of it obviously made by children of the community. The effect is almost homely.
Thursday 2004-05-20 - Diyarbakır, Turkey
More history
After we take our leave from the carpet seller at the mosque nearby we try to finally find the Christian church we were looking for — which we succeed in doing only with the help of another crowd of children and some friendly older people. The church, another Orthodox Syrian church, is obviously for a small community only. Three families live in the buildings surrounding the church proper within the church grounds. The priest speaks some English, another man some German, and together they lead us around their small church with many beautiful and very old paintings badly in need of restoration. We leave a donation for the church.
Our next goal is the old city wall: an enormous wall built of black basalt stone, still surrounding the whole old city and 6 km long; the top of it provides a good view of the city of Diyarbakır and its surroundings. At several places there are stairs where you can get up the wall; we climb up via stairs inside one of the gates and immediately attract another crowd of children. These are friendly and try to play guide (though we’d rather walk without them). Of course we don’t give them the money they obviously hope for when we leave the wall after a nice walk. But these somewhat older children don’t seem to mind too much: they had a good time with us, apparently.
Friday 2004-05-21 - Silvan, Turkey
Peek into the middle ages
Today is a travel day: we go to Van. The landscape upon leaving Diyarbakır is getting more and more mountainous, and we seem to be climbing gradually as well. The mountains are beautiful, and there are many spring flowers — sitting in the bus and looking out is no punishment.
Just after Silvan I notice some holes in the rocks high up in the mountains on the left just when others shout “stop” for a picture of the beautiful view over the valley on the right. I walk resolutely back to get the holes in the rocks back into view and to take a picture. It turns out my hunch was right: these were rock dwellings, dating back to the middle ages. A few of us walk all the way up to them and manage to look inside one of the holes but (as expected) they’re completely bare. Building rock dwellings so high up inside a steep mountain side must have been a form of defense, I think — though simpler than building a citadel on top of a mountain. Maybe they were farmers rather than city dwellers here.
Somewhat farther on there is a big dam on the left of the road; on the right is a large bridge with one very high arch, built in 1147; it’s well-preserved: you can walk over it (no other traffic allowed though). The size of the bridge is impressive, and it has some nice decorations in the stonework as well. The water below is a beautiful blue-green, cows are drinking and bathing in the water below. We spend quite a bit of time enjoying the view here, before we go on to Van, passing over the highest mountain pass in Turkey, Kuskunkıran, at 2235 m high. The view of the Lake of Van we soon get is stunning: blue-green water, surrounded on all sides with snow-capped mountain ranges.
Saturday 2004-05-22 - Akdamar, Turkey
Church on an island
Van is a big city but (apart from a museum that’s said to be nice) not very interesting in itself. Instead, we go to the island Akdamar in the Lake of Van. We’ve decided not to take the (expensive) official tour but arrange our own. With our own bus we drive back along the east and south side of the lake, with again a spectacular view of the green-blue lake with snow-capped mountain ranges all around. Where the ferry boats leave for the island, our tour companion arranges with the boat owner that he will take us there, make a circle all around the island, then give us three hours to spend there. We’ve taken along food for a picnic lunch, bought before we left.
Our main goal is the old Holy Cross church built on the island, dating back to the 10th century. There are beautiful reliefs on all the walls; inside there are still some fresco fragments, mostly blues but hard to discern what the scenes are. Around the church is also a number of grave stones, most half-toppled, some also finely decorated with reliefs.
The island has two tops; I skip the high one to spare my painful knees the steep climb but go with Vera to the lower one on the south-east side. From there you can still overlook almost all the island, and I attempt to make a panorama photograph — a bit hard to do balancing on the rocks… no idea how this will come out. The island is covered with many types of flowers, different kinds of lillies and hyacinths, wild onions, beautiful euphorbias, many species I don’t recognize. I take a lot of pictures! After our picnic lunch we return to Van, where I decide to spend the remainder of the afternoon writing.
After our extensive lunch on the island we’re not terribly hungry so in the evening we head back to the ‘soup salon’ for a light meal, where we find most of the group also enjoying their delicious soup! After dinner it’s back to the Internet cafe in Van (there’s one conveniently right next to our hotel) to catch up with my travel blog!
Sunday 2004-05-23 - Doğubayazıt, Turkey
Old glory
In the afternoon we make a trip to Işak Paşa palace, 6 km outside of Doğubayazıt. The palace, of which construction started in 1685, was finished only in 1784. The palace-fortress, on top of a rock with a great view of the surrounding valley (but alas not of nearby Mount Ararat) originally had no less than 366 rooms and was built in five different architectural styles. Partly destroyed by earthquakes, what’s left is well restored now — but it’s the stonework only: nothing is left of any furnishings. Still we roam around quite a while.
From the palace we walk back to the village, first noticing what looks like traces of an old village just below the palace that we think must have serviced the palace: we already noticed some graves near the top of the mountain, a little higher up. Then, as we get gradually lower, we enjoy the beautiful wide landscape. A little surprise: at the edge of town the bus is waiting for us, and we climb in.
Saturday 2004-05-29 - Kermānshāh, Iran
Ancient history
On our way to Hamedān we make a stop at Kermānshāh to visit Taq-e Bostan (“Shelter of God”) near Bisotun where one can see splendid reliefs and some architectural remains from the Sassanid era. The reliefs are in their original location, hewn from the rock wall, and depict kings and gods of the Sassanids, such as Mithra (recognizable by the sun rays around his head), a tree of life (acanthus leaves), hunting scenes showing elephants used to flush the deer from their shelter, a female deer with a ribbon round her neck used to attract the males, and a hunting goddess (the equivalent of the Greek Artemis). It’s one of the best examples of ancient Persian art.
Modern history
While at the Taq-e Bostan site, we meet some unexpected foreign visitors: four Iraqis who are biding their time in Iran (fled “under the fire” as they say) until the situation in Iraq has quieted down; two are from Bagdad, two from Najaf. They’re quite explicit that the situation under Saddam Hussein was bad, but that now, under the Americans it’s still bad.
We chat with them for a few minutes - it’s remarkable how different they are from Iranian men: just as friendly, but very open and direct. When one remarks he hopes to be able to return to Iraq in two months, and I reply “Inshallah!” he says: “You’re my friend!” and gives me a hand — something an Iranian man wouldn’t dare (or even think of) — and Carla makes friends with another man who’s a teacher, like her. Before we leave they have to make pictures of all of us together and each with their newly-made friends.
Saturday 2004-05-29 - Kangāvar, Iran
More ancient history
Our next stop is at Kangāvar, halfway between Hamedān and Kermānshāh, where we (or at least some of us) visit the site of the Anahita temple. Only a few pillars are left to stand now, but the outlines of the original buildings can still be seen. The whole complex was burnt at the Arabian invasion - some ashes from that disaster were found by archaeologists. Of the largest building, which originally had 48 pillars, a few still stand: impressively heavy, more than a meter thick, but only some 4 meters high, with a square undecorated capitol. Walls built from small stones were Sassanid, ones with large blocks are from the Parthian period.
Anahita was a fertility goddess. The whole site is unique for several reasons: because it’s the first temple built for a goddess but also because the Zoroastrians for the first time built one of their fire temples next to that of a goddess here.
Friday 2004-06-04 - Rāyen, Iran
Bam in miniature
Originally, an excursion to Bam was on the program for today but since the earthquake last December that’s obviously off: we’re not into ‘disaster tourism’, the citadel is practically destroyed for now (we saw some shocking before-and-after photographs) and anyway we’d just be in the way while they’re rebuilding.
Instead, we go to Rāyen, a much smaller town south of Kermān, with a citadel much in the style of Bam, though naturally also much smaller. As with historical sites all over Iran, they’re busily restoring it. The outer wall, seemingly in good shape anyway, is fully reconstructed — using fired brick where the mud brick was missing in a few places — and the public-facing walls are already nicely plastered again. Inside there are several buildings; the restoration of the castle is also well advanced (the living spaces in the same style as the historical houses we saw in Kāshān), as is a small mosque. Elsewhere, only the outlines of buildings are indicated with low mud-plastered walls. At some unfinished buildings it’s interesting to be able to see how a domed roof is constructed on a square plan with nothing but adobe brick.
Many tours that would originally have gone to Bam are now coming here but Rāyen hasn’t quite adapted yet — but maybe they don’t want to? Apparently most tour buses just go up to the gate of the citadel and leave immediately after the visit. We go in search of a cup of tea instead but we can’t find a cup of tea anywhere in the village (rare in Iran) but a bottle of Iranian Cola and some chairs the shop owner lends us to sit on makes up for that — we even get some bread with it. A little farther on we find a simple but beautiful shrine in a small building with a nicely-tiled dome. Then it’s time to leave.
Friday 2004-06-04 - Māhān, Iran
Closed garden
The plan was to have our picnic lunch in the historical gardens in Māhān but when we arrive there we find them closed (whether that’s still because of mourning for Mr. Khomeiny or simply because it’s Friday does not become clear). The pleasant little park in front of the entrance is already full of picnicking families and we’re lucky to find a place in the half-shade. Curiously, the Iranian family next to us look at us but don’t attempt to make contact. Is is because we’re in a large group now?
After lunch we visit the beautiful mausoleum for Shah-Nemat-ollah-Vali, one of the great gnostics of Iran. Not all of us enter the building housing the shrine itself but both outer courtyards, with a wealth of flowers and shade trees around a central pond are quite beautiful. The shrine building also has a beautiful tiled dome and minarets but they are actually hard to see through the trees!
Monday 2004-06-07 - Persepolis, Iran
Impressive palaces
Today we make an excursion to Takht-e Jamshid, a huge complex of palaces started by king Darius I in about 512 BC and completed by a range of successive kings (Xerxes among them) over a period of 200 years. It was originally called Pārsā but is better known to us by the name Persepolis which is what the Greeks called it when they invaded and destroyed the city in 331 BC.
We leave Shirāz already at six in the morning, hoping to be at the site at seven, when the light should be good. We are - but alas they can’t open up for us: official opening time is 7:30 and the guard doesn’t have a key. It’s 7:45 before we’re actually inside. As a result, the famous reliefs on the Apadama staircase, now protected by a roof, are half in the shadow already: it’s obvious that at seven the light would have been much better, the sun is too high in the sky already now…
On the site as a whole, some pillars still stand, and parts of gateways with sculptures and reliefs but I’m most fascinated by the reliefs found on almost every upright surface; while many are damaged there’s still a lot in very good condition. Almost all of them depict long lines of people from all parts of the huge Persian empire coming to pay tribute to the king. If you know what to look for, the various nations can be recognized by their clothing, hair and beard (all are men) and attributes. Easy to spot are the Persians with a straight hat and the Medians with a round cap; I think I also spot a Phrygian hat - and there are many more. All these people seem to be walking with the visitor as it were, along the same corridors, and actually climbing the same stairs; sometimes two abreast - a surprising bit of perspective in the otherwise ‘flat’ scenes. Other reliefs show the king (or maybe a prince) controlling a bull or a lion. The capitals of the pillars are often two-headed figures such as eagles, lions or bulls.
Overlooking the site is the tomb of Artaxerxes II, hewn out from the face of the mountain and also decorated with beautiful reliefs. I climb up to there (ignoring my protesting knees) and see my effort rewarded with a beautiful view - hopefully caught in the panorama photograph I make from there.
The whole complex is enormous and very impressive. Interestingly, the actual use of these palaces is not quite known, whether they were lived in, or used only for ceremonial purposes. What is obvious though is that this city in its time must have been a stunning symbol of power and wealth.
Tuesday 2004-06-08 - Pāsārgād, Iran
Ancient history and modern science
Today we have a long travel day from Shirāz to Esfahān but we make a little side trip to Pāsārgād (Pasargadae). When we arrive at the Tomb of Cyrus just after the entrance to the site, a surprise awaits us: the field behind the tomb is crowded with people with cameras, parasols, much electronic equipment, even a satellite antenna and there’s a lot of rather nervous activity… what’s going on here?
A friendly bearded man with a NASA t-shirt explains the situation. The t-shirt isn’t fake: he’s actually an Englishman working for NASA in the US, visiting here with a team for a very special occasion: today (in fact, in 5 minutes!) there will be a Venus transit: the planet Venus passing in front of the sun causing a very small eclipse. Everyone is busy calibrating their equipment to be ready for when it really starts in a few minutes; Venus’ trip across the Sun’s surface will take 5 hours. This is indeed a unique event: in astronomical time it happens more often of course but no one alive today has ever experienced this.
The people here are mostly astronomy amateurs but some real science is taking place (astronomy is one branch of science where it’s not unusual for amateurs to cooperate with the pros and make some real contributions): when Venus will be fully in front of the Sun the light as it passes through Venus’ atmosphere will be measured: since the composition of this atmosphere is known, the resulting data will help with interpreting measurements of other distant solar systems with planets as they are observed.
The NASA man tells us that astronomy is quite popular in Iran; last night they were visiting in a town nearby which has the largest astronomy club with 1000 members - in a town with a population of 10,000! The club is building their own observatory and the NASA team made a donation of some equipment; they had a wonderful evening with 500 people turning up for the event!
We get a few special ‘sun glasses’ so we can see with our own eyes the small black dot made by Venus on the face of the Sun.
Then we leave to actually see the rest of the Pāsārgād site. The city was begun under Cyrus the Great (Kouroush) in about 546 BC but was superseded by Persepolis after Cyrus’ death. It’s located at the very center of what is now Iran but also then the Persian empire, in the middle of the fertile plains of the Fars province. Remains of the city are quite scattered and not as well preserved as those at Persepolis; we make a tour along the various ruins with our bus.
On the way here, the fertility of this area was obvious, with endless grain fields interspersed with occasional smaller fields with other crops (such as rice); through the open roof of the bus entered a summery scent of ripening grain.
Thursday 2004-06-10 - Esfahān, Iran
The ‘forgotten’ genocide
Our next goal is the Armenian quarter of Esfahān, Jolfā, South of the Zāyande river. It’s immediately obvious this is one of the more wealthy areas of Esfahān. We visit two churches there, their inside completely covered with superb paintings; the gilding is real gold! The Bethlehem church is smaller and only opened (with a huge key) on request but it’s more intimate than Vānk cathedral and I prefer it for that reason.
Connected to Vānk cathedral is a small museum. One of the exhibits here is devoted to the genocide of Armenians in Turkey early last century (around 1915 if I remember correctly). While Armenians everywhere are pressing for acknowledgment of this horror, Turkey still officially denies it ever took place. Here, documentation is presented, in the form of letters and telegrams with clear instructions to kill all Armenians without mercy and even quite shocking film images — except there is no way to tell whether it’s authentic. The estimate is 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and the same number deported to neighboring countries (one of the reasons why so many Armenians live in Iran now, and are allowed their own language and religion and left in peace). Armenians all over the world commemorate the genocide on 24 April, demanding Turkey finally acknowledges it.
(If this is what happened, I think they should, and not be allowed into the EU until they do — but is it? Arguments from both sides actually sound equally convincing.)
Friday 2004-06-11 - Tehrān, Iran
A hasty taste of the capital
For some reason we couldn’t get a flight from Esfahān to Mashhad as planned, so today we first take a flight to Tehrān and fly on to Mashhad in the evening, which gives us a chance to spend a little time in the capital. It’s not an attractive city, we’re told, but at least there are some good museums — some of them closed today because it’s Friday. We make the best of our time here. On most days, traffic is deadly here in this city of 15 million inhabitants, but since it’s Friday most businesses and shops are closed, and crossing the street isn’t a gamble.
Our first stop is at the Historical Museum and the Museum for Islamic Art next door (one ticket for both together). We have only two hours — much too short, 3 hours for each would be normal — but it’s still worth the entry price. The Historical Museum with its superb exhibits in chronological order helps to put into perspective all the things we’ve seen from different periods during the last weeks in Iran. The prehistoric finds, refined figurines and delicately decorated pottery (many pieces depicting ibex) are very interesting, too. Far too little time is left for the Museum for Islamic Art but they have some spectacular exhibits as well. Definitely a place to come back to, with enough time to spend.
After that, a visit to the mountain (hidden here under a multitude of restaurants and teahouses around a stream full of empty bottles) where Tehranians come for the fresh air — and some to do some real mountain climbing farther up; a park (no grass here on the mountainside, but plenty of trees and many seats in the shade, most of them occupied of course); and finally a modern shopping center where the (expensive) shops are actually open.
After that tour we leave for the airport again for our flight to Mashhad and have a nice Iranian dinner on board.
Monday 2004-06-14 - Mary, Turkmenistan
Destroyed by the Mongols
Ancient Merv, an old center on the Silk Road, was located a way from present-day Mary. It was — especially for the time — a huge city of which only ruins are left now, spread over a large area. Obviously, arriving here around seven in the evening, we will have time only for a few highlights before it gets fully dark — and we still have to have dinner as well.
There were several large citadels here, as well as forts. When the Mongols arrived here on their rampage across Asia, they didn’t know how to tackle such a large city: they’d never encountered anything like this. At first they roamed around for six days failing to find a way in. Then they laid siege but after half a year they’d gotten nowhere: the city still thrived. At last a spy overheard two women chatting to each other, saying they’d never have lasted this long with out the tunnel through which water and food was brought into the city… Now the Mongols finally had a way in. The two women were stoned to death for thus betraying the city but that was not all. The Mongols offered to spare everyone if only they would move out of the city; the people took the offer but found they had been fooled: nearly all were killed. One of the survivors, an Arab who lived here, was tasked with counting the dead. He recorded the counting took him 6 days, and he counted 1.2 million bodies.
The city was then abandoned for about two centuries, after which people slowly began to move back, but soon left again. New Mary was built at a distance from the old site but the extensive cemetery at Merv has been in almost constant use — a pity there’s no time to walk around there, I love to look around cemeteries. We have time only to visit a few forts and the mausoleums for the two women who were stoned to death; then we run up the hill of another fort on a hill to watch from there the beautiful sunset over the site. A few more places viewed in the dusk, and then we ride back to the city.
In Mary we have a late dinner in the open air; my chicken kebab tastes very good, but it’s also very cold outside by this time: it’s nearly 11 pm! Our hotel is of the “Russian” type with a key lady and no restaurant. (No choice: it’s the only hotel in town. A new three-star hotel has been built but not opened yet.) Our bathroom looks terrible with a jumble of broken tiles but it has been cleaned and the plumbing actually works. The hot water is turned off at eleven though, so my shower is only lukewarm.
Thursday 2004-06-24 - Tash Rabat, Kyrgyzstan
What is Tash Rabat?
The Tash Rabat building, located at 3100 m height not far from the Chinese border, is somewhat of a riddle. It’s often called a caravan serai in the tour guides but looking at the structure that actually sounds rather unlikely: there’s no place to stable animals here; and usually at a caravanserai there’s a large open courtyard inside the outer walls but this smallish building is completely covered and has a large domed central hall with lots of rooms around three sides of it. Other theories are it could have been a mosque, a prison, even a Buddhist monastery. Unfortunately, no real scientific investigation or excavation has ever been done here; until that happens (if ever) it’s all guesswork.
It’s quite cold up here (again) but luckily we can sleep either in a yurt, put up for the purpose by the family living across from Tash Rabat, or inside their house (for which they free up their own living room and kitchen and sleep in a small side building). Although it costs a little extra, I’m quite glad to be able to sleep inside where it’s warm tonight: last night in the tent it was so cold I didn’t sleep well.
Tuesday 2004-06-29 - Kuqa, Xinjiang (China)
Buddha caves - from the outside
A two-hour drive away from Kuqa are the Kizil Buddha cases; similar to the Thousand Buddha caves near Turpan (which I visited two years ago), but supposed to be more beautiful.
The road out there takes us through some really spectacular landscapes: the Tien Shan Mountains here consist mostly of layers of sediment only partially hardened into real stone. In some place, these layers are still perfectly horizontal and water erosion (!) has worn them into near-perfect pyramids — these formations are a protected landscape. Farther on, the layers have been pushed around and in one area are now nearly vertical: erosion here has worn away the softer layers, leaving near-vertical ‘walls’ of the harder stone; sometimes such a wall has toppled but many stand. After an hour of such impressive views from a fairly good road, we suddenly take a turn to the left onto a track which first takes us through a wide river bed and then on into the desert which looks like a flood plain (maybe there are flash floods here when it does rain?). Our driver actually gets off the bus to check the track (marked with a line of little flags) before turning into the side track. We’re vaguely worried: are we really heading into the right direction? When a taxi with one passenger overtakes us a little later, it seems we are; after another hour over rough tracks, half-finished roads and detours around road-building works we do indeed arrive at the site of the caves.
Another bus arrived just before us. At the gate, the ticket-selling lady waves us through but when we have climbed a lot of stairs and arrive at the first of the caves — all locked with a padlock — it turns out we do need to buy a ticket after all, as well as a guide to open all those locks for us. So down again we go, with my knees and my hurt foot screaming in protest: stairs are not good for me now!
So I pass: I’m not going to climb all those stairs again (and then lots more) and descend them again; these caves may be better than those near Turpan (the pictures I see later do suggest that) but at least I have seen something similar already. Instead, I take a nice quiet (and slow) stroll in the little wood at the foot of the mountain, where I spot two cuckoos who refuse to sit still for a photograph, and (at last!) make my first picture of the elusive flowering tamarisk bush (until now always only seen from a moving bus). Pity about the caves but I have a nice time anyway, and the landscape on the way here was worth the trip all by itself.
On the way back over the same tracks, half-finished roads and detours our driver suddenly stops. Photo stop? The landscape is beautiful. No — it turns out we have a very tire: no surprise really on these tracks covered with sharp stone fragments. Our driver is quick replacing the tire, obviously having done it before.
Monday 2004-07-05 - Dunhuang, China
World Heritage site
Today we have just time for a visit to the Mogao Caves, an enormous complex of 735 Buddhist caves, 492 of them with sculptures and murals (the remainder were bare, on purpose, and were intended for prayer and meditation), located in the Sanwei mountain. It’s only half an hour’s ride from Dunhuang. Entrance is (at the moment) 100¥ (Yuan), plus another 20¥ per person for an English-speaking guide; the site is well worth it.
Our guide, a nice young lady with a cheerful straw hat against the sun and armed with a parasol, speaks English quite well, but with a very heavy accent that takes some getting used to. The whole complex, comprising one face of the mountain, she tells us, originally had murals all along the outside but only a few fragments of this remain: the rest is weathered away. Also many of the (man-made) caves originally consisted of an entrance portal, with a short corridor leading into the inner chamber housing an altar with sculptures of Buddha, disciples and other attendants. Most of these entrance portals, guarded by huge sculptures of armed figures, have disappeared through natural causes as well — the stone of this mountain is quite soft. But otherwise the caves — protected from the elements unlike the murals outside — are in remarkably pristine condition, probably the finest example of such caves in China, and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
Construction of the caves began in 366 AD during the Qin dynasty and lasted some 100 years. One reason for their excellent preservation is that the region was taken by the Tibetans in 781 AD so it escaped the persecution of Buddhists in China in the 9th century; another reason is probably that the complex was never completely deserted so later archaeologist treasure hunters could not so easily ‘save’ what they found here.
The style of the sculptures and paintings, even the oldest ones, is remarkably refined. Clearly the best artists that could be found were working here. It’s also interesting to see how many paintings have Persian or Indian stylistic elements: with Dunhuang an important location on the Silk Road, artists must have exchanged their skills along the road or even traveled along with caravans to see art work elsewhere.
There are a few quite strikingly large Buddha sculptures. The largest one, at more than 30 m high is not in the original condition: the original clothing was later adapted into a intricately decorated “emperor’s mantle”. Another one is 26 m high and yet completely contained inside a cave; as with the other large figures, the body was first hewn out of the rock, then covered with clothes made from straw-reinforced clay and painted. This one is in original condition. Most remarkable is that the head, itself 9 m high, is very large in proportion to the body: it’s actually designed so that when the sculpture is seen from below the head actually appears to be in the right proportion - a very early example of perspective correction!
Lost, found, and lost again
In the 19th century the Magao caves near Dunhuang were apparently ‘rediscovered’ by a priest called Wang Luan Yu who set himself up as their custodian. In one of the caves (now ‘nr. 17’) he discovered a secret chamber, the entrance covered with plaster and murals, and hidden by sand blown in by sand storm. Inside the chamber he found a huge library of historical, literary and religious texts as well as many paintings that had been hidden in the secret chamber to protect them.
When British archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein heard of this on his 1907 expedition he came here to investigate — and ended up buying over 5000 scrolls and paintings for just 130 pounds. When the French sinologist Paul Pelliot came to the site just one year later, he found a treasure of texts and paintings so large, he didn’t even realize any had been taken.
Most of the contents of the original library is now in the hands of Western museums, much to the chagrin of the Chinese; among them (part of Stein’s load) is the Diamond Sutra, still on display on the British Museum, which counts as the oldest printed document in the world; it’s dated 868 AD. On the site there is now a small museum, recounting how this library was hidden and lost, found again and then lost again. Some scrolls are exhibited here, as well as some quite beautiful paintings but alas most of them are reproductions of originals now in museums in Paris and London.
Thursday 2004-07-08 - Xi’an, China
To the army
In 1974 some farmers in the village Xiang, near Xi’an, while digging a well for their village, suddenly encountered an obstruction: a layer of very hard baked clay. When they finally broke through, they found fragments of more baked clay and bronze arrowheads lying on a floor of blue bricks.
When archeaologists started an excavation that same summer, the importance of the find soon became clear: this was a huge burial vault for the terra-cotta warriors and horses that were buried together with the first emperor of the Qin dynasty — the first emperor to unify several Chinese nationalities in a large feudal state, with excellent organization. It was also this emperor who started building the Great Wall — and this dynasty that gave its name to the present-day country (‘Qin’ is pronounced “chin”).
The site which now comprises three burial vaults with in total some 8000 terra-cotta warriors and horses, as well as more than 100 wooden chariots, is of world-wide importance. It’s been open to the public since 1979 while excavations and restoration of the finds are still going on today.
Carla and I are really looking forward to seeing all this when we get on the #306 bus at exactly 8:00 in the morning. It’s quite easy to get to the site: just take this bus (right in front of the Jie Fang hotel across from the station) and get out at the last stop half an hour later. A lot of merchants are peddling their wares here (rather aggressively) but we’re grateful they’re allowed only outside the gates of the newly landscaped grounds around the buildings that house the movie theatre, the three pits and the museum. We go to the theatre first to see an impressive 360° movie depicting the discovery of the site and its history: at times it’s really as if you’re right in the middle of the battle field, flags waving in your face, clattering arms, chariots racing by.
The museum is next on our program, to get some more background before going to the actual excavations. Here, we find not only a wealth of metal objects found in the pits such as parts of armory, bronze weapons and horses’ gear; there are also the two completely restored bronze chariots that were found in pit 3, each with four horses and driver: every detail — including all mechanics — was carefully reproduced at half life size, each chariot consisting of more than 3000 parts with over 1000 of them made of gold and silver. The museum also gives a lot of background information about the state of technology here during the 3rd century BC, with many intricate fastenings, hinges, crossbows, and even chrome-plated bronze used for weapons: a technology that was discovered in the West only some 2000 years later.
Each of the three pits (named 1, 2 and 3 after the order in which they were discovered) is housed in its own building, simultaneously protecting the uncovered and restored terra-cotta figures and the on-going excavations and allowing the public a view from balconies around and above the excavation areas. Here, too, are excellent displays giving background information and explaining how the process of excavation and restoration works. With the exception of one small area in the museum, all explanatory texts are in Chinese and English. In the building of pit 2 there are also a few glass cabinets housing terra-cotta figures so you can actually see them face-to-face and walk around them. Not only is the amount of detail quite amazing, but literally every figure of this 8000-strong army is an individual. You see young and innocent as well as experienced and battle-hardened faces; clean-shaven, with moustaches or beards, hair done in different styles: all life-size at between 1.8 and 2 m tall. There are generals, officers and warriors, varying in clothing and posture according to their roles. It’s all incredibly impressive, both artistically and technologically.
Friday 2004-07-09 - Beijing, China
Not the temple I was looking for…
The little map on the back of my hotel business card indicates the location of the Tian Tan temple, which seems to be one of the must-see places in Beijing. It seems close enough for me to manage, so I set out in that direction. The little map is a bit sketchy though, and certainly not to scale; after passing the Friendship Hospital and turning to the right I do end up at a temple but a very different one — quite a find: my travel guide doesn’t even mention it.
I’m finding myself at the Xiannong temple complex, originally from the Ming dynasty period (started in 1420) and used by both Ming and Qing emperors. Offers to the god Xiannong were made here, and they celebrated the ‘ceremony of the planting’ to ensure a good harvest. The whole complex consists of several beautifully-restored buildings, observation platforms and shrines. It now houses the Beijing Museum of Ancient Architectures. I roam and sit around for quite a while (never going inside any of the buildings) before turning back to the hotel.
Tuesday 2005-09-27 - Bajiao, China
Prayer wheels in Bajiao
After some two hours we turn right and come to Bajiao, but our driver goes straight on to the the Baishi monastery first, over what is now no more than a trail, with here and there big muddy pools which have to be carefully negotiated. Alas, at the monastery a service is just taking place so we can’t go into the temple, only walk around the buildings a bit. A monk comes out and offers to take us up to the canyon where there is an “open air cemetery” where bodies of the deceased are laid out for the vultures according to an old religious practice. But it’s a long, steep climb — the alternative is to walk back along the trail to Bajiao and spend some time looking around the old town.
Carla, Gwendoline and I don’t feel like a lot of climbing or waiting around for the service to end (possibly for hours) so we set out to walk back along the trail. Just when we sit down at a nice spot to enjoy our packed lunch, the sun finally comes out, making the landscape looking a lot less bleak: it’s actually very beautiful now. Lunch break included, it takes us two hours to get back to Bajiao.
Bajiao is a town of historical interest, completely surrounded by a mud-brick wall of over 2000 years old which has 8 corners — a bit like a citadel except it’s not located on top of a height. Only here, in on spot in the lee of the wall are some trees: poplars, obviously grown for building wood. All the houses inside the wall (much newer than the walls itself but all traditionally built) have a yard surrounded by mud-brick walls, with piles of hay and straw in sometimes ingenious constructions to keep it off the ground; here, too, people are busily harvesting. Pigs are running around the street (which doubles as a little stream flowing through the town) but they’re not too keen on us strangers.
The town is very nice, with visual surprises around every corner because of all the walls. Admission to the town is 8Ұ, spent on nice things for the community. The people are very friendly though, don’t mind us at all while we walk around and peer over walls.
Somewhere we spot some wind-driven prayer wheels on top of a roof and we go find them: we find a small temple, surrounded by a wall; the door is locked though. Soon the caretaker spots us and comes with a key to unlock the door for us: inside is a tiny courtyard full of flowers and a small incense vat. The temple itself is tiny, too, housing a little altar before two big prayer wheels — with a difference: instead of being turned by handles on the bottom like most prayer wheels, these are driven by an ingenious construction with ropes. The caretaker demonstrates: one never has to step inside, simple giving a tug on the two ropes is enough to turn the big wheels which in turn sound a number of small bells. It’s a very nice, intimate and peaceful place — a wonderful experience. We leave a little donation on the altar and thank the caretaker, who locks the door behind us again.
Near a little shop we can observe a modern way of cooking close up: many people in this area of China have a parabolic mirror in their yard (we saw them at monasteries as well); it’s covered with little mirrors and at the focal point is a metal loop on which one can place a kettle or pan to boil water or cook something: free energy as long as the sun is shining, and very useful in an area with almost no trees.
Wednesday 2005-09-28 - Xunhua, China
A bit of Central Asia
On our long trip to Ta’ersi we stop in Xunhua for lunch in a Muslim restaurant. The lunch is a wonderful meal, with Muslim tea, and many different dishes with mutton and chicken, vegetable dishes, and very nice local bread. Our host (we later find out his English name is Andy) also brings some apples, and tells us they’re from the family’s own apple tree, freshly harvested. Every family has one or more fruit trees in their yard, he explains.
Then he tells us about Xunhua: there are about 10,000 inhabitants here, most of them Muslims of a Turkic people who still speak their own language called Tala. Alas, the language is set to disappear: while older people speak it fluently and every day, younger people are already speaking a mix of Tala and some Chinese, in a much simpler form. At school they learn Chines, at the Koran school some Arabic, but there is no written form of Tala.
There is a famous legend about the origin of Xunhua and the people that live here.
During the great trek of Turkic peoples across Asia, this people were coming through here looking for a place to settle. Two men went looking for a good place, with a camel and a Koran, praying to God for guidance. One evening, the camel disappeared; the walked around looking for it until it was dark but still couldn’t find it so they went to sleep. The next morning they went looking again and found the camel — turned into stone, with the Koran sitting on its back — near a spring; this they took as a sign of God that this was a good place to settle.
Of course, the spring still exists, and our host Andy (who speaks excellent English and is also an official tour guide) offers to take us to the Camel Spring. We have time enough,m so we take him up on his offer. The spring water, coming from the mouth of a stone camel head, is somewhat salty and supposed to have healing properties; behind that there’s an enclosure (Andy’s father comes along to unlock the gate for us) with a nice pond and trees and flowers all around. One special type of plant grows here, and nowhere else, Andy tells us. The other flowers were planted by the Chinese who wanted to make a tourist attraction out of this spot — successfully resisted so far by the local Muslims. At the other end of the pond sits a stone camel (the stone camel) but it is much smaller than life-size. There’s another legend about that: each year the camel seems to shrink a little.
Next, Andy takes us to the Camel Spring Mosque, the 2nd largest mosque of the province, which can hold 1,500 people. We’re not allowed into the mosque proper but can have a look into the wash room, where the same camel spring water flows through. Two groups of Muslims use the mosque together: Shiites and Sunnites — the Imam is Shiite — each group prays on their own side of the mosque though. Women are not allowed in the Mosque here, they pray at home. Across the street they’re building a new much larger mosque which will hold 2,000 people.
Andy also tells us that most families here, traditionally very big, now have an average of four children — simply ignoring government regulations. Families used to be a lot larger than that: in his parents’ generation families had nine to twelve children.
Wednesday 2006-09-06 - Mangyongdae, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
A little farm house
On the way to Namp'o city, 50km from P'yŏngyang, we pay a visit to a small, restored farmhouse in Mangyongdae. When we enter the landscaped grounds, there is soft background music. The house itself is actually more like a little museum: this house is the place where Great Leader Kim Il Sung was born in 1912. In one of the rooms there is a photograph of him at 19 years old, together with his parents, both of which died young while in exile in China, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Also interesting are the various tools and implements used on a small farm at that time.
After our visit to the birth house, we make a little walk through the park. From the highest point we have a nice view of P’yŏngyang city; directly below us we see Turu island in the middle of the Taedong river and almost in the middle of the city, where vegetables for the city are grown: we see a small village in the middle of the fields, and small groups of houses, each for a work team, the smallest unit of a cooperative.
Thursday 2006-09-07 - P’yŏngyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
The USS “Pueblo”
Back to P’yŏngyang from the West Sea Barrage is about 70km. Once there, we’re first having lunch in the revolving restaurant on top of the Yanggakdo hotel (the name means “Sheep’s horn island”: yang = sheep, gak = horn, do = island), so we can have a view of the city by daylight as well.
Our first visit today is to the USS “Pueblo”: an American spy ship captured on January 23, 1968 in territorial waters off Wŏnsan — the Americans deny the ship was in territorial waters but it certainly was not far off —; only after the Koreans fired a grenade (killing one officer) did they surrender. It was an embarrassing incident for the Americans, especially since the Koreans captured so much sensitive material (the crew had no time to destroy it all). President Johnson tried to deny it was a spy ship and vehemently accused the Koreans of illegal aggression but by then the crew had already admitted it was actually a spy ship while the equipment and records found on board told their own story. The crew wrote a letter to their president, and finally in December 1968, after exactly 11 months, the US sheepishly apologized and the crew was allowed to return.
The Koreans refused to return the captured ship itself though and kept it as booty. Our tour around the ship, originally kept in Wŏnsan but now docked in P’yŏngyang on the Taedong river as a floating museum, is actually very interesting.
I expect this is a little bit of history — with the first U.S. Navy ship to be hi-jacked on the high seas by a foreign military force in over 150 years — most Americans would rather forget… But there are more twists to the story (which naturally is different as told by each side); the official site of the USS PUEBLO Veteran’s Association makes interesting reading in this respect.
Friday 2006-09-08 - P’yŏngyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
King Tongmyong
Our first stop on the way from P’yŏngyang to Wŏnsan today is the (reconstructed) tomb of King Tongmyong who founded the Koguryo kingdom (lasting from 277 BC to 668 AD) and the Tongmyong dynasty. King Tongmyong was the most powerful and most worshiped king of Korea. In this area, only some 22km south of P’yŏngyang, there are actually 15 tombs in all, made for the burial of kings, members of the royal family and the aristocracy, but this tomb is is the largest, and obviously most important one. The site has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004; the listing includes more similar tombs near Namp’o.
We visit a small museum on the grounds where a series of beautifully done murals depict the life story of King Tongmyong and Korean life and culture at the time showing games and contests at celebrations but also scenes of village life. Our (inevitable) local guide tells us these paintings are based on murals found in the tombs — that seems a bit of a stretch to us, the style looking too modern, but we reason it is of course possible that the actual themes of the paintings were indeed depicted in the original murals. However, the UNESCO justification for listing the site specifically mentions the “beautiful wall paintings” and the description states:
“These paintings offer a unique testimony to daily life of this period.”
One rather moving story depicted in one of the paintings is that of the reunification of the king with his son: the king had been married, but divorced; many years later, a young man came to visit the king and presented him with the tip of his broken sword, thus proving he was the king’s son. When the king died at the early age of 40, his son, just 19 then, succeeded him.
Sunday 2007-04-08 - Sey’un, Yemen
The Sultan’s Palace
In the center of Sey’un, the old palace of Sultan Mansur bin Ghalib rises high above all buildings in the town, its whitewashed walls glittering in the sun. The enormous building, dating from 1873, is now museum, and a visit is well worth the 500 YR entrance fee. Stone steps lead halfway up the hill on which the palace is built, the imposing gate followed by more steps leading to an inclining courtyard. The building, already interesting in itself, houses several different exhibitions.
The first big room is for the archeology department, with many different artifacts from the Wadi Hadramawt area. I’m always interested in scripts, and here I find several pieces of stone with inscriptions in an early local Yemeni script especially interesting. (We also saw samples of that at the Almaqah temple of Bar’en near old Marib.) Then there is an ethnological department, where a bust decked out in bride’s clothes and jewelry (a including a silver “crown”), and a baby cot very like those used all over Central Asia (with a hole in the bottom to lead away the urine) drew my attention.
Farther up, two photo exhibitions are not to be missed. In the 1930s the Englishwoman Freya Stark made two trips (alone) through the Wadi Hadramawt area; unfortunately she had her travels cut short by sickness and had to be evacuated, but during both her trips she took many photographs, which later were donated to this museum. An interesting collection is on show here now — a unique document of life in the Hadramawt in that period, especially since she as a woman was also able to photograph other women.
Also in the 1930 the Dutchman Daniel van der Meulen, employed by the Dutch government, made many trips through the Hadramawt. He was looking to get to know the origin of many immigrants to the Dutch East Indies who came from this area, and came to wealth there. Together with the German Von Wissman, who surveyed the area and made the first usable map of Wadi Hadramawt, he made many trips which he documented with countless excellent photographs. Sadly, many of the prints exhibited in the museum are badly fixed and yellowing and fading, here and there clumsily “restored” by sticking a partial new print over the old one. This department of the museum badly needs a good curator who knows how to preserve photographic materials, or it all may be irretrievably lost.
A fourth department we visit is the customs museum with many coins, documents, etc. Finally, we go up to the roof on the 6th floor for a spectacular view of the city center and a wide area around it.
We round off the morning with a bottle of local lemonade from freshly pressed limes, sugar to taste (only a little for me): a very refreshing drink — though not everyone appreciates the sour taste like I do!
Monday 2007-04-09 - Tarim, Yemen
The holy city of Hadramawt
Yemen’s religious aristocracy, the Sa’da, is based in Tarim; the city has countless mosques, and many domed tombs of important religious figures are found around the city. It seems that during the first period after the prophet Mohamed’s death, when many lost their faith, this was the only place in the Hadramawt where the people remained true to Islam.
On our way to Tarim we make a short stop at the tombs of holy Ahmad bin Assa and his son; situated right next to the road to Tarim, one tomb is only accessible though the mosque via 127 steps up the mountain. At the gate it says entrance is for Muslims only but we try our luck anyway; but talk as we may, we’re not let in. That said — that where we just ended up is Ahmad bin Assa’s tomb is something I (later) deduce from my travel guide; our intention was to visit the tomb of Sheikha Sultana, the first female scholar in Wadi Hadramawt; she was a Sufi, and — exceptionally for a Muslim woman — remained single (though Sufis were often celibate); people came from afar to seek her advice. After her death she was buried in a green-domed tomb, to be found one kilometer off the road along a track. But that’s not where we are… so we must be at Ahmad bin Assa’s tomb!
Our visit to Tarim itself starts with a visit to a museum: the Al Kaff Palace “Ish snaa” — it is an old palace of the Al Kaff family, until the revolution here the unofficial rulers in Tarim. They had become incredibly wealthy through trade with Indonesia, where many people from Wadi Hadramawt emigrated to and got wealthy there through clever trading. The Al Kaff family played an important role in the development of the area, financing the first road to the coast, the first schools in the wadi, etc. Sadly the house badly in need of restoration, but it is very interesting to roam around in an old rich house like this. Apart from some old photographs, a mirror and a broken lamp, there are no objects here; it’s the building itself that is on display. There’s a large variety of rooms, each with heir own decorations, beautiful carved wooden window frames with colored glass, a large bathroom, the kitchen, and a nice view from the roof. We spend quite some time looking around.
From there we walk to the city center through a winding street ending up at the market square, where the Sultan’s palace stands. Unfortunately it’s incredibly hot here, so much so that even I have trouble dealing with the 44°C even though the air is very dry. So when we arrive at the market most of us quickly dive into a little restaurant around the corner where it’s cool, to await the cars which will pick us up at the market place. More time, and a somewhat lower temperature would be needed to really enjoy Tarim.
