Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ashgabad - to- Almaty

Hello from Alma Ata/Almaty. We flew out of Ashgabad, over the "White City" or "City of Love" last evening. In the evening glow,the white Italian Marble facings on all of the Presidential Palaces, Ministeris, and new highrises almost blinded us. Amazing what money and a determined dictatorship can achieve! We know that many people have been displaced to rebuild the city, but we were also very aware that the hotel rooms are  "bugged" and the internet monitored. (I had to give my passport to use the internet at the Turkish Department store). So, we have been very cautious in our comments. We were warned about the many crazy rules and especially about taking photos of any offical buildings. We thought that the warnings were over the top until we met an Aussie girl at our hotel who couldn't resist taking  photo in front of the golden domes of one of the Presidential palaces. She spent 2 hours in a police station deleting her photos and faced several threats.

All that aside, on every street, there were police or military every 50 Meters. We felt quite safe walking the streets of Ashgabad. On the last evening we found a Beethoven/Brahams piano concert at a music conservatory not too far from our hotel. It was a fine way to close our stay in Turkmenistan. Our best memories are of the archeological sites, meeting the archeologists, and watching them at work. One woman was patiently piecing together the skeleton of a 2 month infant, from 2,500 years ago. I was able to name the boney prominances of the face, arms, legs and spine, and she seemed to appreciate my interest as she put the tiny fragile bones together like a puzzle. I felt very sad thinking watching her piece together the skull of the ancient baby who lived so shortly in the Margush area. I wondered what caused this little one to die. There were many bones and pottery fragmens scattered over the archaeogical sites and even though these were from antiquity, I found the experience walking among the ruins to be quite emotional.

I just remembered something that I forgot to tell all new parents about. Traditionally in Uzbekistan babies are placed into a special crib with a hole in the floor of the crib. For little boys and girls there are special wooden "pipes" that are put over the urethera to channel the urine into the hole. I did not see any pampers in use or dispose anywhere and found this solution very economical and practical. Well, give this idea some thought; no diaper rash, no environmenal waste, no additonal cost. I took a couple of photos of these little wooden tools and maybe we can experiment on one of the babies.

After a marathon of passport checks and x-rays of our bags, we got onto the right flight and arrived in Almaty at about 11 pm. Despite having to drag bags over no-mans-land, maybe it is still easier to cross Central Asian borders overland. We are staying in a lovely suite of rooms in the hotel Kazzhol but alas, fly out at 10 pm tonight. We have walked around this city of 1.3 Million people and most especially enjoyed Panfilov Park where we met local people enjoying this fall day. Stefan is getting pretty good at reading Russian signs and we have had coffee and cake in at the Coffeedeia and pasta for lunch at Mamma Mia. In the park we have met quite a few people who speak English and several people know Canadians working here. The people here are beautiful and look very Eurasian; Chinese Russians is how they are desribed. The women dress in the latest European fashions and have mastered the art of running in spike heels and tight skirts. We found that we miss the modest, long but tight dresses and hats/scarves; the national dress of the other Central Asian people. Like Ashgabad, Almaty is very modern but not palatial. We've been spoiled by double ply toilet tissue and will probably have another adjustment to make in China

Off to Urumchi tonight. Love to all. Corine and Stefan

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