7MILAMIGLIALONTANO _ RITORNO AL CENTRO
Part 4/5 _ Central Asia
This is the fourth part of the trip that involved me (with other photographers and videomakers) for 3 months between Italy and India.
This fourth part has been the most empy of the trip, across the steppes and the deserts of the "stans" regions.
We drove through Kazakhstan till Almaty and then crossed the border of Uzbekistan and visit the old cities fo the Silk way till Samarkand.
The main target was to reach the city of Kannur, in Kerala, in the same day (17th of July) with other 6 teams arriving from different roads and with different vehicles.
Our goal was to rise money from sponsors, books, videos,etc for a school of arts in India, making photos and videoclips along the 26000 km of our journey.
So, enjoy our story :)
Day 27 _ Kazakhstan Steppes
The first kazakh morning, in the little village of Sivkovka exactly in the middle of....nowhere....
Powerlines, soviet era decadent farms, road heavely damaged, concrete factories, a tipical landscape north of Astana
Late spring heavy rains cause floods in the steppe, and, unexpectedly...a lot of mosquitos!
Day 28 to 29 _ Astana
Astana hase a lot of huge squares, here's Indipendence Square with the Hazrat Sultan Mosque in back
Astana's supermodern National Museum and the Hazrat Sultan Mosque lies few meters from each other, the contrast is effective.
The entrance room of the Hazrat Sultan Mosque, huge and detailed decorated
The main room, where people pray and share their spirits with Allah
The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, probably one of the weirdest buildings in Astana
khan shatyr, the famous Yurt shaped shopping mall designed by Norman Foster, the world tallest yurt building
Astana is an open air work in progress, crane and workers are everywhere
Despite the modern way of life, the city has many mosques for their citizens
Day 30 to 31 _ Bektau-Ata & the steppe
The road goes south and the steppe start to dry
Bektau-ata, a rocky place that look another planet in the middle of the dry steppe nearby Balkas lake
A soviet era campsite just near the little lake of Bektau-ata, definitely it has experienced better days
Powerlines followed us for the whole road across kazakhstan
Day 32 _ Almaty
After days of flatlands, we finally reach the Tien Shan.
The old market of Almaty
Day 33 _ Charyn Canyon
One of the most impressive sites of Kazakhstan, the Charyn Canyon
The canyon has a road that takes to the River
The team in front of our yurt, few days later there'll be some changes in the team
Day 34 to 35 _ Turkistan
Our last stop in Kazakhstan, Turkistan and its Mausoleum,where Khoja Ahmed Yasawi rests
Pellegrins come here from all over central asia to pray touching the tiles on the perimetral walls
At the front entrance is still possible to see part of the wood structure of when it's been built
The dromedaries graze on the grounds around the mausoleum
Day 36 to 37_ Tashkent
The first crazy thing of Uzbekistan: the money, little value and only small denomination so you have to carry many rolls of money with you.
Tashkent market is really great, huge and crowded, lot of smiles and happy people
Elder likes to play games on the street in Tashkent
Day 38 _ Nurata
The landscape turned to be desert after we left Tashkent
We met this family, on the way to Bukhara, that runs a little farm-guesthouse. we stopped for the night and to help with Kurt cheese making
Farm routine life, water at the well and praying
Day 39 to 40 _ Bukhara
The city of Bukhara was famous for the pools for collectiong water
A carpet shop in the town historical center, carpets are a big deal here
Po-i-kalyan Mosque, from the 14th century, a wonderfull example of what you can see on the silk way
Ceramic shops are everywhere here, dishes, pots, etc, Bukhara is famous for its potteries
Day 41 _ Samarkand
After 41 days we reached Samarkand, the "halfway" target
