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Author: Chris Aslan Publisher: Icon Books Ltd ISBN: 1848312717 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 333
Book Description
The Silk Road conjures images of the exotic and the unknown. Most travellers simply pass along it. Brit Chris Alexander chose to live there. Ostensibly writing a guidebook, Alexander found life at the heart of the glittering madrassahs, mosques and minarets of the walled city of Khiva - a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan - immensely alluring, and stayed. Immersing himself in the language and rich cultural traditions Alexander discovers a world torn between Marx and Mohammed - a place where veils and vodka, pork and polygamy freely mingle - against a backdrop of forgotten carpet designs, crumbling but magnificent Islamic architecture and scenes drawn straight from "The Arabian Nights". Accompanied by a large green parrot, a ginger cat and his adoptive Uzbek family, Alexander recounts his efforts to rediscover the lost art of traditional weaving and dyeing, and the process establishing a self-sufficient carpet workshop, employing local women and disabled people to train as apprentices. A Carpet Ride to Khiva sees Alexander being stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings in an attempt to record their life-cycle, holed up in the British Museum discovering carpet designs dormant for half a millennia, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through an impromptu version of "My Heart Will Go On" for national Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. It is an unforgettable true travel story of a journey to the heart of the unknown and the unexpected friendship one man found there.
Author: Chris Aslan Publisher: Icon Books Ltd ISBN: 1848312717 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 333
Book Description
The Silk Road conjures images of the exotic and the unknown. Most travellers simply pass along it. Brit Chris Alexander chose to live there. Ostensibly writing a guidebook, Alexander found life at the heart of the glittering madrassahs, mosques and minarets of the walled city of Khiva - a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan - immensely alluring, and stayed. Immersing himself in the language and rich cultural traditions Alexander discovers a world torn between Marx and Mohammed - a place where veils and vodka, pork and polygamy freely mingle - against a backdrop of forgotten carpet designs, crumbling but magnificent Islamic architecture and scenes drawn straight from "The Arabian Nights". Accompanied by a large green parrot, a ginger cat and his adoptive Uzbek family, Alexander recounts his efforts to rediscover the lost art of traditional weaving and dyeing, and the process establishing a self-sufficient carpet workshop, employing local women and disabled people to train as apprentices. A Carpet Ride to Khiva sees Alexander being stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings in an attempt to record their life-cycle, holed up in the British Museum discovering carpet designs dormant for half a millennia, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through an impromptu version of "My Heart Will Go On" for national Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. It is an unforgettable true travel story of a journey to the heart of the unknown and the unexpected friendship one man found there.
Author: Christopher Aslan Alexander Publisher: Icon Books ISBN: 9781848311497 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The Silk Road conjures up images of the exotic and the unknown, but whereas most travellers simply pass along it Chris Alexander chose to live there. 'A Carpet Ride to Khiva' is his personal account of life in an immensely alluring walled city in a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan.
Author: Chris Aslan Publisher: Lion Fiction ISBN: 1782642560 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
'Imaginative, authentic, and evocative.'- Gerard Kelly, author There is a dark presence in Phin's life. His step-father is a drunk and his malevolence poisons their home. One evening the violence gets out of control and as Phin's mother drags his broken body away, she can only think of one place to take him: to the local healer. But this healer deals in more than medicinal remedies and at her insistence he calls on the spirits to ensure Phin is never harmed again. However, his words are more than a call, they are invitation - one that the spirits welcome as a legion descend and take root within Phin. Phin awakens to discover he is no longer in control of his mind or his body, and something is certainly inhabiting his soul. He possesses super-human strength and immediately takes revenge on his step-father. This would have sated Phin, but the spirits have other ideas - they drive him into the wilderness and all who go to him quickly rue the day. As he terrorises the village, soldiers come to remove him - but how do you restrain a man who can break the strongest of manacles. And is there any hope for one who has been overcome by darkness?
Author: Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1526750201 Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 181
Book Description
Follow the Silk Road—and color! “A joy . . . a beautiful book about the arts, craft, and architecture of Uzbekistan.” —Olga Núñez Miret, author of the Angelic Business series Like the fascinating culture that comes to life between its pages, Uzbekistan: An Experience of Cultural Treasures to Color will take you on a journey of discovery from the blue and gold splendors of Samarkand to the intricacy of sacred mosaics. It’s the perfect way for you and your children to explore Uzbekistan’s rich cultural heritage, taking us along the Silk Road from fifth century architecture to modern-day artists. As we turn the pages, exquisite full-color photographs transport us to some of the world’s most magnificent architectural monuments. From palaces through mosques, madrasahs and mausoleums, we wend our way amongst masterpieces of Islamic architecture, marveling at the captivating mosaics with their complex geometric patterns or motifs inspired by the world of plants and mythological beasts. Fascinating and vibrant, they testify to the skill and craftsmanship of historic Uzbek masters. As a tribute to this rich heritage, Uzbekistan: An Experience of Cultural Treasures to Color is a celebration of the arts and pictorial traditions of this fascinating land. Photographs of architectural monuments, murals, ceramics, tapestries and ornamented textiles highlight the country’s cultural treasures. Short accompanying texts explain their historical significance. On the right-hand page, the reader is given the opportunity to color in drawings based on the beautiful photographs provided. “A gorgeous book for grownups who want to get their coloring on.” —Cayocosta 72
Author: Peter Hopkirk Publisher: John Murray ISBN: 1848547250 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
'Let us turn our faces towards Asia', exhorted Lenin when the long-awaited revolution in Europe failed to materialize. 'The East will help us conquer the West.' Peter Hopkirk's book tells for the first time the story of the Bolshevik attempt to set the East ablaze with the heady new gospel of Marxism. Lenin's dream was to liberate the whole of Asia, but his starting point was British India. A shadowy undeclared war followed. Among the players in this new Great Game were British spies, Communist revolutionaries, Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords - as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive. Here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery, barbarism and civil war, whose violent repercussions continue to be felt in Central Asia today.
Author: Colin Thubron Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0061809624 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 404
Book Description
Shadow of the Silk Road records a journey along the greatest land route on earth. Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron covers some seven thousand miles in eight months. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people, to the ancient port of Antioch—in perhaps the most difficult and ambitious journey he has undertaken in forty years of travel. The Silk Road is a huge network of arteries splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. To travel it is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions and inventions. But alongside this rich and astonishing past, Shadow of the Silk Road is also about Asia today: a continent of upheaval. One of the trademarks of Colin Thubron's travel writing is the beauty of his prose; another is his gift for talking to people and getting them to talk to him. Shadow of the Silk Road encounters Islamic countries in many forms. It is about changes in China, transformed since the Cultural Revolution. It is about false nationalisms and the world's discontented margins, where the true boundaries are not political borders but the frontiers of tribe, ethnicity, language and religion. It is a magnificent and important account of an ancient world in modern ferment.
Author: Chris Aslan Publisher: Lion Fiction ISBN: 9781782642282 Category : Middle East Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Maryam is stuck in an abusive marriage, living with her in-laws in a conservative, toxically religious village. A few years back, her father was given a jar of priceless perfume by a dying leper and it seemed as if their fortunes would improve, but then Maryam's father contracted leprosy and was exiled from the village. Maryam and her siblings, Eleazar and Marta, experience the shame and ostracism this brings. The precious jar that was meant to bring them freedom has only brought destruction. But rumors abound concerning a new doctor; perhaps hope is on the horizon. . . . Alabaster brings a first-century Middle Eastern village and its culture to life for modern-day readers.
Author: Chris Aslan Publisher: Lion Fiction ISBN: 9781782643388 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
"When a pot breaks, it's useless; at best there might be a shard that you can use to scoop grain. But what about a broken life? What about me? I feel so fragmented. Can I be repaired somehow? How do I live with the hate I feel towards those I'm supposed to be closest to? My life is in pieces and I don't know what to do..." Will one tragic event leave friendship and family ties irrevocably broken? And how will a historical Middle Eastern mountain community deal with news of a miracle worker? Is he too good to be true?
Author: Chris Aslan
Author: Chris Aslan
Author: Christopher Aslan Alexander
Author: Chris Aslan
Author: Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva
Author: Peter Hopkirk
Author: Ármin Vámbéry
Author: Colin Thubron
Author: Chris Aslan
Author: James Elroy Flecker
Author: Chris Aslan