Culture, Crafts and Carpets Turkmenistan ... - Steppes Travel

Culture, Crafts and CarpetsTurkmenistan & UzbekistanSpecially prepared forSteppes Travel Clients22 April to 07 May 2010

QUICK REFERENCE ITINERARY22/04/2010 Fly London Heathrow / Istanbul / Ashgabat(overnight)23/04/2010 Arrive Ashgabat24/04/2010 Ashgabat25/04/2010 Drive Ashgabat / Mary26/04/2010 Mary27/04/2010 Mary28/04/2010 Mary / Turkmen-Uzbek border / Bukhara29/04/2010 Bukhara30/04/2010 Bukhara01/05/2010 Bukhara02/05/2010 Drive Bukhara / Samarkand03/05/2010 Samarkand04/05/2010 Samarkand05/05/2010 Drive Samarkand / Tashkent06/05/2010 Tashkent07/05/2010 Fly Tashkent / Istanbul / London HeathrowYOUR FLIGHT SCHEDULEDate Route Flight No. Check in Depart Arrive22/04/2010 London Heathrow Term 3 / TK1980 09:25 11:25 17:20Istanbul22/04/2010 Istanbul/Ashgabat TK 322 21:05 02:45*07/05/2010 Tashkent/Istanbul TK 369 03:55 05:55 09:1507/05/2010 Istanbul / London HeathrowTerm 3TK1985 13:10 15:15* Arrival the following day

OMAR MASOM PROFILEOmar Masom, owner of the Turkmen Gallery in London, will be your expert leader on this tour.Born to Turkmen parents in northern Afghanistan, he grew up as the son of one of the country’sleading carpet merchants. He came to England in 1977 where he studied English and Business inLondon, before working at Salisbury’s Handbags Store and then the Joss Graham Gallery (whichspecialises in Indian and oriental textiles). In 1995, he opened the Turkmen Gallery, a centre topromote Central Asian art and textiles.The Turkmen Gallery, in Eccleston Street, enjoys over 1500 regular clients and has become a magnetfor textile lovers, collectors and interior designers alike. It even counts royalty and celebritiesamong its happy customers. The gallery hosts annual exhibitions and regularly takes part in antiquetextile fairs; its stated aim is to revive traditional textiles and weaving skills in Central Asia andAfghanistan. There are few better qualified than its founder, Omar Masom, to lead this exciting tour.

DETAILED TRIP ITINERARYThursday 22 AprilFriday 23 AprilThis morning depart London Heathrow on the Turkish Airlines flightsto Ashgabat via Istanbul, flying overnight.Following your arrival in Ashgabat you will be met and transferred tothe 4* Grand Turkmen Hotel or 4* Ak Altyn Hotel.The remainder of the morning is at leisure to allow you to restbefore beginning your sightseeing programme this afternoon.Ashgabat, the capital, is transforming itself from a city with adistinctly Soviet era appearance just a few years ago to one withnew and impressive marble buildings.Visits will be made to Arch of Neutrality complete with a revolvinggold statue of the former president, “Turkmenbashi” Niyazov.Nearby is another statue dedicated to victims of the 1948earthquake, which completely destroyed the city. A small statue ofNiyazov as a baby, also in gold, can be seen on the top. He survivedthe earthquake but many of his family and over 110,000 otherpeople perished.Also this afternoon, you will visit a carpet museum. This museum hasa large, impressive collection of antique carpets and tools associatedwith carpet making. Also exhibited are the two largest carpets in theworld, both made in Turkmenistan, 18m by 11.5m and 20m by 13m.Marco Polo made reference to Turkmen carpets in his journals and inthe 14th century two Italian Renaissance painters, Lippo Mernmoand Nicolo Buonarocso depicted Turkmen carpets in their paintings.The museum also has a carpet shop where new carpets can bepurchased. (Please note that the export of Turkmen carpets is onlypermitted after they have been vetted, for a fee, by the Ministry ofCulture and an appropriate fee paid). (Breakfast, lunch, dinner).Saturday 24 AprilThis morning you will visit a carpet workshop. The weaving workshopwas set up 5 years ago. Natural dyes colour the wool to createtraditional Turkmen patterns. The main colour used is red but othercolour combinations are now being used to appeal to the exportmarket whilst keeping to the traditional patterns.After lunch travel to a local village to see the local women weavingon their looms.Continue to Kipchak to visit the large mosque and the mausoleum ofthe last president Niyazov “Turkmenbashi”. This is a most impressivearea located on the outskirts of the city.Your final visit today will be to Old Nisa. Located at the base of themountains that border Iran, Old Nisa was a citadel comprisingtemples, tombs and royal palaces and was the capital of theParthian kings for 600 years between 3 rd century BC and the 3 rdcentury AD. It is at this site that the rhytons, unique carved ivorydrinking vessels dating from the 1 st and 2 nd centuries some of whichare now in the National Museum, were found.Overnight at the Grand Turkmen Hotel or Ak Altyn Hotel. (Breakfast,lunch, dinner).

Sunday 25 AprilThis morning depart early for a visit to the famous Sunday Bazaar-Tolkuchka. It is a colourful affair. Many people come together tomeet and trade. It seems almost anything and everything ofimportance is traded within the 50 ha of the open-air bazaar - fromcamels and sheep to amulets, antiques, carpets and jewellery andeven cars. In its authenticity the buzzing Tolkuchka Bazaar is said torival that of the famed Kashgar Bazaar.Returning to the city, continue with your sightseeing programmewith a visit to the National Museum of Turkmenistan. The museumhas 9 halls, each dedicated to a particular period and theme. One ofthe highlights in the museum is a unique collection of ivory rhytons/horn like vessels, many of which were discovered at Old Nisa.In the afternoon you will depart by road for Mary, a journey of about5/6 hours. On arrival in Mary check into the 3* Margush Hotel orsimilar. (Breakfast, lunch, dinner).Monday 26 AprilMid-morning you will visit Merv and the museum in Mary.Merv is a unique series of cities, not built on top of each other, as isso often the case, for instance at Damascus or Jerusalem, butconstructed on adjacent virgin sites. The sites of the ancient townErk-Kala (the fortress- citadel), Gyaur-Kala, Sultan-Kala, Abdullakhan-Kalacorrespond to the different periods of Merv’s existence.The monuments you will tour and walk through are likely to includethe Great and Little Kiz Kalas, the Kiz Bibi mausoleum, themagnificent Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, the Palace and keshk in theShahriar Ark or Royal Citadel, the mosque of Yusuf Hamdani, theTimurid iwans or Askhab, and the Mausoleum of Muhammad ibnZaud.Overnight at the Margush Hotel or similar. (Breakfast, lunch,dinner).Tuesday 27 AprilToday travel into the desert to visit Margush, northeast of Mary.Here the first agricultural settlements appeared in the delta ofMurgab river as far back as the 3 millennium BC. Fertile silt comingfrom mountains, an abundance of water and moderate climate hadcreated favorable conditions for agriculture. The progress of theancient economy continued for several centuries. The Americannewspaper "Boston Globe" wrote that before we knew the fouroldest centres of the world's civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indiaand China, and due to the fantastic results of the Margianaexpedition it is quite possible to think that there was another, thefifth centre. The advanced city of Gonur-depe was the capital ofMargiana. It was a rectangular fortress with powerful defensivewalls, semicircular bastions, adobe constructions and cult buildingsfor Zoroastrian ceremonies.Overnight at The Margush Hotel or similar. (Breakfast, picnic lunch,dinner).

Wednesday 28 AprilEarly this morning you depart Mary by road for the Turkmen/Uzbekborder where you will be met by your Uzbek guide and continue onto Bukhara. This can take a full day depending on how quicklyborder formalities are completed.On arrival in Bukhara check into your hotel, the 3* Asia BukharaHotel or similar.At one time Bukhara was known as the holiest city in Asia and wasreputed to have over 300 mosques and 80 madras’s (Koranicschools). Renowned in the 10 th century as the intellectual capital ofthe East, the beauty of Bukhara's Kalyan minaret even stoppedGenghis Khan in his tracks but failed to stop him razing the rest ofthe city to the ground. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries Bukharabecame one of the most important chess pieces in the clandestinewar waged between Imperial Russia and British India in what becameknown as the “Great Game”. Today it is a marvellously atmosphericcollection of mosques, teahouses, madrasas, carpet sellers, minaretsand stalls and is really a wonderful place to walk around.(Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner).Thursday 29 April, Friday30 AprilMid-morning today begin your sightseeing of Bukhara. Your visitstoday and tomorrow will include the Kalyan mosque and minaretfrom which Ghengis Khan’s soldiers threw prisoners and suspectedtraitors and the many mosques and madrasas which are dottedthroughout the old city including the Ulug Beg and Poi-Kalan.The Lyabi-Hauz (pool) is surrounded by chaikhana (tea houses) andshaded by mulberry trees. Nearby is the Nadir Divanbegi madrasa.Originally built as a caravanserai it was converted to a madrasa in1622 by the khan.Visit the 2,000 year old fortress, the ark, where the rich merchantsof the era resided until the last emir left in 1920. Behind the ark isZindon. It was here during the period of the great game thatStoddart and Conolly where thrown in to a pit, part of a dungeoncomplex and now a museum.A short distance from the ark is the Bolo-Hauz mosque, built in 1718and used by the emir as his official place of worship. The IsmaelSamani mausoleum, a beautiful building of ornate brickwork, islocated in a park and by far the best preserved building in Bukhara.A short distance from the city is the Summer Palace of the last emirof Bukhara (Sitorai Mokhi Khosa – palace of moon and stars) wherethere is an excellent display of suzanis and an exhibition of localcostumes.Bukhara too is known for its crafts. It is hoped that a visit can bemade to a local gold thread workshop. Many of the traditional longcoats worn by men and women on special occasions are decoratedwith gold thread ornately embroidered on them.Overnight at the Asia Bukhara Hotel or similar. (Breakfast, lunch,dinner).

Saturday 01 MayThis morning travel to the town of Gijduvan where there are thepottery and embroidery workshops.The production of ceramics is one of the ancient types of decorativeand applied art forms in Uzbekistan. Nowadays Uzbekistan has threemain schools of decorative pottery: the Fergana school (Rishtan,Gurumsarai), Bukharo-Samarkand school (Gijduvan) and the KhorezmSchool. The variety of shapes of traditional pottery is still the samefrom school to school: a tureen, drinking bowl, big flat plate, bowl,bucket, jug, big pot and teapot. However the ornament differs witheach school having its unique style. The Bukhara-Samarkand schoolhas several centres for production of earthenware toys.Gijduvan is also well known for its embroidery. Typical Gijduvanpatterns are big flowers on fine branches, evenly scattered alongthe entire surface of the fabric or round rosettes surrounded by longstems of blue, grey and bright-yellow colours in a red or greensetting. The Gijduvan School of embroidery is also noted for thesimplicity of its style.The afternoon is at leisure.Overnight at the Asia Bukhara Hotel or similar. (Breakfast, lunch,dinner).Sunday 02 MayAfter breakfast you depart for the full day journey to Samarkandvisiting Shakrizhabs en route. Tamerlane, responsible for many ofthe historic monuments in Uzbekistan, was born in the Zerafshanmountains in the village of Kesh, which he renamed Shakrizhabsmeaning “Green City” and built a mausoleum for himself and hisfavourite son. You will see the portal of his magnificent palace,which is all that survives. In addition, you will see the Kok-Gumbazmosque dating from the 15 th century, which is now beginning to beused once again for religious meetings, together with the tomb ofJehangir, Tamerlane’s favourite son who died at the age of 23.Samarkand is one of Central Asia’s most magnificent cities.The merchants of the Silk Route brought their wares to trade in thebazaars of the city. Their tales created a legendary status forSamarkand for centuries to come. When the Chinese opened theirborders to foreign trade in 184 BC they found that silk, which theyalone knew how to make, was worth more than its weight in gold.Today Samarkand is full of interesting sites that reflect theprosperity of those times and the influence of the great rulers whoresided there. Alexander the Great, Tamerlane and Genghis Khaneach added further mystique to this oasis town.Overnight at the 4* President Palace Hotel or similar. (Breakfast,lunch, dinner).Monday 03 May,Tuesday 04 MayTwo full days of sightseeing lay ahead.Visits will include the remarkable Registan Square, the mostspectacular architectural ensemble in Central Asia. It was here thatroyal proclamations were read out and where justice was dispensed.The complex consists of three beautifully restored buildings; theUlug Beg madrasa, the Shir Dor madrasa and the Tilla Tori mosque

and madrasa built in the 17 th century.In addition, you visit the Gur Emir. It is beautifully silhouetted inlight at night. Timur was buried here in 1405 but not by choice, byal accounts, as his final resting place was supposed to be inShakrizhabs. In addition to his tomb there are the tombs of two sonsand two grandsons. The stones at floor level are markers with thetombs themselves in the crypt below.You will also visit the Bibi Khanym Mosque built by Tamerlanebetween 1399-1404 by 50 labourers and 95 elephants from India. Itsuffered from being built too quickly and from an earthquake in the17 th century. This is often approached along a small path wherebolts of colourful cloth are sold by traders.There are several sites on the outskirts of the city including the UlugBeg Observatory, built by Ulug Beg (Tamerlane’s grandson) in the15 th century. It was only discovered in 1908.The Shah-I-Zinda Ensemble, a narrow street which contains manymausolea including, it is believed, houses the tomb of Kazi ZadeRumi who was Ulug Beg’s teacher.The Shakrizhabs Museum near the ancient site of Afrosiab includesexhibits found at the site and impressive frescoes.Also included will be a visit to two water mills. In one the famousSamarkand paper is produced and in the other flour ground. Thesemills are modelled on mills operating in the 8th century and 14-15 thcenturies. You will be invited to tea following your visit to thepaper mill.On one of the evenings you will have the opportunity to see theValentina fashion show. This highlights local Uzbek dress, bothtraditional and modern, showing patterns, materials and styles.There will hopefully be an option to see the Light and Sound showheld in the Registan (additional fee will apply).Overnight at the President Palace Hotel or similar. (Breakfast,lunch, dinner).Wednesday 05 MayThe morning is at leisure.This afternoon you will depart on the drive to Tashkent, a journey ofabout 5 hours. On arrival check in to the 4* Tashkent Palace Hotelor similar. (Breakfast, lunch, dinner).Thursday 06 MayThis morning you will begin your sightseeing programme with a visitto a Suzani workshop where you will see the dying processes and seethe ladies embroidering. There will be an opportunity to purchaseitems made.In April 1966, a major earthquake struck Tashkent, the capital,virtually destroying it, however, a small section, known as the “oldtown”, still survives.Visits this afternoon will include a city tour looking at the exterior ofthe theatre and strolling in Navoi Square. Visit the Abdul-Khasim

madrasa, home to many fine artisans, and the Fine Arts Museumhoused in a former merchant's house. It has a small but exquisiteselection of Uzbek crafts including jewellery, embroidery, skullcaps,glass and carpets. The main room is brightly painted in fine detail.The History Museum could also be visited to provide you with anoverview of the history of the Silk Route.Overnight at The Tashkent Palace Hotel or similar. (Breakfast,lunch, dinner).Friday 07 MayEarly this morning you will be transferred to the airport for theTurkish Airlines flights to London Heathrow via Istanbul, arriving inLondon later the same day.

TRIP PRICEPrice:£2,995 per person£285.00 single supplementPrices are based on a minimum of 12 paying people. If the groupdoes not reach 12 paying people then a surcharge may apply.Includes:Excludes:Additional Information:International flights in Economy Class, air passenger taxes wherethey can be collected as part of the air tickets, accommodationin a twin/double or single rooms room, transfers andtransportation (air-conditioned transport), all meals, Englishspeaking local guide(s) for private sightseeing and entrance feesto tourist sites, national guide to accompany you for the entireitinerary (separate guides in each country), services of OmarMasom, Uzbek & Turkmen visa support letters.Travel insurance, visas, items of a personal nature, gratuities,camera/video fees.If you wish to book a place on the tour please complete and signthe Steppes Travel booking form and return it with a deposit of£300 per person.Please note that services are in the process of being arranged andconfirmed. This is common in Central Asia.Notes:Please note that the itinerary may be subject to alteration due tounforeseen circumstances, local conditions or schedule changes.While Steppes Travel will make every effort to provide theitinerary as presented this is sometimes not possible and yourpatience and understanding are requested if the itinerary shouldchange.Please make sure that you have a minimum of 6 months validityon your passport following your departure from Turkmenistan andUzbekistan.Suggested things to take –- dust proof bags- camera/spare film/memory cards- water bottle- sun hat- high factor sun screen- lip salve- long sleeve T-shirt, thin fleece, thick fleece- personal medication/first aid kit- insect repellent- day carry sack- sun glassesMoney - You will need USD cash in all countries. You will needsmall denomination notes in good condition and post 1990. Acredit card is of very limited use and is really only useful as backup but should in no way be relied upon as source of money.

Gratuities - Tipping is not compulsory but is now accepted andexpected. However, please do not feel obliged to tip guides ordrivers if you feel the level of service has fallen below what youhave expected. You may want to tip more for exceptionalservices. As a general rule I would suggest USD5-7 (or equivalentin local currency) per couple per day for the guide and USD3-5per couple per day for the driver.Optional ExtrasHere are some suggestions of ways to enhance and thereforemake your holiday even more special.• Upgrade your flight from economy to business class• Upgrade your hotel room• Pre-book valet, airport parking, airport hotels andairport lounges.If you wish to upgrade or pre-book any of the above options thenplease do contact us.

YOUR CONSULTANTPaul CravenAsia, Country Directorpaul@steppestravel.co.ukCarole WilliamsAsia, Sales Supportcarole@steppestravel.co.ukTel: 01285 651010Fax: 01285 88588804/09/2009