Kashgar, China: A Vital Oasis on the Silk Road Both Then & Now

September 19, 2017

So far on our Silk Road journey, the historical evidence of the oasis towns’ roles in the past was there if you went looking amid the modernity – in Dunhuang if you went to the Mogao Caves; in Turpan if you went to the ruins; in Urumqi if you…closed your eyes and imagined it. In Kashgar, however, you’re immediately transported to the ancient times of the Silk Road at its peak just by stepping foot in the city bounds. As soon as we got off the train, we knew this place was special, considered the pinnacle of a Silk Road exploration today for dern good reason. Given how dusty and old-fashioned and straight out of the history books it is, my fondness for Kashgar is surprising to say the least (I hate dust!). But when you see how unique a town it is, how deftly it combines the cultures that converge geographically at its location at the crossroads of central Asia, it’s easy to understand why I loved it.

The full post about Kashgar is located on the Silk Road page of the Travel Section. Read it all here!

foodtravel

Sarajevo, Bosnia: Tragic Past, Beautiful Present

August 29, 2013

Baščaršija, the main square of Old Town

For the first full day in Sarajevo, we explored the Old Town and hit the major cultural sights. First stop was Baščaršija (“Bashcharshia”, maybe), the Ottoman-built bazaar and old town.
The quaint Old Town felt simple and pleasant, and it was fun to wander around without worrying about getting too lost (not possible). Tiny, cobbled alleyways were that perfect sort for wandering. It was astonishing to consider that the tragic siege of this city by the Serbs occurred relatively recently, and that every local we met lived through it.

However, in the main parts of town, the extreme toll the war took on Sarajevo was omnipresent. This building stands on the former front line, and the damage remains as it did 20 years ago.

Old Serbian Orthodox Church

Since religious clashing formed a major part of the (every) conflict, it makes sense that Sarajevo is one of the most religiously diverse cities in the world. In just a few minutes, just a few blocks, I passed a Serbian Orthodox Church…

Gazi Husrev-beg’s mosque

…a mosque…

Old Sarajevo Synagogue and Museum. You must go here. The museum has an exhibit noting the many Bosnians who helped keep Jews in the city safe. And it’s so beautiful, dating back to the 16th century, when Jews came to Bosnia after being expelled from Toledo. F-ing Toledo, man.

…a synagogue…

The Catholic Cathedral (for Bosnian Croats)

…a Catholic cathedral…

Orthodox Cathedral for Bosnian Serbs

…and a newer Orthodox Cathedral.

Because the siege and the war occurred in recent history, it is the main focus of a visit to Sarajevo. It’s difficult, heartbreaking, but necessary to learn about. I won’t attempt to explain the complicated details of the horrible war as if I were an expert, and instead I urge you to read about it and, if possible, go and speak to locals all over the Balkans.
One such local we met was Samra, an absolutely wonderful guide for Insider City Tours & Excursions. She led a (highly recommended) group tour to the tunnels on the outer edge of the city.
The tunnels were built by the Bosnian Army to connect Sarajevo with territory closer to the mountains, in order to smuggle food, supplies, weapons, and other aid in, and people out.

At right: Walking through an actual section of the tunnels. Above: The entrance to the tunnels. The tunnels run about 160 meters under the land where the UN airport was positioned. So, in order to use them, people still had to make it all the way to the outskirts of the city without being seen. And for the people who escaped through them, if they successfully got to and through the tunnels, they still ended up lost somewhere near the mountains.

The bottleneck to the left of the red text reading ‘Serbian Forces’ shows the location of the tunnels.

Visiting the tunnels is an intense experience, because you get to walk through a portion and realize you cannot grasp what it must have been like for the people whose lives relied upon their use. What made this experience extra emotional for my group was that was our guide used the tunnels, when she was just a child, to escape from the region. How often do you to learn history from someone who actually lived it?
I recommend you take the very affordable and informative afternoon tunnel tour with Insider Tours, which is located right across the street from the Sarajevo 1878-1918 Museum.

This intersection was where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.

Speaking of: In addition to the 1990s war, the main historical draw in Sarajevo is that it provided the location of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s 1914 assassination, the catalyst for World War I. The assassination by Gavrilo Princip, the buildup to the event, and of course some details of the subsequent war are commemorated in the Sarajevo 1878-1918 Museum. It’s a clunky name, but it’s easily identified outside simply by Muzej and the plaque citing the event.

Plaque on the side of the buildings commemorating the assassination.

Somehow, being in this spot seemed cool in a history nerd look-I-remember-things-from-high-school kind of way.
However, the tragedy of the 1990s was truly the overriding lesson to learn in Sarajevo. Everywhere you turn, there’s a distressing and emotional reminder of what happened. Shop for produce in the Markale Market in the center of town…

Markale Market

…and you learn that this market was the site of two deadly mortar attacks on civilians.

Memorial at the back of the Markale Market

This memorial stands in the back of the Markale market to commemorate the people killed in the attacks. The first attack occurred on 2/5/1994, when 68 civilians were killed and 144 were wounded. The second attack occurred on 8/28/1995, when 38 were killed and 75 were wounded.

Walk from the lovely old town towards the more modern areas, and when you pass a park you’ll see one of the most upsetting, hauntingly beautiful memorials ever constructed. This monument stands to commemorate more than 1000 children killed in the city during the siege. See the textured depressions around the edge? They are cast from footprints of surviving siblings of the children killed. Heartbreaking.

Look down when you walk along the street, and see one of the (few remaining) “Sarajevo roses” – shell craters that an artist filled in with red resin. The Sarajevo roses spattered around town make the terror of shell craters somewhat beautiful as they stand in memorial.

Downtown, we fortuitously passed Gallery 11/07/95, the first memorial photograph gallery dedicated to the Srebrenica massacre. (Apparently the Jolie-Pitts helped fund the gallery.) It was incredibly upsetting, of course, but powerful and worth a visit. The dark side of humanity will shock you, even if you know what happened. If you don’t know about Srebrenica, you should read a little about it.

It’s fried flaky pillows of potato! What is not to love?

Not everything about Sarajevo is so grave though. Some incredible food awaits here, including savory bureks! Although I loved the fruit-filled bureks they have in Zagreb, Sarajevo’s potato-filled ones were just heaven.
The BEST ones are at Buregdzinica Sac, a small corner shop in an alley called Bravadziluk Mali. They sell the huge slabs like slices of pizza, cut off from the circular pies.

I also found a great new dessert – tufahija, an apple poached in syrup and filled with walnut paste. So good! This version from the famous Hotel Europe downtown was delicious. A visit to the hotel is on most must-do lists for its lovely Viennese café, so when you go, try this! Everyone I asked about its recipe confirmed its natural veganness, as long as the whipped cream is on the side for someone else to eat.

We also had some fantastic meals:
– Read about my luck getting vegan Italian food at the only restaurant open one Sunday night, TAVOLA!
– Read about the amazing dinner (and dessert!) at KARUZO, a fancy vegetarian restaurant that focuses all of its attention on your experience.
– Read about the Middle Eastern food from ZAATAR & CO. in old town!

Although I’m making it seem like the only happy things were food-related, that’s just me. The city was full of wonderful surprises, from the friendly and welcoming locals to the beautiful views:

The view from the Yellow Fortress above the city.

The view from our train journey from Sarajevo to Mostar.

We also stayed in the best hotel, Hotel Bristol. It’s in the more modern part of town, near the famous Holiday Inn where journalists found shelter during the siege. It was one of the most beautiful and luxurious hotels I’ve stayed in – and for the price of a mid-range anywhere else! Notably, it has a small gym, a sauna – and one of the Top 5 beds I’ve ever slept in. Oh I miss that bed. Seriously, it was superb.
Sarajevo is a really special city. If you are taking a trip to the Balkans, I urge you to carve out time here. I was very wary of swapping time on the Dalmatian coast to come here instead, but I’m so glad I did.

Almaty, Kazakhstan: Surprisingly Cosmopolitan City in the Middle of Whoknowswhere

October 30, 2017

Chinqui! After the nonstop action of our previous few weeks in Kyrgyzstan, a few days in Almaty provided the easy, relaxing tourism we needed for recovery and rejuvenation. I know what you’re thinking because it’s what I thought too: “No way you’re talking about Kazakhstan being the easygoing part of this trip.” I know! Mah wife! Against our (unfounded) expectations, Almaty was nice and perfectly boring. For the first time in a long time, it felt just like your average cosmopolitan city, with nice cafes, restaurants, buildings, and even recognizable brands. It was clean and modern and was the first place to remind us of London since Shanghai. Yep, Kazakhstan is just like London.

We breathed a sigh of relief (but not too deeply; the car exhaust/pollution problems in this region are big in this city) at getting a leisurely day to sightsee at our own pace. We decided to follow a walking tour around the city from the website Caravanistan, which was very helpful but took us literally six hours to get through. Granted we did stop a lot (at every single good looking grocery store; more on that later), but still, damn, what a town! We started at Republic Square, which was about 40 minutes from our hostel when you factor in how incorrect all my advance food-findings were (HappyCow is only as good as we make it, people!). At Republic Square we found the very very tall Independence Monument, which features a pretty f-ing badass man riding a flying snow leopard. HELL YEAH you fly that magical snow leopard into the SKY, Golden Man!

Great success!

Look at that stupid kid statue in front of you riding a regular old horse! HAHA LAME CHILD.

The Independence Monument stands in a big official looking square, with government buildings and the former Presidential Palace. Also nearby is the monument to the 1986 December Uprising, which is said to have been mostly students protesting decisions of Gorbachev. But there’s so much misinformation, as with everything out of the Soviet Union, that no one can agree on whether it was a protest for independence or just against his latest decision, whether it was planned or spontaneous, whether 200 people participated in the uprising or 40,000 (get your shit together USSR), or whether only a handful of people died or whether the death toll exceeded 1,000. FFS the Soviet Union really didn’t like facts. The statue below, honoring the uprising, is called Dawn of Liberty, because a few years after the uprising, Kazakhstan won its independence from the Soviets – even though they didn’t seem to want it. Apparently in 1991, 94% of voters voted to stay in the Soviet system? but then just months later they were granted their independence? What the crap was going on over there! Kazakhstan was the last country to gain their independence from the Sovs whether they wanted it or not.

Gypsy! Give me your tears!

We turned to walk down Dostyk avenue, which previously was called Lenin avenue. Still in the land of Lenin avenues and statues! Never leaving! There we saw the Arman Cinema with this amazing relief on the outside, facing the street. And yes, it’s connected to a Burger King. I know, it’s confusing to hate the sight of gross fast fooderies while also being excited to be in a place with names you know.

this suit is NOT black

In this area we found the statue of Tulebaev, a composer. Now that we’re outside of Republic Square and its municipal buildings and its concrete, you’ll notice how so much of Almaty is green and tree-lined. It feels like the whole city center is a park sometimes! There are bike paths and foot paths, so many fountains, and so many trees. A-nice!

Wave good bye to your clock radio, asshole!

I really liked the below monument to Zhambyl Zhabayev, the Kazakh folksinger. He played the dombura, which is not a Japanese food, and only sang in the Kazakh language. He lived to be just a week shy of 100 years old, which is pretty amazing for anyone but especially for someone born next to a river by Mount Zhambyl (which he was named after) while his mother was fleeing an attack on her village. I don’t think anyone seeing a baby born at the most inconvenient time in the most inconvenient place in the middle of such horror and tragedy stopped and said hey I bet that baby lives to be 100, or past 4. The internet has no reports of fun nicknames but dammit if he was never called Zhambalaya I will be so mad.

I had not come to Hollywood to fight with a man dressed as Hitler.

I was also a fan of the statue to Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian artist and writer. I like that his name is in the plural. I write many Taras! I like that he was Ukrainian and I found nothing relating him to Kazakhstan anywhere on the internet. But most of all I like that his statue is so f-ing weird. Why did they just make his face come out of an amorphous blob? Is it because he isn’t Kazakh? They being prankers?

I like!

Okay I’m mostly joking about the statues though. My real top sight in Almaty is, I think, the actual top sight in Almaty – the fountain based on the Chinese zodiac but bastardized by Soviet symbolism so it became just a wet circle of confusion.

King in the Castle, King in the Castle

It’s a great fountain, but at first glance you might just think the animal statues are of your standard choices. Especially if you know it’s supposed to represent the zodiac, you might recognize that oh there’s the lion, there’s a ram, there’s the…snail? Instead of cool things like dragons, the use of Soviet symbolism means we get things like the snail.

mah wife

The symbols used are thus kind of funny, kind of cute, and it makes the fountain even more interesting to know why there are such random animals featured.

Very nice, very nice! How much?

An important artwork for us to find was this mural (above) on the wall of a hotel (or office building) that was under significant construction. I hope they don’t hurt the murals! We wanted to find this painting because it represents us on our Silk Road journey! Okay maybe they were thinking more ‘actual explorers and adventurers from thousands of years ago’ and not two little whiteys but hey we felt pretty cool seeing it.

Everybody know it for girls!

We next moved into the war portion of our monument viewing. Above is the monument to two female heroes of World War II, Manshuk Mametova and Aliya Moldagulova. Manshuk was a machine gunner and the first Soviet Asian woman to receive the Hero of Soviet Union medal for bravery. She had been studying at the Almaty Medical Institute when the war began, and schools in various cities are named after her. Aliya was also awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, for her work during the war as a sniper. Apparently she trained at an all female sniping school, which sounds incredibly badass. Does the US have anything like that or do they still not like having girlies in the military?

Below is requisite Eternal Flame, which we saw in every single place in the former Soviet Union. After that is the Glory Monument in Panfilov Park. It is dedicated to the 28 guardsmen of Panfilov. The 28 were a group of Red Army soldiers who fought in the defense of Moscow in 1941, and they all died in action. Most of them were recruits from the Kazakh and Kyrgyz regions.

sleeve of wizard

Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium

On one main boulevard was the lovely opera house, which was also under construction and it took several visits to get a picture without a truck on its front stoop. A poster on the facade informed us that the opening performance of the season was occurring the night we left. Cool guys.

all other countries have inferior potassium

Thought we saw literally all the sights, we mostly enjoyed strolling amid all the greenery and taking pictures of buildings we liked even if we had no idea what they were. I’m guessing the below is a government building though. I know you’re impressed by my deductive skills.

Although Kazakhstan a glorious country, it have a problem, too: economic, social, and Jew.

We spent more than a few hours in the A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, a really interesting and neverending mix of good art, bad art, weird art, blue art. I recall that it was a maze that I couldn’t get out of fast enough to find a bathroom (horrible set up!). I also recall that there was a scary weird robot sculpture out front, and a CREEPY AF painting of Baby Trump inside.

this is the future nobody wants

IMPEACH! IMPEACH THIS BABY!

Next up is this church, the Ascension Cathedral, I am pretty sure, and look! It’s also under construction! It’s made of wood (anyone else just hear Uncle Joey’s puppet?) and claims to be the second tallest wooden building in the world but it lies. It’s a wooden building of lies. Just kidding buildings can’t tell truths or lies. They don’t speak! But I bet this was the second tallest at one time but other things kept happening and this one stopped growing.

The church was built in the 19th century when the region was called Turkestan which is the cutest lil word. It’s had other serious reconstruction works throughout past 50 years so I guess wood doesn’t hold up so good.

You know what also doesn’t hold up to the test of time? Random things named after deceased royals.

It’s weird, guys. As is this:

Not really sure what’s going on with this building but the people behind it REALLY don’t know what ‘disco’ music is because it sure as hell ain’t Vanilla Ice or Shaggy. No idea what this building actually was because we didn’t dare return at night but man I’m still really curious. What designer got away with this?

Shall we move on to food? That’s always my favorite part! The agenda item I was most eager for was the Green Market (or Zelenyi Bazar), the big produce market where locals buy their goods and where tourists like me can find Kazakhstan’s famous apples. Yep, I didn’t know before this trip, but Kazakhstan is famous for apples! We bought lots of their most precious varieties and had apples for daaays. Spoiler: They don’t hold a candle to my fave, the Fuji apple, which I can’t find ANYWHERE anymore. Kazakh varieties (varietals? when do you use varietals without sounding like a dick) are a little grainier than I’m used to, and a little sour, making my eyes go phrmmmph.

I will look upon your treasures, gypsy!

We bought apples and pears and plums and oranges and more apples. So fun. Pro tip: Oranges outside the UK are super expensive. I remember in China I bought an orange once (a mandarin one!) and it was like 4x as much as the rest of the grocery haul. Ridic!

LIke all the amazing markets we discovered on our travels, the Green Market had so many wonderful looking goods that we just couldn’t buy and carry for weeks longer in our packs, like these spices. The vendors are always like ‘hey girl over here buy my goods!’ and I try to say ‘I’m so sorry I would love to they look amazing but I’m backpacking rn and I don’t have the room or the ability to keep them from exploding everywhere and also customs??’ but just with an apologetic look.

Across from the Green Market was the Rakhat chocolate factory, which I was suuuper excited about, but which was a big letdown. It was mainly a little shop overflowing with people pointing to bins of candy in bulk and saying how many grams they wanted. And there was no list of ingredients visible for any of the candies, all hidden behind glass. I asked a clerk about one and she said there was no milk but like how could I believe you if you aren’t checking the ingredients yourself, clerk?! And I’d have to ask about each one? Blergh. I would happily read endless lists of Russian ingredients but I don’t want to make a clerk in an overflowingly busy little shop do that for me. I found my goodies elsewhere. ALSO, all the guides I read beforehand said that this factory made the whole neighborhood smell like chocolate so I was beyond pumped for that but it didn’t even smell like chocolate in the shoppe! J’ACCUSE!

Okay so the ‘I have no room’ excuse might not be entirely accurate regarding the spices…they can be simply little packets, after all. And I definitely made room for less practical goodies I found at my favorite posh grocery store in Almaty, called Interfood. Oh MAN did we score some amazing accidentally vegan totally unnecessary treats.

DA RISO ITALIANOOO! Ok i think i’m out of Borat quotes

The Ritter Sport Marzipan is RG, and you can find it all over the world. I don’t think I like marzipan in other forms (probably because of Gilmore Girls) but it’s great in this. But the real exciting part of this crop of goodies is that box of Speculoos Creme cookies! oh MAN I picked up that box as yet another futile exercise in self-punishment, expecting it to be laden with milk products, but it was accidentally vegan! I wish I bought more of those but I could barely fit one box crushed in my pack. The Rakhat chocolate bar was decent and satisfied my chocolate craving. The other one (the gold) is a gift for someone, haven’t decided yet! Who wants it?

Manner are my favorite treats in the world so I was excited to find some milk-free wafer cookies of similar ilk. These weren’t very good (kind of tangy) but still, wafer cookies on any day are better than non wafers or something like that.

hehe they’re called Sultan waffles

But the best find in Interfood was this bag o’ Cat Tongues! Omg little cinnamon discs of pure magic. I would LOVE to find these again!

We found some great food in Almaty, although nothing matched our amazing Georgian dinner on our first night. My favorite was the little falafel joint a few minutes from our hostel, called Falafel Forever. It was GREAT! And so cheap! I love falafel platters. It’s my perfect set up – hummus, pita, falafel, and tons of fun roasted veggies and salads.

Across the opera house ( I think) was a Brooklyn-style burger place that Husband needed to go in, and luckily they had a really good cabbage slaw that I enjoyed. Of course I also had some of the great potato wedges and a fresh grapefruit soda.

For dinner one night, we decided to tourist it up and have our first Italian food in months instead of having more Soviet-era potato and cabbage dishes. We went into a trattoria called Del Papa right on the main square of a main boulevard (I wanna say near the opera house again) and got the best familiar dishes, including vegetable soup, a great panzanella salad, and a roasted veggie dish in amazing sauce.

Yum! So many good meals, so many apples, so many statues and stories! And SO much junk food in my bags! Shall we cap off our nice stay in Almaty with a shot of the sign hanging in the shared bathroom at Sky Hostel? Ok!