Silk Road - 2 June 2009 - Road to Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan

We got an early start on the road to Shakhrisabz, which was the birth place of Tamerlane. Tamerlane was born in 1336 to the Barlas Clan and he died in about 1407. One of the things that I appreciated from this visit was that most of the sites that I’ve seen have been reconstructed. As a result, I appreciated the effort that had gone into the reconstruction more after seeing what they started with. While in Shakhrisabz, we saw the “White Palace”, which Tamerlane used as his residence part of the year. Apparently he had received at least one ambassador from the King of Spain, who left a description of the palace. There were said to be fabulous gardens created with water piped from the river. There were triangles in the tile design which were symbolic of the three known continents which Tamerlane wanted to rule. Tamerlane brought artisans from other cities to do the construction of the White Palace. We also saw the Mosque and associated Mausoleum that Tamerlane intended for himself; however he was buried in Samarkand, because in died on the road to China with an army of about 400,000 men. Apparently the weather conditions were so bad that they couldn’t get to Shakhrisabz so they buried him in Samarkand.

In this part of the world, people prefer to shop in the bazaars instead of supermarkets. Silk is produced in Uzbekistan. The silk worms are fed mulberry leaves. The Gypsy population exists by begging and with fringe businesses. School starts at age 7 with the first four years being spent in primary education. The next five years is spent in secondary education. There is a choice between language of instruction; between Uzbek and Russian. There is an international school, where the language of instruction is English. Higher education prepares a student for a profession. There is a test given on August 1. If the student scores well, he/she goes to college free. If the student scores in the middle range, then the parents must pay. If the student does poorly, he needs to retake the exam. Religious education is only permitted after the age of 14. Current population of Shakhrisabz is about 80,000.

On the way to Shakhrisabz, we stopped to photograph a family riding a horse. Later we stopped to look at a water wheel, which probably works the same way it did when Marco Polo passed through.

On the road to Shakhrisabz - three on the horse and the woman walking
View from the road
Other Side of Road to Shakhrisabz
Boy on Donkey
Water Wheel similar to one Marco Polo might have seen
Additional Water Wheels
All the children in town showed up
Water Wheel