Uzgen Mausoleum in Kyrgyzstan Part 1

Before we arrived in Jalal-Abad, we stopped in Uzgen. 

Kyrgyzstan didn't boast the same number of touristic architectural sites that Uzbekistan seemed to; instead, it was the landscape that reigned. There were a few sites, however, I was very excited to see. Sites that were located in unheard of towns, that took days to get to, that took three various shared taxi rides through the mountains usually with five people in a little sedan and some crazy cracked-out driving. Our adventure in getting to Uzgen proved fruitful and our gift was this: an exceptional complex of three mausoleums from the Kara-Khanid Khanate dating back to the 11th century. It was before colorful, glazed tiling was discovered, so they made due with what they had. The terracotta patterning was a fantasy.  It was a lonely building at the end of a public park, sitting by a cliff. There were hardly any people there and we were free to go in and out as we pleased. In fact, the other visitors left while we were there, and then we had it all to ourselves for the next hour. We went round and round it; we sat in front of it, we went and strolled inside of it. It was definitely one of the more amazing creatures we came across along the entirety of this trip. 

To Jalal-Abad (Kyrgyzstan)

Another taxi through these hills, Jalal-Abad bound. 

Osh, Kyrgyzstan

We made it. And this is what it was like in Osh.

Our Last Day in Uzbekistan, a Town called Rishton

On our last day in Uzbekistan, I wanted to stop in a town called Rishton. It took us two shared taxis to get there from Kokand. There is a ceramist who lives and works there who happens to be Tatar, and he is famous throughout the region for his work. In fact, while we were there, a man arrived from Russia and bought stacks of large pieces from him to sell back home. When we first walked into his courtyard, there was a massive tour group from England sitting around the table eating lunch. Both Basar and I were starving - our luck in finding a really good proper meal in the last two days had all been but nil. I introduced ourselves to the owner, Roustem, and asked if we could join. He seemed taken aback when I spoke to him in Tatar and told us that we couldn't join this group; that we would have had to reserve a place ahead of time. But then quickly he added that we should join them, his own family, for lunch after this tour group leaves. It turns out that his wife was also Tatar, from the same region that my family is from, and they spoke in the exact same dialect and accent that we do. They had similar stories as well; having been born here to a family who had left Russia during the early 20th century. It was the most amazing lunch we've had, with boiled squash dumplings, mushroom, barley and dill soup, pickled salads and cherry wine. Afterwards, his son Demir, drove us to the local bus station where we caught a taxi to the border town, where we caught another taxi that drove us to the actual border. That evening at 9pm, after three hours of filling out customs forms and lots of questioning, we walked across the pitch dark border into Osh, Kyrgyzstan. 

When we arrived on the other side, the patrol men took one look at our passports and said our visas weren't valid until the following day. We looked at it ourselves, and indeed we had made a mistake; with sweat pouring down our brows, we realized we had crossed the border one day early.....