MIR's Silk Road Tour: Journey Through Central Asia
Central Asia is home to the old Silk Road, with its great trade routes linking Europe and China for more than 2,000 years. Join one of MIR's most popular tours, Journey Through Central Asia: The Five 'Stans ( a modern-day caravan on an epic journey to five of Central Asia's exotic countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
These five 'Stans are laced together with traces of the old Silk Road, conduits for the silks and spices that gave the world much of its brilliance and flavor, as well as ideas, art, architecture and spiritual beliefs.
• Note: Click on CC icon (lower-third right side in video) for handcrafted closed captions.
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KEY SECTIONS:
1:44 Skip to: Kazakhstan
2:38 Skip to: Kyrgyzstan
3:53 Skip to: Uzbekistan
4:42 Skip to: Tajikistan
5:06 Skip to: Uzbekistan
7:56 Skip to: Turkmenistan
• Explore Central Asia in MIR's in-depth story filled with exotic, colorful photos: Silk Road Tour Spotlight: Journey Through Central Asia –
• Learn more about MIR's small group tours and handcrafted, private journeys to Central Asia – (
• For detailed information on each of these Central Asian countries:
Kazakhstan – (
Kyrgyzstan – (
Tajikistan – (
Uzbekistan – (
Turkmenistan – (
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Destination Specialists since 1986
Small Group Tours • Rail Journeys by Private Train • Custom, Private Trips • Siberia & Western Russia • Silk Road and Iran • South Caucasus
1-800-424-7289
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PHOTO AND VIDEO CREDITS
Video script, creation and voiceover: Helen Holter
Photos: Christina Z. Anderson, Michel Behar, James Carnehan, Russ & Ellen Cmolik, Donna Collins, Jamshid Fayzullaev; Richard Fejfar, Ana Filonov, Lindsay Fincher, Jered Gorman, Douglas Grimes, Peter Guttman, Helen Holter, Dilshod Karimov, Martin Klimenta, Charles Lawrence, Andrew Mills, David Parker, Abdu Samadov, Ann Schneider, Kevin Testa, Bill Thornton, Vladimir Ushakov, Ji Wensheng
Video narrator and creator: Helen Holter
Video: Marina Karptsova, Jamshid Fayzullaev, David Parker, Abdu Samadov, Kevin Testa
Video thumbnail: Lindsay Fincher
Music: Karakalpak Musicians of Nukus; Khalfi Family of Khiva; Urda Bass Troupe of Almaty
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION (HIGHLIGHTS)
00:00 – INTRO
More than 2,000 years ago, the great trade routes that linked Europe and China opened Central Asia to foreign cultures, customs and religions. MIR's iconic tour, Journey Through Central Asia: The Five 'Stans, is a modern-day caravan on an epic Silk Road journey to five of these exotic countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
01:44 – KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan is the largest and richest of the five 'Stans. We visit the country's former capital, Almaty, known as the Capital of Apples; Zenkov Cathedral; as well as a falcon farm for an up-close look at these beautiful birds used in hunting.
02:38 – KYRGYZSTAN
Mountainous, unspoiled Kyrgyzstan is Central Asia's best-kept secret. We visit Lake Issyk-kul; learn about horses and traditional horse games; visit Burana Tower; and in the country's capital, Bishkek, we listen to a portion of the famous poem, Epic of Manus – with nearly half-a-million verses.
04:42 – TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan is a country infused with the influence of Persia, Islam, and Russia. We visit the 2,000-year-old city of Khujand; in this old Silk Road town we explore the colorful covered Panjshanbe Bazaar.
05:06 – UZBEKISTAN
Some of the most famous UNESCO-listed Silk Road sights are in Uzbekistan. We visit Osh and Rishtan in Fergana Valley; explore the country's capital, Tashkent; wander through Samarkand, known as the Crossroad of Cultures with Registan Square's blue-tiled mosaics, mosques, and madrassahs; and see Shakhrisabze, birthplace of Tamerlane the Conqueror. Bukhara was an oasis in the desert for Silk Road camel caravans long ago, and still is for modern travelers today. In Khiva, the Old Town called Ichon Qala looks much as it did centuries ago, while Nukus is known for its once-banned avant-garde Soviet art at the Savitsky Museum.
07:56 – TURKMENISTAN
Turkmenistan is a country of tribal culture and camels as well as modern cities and transportation. We visit three UNESCO-listed sites: Khorezm's Kunya Urgench and Kutlug-Timur Minaret, Merv, and the 2,000-year-old city of Nisa. The tour ends in Turkmenistan's capital of Ashgabat, filled with white marble buildings, as well as a nearby visit to an Akhal-Teke horse-breeding farm.
Kyle Dempster about Engilchek ghost town - Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan
Kyle Dempster about Engilchek Ghost Town (Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan)
Engilchek (Inylchek) is a village in Sary-Jaz valley, located 150 km away from Karakol and close to border with China. It lies at the head of one of the few good roads into the southeast of the province and is therefore a base for mountaineers and serious hikers. The Engilchek Glacier is about 50 km to the east from the town...
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The Lake Issyk | Almaty, Kazakhstan
The Lake Issyk also known as Issyk Lake is a lake in Kazakhstan near the Almaty city, which is fed by the Issyk River.
It should not be confused with the Issyk-Kul Lake in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
The lake is mostly famous for the way it was created in result of an ancient natural landslide damming a valley. Another natural landslide destroyed that dam in 1963, with a subsequent flood damaging the city of Esik, which was re-created with human help.
PETROGLYPHS - Ancient Rock Drawings from Kyrgyzstan
An opportunity to inspect some of the examples of rock drawings from the Lake Issyk-Kol area of Kyrgyzstan. These drawings date from 1500 BC to the 10th century AD
Karakol - Black Hands On Issyk-Kul (Timelapse)
When I arrived in Karakol, I got a bunk in an eight-bed room. I was by myself, the only two other guests in the hostel were from Switzerland and Uzbekistan. Over the next few days, I made noodles that tasted like crap, I made vareniki that tasted a bit better, and finally I made pelmeni that tasted okay. I drank huge amounts of kvass.
When I went out, I found out that Karakol felt a bit like Kansas: wide avenues, single-storeyed houses with fences in front of them, crumbling plaster here and there and some vacant stores, but also a few well-kept houses with flowers in their front yards.
One time I saw two kids eyeing me from behind a tree when I was walking by. I figured it was a game where we would tail each other, so I also hid behind a tree and spied on them. They were very confused.
Another time I got lost in the mountains. I was resting on a pasture, looking at the sunset and at the clouds hovering over the mountains, when darkness covered the land. I walked back on twisting paths, and when I passed a road, I asked a driver for directions. He told me to avoid a certain area, because there were supposed to be bad people there. So I turned around.
There was another path, and it was absolutely dark. I was wearing my flashlight on my head, and suddenly two shiny dots appeared in front of me. Where they green or blue? Or yellow? They were moving, and after a while they turned out to be the eyes of a horse. The rider showed me the way to a factory where I found a lady called Marina. She was working the nightshift burning bricks. There were holes in the ground, there was glowing coal to be put into the holes, and there was a shovel.
It felt like 100 years ago.
Do you know how old our factory is? she asked me. It was eighty years old, from the Soviet era. Marina was chubby and cheerful, she looked a bit older than thirty-eight, and her daughter was fourteen and had just started studying German. She showed me a nice new brick. This is what houses are built with, she said.
I stood there, looking at the brick in her hands that were dark from handling the coal, and I suddenly remembered what the name Karakol was supposed to mean in Kyrgyz: black hand.
This footage was taken in October 2014 in and around Karakol, the biggest town on the shores of Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. (GPS: 42°29'1.02N 78°24'6.25E)
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▶Shot with DSLR 15mm + 55mm
▶Soundtrack: Constant Music - Monday Motivation (medium version)
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Journey along the Silk Route with Audley Travel
Audley specialists Nick and Adam recorded this footage on their journey along the Silk Route. Crossing through deserts, mountains and alpine lakes and spanning some of the most diverse landscapes in the world, the Silk Route truly is the trip of a lifetime. They spent 10 days travelling from Beijing through to Kashgar in Western China, following the route of ancient traders, before crossing into Kyrgyzstan over the stunning Torugart Pass at 4,000 metres altitude. After driving around the coast of Issyk-Kul, the second largest salt lake in the world, they flew into Uzbekistan, home to some of the world’s most impressive Muslim architecture. Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand boast impressive mosques, minarets, madrassahs and mausoleums and they explored the bustling trading domes filled with silk, spices and ceramics.
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Tokmok - The Green Valley (Timelapse)
Tokmok means Hammer in Kyrgyz. It is one of the biggest industrial settlements in the country, and everyone who comes here seems to be looking for something.
When Germans come to Tokmok, they want to find Germans.
When Chinese come to Tokmok, they want to find poets.
When Americans come to Tokmok, they want to find terrorists.
I came with the night, looking for everything.
It was dark, and some of the buildings seemed to be empty. I set up the tripod in a hidden spot, wanting to stay unseen, but the night sent me a group of young men. They were dressed in black, and one of them was wearing a skinhead. He introduced himself as Ruslan. It turned out they were all very nice.
I told them I was taking footage for a project about Kyrgyzstan, and Ruslan said the buildings were dangerous. Bad people were living in them, was I not able to hear their voices? He pointed to his ear, and yes, there were faint sounds coming from the hollow insides of the buldings. He offered to take me there the next day, but I never heard from him again.
I stayed for a few days, and I found the terrorists first. Or rather, I found the place where they used to live, where they went to school, where they played with their friends before they moved to the US and blew up the Boston Marathon. People knew them still, but they seemed tired of foreigners asking questions, so I looked at the unloading of sugar beet instead. Lots and lots of sugar beet. I figured I had found my terrorists.
Then I went looking for the poet. I took a cab and told the driver to go in a direction southwest of town. We went on and on until I pointed to a place with a few holes in the ground. The driver shook his head and left, and I set down my gear and gently stroked past the ruins that were once Suyab, the supposed birthplace of Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in history. I looked at the green valley and at the mountains in the distance, and it slowly dawned on me that they hadn't changed much during the last one and a half millenia. I had found my poet.
The next day I took another cab to a place called Rotfront, a former German village. Life had never been easy for the residents, but it got worse when Stalin enslaved them into gigantic construction projects while their children were growing up with nomads in the pastures. Decades later, when the Soviet Union fell, most of them somehow ended up back in Germany, a place that they had not set foot in for two hundred years, a place where people looked at them as Russians. I stayed with Wilhelm, a gentleman from Germany who had moved here to teach the language and keep the memory alive. He advised me to visit the graveyard, which I did.
At the graveyard, I found an old man who was putting down flowers at another old man's grave. He was of Russian descent, and he didn't mind talking. This was my best friend, he said, pointing at the grave stone. I read the name on the plate. It was Rudolf, one of the children of the pasture.
I asked a stupid question: Was he your very best friend?
The old man laughed: When Rudolf came down from the mountains, he was about 10 years old, and his Kyrgyz was better than his German or his Russian. We were the same age, and we became friends right there and then. We never left this village. He was the best friend I ever had!
I could see the old guy's eyes turn a bit watery, so I bid my good-bye and walked around the graveyard some more. I didn't expect to come across an inscription that would burn itself right into my soul:
I AM HOME. ARE YOU COMING, TOO?
I had found my Germans.
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INFO:
This footage was taken in October 2014 in and around Tokmok, the Kyrgyz industrial town on the border to Kazakhstan.
▶GPS: N42.84391 E75.29810
▶Shot with DLSR 15mm 55mm
▶Soundtrack: Geroeva Alena - Sad Heart
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Burana Tower Ancient Language City Kyrgyzstan Travel Log Central Asia World Heritage Site
This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Mowgli Productions Pvt Ltd. Mowgli Productions is Headed By Amber Sharma.
Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production etc Email Us at : themowgliproductions@gmail.com
WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY in a Blizzard | Kyrgyzstan Photography
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Top Travel | Ba Be, the biggest mountain lake in Vietnam
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Ba Be, the biggest mountain lake in Vietnam
Located in Ba Be National Park in Bac Kan province, Ba Be Lake is Vietnam’s largest and one of the world’s 100 largest fresh water lakes. It embodies unique geological features and rich biodiversity.
Ba Be Lake is also called “Slam Pe” by the locals, which means three lakes. The lakes are connected with one another. According to geologists, the lake sits 145 meters above sea level and was formed more than 200 million years ago. It’s surrounded by limestone mountains which are more than 450 million years old.
Much of the limestone in the region has been transformed into granite. Ba Be Lake was recognized as one of 20 fresh water lakes in need of protection at a conference held in the US in 1995. In 2011, UNESCO recognized Ba Be Lake as a Ramsar Site, the third wetland of international importance in Vietnam. The water level in Ba Be lake changes between rainy and dry seasons. Au Dinh Huong operates a canoe for hire on Ba Be Lake: “The water in Ba Be Lake is green all year long. Leaves fall on the lake surface and then sink turning the water green. The lake becomes a little muddy during the flood season but it turns green again a few days later.”
Visitors to the lake can hire a local dug-out canoe to go around the lake to admire its beautiful scenery, magnificent cave and upstream waterfalls. A motorboat is another popular choice. Mr. Huong again: “All visitors praise the beauty of the lake. They say it’s pleasant to sit on a boat travelling around the lake, which takes about 1.5 hours. To visit all the scenic spots in this area takes 4 to 5 hours. The lake is 9km long and 1km wide.”
In the middle of the lake are two islets called An Ma and Ba Goa (Widow). Around the lake are Ao Tien (Fairy Pond), Po Ga Mai (Hen) islet, Puong cave, and Dau Dang waterfall. Ba Be lake is the habitat of more than 50 species of fresh water fish and many rare and precious flora species that are included in the Vietnam Red Book. Ms Ma Thi Thinh is a Tay ethnic local: “There are fish, shrimp, oysters, and mussels. The tiny shrimps are in the lake all year. Visitors always buy them. They are 170,000 VND per kilo. Here, we also sell such local specialties as cakes, glutinous rice cakes, mushrooms, wood-ears, and rice noodles.”.
Ba Be lake is beautiful all year round but we recommend you visit the lake in spring, summer, or early autumn. The place is wonderfully relaxing and picturesque. Tourists will soon forget their daily sitting in the shade of ancient trees watching canoes ply green waters of the lake. It’s a pure moment of happiness where time seems to stand still.