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Silk Road Chapters, Tashkent (2026)

27/05/2026

Kalpak hat - Kyrgyz men pride

If you ever spend time in , you’ll notice it almost immediately. Men walking to work, sitting in cafés, shopping at the bazaar — and many of them are wearing the same thing: a white felt hat. That’s the kalpak. And no, it’s not worn for tourists. It’s real life.

The is made from sheep’s wool . It’s light, warm, breathable, and works in both summer heat and mountain cold. That’s not an accident — it comes straight from life, where clothes had to survive wind, sun, snow, and long journeys. The shape is simple: four pieces sewn together, forming that pointed crown everyone recognizes.

Look closer and you’ll see the embroidery that decorates kalpak. It’s never random. Those patterns are traditional symbols — about protection, strength, continuity, balance with nature. Each generation has its own color of the embroidery or shape to emphasize the age and the status of kalpak's owner

There are also rules around it. You don’t throw a kalpak on the ground. You don’t sit on it. You don’t treat it carelessly. Because it’s connected to dignity and respect — not just something you put on your head.

What I love most is that the kalpak isn’t stuck in the past. It’s very much alive. Young guys wear it with jeans and sneakers. Older men wear it with traditional coats. You’ll see it at weddings, official events, university graduations, even in selfies. Some designers experiment with shapes and patterns — but the base stays the same.

In 2019, the tradition of making and wearing the kalpak was officially added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

So when you see a man in a kalpak, you’re not just seeing a hat. You’re seeing mountains, nomadic roots, family memory, and quiet confidence — all in one simple white shape.

24/05/2026

Zurmala Stupa, Buddhism legacy in Uzbekistan 🇺🇿

If you’re in and you come across a huge brick cylinder standing alone in an open field, don’t scroll past it. This is Zurmala stupa, and it’s one of those places that doesn’t shout — it just stands there and lets history do the work.

A stupa in is not a temple you walk into. It’s a solid monument, originally built to contain relics or sacred objects, and used for ritual movement around it. People didn’t enter stupas — they circled them, prayed, thought, repeated mantras. The structure itself mattered more than decoration.

Zurmala is usually dated to the Kushan period, roughly 1st–2nd centuries AD. That already tells you a lot. This was the time when Buddhism was actively spreading across Bactria, and Termez was one of its key centers. The stupa is built entirely of baked brick and what we see today is only the core. Originally it would have been higher and probably plastered and finished much more carefully.

The scale is still impressive. The base is rectangular, and the cylindrical body is about 14–15 meters in diameter. You’re standing next to a serious religious marker, not a small local shrine.

didn’t exist in isolation. It’s part of the same Buddhist landscape as Fayaztepa and Kara Tepe. Together, these sites show that Termez wasn’t just “influenced” by Buddhism — it was deeply involved in it.

What’s important: this site is still being studied. Archaeological work here in recent years confirmed the Kushan dating and even produced coins of Kanishka I, one of the most important rulers and a key patron of Buddhism. That ties the directly to the period when Buddhism was flourishing along the Silk Road.

So Zurmala isn’t a ruin you rush through. It’s a marker of belief, movement, and connection — brick by brick — in ancient Central Asia.

17/05/2026

6 books to read on Central Asia

Here I give you the list of the books on the history of Central Asia that I myself like and have them at home.
If you want to really understand Central Asia – not just memorize dates – start with these six books. They talk about the region inside bigger stories: Islam, the Silk Roads, the Mongols, the Great Game and more modern time.

Here they are (look for the cover photos in carousel)

1.The Silk Roads: A New History of the World – Peter Frankopan. Puts Central Asia back at the centre of world history – caravans, empires, oil, wars, everything passes through here. Frankopan starts with ancient Persia and moves all the way to modern geopolitics.

2. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes – Tamim Ansary. A global history told from the Muslim point of view – with Central Asia right in the middle of the story, not on the edge. Ansary explains how the Islamic world saw crusades, Mongols, colonialism and the 20th century. Great for understanding the mental “map” of the region and why many things today are still so sensitive.

3. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane – S. Frederick Starr. The book is about Central Asia’s scientific golden age – Ibn Sina, al-Biruni and friends, from the 8th to 12th centuries. Starr shows how cities like Bukhara, Samarkand and Merv became centres of astronomy, medicine and philosophy for the whole Islamic world.

4. The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion – Peter Jackson. What actually happened to Central Asia and the wider Islamic world under the Mongols – not just they came, destroyed and left. Jackson follows the Mongol invasions, the destruction of cities, and then the slow recovery and Islamisation of Mongol elites.

Other 2 books are in the comments ⬇️⬇️⬇️

13/05/2026

Makhmud Kashgari - First Turkic linguist

If you care about Turkic languages even a little bit, you definitely need to hear about
Mahmud Kashgari (11th century, c. 1005–1102)
In the 11th century he pulled together the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk — and it’s not a boring word
= translation list. He explains words in Arabic, but then he goes further: examples,
sayings, bits of verse, folklore… the kind of stuff that lets you hear how people actually
spoke and what they cared about.

About his background: we don’t get a Hollywood-style biography, but the important point is
clear — he wasn’t some random traveler with a notebook. He came from a noble Karakhanid
line, got a serious education (Arabic, Persian, mathematics, philosophy), and had the
connections to move in big intellectual circles.

Then life happened: political chaos, danger, and he had to leave . And that’s where
he started his main work — years of listening to diferent Turkic dialects, comparing them,
collecting what changes and what stays stable. Eventually he ends up in , and
finishes the work there around 1075–1077, dedicating it to the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadi.

One of my favorite details: the book includes a famous “world map” showing where Turkic
peoples lived — which is why UNESCO treats it not only as linguistics, but also as
ethnography and even cartography.
And we almost lost it. The surviving manuscript is basically one precious only copy story: it
resurfaced in 1914 in Istanbul and kept in the Millet Library.

So yes — didn’t just write a dictionary. He saved a whole slice of the Great Steppe’s voice💪

02/05/2026

Bull of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

If you’re walking around and you suddenly see a massive bull holding a cracked
globe — stop. That sculpture isn’t just dramatic. It’s the city’s way of remembering the 1948
earthquake.

The quake hit just after midnight on 6th October 1948. It was about magnitude 7.3, shallow,
and brutally destructive. Reports describe how brick buildings collapsed across the city and
nearby settlements, with damage even reaching into northern Iran.

The hardest fact: the number most often cited today is around 110,000 deaths — making it
one of the deadliest earthquakes of the 20th century.
Now, the bull. The monument is called Ruhy Tagzym - Spiritual Worship - and it’s built like a
literal symbol: the bull strains under the weight of a broken Earth, and above the shattered
globe there’s a mother lifting her child up from the cracks. The idea is pain + survival in one
frozen scene.

The bull itself is also tied to an old local myth: the world rests on a bull’s horns, and when it
shifts, the ground shakes.

This statue stands inside the Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex (People’s Memory). It’s not
only about the earthquake — the whole space is a trilogy of national grief: Geok Tepe
capture (1881) , World War II, which is an extremely important part of local history, and the
1948 quake. There’s also a museum right behind the central memorial zone. The complex
opened in October 2014

So yeah — it’s a bull statue. But really it’s Ashgabat saying: we remember that night, and we
remember the people who didn’t make it out.

22/04/2026

KETENI - TURKMEN SHINY FABRIC🌟

If you ever see a Turkmen dress that has this quiet glow — especially in the sun — it might be keteni. It’s Turkmenistan’s traditional homespun silk, and it doesn’t behave like regular shiny party fabric. It has its own texture, its own weight, and that recognizable shimmer people love.

The making of keteni is basically a patience marathon. It starts with cocoons, then the silk is drawn into long threads — even a single cocoon can produce a very long filament. Traditionally, women handled the whole chain: silk prep, dyeing, and weaving.

And the weaving part is very Turkmen: is made on a narrow traditional loom called tara — usually around 30–40 cm wide(12-16 inch). That’s why older garments were cut and assembled in a specific way: the loom itself shaped the design logic.

After weaving, the fabric is often processed and starched/polished to give it that firm, slightly crisp feel and extra shine.

Now, colors. Red is the queen. In Turkmen culture, gyrmyzy keteni (red keteni) was considered especially luxurious and was used for festive dresses and bridal clothing.

But it wasn’t only red: sources also mention green as a valued color (often described as the color of life), and today you can see keteni in a wider palette — modern makers really do play with color while keeping the traditional look.

Keteni wasn’t made just for one ceremony and then stored forever. Historically, men wore it mostly as shirts/robes, while women had a whole wardrobe — dresses, scarves, shawls — and the bridal outfit stayed a special must.

I myself adore keteni fabric, and last year I finally bought myself a nice red dress, which I enjoy wearing not only in 🇹🇲

17/04/2026

Why I’m now going back to geography

I started this series with Tamerlane quite deliberately. He felt like the strongest way in — a figure people have at least heard of, a huge empire, a dramatic story, and a very clear reminder that Central Asia was never some marginal corner of history.

But now I want to go back to the actual beginning.
The next lecture is about the geography of Central Asia, because here geography is never just background. It shaped everything: how people moved, where they settled, which cities appeared, how trade routes formed, and how power worked across the region.

Mountains, deserts, steppes, river valleys, oases — all of that mattered far more than people usually realize.

Without that layer, a lot of the history that comes later simply doesn’t fully make sense.
So this lecture is not just an introduction or some dry preliminary chapter. It is the foundation. If we want to understand Central Asia properly, this is where we have to start.

The lecture goes live on Monday, April 20.

13/04/2026

OMAR KHAYYAM - A SCIENTIST OR A POET?

It’s quite difficult to find a person who has never heard about Omar Khayyam — and most people will tell you “poet.” But during his own lifetime he was famous first of all as a scientist: a mathematician and astronomer, also deeply trained in philosophy.

Yes, don’t be surprised: he was more busy with math and astronomy, and not poetry. He wrote serious works on algebra and geometry — including a treatise where he tackles cubic equations using intersections of conic sections (this is 11th century, so… respect).

And here’s the astronomy part that really matters. Khayyam was invited by the court to to do observations for a major calendar reform. An observatory was built, was a head of it for around 20 years. A team worked under that patronage, and the result was the Jalali (Maliki) solar calendar — designed to keep the New Year aligned with the vernal equinox. Sources also note that its system of leap years made it extremely accurate, and it’s often described as more accurate than the Gregorian calendar.

When he was younger, traveled to Samarkand (now Uzbekistan), where he completed his famous algebra treatise — so yes, he has a direct connection with our region too.

In the West, though, his name exploded because of poetry — after Edward FitzGerald published Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in 1859.

His verses are rubā‘iyāt — quatrains — and they can sound like wine, parties, and “live for today.” But scholars argue a lot about how to read that symbolism: mystical metaphor, sharp skepticism, or both. And here’s the twist: some researchers even doubt how many of those famous quatrains were really his.

Omar Khayyam was born and died in (present-day Iran). So if you remember him only as a poet — you’re missing the bigger half of the story.

04/04/2026

IS THERE A VEGETARIAN FOOD IN CENTRAL ASIA?

in Central Asia might be more varied and tasty than you expect, even though the region is known for its love of meat. Many traditional dishes use fresh vegetables, herbs, and dairy, making it easy to find something vegetarian to enjoy.

And honestly, the secret is simple: in most homes and cafés, the table is never just one meat dish. It’s always bread, salads, dairy, herbs, pickles, and seasonal vegetables — the stuff that makes the meal feel complete even if you skip the meat part.

One option is , a noodle dish that can be made without meat and packed with vegetables like peppers, carrots, and tomatoes, all cooked with flavorful spices.

The classic version often comes with meat, but the vegetable base is already there — bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, potatoes… so “no meat, extra veg” is usually an easy ask.

Another great option is , dumplings that, in their vegetarian form, are filled with pumpkin, potatoes or greens.

Pumpkin and potato fillings are genuinely traditional, not some “tourist menu” invention — especially in season.

You can also try , a famous pastry stuffed with different fillings.

People think “somsa = meat,” but vegetable versions exist (pumpkin and potato are the classic seasonal ones), and they’re baked in the hot clay oven called a tandoor, so you get that smoky-crispy vibe.

Salads are also a big part of meals in CentralAsia. Simple but full of flavor, you’ll often see dishes like achichuk (a mix of fresh tomatoes, onions, and herbs) and many others, as Central Asia is famous for its vegetables.

And, of course, in the last decades Central Asia experienced a lot of influence from Russian and European cultures, so we have lots of vegetarian food here that originally wasn't local, but now can be found all around the region.

Even though meat is common in Central Asian food, vegetarians can still enjoy a wide variety of tasty dishes made with fresh, local ingredients.

26/03/2026

AKHAL-TEKE HORSES - PRIDE OF TURKMENISTAN 🇹🇲

If someone tells you the Akhal-Teke looks like it’s been polished with gold… they’re actually not. In the sun, a lot of these horses have that unreal metallic sheen — it’s literally how the hair reflects light, not a “special shampoo” situation.

The name is basically geography + tribe: Akhal is the oasis strip along the Kopet Dag area, and Teke is the tribe that bred them there. And you can see the desert in the body type: long lines, lean build, often a finer mane, made-for-distance look. They were selected for endurance and toughness in harsh conditions — the kind of horse you’d trust when water and shade are not guaranteed.

How old are they? Not an easy question: you’ll hear big numbers, but the careful way to say it is this — the breed is widely described as very old, with sources tracing its roots back thousands of years in the Turkmen lands (and the exact ancestry is debated, like with many ancient horse types).

What I love is that for , this isn’t just a pretty horse breed. It’s a piece of identity. There’s a whole culture around breeding, training, naming rituals, racing, and decorating the horses — and in 2023 UNESCO officially listed the art of breeding and horse decoration traditions as living heritage.

And it’s very much modern life, not museum life. Turkmenistan celebrates the National Day of the established in 1992, with races, shows, and all the ceremonial pride you’d expect.

Outside Turkmenistan, Akhal-Tekes are still rare — think around 6,000–7,000 worldwide — but you’ll find them in sport and endurance communities in Europe and North America too.

So yeah: part desert history, part national symbol and still a big part of

Silk Road Chapters

27/05/2026

24/05/2026

17/05/2026

13/05/2026

02/05/2026

22/04/2026

17/04/2026

13/04/2026

04/04/2026

26/03/2026

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