Getting ready for the Pamir Highway

We are in Dushanbe now, the capital of Tajikistan – a country I didn’t even know it existed a year ago! Now I know that it’s the poorest country in Central Asia, that a civil war was going on here until 1997 and that Tajikistan doesn’t offer many ‘cultural highlights’ (except for the world highest flagpole – see (windless!) picture) However, Tajikistan may very well be the most exciting country in Central Asia! That’s because of its amazing natural scenery which includes the mighty Pamir mountains. It is also home to one of the ‘great roads of the world’: the Pamir Highway, a 1200 km-long road between Dushanbe and Osh in Kyrgyzstan, one link of the ancient Silk Road. The Pamir Highway is the pinnacle of every cycle trip along the Silk Road, and every summer there is an increasing number of cyclists from all over the world who want to ride it – like us! So far on our trip we have bearly met any other cyclists, but here in our hostel in Dushanbe it’s Cycle Heaven, with over 20 other cycle-tourists, most of them having taken a similar road than ours to get here. Everybody is now eagerly getting ready for the Pamirs.

Raphaël and I have just decided that we won’t cycle the whole road – there are only 28 days left on our visa and cycling everything may be a bit too stressful since we also intend to take the time to rest or hike at the most beautiful places… and interview farmers of course 😉 So we will most likely take a ‘taxi’ for the least interesting part of the road, from Dushanbe to Kalaikhum. From there we’d like to cycle the whole road, until Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Since the ‘upper road’ between Khorog and Alichur is closed because of landslides, we have to take the lower road along the Afghan border (Wakhan valley); it’s going to be a bit longer and harder but also more scenic.

There are good chances that we won’t manage to get internet access until Osh. So don’t worry if there won’t be any news on this blog for a whole month!

And since I now think that I have portrayed Uzbekistan a little bit negatively in my few posts, I’d like to share some pics of the lovely people we met on our road there. Because we actually LOVED UZBEKISTAN!

 

 

 

Au pays des mariages

   Avant de quitter l’Ouzbékistan, il faut que je parle de ce phénomène! Je crois bien qu’il n’y a pas eu de jour ici sans que l’on ait vu ou du moins entendu une fête de mariage. D’ailleurs en ce moment-même, dans ma chambre d’hôtel, j’ai la musique tonitruante du mariage d’à côté dans les oreilles! Les Ouzbèkes se marient beaucoup, partout, et à tout moment! Dans de belles villes comme Boukhara et Samarkand, on a tous les jours pu observer les jeunes couples littéralement faire la queue pour être pris en photo devant les beaux monuments,  et les restos-spécial-mariage accueillaient quotidiennement une fête différente. Cette abondance de mariages pourrait s’expliquer par le fait que l’Ouzbékistan tout entier vienne se marier dans les plus beaux endroits du pays, mais les mariages se déroulent tout autant dans les petites villes et villages. On a vu des ‘wedding parties’ s’engouffrer dans des restos à 15h de l’aprèm, en plein cagnard et en pleine campagne ! Les mariés (que j’observe lors des sessions photo) se ressemblent tous: Ils sont très jeunes; elle porte une robe-de-marié-blanc étincelant-complètement-too-much; ils sont entourés de leurs famille et amis qui se sont tous mis sur leur 31; et ils ont généralement l’air un peu dépassés par les événements!

Pourquoi autant de mariages en Ouzbékistan, me demandez-vous – alors qu’on en voit quasiment plus chez nous (je me demande quand le dernier mariage a été célébré à Neuwiller… ?) Je ne sais pas vraiment, mais en tout cas ça n’est pas parce qu’il y a beaucoup de divorces et que les gens se marient plusieurs fois dans leur vie ; des locaux m’ont dit fièrement que les mariages ouzbèkes étaient solides et qu’il n’y avait quasiment pas de divorces dans leur pays ! Moi je me l’explique par le fait qu’on doit être en pleine ‘saison’, qu’il y a beaucoup de jeunes dans ce pays, et bien évidemment parce que le but de tout jeune ouzbèke et de sa famille est d’être marié au plus vite les 20 ans passés – et bien sûr avoir des enfants dès que possible. La société ouzbèke est extrêmement traditionnelle à ce niveau-là – la famille est TOUT ici, l’individu n’est rien! Dans aucun autre pays les gens nous ont demandé aussi systématiquement – à Raph et à moi – si on avait des enfants. Quand on dit qu’on n’en a pas, ils nous demandent notre âge… et là ils ne comprennent vraiment pas (au point de s’éterniser sur le sujet, voire de donner des ‘conseils’ à Raph, HAHAHA !)

Le mariage est l’investissement principal des familles dans leurs enfants. On a entendu des chiffres hallucinants pour le cout de ces mariages – pour des gens qui n’ont pas grand-chose – auquel il est normal de convier des centaines et des centaines de parents et d’amis. Les mariages sont généralement arrangés. Relation sexuelle avant le mariage est un tabou et j’ai entendu dire que la virginité de la jeune famille pouvait être ‘testée’. La mariée doit amener une dote conséquente à la famille du marié. En contrepartie, la famille du marié qui paye pour la cérémonie principale du mariage.

Ce qu’il y a de bien dans une société où la famille a autant d’importance, c’est qu’il y règne un grand respect des ainés. Mais ce qui est triste, c’est le rôle de la femme – cantonnée à être mère de famille, femme de ménage, entièrement dévouée à son homme. L’Ouzbékistan est le pays d’Asie centrale le plus arriéré au niveau droits des femmes, et les femmes ont clairement un statut inférieur. Moi j’ai pu observer à moult reprises que le mâle ouzbèke était un sacré macho qui passait son temps à glander, alors que les femmes de sa maison n’arrêtaient pas de trimer ! Alors, jolie petite mariée dans ta robe de princesse, je ne peux pas m’empêcher de te plaindre un peu, et te souhaiter bonne chance et surtout beaucoup de courage pour contribuer à faire évoluer cette société !

Abdoukadir Toursounov (Uzbekistan)

Name: Abdoukadir Toursounov
Age: 58
Residence: Nisbot near Urgut (Samarkand province)
Family: Married to Himoyat, 4 children
Type and size of farming activity: vineyards (0.4 ha), vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber – 0.3 ha); 3 cows, chickens, ducks
Work force: himself, his wife, their 4 children and their families
Why him: He is a relative of Niyoz, a young French student we met in Samarkand. He brought us to his village to meet Abdoukadir – THANKS VERY MUCH NIyOZ! By the way, Nioz would like to become a guide one day. He is already an excellent ‘unofficial’ guide now and I can recommend him wholeheartedly! So if you happen to go to Samarkand, contact him at niyoz@inbox.uz
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Which one is your most important crop?
My vines. I’ve grown the other crops for as long as I can remember but I only bought the field where I planted the vines in 2005. I grow 5 different types of grapes, including one ‘international’ variety from Iran. 4 of them are good for being eaten directly; with the 5th variety called ‘kichmick’ I make dry raisins – by drying them in a big earth pit and adding natron. I also make a little bit of wine myself.

I have noticed that your vines grow directly on the ground and not ‘vertically’ as we are used to in Europe. Why is that?
Like that they are better protected from wind and sun; and they can be covered with soil to be protected from snow and cold in the winter. I don’t think there is any disadvantage in growing them directly on the ground.

How do you care about your vines?
I water them only about 3 times per year, but anyway water is not a problem here and I get it for free. There is a canal in our village which is supplied by water from a big river nearby. I prune my vines in the winter. About 3 times per year, I get rid of the weeds – this is the most tiring job and the one I like the least in everything do. Sometimes there is a disease problem (I think it’s mildew) but I do have a remedy against it that works well (I haven’t really figured out what it was!)

How can you make a living with farming?
We produce most of what we eat ourselves; we have meat, milk, yogurt, eggs from our animals and fruits and vegetables from our garden and field. Everything we produce in excess, we sell to merchants from the bazaar. The only thing I really grow to make money with are the raisins; I grow an excellent variety and they can be sold expensively in bazaars across Uzbekistan. With 1 ton of grapes I make about 300 kg of raisins. I get 20,000 to 25,000 soms (~ 5$) per kilo.

Are you happy with your life as a farmer?
Yes, I’m happy. I don’t want to change anything in my life and don’t need anything else. We have a big family who will always help out. I’m therefore also confident for the future of my own crops and for agriculture is my village.

   
Abdoukadir with his wife and Niyoz; one of the 5 grape varieties he grows in his field

 

Cotton farmers of Uzbekistan

What a disappointment! I had lined it up nicely and was well prepared to meet an Uzbek cotton farmer. I was eagerly waiting for Nyioz, my ‘guide’ and ‘interpreter’, a young French student I had met the night before, who seemed excited about my project and keen to bring me to some cotton farmers he knew personally. But when Niyoz arrived, he told me that in the meantime he had learnt that if I wanted to write about cotton, I needed to get a special permission from the government and that we couldn’t conduct the planned interview. However, he promissed that he would help me meet a farmer who works with a less ‘strategic’ crop.

There you go! I am directly affected by the notorious lack of freedom of press in Uzbekistan! Since I definitely don’t want to put anyone (including myself!) in potential trouble, I will give up the interviews here and simply share some of the things I have learnt about cotton cultivation in Uzbekistan.

Cotton, nicknamed the ‘white gold’ in Uzbekistan, is the country’s main cash crop, accounting for 17% of its exports in 2006, with annual cotton production of about 1 mio. ton of fiber (6th largest producer) and exports of 700,000-800,000 tons (2nd largest exporter, mainly to China, Bangladesh, Korea and Russia.)

Cotton grown on Uzbekistan land was recorded nearly 2000 years ago. Production of cotton dramatically increased under Soviet Russian, when Uzbekistan basically produced nothing else but cotton. Because of the risks associated with a one-crop economy as well as from considerations of food security for the population, after independence Uzbekistan has been moving to diversify its production into cereals, while reducing cotton production (from 1.8 mio ha in 1990 to 1.4 mio. ha in 2006.)

Cotton production in Uzbekistan is controversial for mainly 2 reasons. First, for its impact of the environment. Cotton monoculture is the main reason for the drying out of the Aral Sea. Formerly one of the largest lakes in the world, the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects (principally for cotton). By 2007, it had declined to 10% of its original size and satellite images from 2014 revealed that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up. Read more about the Aral Sea ecological disaster.

The other reason why cotton farming is a touchy topic in Uzbekistan is because it had been associated with forced labor, including child labor. That’s the reason why many companies such as H&M, Ikea and Adidas have boycotted the use of Uzbekistani cotton in their products. Human rights reports were talking about appalling conditions in the cotton industry with children as young as 9 used for harvesting cotton and farmers forced to grow cotton without any benefits.

Apparently the situation has improved today. But the industry is still fully state-controlled and over 1 million public servants, employees of private businesses and young people are employed in the harvesting of cotton.

As I said, I haven’t had a chance to learn much about cotton cultivation from first hand in Uzbekistan. However, I did talk with Nioz, the 22 year old French student mentioned above about his experience of harvesting cotton. He said that he has been doing this yearly since he is 19 (the official minimal age for harvesting cotton) and that this has been a great experience. He actually thinks that most young people are like him and are already looking forward to September, when it’s cotton harvesting time. That’s when he will go to some cotton fields at the west of Samarkand, working and sleeping there for a month, together with hundreds of other young people like him (including girls!) There are about 100 people working on one field and it takes them about a week to finish off that field. In addition to human labor, machines are also being used in some fields. Nioz doesn’t think that the work is particularly hard; he can harvest up to 80kg per day. He is paid by the weight (200-300 Som/kg, ca. 0,05$). The main reasons why likes the work in the cotton fields are because of the great sense of conviviality amongst the young workers and also because it is a way for him to give back to the government what it has done for him.

Au cœur de la Route de la soie

S’il y a une ville qui évoque la Route de la soie plus qu’aucune autre, c’est Samarcande, en Ouzbékistan. Celle que Marco Polo a appelé « une très noble et grandissime cité », (même s’il n’y est jamais passé lui-même) me fait rêver depuis que je suis ado et j’ai toujours eu l’envie d’y aller un beau jour. Maintenant ça y est, j’y suis! Un nouveau ‘milestone’ du voyage est atteint!

Samarcande est une des plus vielle ville d’Asie centrale et en a été une des plus grandes. Elle n’a cessé d’attirer la convoitise et d’épater les conquérants qui s’y sont succédés… Alexandre le Grand, les Arabes, Gengis Khan – qui ne se sont pas privés de l’endommager et de la piller pour autant. La ville a toujours su se relever des coups qu’on lui a porté et elle a connu sa période la plus glorieuse quand le grand conquérant Tamerlane (appelé Timur ici) – qui venait du coin – en a fait sa capitale à la fin du 14^ème S. C’est à ce moment-là et pendant les 2 siècles suivants que les monuments qui font la renommée de Samarcande aujourd’hui ont été construits : le ‘Registan’ – un ensemble de madrasa et de mosquées monumentales entourant une grande place, la mosquée de Bibi-Khanym, le mausolée de Timur…

Moi je trouve que Samarcande est effectivement grandiose, même si beaucoup de monuments ont été très fortement rénovées et quelques aménagements modernes sont un peu douteux. Tout de même, je crois bien que je lui préfère Bukhara, située à environ 250 km à l’ouest. Un peu plus petite que sa voisine, Bukhara avait un emplacement non moins stratégique sur la Route de la soie et une histoire tout aussi prestigieuse. Elle a même été une des villes les plus importantes du monde islamique au Moyen-Age. Aujourd’hui Bukhara est une petite ville charmante avec non seulement des monuments célèbres tels le ‘Kalon minaret’ ou la ‘Madrasa Mir-i-Arab’, mais aussi une multitude d’autres vieux monuments – restaurés ou non – disséminées dans la ville, où les vieux locaux se retrouvent pour discuter et les enfants pour jouer au foot.

Les 2 villes sont fort touristiques mais comme on n’est pas en saison, ça n’est gère gênant, au contraire. La grande majorité des touristes sont des Ouzbeks et c’est bien sympathique d’observer ces groupes de mamis avec leurs fichus et robes bariolées, leurs socquettes et leurs pantoufles, débarquer de leur campagne pour visiter la ville tout comme nous. Et ça nous fait plaisir d’échanger des impressions avec d’autres voyageurs occidentaux – des cyclistes notamment ; on n’en a pas rencontrés beaucoup ces derniers mois.

   
Samarcande: Mausolée de Timur et Mosquée de Bibi-Khanym
   
Bukhara: Minaret et Mosquée de Kalon; avec les mamis ouzbèques
   
Bukhara: Madrassa parmi tant d’autres; rue de la vieille ville

Melons on my road

On this trip I saw the first melon fields in the north of Albania, in April. Back then the plants were still tiny and hadn’t flowered. Since then we’ve kept on seeing melon fields, with the fruits progressively growing. Since Turkey, melons are also sold everywhere – in supermarkets, bazaars or along the streets. They are by far the fruits we have seen and eaten the most over the past few months. Melons, watermelons… small, big, huge… round, oval, really long…. light green, dark green, orange, yellow, brownish… perfectly unicolored, with stripes, with dots… smooth skin, rough skin… There have been the big slices of watermelon people offered us along the streets in Turkey; the delicious melon juices in Iran and their ‘Charentais’ variety bigger than a basketball; there has been the dried melons sold in Turkmenistan and their peculiar Russian variety of watermelons… And now there are the melons of Uzbekistan!
   
I didn’t believe it first, when locals told me that the Uzbek melons were the best… until I tried their star variety (‘Kalaböri”, they call it): Oh my god, this melon is a poem! A slice of heaven! Definitely the most delicious melon I have ever had (and I became a true expert over the past months!) Uzbeks fully deserve to be proud of their melons and I regret that we missed the ‘Melon festival’ in Khiva 2 weeks ago! We have seen melons everywhere in Uzbekistan, even in the driest of regions. There are hundreds and hundreds of smallholders selling their melons along the road; sometimes they have quite a sophisticated booth with various varieties, sometimes they just present a few pieces on a small table… It’s always a pleasure to see how skillfully they manage to cut open a melon for a passer-by, but I still don’t understand how they can all make a living with that!

As an ex-R&D communications manager at Syngenta and someone who takes this project seriously, I should now be in a position to provide some scientific explanations about why Uzbek melons taste so amazingly good or at least some deeper insights into the melon world… But honestly, I still don’t know enough about the topic and haven’t had the opportunity to do much research about it (internet access is very difficult currently). So for now I leave it there and just bow in awe and gratefulness in front of nature and the melon breeders of this world!