Fromoverhere

  I have talked in previous blog posts about the unique story of the adopted Karakalpak Ivor Savitsky and his museum.   His biography is now available.  “Igor Savitsky-Artist, Collector, Museum Founder” is written by Marinika Babanazarova, Igor Savitsky’s successor as Director of the Museum since his death in 1984 and published by Silk Road Media [...]

The Savitsky museum was one of the most enjoyable features of my month’s stay in Nukus, Uzbekistan.  The story of how a collection of some 90 000 pieces of avant-guard Russian 20th century art ended up in some dusty dead end of central Asia  is one of the most romantic, heart-warming, and – I now [...]

I entered Uzbekistan from Kazakhstan on the 9th August, traveling by train from Turkistan to Tashkent. At no point at the border crossing (or during my earlier online research, travelling websites or in my guidebook) was there any information about any medication being illegal in Uzbekistan. 10 days later at the Uzbek/Turkmenistan border, in response to [...]

Teens: In a shared taxi to Chimbulak, Kazakhstan  Having just waited for two hours without success at the number 6 bus-stop, I shared a taxi up the mountain with a couple of 19-year-old Kazakh boys.  We had tried chatting when waiting at the bus stop, but found that I was probably better at Russian than [...]

In my summary to British Embassy Tashkent, I made the following observations about my impromptu stay in Karakalpakstan: I was well treated by the junior customs officials, who were professional and did everything to help (including arranging accommodation, providing food, etc). It’s a bloody mess, as you must experience the whole time. It was impossible [...]