Travel Photos from around the world
The history of Bukhara goes back about 2500 years, with the initial settlements of the Aryan people.
It was a major city within the Persian empire from 600 BCE, but eventually a Turkic population overthrew the locals.
By the 9th, and 10th century, the Samanid empire (an Iranian Islamic empire) conquered the city and Bukhara became the intellectual capital of the Islamic world.
Khiva’s true rise to fame was through its intensive slave trade, at peak having over 30,000 Persian and Kurdish slaves, and 3000 Russian slaves kidnapped from the southern areas of Russia.
By the 1850’s the Russian government was well aware of it’s people being kidnapped in cities such as Orenburg. But at the time, the Tsar was busy consolidating his power in St. Petersburg and the rest of Russia.
By the early 1870’s, Russia used the pretext of ‘Russian slaves in Khiva’ to stage a strategic military advance and invasion (Although the real goal was to capture British controlled Afghanistan, and ultimately, India).
Whichever way you look, Uzbekistan is surrounded by 5 countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.
Since 1991, one man has basically controlled Uzbekistan, under a mostly dictatorship-style government, while initiating a post-soviet reformation from absolute chaos and anarchy.
As of 2017, a new president is now in office, and is seeking to liberalize the entire country by apologizing for past mistakes, giving large economic incentives for international investments, establishing communication presidents from other countries, and allowing the Islamic religion more room to flourish.
Within the next several years, Uzbekistan will most definitely be a prime tourism and investment destination for many foreigners.
Oh, and Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan 🙂
The flight from Almaty was less than $100 USD and took only 1 hour.
But upon trying to land the plane in Kyrgyzstan… we didn’t land, so the pilot made a big circle around the airport, and tried to land again… but couldn’t… for a total of 3 failed landing attempts.
After the 3rd failed attempt, tensions in the body were rising… would the plane have enough fuel to land in another airport? Were we going to crash and burn in the Kyrgyz mountains?Â
After my 3-4 day stop in Astana, Kazakhstan, I decided to take a $95 USD flight down to Almaty, Kazakhstan (the former capital of Kazakhstan).
You can either take a train for about 15 hours, or a 2 hour flight… Obviously the flight was the better option.
Long story short, I ended up staying in Almaty for almost a month, and had an epic adventure into the mountains of Shymbulak.
Just like yourself, I had no idea what Plyos was, or why someone would go there. It is almost in the middle of nowhere in Russia, and has a very small population of about 2300 (according to wikipedia).
What you get to see in Plyos, is a beautifully scenic town by the river… old-Russian style.
About 120 years ago, a Russian painter from Moscow, Isaac Levitan, came across the hills of this town, and decided to start painting it all.
Upon displaying and selling his paintings back in Moscow, Isaac Levitan became incredibly famous, and the town of Plyos became a ‘Dacha’ or Cottage resort town.
If you’ve had a chance to visit Dubai, then Astana feels incredibly similar.
OR, If you felt that Kazakhstan was a backwater country as portrayed in Borat, then prepare to be blown away.
In 1864, local merchants failed to convince the town to build the trans-siberian railway through it.
Thus the town remained a religious backwater village, and was bypassed completely by the industrialization of the 20th century.
The beauty of the town is in its reminder of an older time in Russian history, with its magnificent churches, and many wooden houses.
I was in Manaus Brazil (North eastern Brazil), when it was time to decide on the next destination.
Unfortunately, I was stuck with expensive flights during peak Brazilian Carnival season.
A flight to almost anywhere in Brazil, was going to cost about $500+ USD.
The least expensive flight?
While exploring Moscow, I stumbled upon these amazing posters from mid-century USSR / Communist Russia.
These came from a time, when the media was completely controlled by the government. Thus they could shape, direct, and force the minds of millions of people in any direction they wanted.
Thus, one day the USSR is friends with Nazi Germany, and the next, they are bloody, savage, and ruthless enemies.
“Minsk, The Most Difficult City To Visit In Europe” is actually the title of a Minsk vlog review I posted back in October of 2016.
I stayed in Minsk for a total of 3 weeks in 2016 (1 week, then 2 additional weeks), and decided that it was an awesome city to visit… if you could get in.
For many years, the Visa process for many people was a headache, which prevented extensive amounts of income from tourism.
As an interesting side note, Minsk was COMPLETELY destroyed by the German army in World War 2.
Thus, everything you see in these photos, was built after the war.
A lot of Minsk was re-built by prisoners of war as well.
While wandering around Yekaterinburg, Russia – Home of Russia’s First President, there was a fun exhibit on the streets, featuring Communist propaganda against the Nazi’s in World War 2.
Since I loved playing WW2 video games as a kid, and watching a good WW2 about the epic Eastern Front (Russians vs. Germans), I was quite excited to share these Translated World War 2 USSR/Communist Propaganda Posters.
Yekaterinburg has several very important stories that you need to know about, that ultimately culminate in the Russia you know, see, and hear about today.
During the 2nd World War, Germany invaded European Russia.
To avoid losing the entire Russian manufacturing industry, Stalin packaged every factory in Euro-Russia.Â
Stalin then shipped the factories to this city to be rebuilt, in order to produce an endless supply of tanks, planes, and weapons.
Welcome to New Siberia
Delhi, India is actually 2 different cities; Old Delhi, and New Delhi.
New Delhi is the gentrified areas full of malls, new apartment blocks, highways, and pretty much the same thing you see in every corner of the world right now.
Old Delhi is where the wild west is, and you can tell…
I’ve been to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but there was a desire to see the OTHER far-eastern end of Russia…
Almost immediately upon arriving into Fort Kochi, India, you feel how ancient everything is.
Add in the architecture from multiple religions that co-existed at one point here, and you have a mess of a very deep and vivid history.
You literally have a mix of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Communism, and British and Portuguese Colonialism, all in one.
Also, there is a fun element of animals wandering around freely here, goats, cats, chickens, dogs… but no cows this time?
It’s rain season, so everything is wet… but everything is also beautifully lush and green.
Oh, and there was an abundance of mosquitos…
But luckily I brought 2 canisters of mosquito repellent. So for the rest of the few days of being in the freshest air in the world… we smelled like industrial chemicals – But atleast no mosquito bites, right?
Arriving in Mysore, you immediately feel that it is WAY less chaotic than Bengaluru. Still just as dirty with garbage thrown around on every corner, street, green field, crevice and what not, but otherwise, less chaotic.
All of those fairy tales and hype you hear about India are just that… hype.
The mystical, spiritual place that is supposed to be India, is the most contrasted place to all other nations I have ever been in. A full 180 degrees in the opposite direction of sanity and order. But at the same time, there is beauty in the Chaos as the saying goes.