Gianni Schicchi

Stockholm has a wonderful summer tradition of theatre in the city parks. This year the have, among other things, given Gianni Schicchi, in cooperation with a private opera house, Folkoperan.

I went with some friends on Wednesday, just about the only evening without rain this weekend and enjoyed it a lot. The outdoor theatre was full!

Russian town

Outside the great timurid monuments, Samarkand was a very Russian-looking town, with among other things, a GUM (top picture) and small houses in lush green streets.

Vacation reading links

From my lazy couch in Stockholm, I still want to share some reading with you - but expect less links and less frequent in coming weeks too perhaps...

Developments in Turkey have been spinning on since I last posted:
here Dagens Nyheters analysis of the crucial week
Svenska Dagbladet interviews Jan Hjärpe on bomb attacks in Istanbul
Barbro Hedvall's editorial analysis in Dagens Nyheter
BBC meets the elite that are wary of the AKP.
Dagens Nyheter's comment on when the AKP were NOT dissolved by legal decree.
New York Times published this editorial on the topic.
Michael Rubin writes in the latest MidEast Monitor on the situation.

Chris Pattern for The National on European Middle East policies.

Urban Hamid reports for Svenska Dagbladet from Baghdad.

BBC poses the question of British conduct in Basra.

The Baalbek festival sings again, according to the BBC.

BBC writes on the recent coup in Mauretania.

BBC points out the legal difficulties meeting UAE expats.

BBC shows more video clips on their website these days, here with a young Muslim man from Kenyan Lamu.

Svenska Dagbladet reports that a group of Iranian judges want to stop the stonings in Iranian law.

Sultan Al-Qassemi in the National on Saudi-arabia

Swedish football player Christian Wilhelmsson has signed a contract for Saudi Al-Hilal - Expressen writes of his new life.

BBC meets a Kurdish novelist, slated to be published also in Arabic.

BBC meets a Kosovar teacher and Sufi with strong social networks.

Aftonbladet writes on the pro-democracy and gay liberation movements in Belarus.

Expressen highlight recent difficulties to obtain ID's in Sweden, especially for resident non-citizens .

A Bosnian refugee in Sweden tells Svenska Dagbladet of her involvement in the Swedish society and her contributions to it.

Landscapes - going to Samarkand

Close to Termez and the Amu-Darya it was very lush and green. Further north, the harsher realities surrounded us again.

Infrastructure!

Sometimes we need reminders that life and countries aren't all about pretty pictures... - we did pass by quite a bit of this too!

Radio live!

A bit of free advertising from me for the Swedish radio's theme day on Tuesday featuring all their foreign correspondent's in panel debates and discussions of current affairs reporting.

Going back north

Going north from Termez we passed green fields. Some of them were cotton I guess.

More Sufi shrines

The number of sites with Sufi connotations, commemorating saints with folklore-stories surrounding their life, death and sainthood, was striking. This was the Termez Munch Baba (Pepper dad, sort of). It made me believe that the orders have played an important part in Uzbek history and that a folksy type of religious every-day life has been more common than orthodoxy, even if they seemed unknown to people today.

Termez vines

I believe Uzbek vines are related to the Georgian, the taste of the wine indicated that. Very old stocks in that case. And this mass effect is always cool.

Living organisms???

So close to the border, there were lots of out-of-bounds-areas, also where tourist sites could have been. At one point, we gave up trying to get closer, when we encountered this puddle...

Details from the Sultan Saadat

Even more of the well-worked details of the mausoleum complex outside Termez.

Saadat tilework

We sincerely thanked the caretaker for his family's role in preserving these amazing features for us and the future.

The delicacy of the site made it one of my favourites, even if it was not as spectacular as others we saw.

Sultan Saadat

Another mausoleum complex for the Timurid family, exquisitely beautiful in it's delicate blues and tiles.

The man in the last photo is the caretaker, from a family line of centuries of caretakers.

Kokildor

The religious teacher and mentor of the 40 wives in the ruin (see previous posts...) rests in this mausoleum.

The dustiest museum in history...

... is definitely not this one. This museum in Termez was very nicely done up, as well as the one below in Tashkent.





The Samarkand museum is though. I recommend an exhibition producer, better lighting and a total carpet make-over - because the exhibition content is nice!