A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road

A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road
Authors
Alexander, Christopher Aslan
Publisher
Icon Books
Tags
fair trade , iran , biography , islam , central asia , history , embroidery , corruption , travel , dyeing , carpet
ISBN
9781848312715
Date
2010-07-01T00:00:00+00:00
Size
0.66 MB
Lang
en
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Chris Alexander originally travelled to Khiva, a remote walled city in Uzbekistan on the route of the ancient Silk Road, to write a guidebook. But he stayed, mesmerized by a world of silk and forgotten 15th-century carpet designs - discovering indigo blue, madder red, pomegranate gold and the subtle shades of life in a desert oasis. Alexander's entrancing travelogue sees him stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through My Heart Will Go On for Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. The result is an unforgettable true story of a journey to the heart of the unknown.