Cotton Picking and other Labour

Cotton picking has a long history in Uzbekistan. Cotton has been grown in Uzbekistan for about 2000 years. In Soviet times land has been made arable with irrigating Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which later caused the catastrophe of the diminishing Aral Sea with the subsequent pollution and salination of the sea. Forced child labour has been a problem; look at the article of the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/15/cotton-child-labour-uzbekistan-fashion. Maybe adult forced labour is still a problem, but it’s hard to tell, any driver stopping at cotton fields, where people pick cotton, will loose his licence. And therefore all you can see is people picking cotton out of the moving car or bus.

Cotton blossom

A cotton field without pickers could be watched from out of the bus

And that's as near as you get, the bus is going at 60 km/h

In Samarkand the Registan was prepared for a conference on tourism. I don’t think that the women cleaning the huge place were doing this as volunteers. But that’s how it is in totalitarian countries.

While some perform menial tasks, others pursue loftier endeavours

I think the pictures tell quite a lot about the form of government and the position of women in the current society.

Horses in the Steppe of Kazakhstan

We were driving through the dried out steppe of Kazakhstan to visit the petroglyphs at Tamgalan, which is off the main road. Suddenly we were driving into a herd of horses, which had come near the remains of a road as water from a spell of rain in the days before had collected along the road or even on the road. 

Dry and vast

Toilets in Central Asia

In 2012 some real bad examples of toilets alerted me on the fact that travel and toilets are a topic to comment on. I don’t want to go on and point on every bad toilet I’ve seen on my travels, but some experiences a worth to be passed.

Sometimes there is nothing but a very basic and very dirty hole in the ground. And sometimes you utterly surprised about the good condition of a toilet, where you didn’t expect such luxury. I will show some examples and can’t cover the topic exhaustively.

This rather unpromising raw building has been one of the very few options in between Khiva and Buchara.

Sorry to say, but the first impression turned out to be right. Though someone had a very good idea and put awesome effort into putting up a toilet in the desert, some butthead spoiled it.

As people are discrete, one doesn't need to have a door - or do you think otherwise?

The corresponding hole - I recall the odour and ... flies.

This is a washing room adjecent to a mosque in Tashkent. Marvelous. And of course marble.

The corresponding toilet 

Links:

Travel and Toilets

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/travel-and-toilets.html

High Tech Toilets in Japan

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/04/high-tech-toilets-in-japan.html

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As Autumn Progresses

Autumn progresses slowly this year. But pictures show completion and the begin of decay. Sad, but necessary, otherwise the world would as depicted in Torchwood.

Sunny October 

Caressing the sky with clouds 

Cricket’s happy song

Autumn colours

Leaves won't fall yet

As the birds still sing

09.12.2014
After returning from my vacation I realized that autumn already had progressed far, but there is also hope. And a hint to a new beginning.

All the leaves are brown ...

Golden stars

You might like to look at Autumn approaching, too:
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/09/autumn-approaching.html 

Konkrete Poesie

Ich habe beim Durchsehen alter Bücher noch ein paar Bespiele konkreter Poesie entdeckt, die ich keinem vorenthalten will. Teilweise schon in Dieter Roths "Zeitschrift für Alles" veröffentlicht (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Roth).

Markets in Central Asia

While travelling through Central Asia, I had the opportunity to visits markets. I like markets. I go on markets at home to buy fresh bread, fruits & veggies, but even more I like looking at markets in foreign countries. You can watch people and what they are buying and how they are buying. The weather in Tashkent and Almaty was bad, so the colours aren't as vivid as in the other locations.

Samarkand

Inside Siyob Bazaar

Even without a market stall, people are selling goods

All kinds of spices

In front of the bazaar

Waiting for customers - No Halloween in Samarkand!

Watermelons

I couldn't communicate so much to elucidate, what this gentleman was going to buy.

Pass in between Samarkand and Shakhrsabz

Shakhrsabz

Tashkent

Looks much like my Grandmother's bottled fruits and veggies.

Grains, noodles, oil

The bushel is still in use ...

(Don't hide your light under a bushel!)

Red rice is most expensive.

Lovely, how the fruits are displayed!

Almaty

Outside of the Green Bazaar

As it was just starting to rain, business was slow.