After having to postpone this presentation in May, we finally get to hear about Al and Jan’s adventure!
In September 2024, Netters Jan Everingham and Alison McIntosh, together with Jan’s husband Charles and six other seasoned travellers, embarked on a Bunniks tour of the Five Stans: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. These five nations were forced into independence in the early 1990s after the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Their boundaries were drawn up 100 years ago to suit the needs of the Soviets, not with the view of their becoming self-governing self-sustaining countries.
Jan and Al’s trip to the Five Stans was in part inspired by Joanna Lumley’s TV series on the Silk Road as they had only limited knowledge of Central Asia other than through the exploits of the likes of Marco Polo and Genghis Khan.
What they now understand is that it’s a region not only shaped by its location at the crossroads of civilization where empires have savagely fought for occupation over many centuries, but that it’s also one of great beauty, both natural and built, of political ambiguities and tensions, of contradictions evidenced through strongly entrenched cultural traditions and the desire and need to become educated societies, of friendly and welcoming people, of vibrant modern cities and sparsely populated expansive deserts and towering mountains.
Jan and Al have returned with many photos and amazing memories of a truly wonderful experience, some of which they’d like to share with you.
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