World Wide Wanders Series

See all seven World Wide Wanders.

Uzbekistan | Seven Saints of Bukhara

See Seven Saints of Bukhara

According to the thirteen-century Persian historian Ata-Malik Juvaini, Bukhara, the city in what is now the country of Uzbekistan, “is the cupola of Islam and is in those regions like unto the City of Peace [Baghdad] . . . Since ancient times it has in every age been the place of assembly of the great savants of every religion.”

In the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries seven remarkable men lived in Bukhara and the surrounding Bukhara Oasis. These men were known as the Khwajagan, or Masters of Wisdom. The Seven Khwajagan are: Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (1103–1179); Arif ar-Riwakri (1136-1239); Mahmud al-Injir al-Faghnawi (d.1317);Ali ar-Ramitani (d.1315/1321); Muhammad Baba as-Sammasi (d.1354); Sayyid Amir Kulal (1287?–d.1370); Bahauddin Shah Naqshband (1318–1388?)

The Khwajagan remain to this day revered as the Seven Saints of Bukhara, and their mausoleum complexes continue to be visited by pilgrims and travelers from all over the world.

Italy | Venice | Early Life of Enrico Dandolo

There are few greater ironies in History than the fact that the fate of Eastern Christendom should have been sealed—and half of Europe condemned to some five hundred years of Muslim rule—by men who fought under the banner of the Cross. Those men were transported, inspired, encouraged, and ultimately led by Enrico Dandolo in the name of the Venetian Republic; and, just as Venice derived the major advantage from the tragedy, so she and her magnificent old doge must accept the responsibility for the havoc that they have wrought on the world. —Byzantium: The Decline and Fall—John Julius Norwich

Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo (c.1107–1205) was one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade and the mastermind behind the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. The stated goal of the Fourth Crusade, initiated by Pope Alexander III and launched in 1202, was to recapture the holy city of Jerusalem, which had been seized by the Saladin, the Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, on October 2, 1187, ending nearly of nearly nine decades of occupation by the Occidental Crusaders. By the time the Crusaders reached Constantinople, however, the Venetian continence, led by Enrico Dandolo, was more concerned with collecting the money they claimed was owned to them by Byzantine Emperor Alexios IV (r. August 1203 to January 1204). Relations between the Venetians and the Byzantines quickly deteriorated and outright war soon broke out. On April 3, 1204, the Crusaders attacked the heavily fortified city. Enrico Dandolo himself, probably ninety-seven years old at the time and almost completely blind, led a contingent of troops to the city’s sea walls. Constantinople fell to the Crusaders on April 13.  Historian Speros Vryonis describes what happened next:

The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered (they were themselves semi-Byzantines) and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church’s holy vessels . . . The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became easy prey to the Turks. The Fourth Crusade and the crusading movement generally thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of course the exact opposite of its original intention.

Much of the loot seized by Enrico Dandolo and the Venetians during the sack of Constantinople can still be seen in Venice today, including, perhaps most notably, the Four Horses that once stood in the Hippodrome in Constantinople. They are now in the St. Mark’s Basilica Museum. Reproductions of the Horses grace the facade of the Basilica, mute reminders of Enrico Dandolo’s equivocal role in world history.

Wanders in Venice: The Early Life of Enrico Dandolo, Mastermind of the Fourth Crusade and the 1204 Sack of Constantinople traces the rise of the Dandolo Family to prominence in Venice and the life of Enrico Dandolo up until he was appointed Doge in 1192.

Reproductions of The Four Horses that once stood in the Hippodrome in Constantinople. The originals are now in the St. Mark’s Basilica Museum.

Mongolia | In Search of Shambhala: The 1925-1928 Roerich Expedition in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The 1925-1928 Roerich Expedition, led by artist, mystic, spy, arch-intriguer, and hard-core Aghartian-Shambhalist Nicholas Roerich, was believed by some to be a khora, or circumnavigation, of the legendary kingdom of Shambhala. The Expedition spent seven months in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Everywhere they turned the Roerichs stumbled upon signs of Shambhala . . . Continued . . .

Mongolia | Zanabazar | First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia

Zanabazar (1635–1723) was, according to most reckonings, the sixteenth incarnation of Javsandamba. The first incarnation is believed to have appeared around the time of the Buddha. As a small boy he was recognized as the spiritual leader of Mongolia and awarded the title of Bogd Gegeen. He would go on to play a role in the religious and political life of Mongolia analogous to that of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. Zanabazar built temples and established monasteries, including one at what is now the site of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, and was a polymath who invented new scripts for writing the Mongolian language, designed new clothes for monks, studied the medical properties of hot springs, and much else. He is most famous for his bronze statues which are now the centerpieces of three museums in Ulaanbaatar. “During his lifetime, he was the greatest Buddhist sculptor in Asia,” opines art historian K. Youso about Zanabazar.” Indeed, he is often called the Michelangelo of Mongolia. Zanabazar was the first of Mongolia’s nine Bogd Gegeens. The Ninth Bogd Gegeen transmigrated on March 1, 2012.  During a visit to Mongolia on November 23, 2016, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama announced that the Tenth Bogd Gegeen had been born and that attempts were being made to identify him. Update: The Tenth has now been named. See Tenth Incarnation.

See The Life of Zanabazar

Mongolia | False Lama of Mongolia: The Life and Death of Dambijantsan

Who was Dambijantsan?

A Buddhist monk; a freedom fighter for Mongolian independence; the descendant of Amursanaa (1723–1757), the Western Mongol who led the last great uprising against the Qing Dynasty of China; the incarnation of Mahakala, the Buddhist god of war; bandit, torturer, murderer, or evil incarnate? During his lifetime no one was sure who he really was, and even today the controversy about his life continues.

Born in what is now the Republic of Kalmykia, part of the Russian Federation, Dambijantsen traveled throughout Tibet, India, and China before arriving in Mongolia in 1890 where he tossed gold coins to bystanders and announced to one and all that he had come to free Mongolia from the yoke of the Qing Dynasty of China. After disappearing almost twenty years he returned to lead the attack on Khovd City, the last Chinese outpost in Mongolia. Honored by the Eighth Bogd Gegeen, the theocratic leader of Mongolia, for his efforts in achieving Mongolian independence, he went on to establish his own mini-state in western Mongolia, which he hoped to use as a base for establishing a Mongol-led Buddhist khanate in Inner Asia. His dictatorial nature and unbridled sadism soon came to the fore and he was finally arrested and imprisoned in Russia. After the Russian Revolution he returned to Mongolia, gathered new followers around him, and established a stronghold at the nexus of old caravan routes in Gansu Province, China. He robbed caravans, grew opium, and once again dreamed of creating a new Mongolian khanate in Inner Asia. Finally the new Bolshevik government in Mongolia, fearful of his rising power, issued orders for his assassination. Dambijantsan transmigrated in 1922, but in Mongolia legends persist to this day that his spirit still rides on the winds of the Gobi and continues to haunt his former lairs.

For more on Dambijantsan see False Lama of Mongolia: The Life and Death of Dambijantsan. 

Mongolia | Wanders in the Khentii Mountains of Mongolia | Onon Hot Springs

I have visited the Onon Hot Springs in the upper Onon Valley three times: once while on my first trip into the Khentiis in 1997; once while doing the Khora around the Burkhan Khamag of the Khamag Mongols; and yet again in 2007, when I made a trip to the springs for therapeutic purposes. The springs are famous for treating diseases and afflictions of the lower body: knees (mud packs taken from near the springs are especially good for knee joints), lower back pain, kidney and liver problems, and rheumatism and sore muscles in general. Zevgee wanted to treat his knees, which had become wobbly with the advancing years, I am concerned about my lower back, which had been acting up for the past several years. Zevgee’s wife, Tümen-Ölzii, had no specific ailments but just wanted to enjoy the rejuvenating effects of the springs. Zevgee’s son Batdorj and grandson Puntog would come along on a break from the daily chores of herding livestock and to help Zevgee with the horses.

Puntog, Zevgee, Batdorj, Tümen-Ölzii (click on photos for enlargements)

From Zevgee’s ger at the confluence of the Kherlen Gol and Terelj Gol we took the by-now familiar trail up the east bank of the Kherlen, past Erdene Uul, the Burkhan Khaldun of the Uriangkhai, to the Shirengetei Gol, and then rode up Shirengetei Valley. At places a two-rutted path could just be made out. According to Tümen-Ölzii, locals called this path Zanabazar’s Road. Zanabazar, the First Bogd Gegeen, had, it was claimed, visited the Onon Hot Springs on an almost yearly basis. He probably came here from Saridag Khiid, the monastery that I had visited earlier. From Saridag Khiid he would have taken a small tributary of the Tuul Gol to Bürkhiin Davaa and then down the valley of the Bürkh Gol to the Kherlen Gol—the same route I had taken when I visited Saridag Khiid—and then followed the Shirengetei Gol upstream on the path that now bears his name. 

Zanabazar’s Road (foreground), and the Shirengetei Gol Valley

We camped for the night in the upper Shirengetei Valley and the next day crossed Baga Davaa and Ikh Davaa into the drainage of the Onon Gol. We stopped that night in the valley of the Tsonj Chuluu Creek at the same clearing we had camped at on my previous two trips to Onon Hot Springs. The next day we continued on to the Onon Gol, just below its beginning at the confluence of Tsonj Chuluu Creek and Öngöljin Creek. On my previous two trips we had proceeded down the east bank of the Onon Gol. There was a trail of sorts but at times we had to ride through swamps and standing water. Twice my horse floundered in knee-deep mud. Since then hunters had told Zevgee that there was a better trail down the west bank of the river. Crossing the Onon Gol we soon picked up the faint trail. The terrain on the west bank was elevated and dry and the forest was relatively free of down timber. At places there was just a hint of a two-rutted path. This, Zevgee concluded, must be the route used by Zanabazar. Although at times the trail meandered a half mile or more from the river it was easy going and we arrived at the hot springs by late afternoon . . . Continued. 

Mongolia | Wanders in the Khentii Mountains of Mongolia | The Source of the Amur River and the Birthplace of the Mongols

The Amur River is, according to most sources, the tenth-longest river in the world. The Amur flows into the Strait of Tartary, which separates Sakhalin Island from mainland Asia. The Strait of Tartary opens to the north into the Sea of Okhotsk, part of the Pacific Ocean. The Amur River proper begins at the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers and flows 1755 miles to the sea. The 348-mile-long Shilka River begins at the confluence of the Ingoda and Onon rivers. The Onon, the larger of the two and thus considered the ultimate source of the Amur River System, measures 641 miles in length. Thus the entire Onon-Shilka-Amur River System is 2,744 miles long. Some reference works maintain, however, that the ultimate source of the Amur River System is the Kherlen River, which flows east out of the Khentii Mountains and eventually debouches into Khölön Lake (also known as Dalai Nuur) in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. Normally it is an endorheic lake with no outlet, however, and only at times of high water does Khölön Lake overflow into the Argun (Ergüne) River, which flows northeast and eventually combines with the Shilka River to form the Amur River. The fact that the Kherlen-Khölön Lake-Argun-Amur River System does not flow continuously seems to disqualify it in the eyes of most authorities, including the Times Altas of the World (wikipedia.com names the Onon as the source of the river system, with the Argun-Kherlen as a “2nd source”). 

 During my first trip into the Khentii Mountains in 1997 I crossed Ikh Davaa, which separates the drainages of the Kherlen Gol and the Onon Gol, and then followed Tsonj Chuluu Creek downstream to its confluence with Öngöljin Creek. This is the actual beginning of the Onon River. Öngöljin Creek is the bigger of the two creeks that combine to form the Onon. Therefore the true, ultimate source of the Onon-Shilka-Amur River System is the source of Öngöljin Creek, a detail left out of all atlases and other authorities. On that first trip into the Khentiis I was hell-bent on visiting Onon Hot Springs and ascending the sacred mountain of Burkhan Khaldun (Khentii Khan Uul), so I did not trace Öngöljin Creek to its beginning. I did decide that one day I would return and locate the source of Öngöljin Creek, the true beginning of the Öngöljin Creek–Onon–Shilka-Amur River System. My original plan was to retrace my 1997 route to the beginning of the Onon Gol and then proceed upstream on Öngöljin Creek . . . Continued.

Mongolia | Wanders in the Khentii Mountains of Mongolia | Saridag Khiid and Yestiin Hot Springs

While browsing in a bookstore in Ulaanbaatar I came across a short biography of Zanabazar (1635-1723), the First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia, written by a Mongolian historian. Nowadays Zanabazar is perhaps best known for his artwork. I had already seen examples of his famous bronze statues in the Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum, the Choijin Lama Museum, and the Bogd Khan Winter Palace Museum, but at that point I knew very little about his life. Zanabazar was a polymath who addition to being an artist had designed and built new temples, invented two new scripts for writing the Mongolian language, and fashioned new clothes for monks. He also studied the medical properties of hot springs. According to the author of the biography, these included the Onon Hot Springs, which I had visited on my first trip into the Khentii Mountains, the Minj Hot Springs on the Minj Gol in the northern Khentiis, and Yestiin Hot Springs. The author made no mention of where the Yestiin Hot Springs were located, but I assumed they were somewhere in the Khentii Mountains, where Zanabazar had established a large monastery. The first opportunity I had I asked Zevgee, the Kherlen Valley herdsman who had acted as my guide on my previous trips into the Khentiis, if he knew anything about Yestiin Hot Springs. Of course he knew. He said he had been there numerous times. The hot springs were about a three-day ride by horse from his ger near the confluence of the Kherlen Gol and the Terelj Gol. Thus a couple of years after my first trip into the Khentiis I made arrangements to visit Yestiin Hot Springs.

While on the way to Yestiin Hot Springs I stumbled upon the ruins of Saridag Khiid, the monastery founded by Zanabazar in 1654. The monastery was totally destroyed by Zanabazar’s arch-nemesis Galdan Bolshigt in 1688, and for over 300 years the ruins, in a remote area of the Khentii Mountains, were visited only by hunters and plant-gatherers . . .  Continued.

Iran | Yazd | Carpets

While in Yazd I wandered by a complex of shops selling pottery, brass and copper work, fabrics, clothes, carpets, and other items of interest to tourists, gadabouts, and pilgrims, both domestic and international. 

Courtyard of the shopping complex (click on photos for enlargements)

Pottery for sale at the complex

I was most interested in carpets. Stepping into one store I was surprised to see a selection of carpets very much like some that I already had in my hovel in Zaisan Tolgoi. I had bought mine in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, however. “Where are these carpets made?” I asked. I fully expected the salesmen to say “Yazd”, since most visitors are interested in buying locally made products. Instead he answered, “They are made in Serakhs.” “Serakhs, Iran, or Serakhs, Turkmenistan?” I wondered. The salesmen smiled, “Probably both.”

Salesmen in carpet store

I have of course been in Serakhs, Turkmenistan, since it was one of the cities trashed by Chingis Khan’s son Tolui in 1221. I did not have an Iranian visa at the time, so I could not visit Serakhs in Iran, which is right across the border. Nor did I have time to check out carpets stores, as my Turkmenistan visa was expiring and I had to get back to Ashgabat.

Ruins of the ancient city of Serakhs, destroyed by Tolui. The modern city is nearby, with a sister city just across the border in Iran.

Serakhs carpets in Yazd

Serakhs carpets  in Yazd

Serakhs carpets  in Yazd

Serakhs carpets

Serakhs carpets  in Yazd

These kinds of carpets, single knotted silk, with emphasis on the color red, are often called “Bukhara Carpets” or “Bukharans”, after Bukhara in Uzbekistan. They were given these names because they were commonly sold in Bukhara, one of the great Silk Road emporiums, not because they were made there. Even today dealers in Bukhara will try to tell you that they are made in Bukhara, but even the most cursory investigation will prove this not to be true. The salesmen in the stores adamantly stick to this story, however. Someone else in Bukhara, a salesman in a store selling hand-woven fabrics who appeared to have a grudge against the carpets guys, warning me that they were dyed-in-the-wool liars and not to believe a word they said about anything, told me that it was common knowledge among local merchants that the carpets in question came from Serakhs, in Turkmenistan.  I seem to have found proof of this assertion here in Yazd. 

Carpet Store in the Abdullah Khan Tim in Bukhara 

“Bukharan” carpets in the Abdullah Khan Tim. In all likelihood they were made in Serakhs.

“Bukharan” carpets

“Bukharan” carpets

A “Bukharan” carpet, probably made in Serakhs, on the floor of my hovel in Zaisan Tolgoi, Mongolia.

Regardless of where they are made, they are gorgeous carpets. I showed one to some Carpet Guys In Istanbul and they grudgingly admitted—they are not big fans of single-knot carpets—that they were of excellent quality. One dealer even offered me cash for one. The profit would have covered my plane ticket to Ashgabat, but I passed. I certainly do not want to become even a part-time carpet dealer, a profession which on the social scale is only slightly above pimps, prostitutes, bartenders, and lawyers.