Iskanderkul scenery - a photo on Flickriver

            After three months of working on my pictures, I finally made the definitive (?) selection. A lot of work, that took me probably about 300 hours or so.

More than 1800 are rather worthwhile to show, and some of them are truly spectacular. I know it is not very modest to say that of my own pictures, but I am not sure if false modesty is a better way of not expressing my own feelings. But judge for yourselves.

This picture was taken at Iskanderkul (the lake of Alexander), and it is situated in the northwest of Tajikistan, in the Fann-mountains. I am not sure if it was named after Alexander the great, the stories are somewhat vague on this matter, but what is sure is that the dacha of the Tajik president is situated at the east end of the lake. 

We spent two days at this lake, and although this scenery is fantastic it took me a lot of pictures to capture its grandness. Not only the lake but the surrounding mountains are so stunning you don't know where to look all the time. Enjoy!

20 September I came back from my journey over a part of the Silk Road to and through Central Asia. 4 months of traveling through 14 countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran)  before I flew home from Teheran. An impressive  journey in countries that are extremely beautiful, with lovely and welcoming people and diverse cultures and history. 

Intense traveling with more than 20000 kilometers in our mobile home on sometimes roads that hardly could be called that way.  We saw many villages and cities (some wonderful, others very ugly), countries that are transforming from the old Soviet era into something more related to older cultures and the way people live, often funded by oil readily available around the Caspian sea. We saw the amazing mountains south of the Black Sea, the wonderful Caucasus, and the high mountains in the far east close to China with peaks over 7000 meter, and not to forget the (Bulgarian) Alps!

We crossed the great steppe of Kazakhstan. a drive of at least 5000 km, the remnants of lake Aral, once one of the biggest lakes of the world, saw a rocket launch from Baikonur (this little part is Russian owned), we crossed many high mountains passes, and drove the breathtaking canyon that comes from the Pamir, beginning at ca 4500 meter, and going down for ca. 400km to an altitude of 1300 meter, driving for 100's of kilometers along the Afghan border. 

And then the numerous lakes with all sorts of different colors from deep cobalt blue to turquoise, and one rare spectacle in Turkmenistan where a gas crater is burning already for more than 40 years. And finally and certainly not the least to mention an enormous amount of wonderful, hospitable and welcoming people. The woman often dressed in wonderful dresses, and bringing a lot of color in the streets of almost of all countries we visited.

Taken in: Tajikistan / Viloyati Sughd / Kanchoch (show map)

Taken on: August 26, 2019

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Camera: Sony SLT-A65V, f/7.1, 1/125 sec, 50mm (=75mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony SLT-A65V
Lens:	17-50mm F2.8
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	50mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Daylight
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
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