A TREASURE OF CONNECTION IN SAMARKAND

When I read Joel Wade’s exceptional essay on The Treasures of Human Connection, with his example of a “mico-moment of connection” being a ”nice conversation we have with the checkout person at the grocery store,” this Uzbek lady came to mind.

She manages a store of pottery art – you can see how gorgeous it is – in the legendary Silk Road oasis of Samarkand.  Welcoming me, she explained she was talking to her daughter on her cell phone.  I bought something irresistibly pretty, but before I left, I asked if I could take her picture as I was taken by her warmth and friendliness.  The picture you see captures that, especially in her eyes.

Samarkand is in Uzbekistan deep in the heart of Central Asia.  It’s as remote and exotic as you can get from your local grocery store.  Yet a micro-moment of human connection can occur in Samarkand just as it can in your hometown.

We travel around the globe to see world-famous sights and spectacular wonders, but so often it is the special people we meet – if only for a micro-moment – that make our journeys so memorable.

I’ve talked often about Central Asia in these Glimpses – from The Sultan Astronomer to Teenagers in Bukhara, from The Well of Job to The Pearls of Shing and Surrealism in Central Asia.

I won’t be again for some time – as the deadline for you joining me on my exploration of The Heart of Central Asia is nigh.  Exploring Central Asia is one of the most extraordinary experiences our planet has to offer, and as I won’t be doing this again, it’s now or never to make it a part of your life.  Don’t pass it by – carpe diem: The Heart of Central Asia – Sept 18-Oct 4, 2022. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #215 photo ©Jack Wheeler)