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A Carpet Ride to Khiva:
Seven Years on the Silk Road
Alexander’s account of his seven years in Uzbekistan is less a travelogue than it is an object lesson in staying put. Aside from sorties to Tashkent, and the odd hair-raising trip into neighbouring Afghanistan in search of carpet dyes, the book is set almost entirely in Khiva’s desert oasis, lending it a richness rare in travel writing. By turns funny and moving, this excellent memoir evokes the joys and frustrations of life in a country "marooned somewhere between Mohammad and Marx". — By arrangement with The Independent
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THE British author
Christopher Alexander travelled to Khiva, an ancient Silk Road outpost
in northwest Uzbekistan, to work for a Swedish NGO, and ended up
making the place his home. Immersing himself in the country’s
language and culture, he became fascinated by kilims (hand-woven rugs)
and established a workshop in a disused madrasa (school) to help
revive age-old weaving techniques cast aside during the Soviet era. He
soon found himself exporting his rugs around the world and tangling
with corrupt officials greedy for bribes.