So, I appreciated Jim's care and attention on the road on the way back. He is a good driver who does not take risks. This is the definition of a good driver in my mind, I asked Rustam and Alyosha what they thought of the taxi driver. "Oh, he was a very good professional driver." I lambasted this opinion of two non-drivers. I have driven many thousands of kilometres in two countries through varied conditions. I have even spent time as a professional driver. I far prefer Jim to the taxi driver any day. The journey back was relaxed and took us 6 hours on the road with an extra 30 mins for Shashlik.
On the way out of Kyzyl, the Yenisey river is melting. Even in the extreme land of Tuva, Spring is breaking.
The town of Turan (5000 in population) straddles the highway on the way out of Tuva. It was founded in 1884, but is a lot smaller than Kyzyl as it is not on a river.
I know what every Canadian is thinking, "Oh look, they build Inukshuks too.!" Wrong.
(For the Aussie and international readers, Inuit people built little towers out of stone to look like people. The word Inukshuk means "as a man". The inukshuks were arranged in a circle. People would then herd a wild caribou into a circle of inukshuks. Once inside tha caribou got confused and thought there was no way out. The hunt was complete. Inukshuks have no spiritual connotation. Canadians often build little Inukshuks by the side of the road when driving through rocky terrain, simply to say "I was here." I have done this and it is fun. Melody and I have even built them on bush walks in Australia and Russia.)
But these piles of rocks on the mountains are not anything like an Inukshuk. Tuvans believe that the spirits of fallen warriors live inside the mountains. (Which kind of suggests that perhaps Tolkien was borrowing some ideas from Shamanism in his Lord of the Rings, and that it wasn't purely his imagination after all?!) The rocks are stacked up to make the mountains taller and therefore to increase the power of the spirits.
Would it be ok for me to build an Inukshuk by the side of the road in Tuva? A passer by may think that I would be adding to the power of the spirits. I didn't build one. Although, I think it is most important how my conscience stands before God. Conversely, I wonder if a Tuvan driving through Canada would think that people there have a similar belief.
Ah, culture, it's not always what it seems.
Alongside the road there were various cows and horses out grazing. There are no fences anywhere, their owners must have a good idea where their own stock is. I wanted to take a stunning picture close up of some horses with the mountains as a back drop. Alas I just didn't get the right opportunity. You'll just have to merge the idea in your mind. Anyway, as proof, here are some Tuvan cows.
Industry in Tuva is almost non-existent. There may be animal husbandry, but very little is sold on to the market. The Chinese are hoping to open up a mining operation in Tuva soon, but sadly they will probably not employ any Tuvans.
Yes, this is proof that I was in Tuva again. On the way out the police checked Jim's documents. They do this to drivers almost without fail in Tuva, but certainly in many other check points around the country. I also had my documents checked. I was a little nervous about this at first. Everything was in order, including my registration.
No trip to Abakan is complete without a stop in the little road side town of Tanzibei. (Latvian for Black River?) There are plenty of wares for sale. The highlight though is good quality shashlik (meat roasted over fire on a skewer). It was pure joy to eat a couple of these outside in the sun, at +5 degrees. I remarked to Rustam that I like Spring a thousand times more than Winter.
On the other side of the mountain pass the terrain gets a lot flatter and Russian towns such as Shushenskoe and Minusinsk start popping up. Close to one of these towns some people were ice fishing. Keep in mind that the temperature was at least +5, even 7. I hope this group of men knew what they were doing. It is not uncommon for addicted ice fishers to die in the Spring.
There is even some agriculture in these parts. There are not vast tracts of farming, rather some narrow tracts in between the forest and the highway. Agriculture is still very underdeveloped in Russia. Russia's boom comes almost entirely from the mining sector, most specifically oil.
3 comments:
Just thinking about building little 'people' on the road side. Of course there is nothing wrong with it - insofar as there is nothing wrong with many things that are amoral. It all hinges on the significance to the people involved. If doing any particular thing could cause difficulties for someone in coming to, or remaining in, relationship with God, then it is no great sacrifice not to do it. (1 Corinthians 10:31-33)
Of course, I know you know this, which is why you didn't build one. More power to you brother :-)
Well I certainly wouldn't want to offend or confuse any Tuvans, but we were not with any at the time. I simply didn't have enough time, the others would have been bored by the process.
only going by what you wrote in your blog... you gave the impression that this might be the case and that this is why you didn't do so. I would never claim to be an expert on what you should or should not do. Maybe next time you will have the opportunity.
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