A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA
SEVEN YEARS ON THE SILK ROAD

CHRISTOPHER ASLAN ALEXANDER
PUBLICATION DATE: 1 July 2010

£8.99 ● Paperback ● ISBN 978-1848311497

‘An extraordinary tale of adventure and enterprise set in the heart of Central Asia, beautifully told, by a most unusual man. Hopefully it will inspire others to embark on similar adventures.’
Peter Hopkirk, author of The Great Game

‘Alexander is an excellent guide through the chaos of local life, and his writing is thick with his adventures in this walled city… while also casting his eye over the history of trade on the Silk Road.’
Sunday Telegraph

Christopher Aslan Alexander originally travelled to Uzbekistan to write an English guidebook about Khiva but mesmerised by this little known region in central Asia, he stayed on to learn more about the culture and people.

A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA opens the door to a closed world, showing us how different life is for people in Uzbekistan – but more interestingly how similar we are too. Chris Aslan Alexander brings the stunning walled city, with its mosques, madrassahs, minarets and mausoleums, to life in front of our eyes. He delves wholeheartedly into its history, its culture and its quirks, and has to grapple with experiences such as being stripped naked and radiated in a former Soviet youth camp, being accused of smuggling drugs while attempting to transport natural dyes out of Afghanistan, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, and bluffing his way through an impromptu version of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ for national Uzbek TV.

Rich in detail and interesting observations, A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA is the story of one man’s struggle to succeed – but it is also the story of the lives of ordinary Uzbeki people – weavers and dyers who are reconnected to the ancient arts of their country, who relearn traditional skills to pass on to the next generation as their ancestors did.

CHRISTOPHER ASLAN ALEXANDER was born in Turkey and grew up in war-torn Beirut. After attending school and university in England, he moved to Central Asia.

CONTACT: Najma Finlay, Publicity Director, Icon Books najma.finlay@iconbooks.co.uk D/L 020 7700 9962