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00:01I'm embarking on a thrilling new railway adventure in Central Asia.
00:06Exploring the ancient Silk Road.
00:08This really is for me a dream come true.
00:11And a crossroads of civilizations.
00:13Amazing aromas.
00:15Where East met West.
00:17It is extraordinarily beautiful.
00:21I'll explore ancient cities.
00:23What splendor.
00:26Encounter breathtaking Islamic art.
00:29Brutalist Soviet architecture.
00:32And the doors begin to open.
00:35And magnificent railways.
00:37A legendary city deserves a great railway station.
00:41On my journey I'll see how since independence.
00:44Uzbekistan is shaping a modern identity.
00:48What a pleasure to meet you.
01:07I'm exploring Uzbekistan at the heart of Central Asia.
01:34My rail journey across Uzbekistan continues.
01:39And I will follow the route of the old Silk Road.
01:42Between Tashkent and Samarkand.
01:45A city that was conquered by Alexander the Great.
01:50Became the imperial capital of Tamerlane.
01:53And was devastated by Genghis Khan.
01:59Uzbekistan is landlocked, bordered by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
02:08This former Soviet Republic is almost twice the size of the United Kingdom.
02:13And with 37 million inhabitants is the most populous country of Central Asia.
02:22I've been scouting around the capital Tashkent.
02:25And will soon travel on the high speed rail route to Samarkand.
02:28A city forever linked to the ancient Silk Road.
02:32My journey will continue on the old Trans-Gaspian Railway to Bukhara.
02:38A medieval city considered the pearl of Uzbekistan.
02:42And ended in a boy at the desert of Kizul Qum.
02:58My journey starts as I take one of Tashkent's fleet of electric suburban trains.
03:04Which will transport me out of the capital.
03:17As-salamu alaykum.
03:21Bait Korgon.
03:23Bait Korgon.
03:24Bait Korgon.
03:25Bait Korgon.
03:31Bait Korgon.
03:33Bait Korgon.
03:34Bait Korgon.
03:35Bait Korgon.
03:36Bait Korgon.
03:37Bait Korgon.
03:37Bait Korgon.
03:37My railway ticket has cost me 10,000 so for a journey of about 40 minutes.
03:43Which sounds like an awful lot.
03:45In fact, it's less than 1 United States dollar.
03:50It can be very disconcerting to me.
03:52Buying a few beers can cost hundreds of thousands of CERM.
03:57But just imagine what it's like when it comes to buying a car or a house.
04:04I'm heading north-east from Tashkent,
04:07to the station of Bait Gorgon, where more mountainous terrain begins.
04:15At a time when humankind is struggling to emit less carbon,
04:19a lot of hopes are placed on the power of the Sun.
04:23At school, I learnt about the potential of solar rays,
04:26when we would concentrate them through a magnifying glass onto a single point,
04:31producing enough heat to set fire to a piece of paper.
04:35In Uzbekistan, the Soviet Union built a gigantic machine to focus solar energy,
04:42at a time when we used to speak about the white heat of technology.
04:57Bait Gorgon is the closest station to Pashkent,
05:02the site of this solar facility.
05:08High up in the mountains, in a once clandestine location,
05:13is this mesmerising triumph of Soviet engineering,
05:17a giant installation of Bond villain proportions.
05:23MUSIC PLAYS
05:34AND MUSIC PLAYS
05:52Is this not the most extraordinary place?
05:56Bizarre!
05:57I mean, is it real?
05:59It's beyond the imagination, I think, of any movie maker or science fiction writer.
06:06A series of enormous mirrors stuck on a mountainside reflecting the sun.
06:12Nothing could be more obvious.
06:15And yet, when this was built in the times of the Soviet Union, it was highly secret.
06:22This is a solar furnace, one of only two in the world,
06:27where the sun's rays are reflected by 62 hill-mounted mirrors,
06:31known as heliostats, onto a giant parabolic mirror.
06:35To create a single beam of heat that can reach temperatures of 3,000 Celsius.
06:42The head of laboratory has worked here since it opened in 1987, Dr. Sultan Suleymanov.
06:52Sultan, what a pleasure.
06:54Nice to meet you. Please welcome.
06:56Great to see you.
06:58Sultan, when did you first work on this project?
07:01I'm beginning to work on this project in 1974.
07:05In 1970, the first solar furnace was built in France.
07:11This solar furnace was funded by NATO,
07:14and all scientists of the Soviet Union there to give the proposal
07:18to create such solar furnace in the Soviet Union.
07:22When this was built, this was very secret?
07:24Yes, yes, yes.
07:26It really was the secret.
07:27What was the strategic purpose of it?
07:30What was the interest in doing this?
07:32The solar furnace is the first installation which I demonstrated
07:36how we can use the solar energy for material science, for the different testing.
07:43So your objective was to test materials and to develop new materials?
07:47Yes.
07:47During the Cold War years, the key Soviet objective was to create materials
07:54that could withstand extreme heat for use in weapons and in space.
07:58A small-scale version demonstrates the powerful effect achieved
08:02solely by concentrating rays from the sun.
08:07That is amazing.
08:08That has made all these holes in a solid iron bar.
08:15And I can smell the burning.
08:18Absolutely extraordinary.
08:20Because this form of energy is clean and essentially free,
08:24new uses are being explored today.
08:27Director of the Institute of Material Science is Dr. Adil Hadja Parbif.
08:33Dr. Parbif, this facility was developed more than half a century ago.
08:38What are the applications you're working on now?
08:40Right now, our institution is looking to our industry and to the business
08:45and try to develop technologies and materials for needs over to our economy,
08:51including the green technologies, green materials, smart materials.
08:55For example, hydrogen.
08:57As you know, the hydrogen is a very important gas for our planet.
09:01That is the green energy.
09:03But hydrogen, unfortunately, is still expensive because it needs the energy.
09:08Yeah.
09:09But if you use solar energy, the cost will be down.
09:13So you see this as making a big contribution to the green agenda?
09:19Yes.
09:19And at the same time, our colleagues from Germany,
09:22the Dresden Technical University, they come to our institution.
09:25We are developing absolutely new technology using concentrated solar energy
09:30for producing carbon fibres.
09:32If you know the Elon Musk, he's planned to make this elevator to space,
09:37but it needs carbon fibre.
09:39So we can do it here in Uzbekistan in our solar furnace.
09:45This furnace is fired up only around 100 times a year.
09:49Today, I'm granted exceptional access to the control room,
09:53which is located at the centre of this huge mirror,
09:56made up of 10,700 chessboard-sized panels.
10:01As I look through my goggles, the heliostats are being positioned.
10:05They are sending their beams of light towards this enormous parabolic mirror
10:09in which I'm standing.
10:10I'm seeing more and more light being cast on the doors of the furnace.
10:17And the doors begin to open.
10:21Today's experiment will determine the metal content of a piece of local clay.
10:26I can now begin to see smoke.
10:30Burning is beginning.
10:32Clay is catching fire.
10:34And I'm wearing my goggles, but I assume intense, unbearable light.
10:39In this procedure, the solar beam delivers temperatures of around 1,600 Celsius.
10:46It's become glutinous.
10:48It's moving around under that intense bombardment of solar energy.
10:54With a limitless source of clean energy,
10:57this Soviet-era solar furnace could play a role in a future of green energy.
11:05I'm heading back to the capital, Tashkent,
11:08to continue my journey westwards,
11:10and this leg starts from the city's central station.
11:30I'm thrilled to be taking the Afro-Syob high-speed train,
11:34which has been running in Uzbekistan for over a decade.
11:46The high-speed rail line between Tashkent and Samarkand
11:50was built by presidential decree.
11:53And, astonishingly, the 344 kilometres of track
11:58were made ready in just five months.
12:02The service opened in 2011,
12:04and that made Uzbekistan the first central Asian country
12:09to enter the age of high-speed rail.
12:13The trains are Spanish-built talgos,
12:16and they reach 250 kilometres per hour.
12:27As-salamu alaykum.
12:28As-salamu alaykum.
12:29Welcome to Tashkent.
12:31Have a good morning, sir.
12:32Coach number eight, choose a ride.
12:34Thank you, man.
12:35Seat number two, it's free.
12:49To the burst of acceleration, we're off.
12:56I'm travelling south-west from Tashkent
12:59to the ancient city of Samarkand,
13:02a distance of over 300 kilometres.
13:07With a journey time of around 2 hours and 10 minutes,
13:10it's a silk road for the 21st century.
13:31In the first few minutes,
13:33the number of offers that have been made,
13:36coffee, nuts, sweet things,
13:40and it's like a travelling bazaar.
13:43It's like a caravan,
13:44but delivered by people in smart uniforms
13:47with broad smiles.
13:54On my journey, I'm joined by Sophia Nina Berna-Esefi,
13:58a writer who specialises in the railway
14:01and transport routes of Central and South Asia.
14:06Sophia.
14:06Hello, Michael.
14:07Lovely to see you.
14:09Ah, so we're travelling together to Samarkand.
14:12What a joy.
14:13I know, exciting.
14:14The train seems pretty full today.
14:16Is that typical?
14:17Yes, this is definitely kind of a usual day
14:19in kind of the high-speed train life in Tashkent.
14:22I mean, it's kind of really, really helpful
14:25to book in advance.
14:26I think that's kind of the general tip.
14:27Tell me about the development of railways
14:29through Uzbekistan.
14:31Yes, so railway development through Uzbekistan
14:33can be kind of looked at in three phases of history.
14:36So the first you've got in the second half
14:38of the 19th century, the Russian Empire.
14:40You've got the development of the Caspian military railway line
14:42and the Tashkent-Orenberg railway line.
14:44And then you've got the second half of it,
14:47which is the Soviet Union.
14:49So that was development of railway lines
14:50through the cities all the way north
14:52towards the centre of the Soviet Union,
14:53which was Moscow.
14:54And that was primarily built around the discovery
14:56of new mineral deposits
14:57and also exporting commodities like cotton, gold,
15:00all the way up into Moscow.
15:02And then you've got the third phase of history,
15:04which is post-independence,
15:05which is after 1991,
15:07where kind of Uzbekistan particularly
15:09started developing railways north to north,
15:11but now towards the south, east and the west.
15:13Tell me about the Belt and Road Initiative, the BRI.
15:17So the Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013
15:20by President Xi Jinping.
15:22It's considered its grand strategy,
15:24connecting China with Eurasia, with Africa,
15:26all the way up to Europe.
15:28And it is made up of six economic corridors.
15:30And Asia's a key venue for the BRI.
15:32So when we're looking at Central Asia in particular,
15:34the BRI project that's going on in Uzbekistan at the moment
15:36is a China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan railway project.
15:39The sources of funding come from a range
15:41of Chinese state-owned banks,
15:43but also Chinese state-owned enterprises.
15:45Also, we expect governmental funds
15:47a certain percentage of it.
15:49Thinking about Central Asia generally,
15:51is this building up a lot of debt,
15:53a lot of obligation between Central Asian countries and China?
15:57I think so.
15:58They say that there's no strings attached,
15:59but in fact, there is strings attached.
16:01You've got the political sense of it
16:03in the sense that it does buy in
16:04and translate into some kind of influence in the country.
16:07And economic in a sense that there is a repayment,
16:10you know, it's a debt at the end of the day.
16:12That's where a sense of realisation occurs
16:15between the need to diversify your transport routes,
16:18but also the fact that in order to diversify,
16:20you would need some extra funding,
16:22you need investment,
16:22and the largest investor is China.
16:25This new railway line connecting Kashgar in China
16:29via the Torugat Pass in Kyrgyzstan
16:31to Andijan in Uzbekistan
16:34will cut freight transit times from China to Europe
16:37by eight days
16:38and would avoid passing through Russian territory.
16:41It's due to be functioning in 2031
16:44and could put Central Asia once again
16:47at the heart of global trade routes.
16:54I have arrived in Samarkand.
16:57The city rose to great importance
16:59as a major hub on the old Silk Road trade routes.
17:02It later went into decline
17:04and by the late 18th century was uninhabited.
17:08After being absorbed into the Russian Empire,
17:10Samarkand's fortunes revived
17:12with the arrival of the railways in 1888.
17:18A legendary city deserves a great railway station.
17:23They've rebuilt the one at Samarkand again and again.
17:26The latest incarnation has the feel to me of a palace.
17:31And certainly I appreciate a railway station
17:33that has stained glass and chandeliers.
17:54Samarkand, a one-time capital,
17:57is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia,
18:00dating back over two and a half thousand years.
18:04It's position as a halfway point of the Silk Road
18:08led it to be romanticized
18:10by writers, travelers and poets.
18:14It has survived the rise and fall of empires.
18:18In the 14th century,
18:19under the legendary ruler Amir Timur,
18:22also known as Tamerlane,
18:24it experienced a spectacular renaissance
18:26and Registan Square
18:28became its commercial and spiritual heart.
18:35This really is, for me, a dream come true.
18:40Samarkand has meant to me since childhood
18:44legends, exoticism,
18:46things that I heard about in stories.
18:49And at least when I was a child,
18:51I had no idea at all
18:54that I would ever be here.
18:57And, funnily enough,
18:58I'd never thought very much
18:59about what it was going to look like.
19:01And it is so extraordinarily beautiful.
19:07I think about the most beautiful building
19:09that I've ever seen,
19:10the Taj Mahal.
19:12And this is like three Taj's in one place.
19:18Built between the 15th and 17th centuries,
19:22during the Timurid period,
19:24these madrassas were the universities of the day
19:26and mark a great rebirth
19:28in artistic, cultural and scientific learning.
19:31The oldest, built in 1417,
19:35by Ulug Beg, the grandson of Tamerlane,
19:38reflects his passion for astronomy.
19:40So accurate were Ulug Beg's charts and calculations
19:43that they were consulted by scientists
19:46for centuries after.
19:48In the centre of the three
19:50is the Tilakori madrassa,
19:53built in the 17th century
19:55and restored by the Russians.
20:01The Tilakori,
20:03that means gold work.
20:05And this is the golden mosque.
20:08And the gold is stunning.
20:10But to me,
20:11just as exquisite,
20:12is the beautiful blue club.
20:14And above me,
20:15a dome,
20:16which seems to rise high above us.
20:19But no,
20:20it's a trick of the eye,
20:22a trompe l'oeil.
20:23It's almost flat.
20:25The artistry here
20:26is just superb.
20:41In the courtyard
20:43of the Sher Dor madrassa,
20:45the music unique to the region,
20:47known as Shashmakom,
20:49is regularly played
20:50by Uzbek musicians.
21:15As-salamu alaykum.
21:17As-salamu alaykum.
21:17Mr. Babur,
21:18that was fantastic.
21:19Thank you very much indeed.
21:21I enjoyed that so much.
21:23You know,
21:23I noticed that when you were playing,
21:25you were smiling.
21:26Of course, yes.
21:27Which was so lovely.
21:28Yes, yes.
21:29I'm enjoying
21:31from our music.
21:33I like our culture,
21:34music,
21:35you know,
21:35traditional music.
21:36Because when I'm playing,
21:38I'm happy every time.
21:39And this instrument,
21:42very unusual to me,
21:44an Uzbek instrument?
21:45Yes,
21:45this is Uzbek
21:46and Central Asian musical instrument,
21:48I can say.
21:49Name of this instrument
21:50is a tar.
21:51Tar.
21:52Tar, yes.
21:54Babur Sharipov
21:55plays with great skill
21:56and is a master instrument maker.
22:00So,
22:01now,
22:01you're welcome.
22:03Just mind your head, please.
22:05Two times,
22:06two times.
22:06OK,
22:07you're welcome.
22:09What a beautiful place.
22:12This is all
22:13our traditional
22:13musical instruments.
22:15And you make
22:16all of these?
22:17Yes,
22:17in our workshop.
22:19So,
22:19I've already seen a tar.
22:20Yes.
22:21Um.
22:22Next one.
22:23Yes,
22:23what is that?
22:24This is also
22:25one of the very
22:26ancient musical instruments.
22:28Tambur.
22:29It has a different,
22:31little bit different shape.
22:32And it has four strings.
22:34But we need
22:35special metal,
22:36plectrum.
22:38Tambur.
22:56Beautiful.
22:58Did you learn
22:59from your father, perhaps?
23:00Yes,
23:01I learned from my father.
23:03We have a young generation
23:05learning from us.
23:06Yes.
23:07We are keeping
23:08our traditions
23:08continuing.
23:10Well,
23:11thank you.
23:11I've had such a pleasure
23:13listening to you.
23:14You're welcome.
23:15And long may your traditions
23:16continue.
23:17Thank you very much.
23:18You're welcome.
23:20You're welcome.
23:27From the centre of Samarkand,
23:29I'm heading to the north-eastern
23:30part of the city,
23:31to Afrosiob,
23:33a huge area rich in archaeology,
23:36where an ancient city
23:37once stood.
23:38Founded in the 7th century BC,
23:41it was home to the Sogdians,
23:43highly influential,
23:45Iranian-speaking traders
23:46who created city-states
23:48along the Silk Road.
23:50It's been extensively excavated
23:52and is one of Central Asia's
23:54most important sites,
23:56not least because of the discovery
23:58of some exceptional
23:597th-century wall paintings.
24:04Archaeologist
24:04and deputy director
24:06of the museum,
24:07Dr Samarad-Din
24:08Mastafakulov,
24:09has worked here
24:09for over 40 years.
24:11Samarad-Din,
24:12Samarad-Din was a fantastic site.
24:14Tell me about the peoples
24:15who lived here.
24:21And this was on the Silk Road.
24:27So, do we find evidence
24:28of people coming from far
24:30and wide
24:31who were passing
24:32through Samarkand?
24:56The paintings
24:57from the 7th century
25:00that were discovered.
25:01How were they found
25:02and what did they tell us?
25:04In 1965, in Samarkand's year, there was a lot of work in the 25th anniversary of Samarkand's year.
25:12There was a lot of work in Afro-Syab-Hudud.
25:15There was a lot of work in Afro-Syab-Hudud.
25:18There was a lot of work in Afro-Syab-Hudud.
25:31There was a lot of work in Afro-Syab-Hudud.
25:39The wall paintings were discovered in a private villa.
25:43They were excavated and are now displayed in the Afro-Syab Museum.
25:48The painting known as The Ambassadors is one of the best preserved examples of Sogdian art.
25:56This is very exciting for what it reveals.
25:59It takes a little bit of interpretation and I've mugged up a little bit.
26:03This is the principal wall.
26:05It shows the arrival of ambassadors who are paying tribute to the Sogdian king of Samarkand.
26:11We begin with a display of spears and shields and grotesque masks, which are Turkish.
26:17Here are Korean ambassadors identified by the feathers on the hats and by the round pommel on the sword.
26:26A number of other figures here.
26:28Another recognisable feature is these Turks who wear their hair long in black ponytails.
26:38The king would have been situated above.
26:40Unfortunately, a painting of him has been lost.
26:43But look at these ambassadors here.
26:46They are arriving with necklaces of beads.
26:51Beautiful gifts to pay tribute to the monarch.
26:55So we have an idea of the ceremonies, the rituals of these people.
27:01A picture is worth a thousand words.
27:22Ever since I first heard the name Samarkand,
27:26It has held a romantic fascination for me.
27:31And I am thrilled to be here.
27:33When I saw those paintings at Afro Siob, I was carried back 1,300 years.
27:40And here at Registan Square, I am at the heart of Tamerlane's empire.
27:46New railways and other infrastructure are modernising Uzbekistan.
27:51But history and tradition exert a strong influence.
27:56This country will not become a Western clone.
28:00Its future will be as distinctive as its past.
28:09Next time...
28:11You can just tell by your hand whether the temperature is right or not.
28:15Oof. It's quite hot in there.
28:17They killed some thousands of people.
28:19Some say that he built the towers of head.
28:24Of severed heads.
28:26Yes.
28:28Sometimes we say carpets, they will talk to you themselves.
28:32They show their beauty.
28:33The carpet will talk to you.
28:35Exactly.
28:50this way.
29:07society always stands for happiness.
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