T O M A N G . C O MCentral Asia
One of the great loves of my life. It barged into my consciousness during my teens when I learnt that Marco Polo had made his first journey to China (so he claimed) when he was the same age as me. Many years later, Central Asia gave me a big break (the Marco Polo Expedition). It even brought to me my true partner and wife.
Our first trip to Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union took us to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in just two weeks in the Easter of 1993. That summer we returned again for a longer time. And then once or twice a year for the next nine years on a variety of academic projects, occasionally for photography. One memorable trip was undertaken with a group from the Academy of Sciences, Moscow with our great friend Prof. Yuri Badenkov.
With the end of our journalism degree project for the Kyrgyz Russian Slavonic University in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (funded by the Know How Fund) our work in Central Asia seems to have faded. Apart from a brief trip to Tashkent for the University of Westminster in March 2002 to examine the feasibility of founding a British campus in Uzbekistan, I have not been back. I do miss their ploff.
