Thoughts from our trip leader inspired by these sites - Aman Shah
Scroll down to view more images of Kara Tepe and Fayoz Tepe
"We were not allowed to take pictures at the site we just visited, Kara-Tepa, near Termez; but it is the most unique location I have ever been to. The Amu Darya makes a horseshoe bend around it and across the river is Afghanistan.
Standing at the highest point, going from east to west, you have Alexandria on the Oxus (one of the more important of the 80 or so Alexandria’s, with fairly well-preserved ruins), followed by an island where, apparently, the Old Testament saint Ezekiel is buried. Next in your line of sight is Balkh (Bactria to the Greeks), one of the oldest kingdoms and Zarathrushtra’s hometown, across the river in Afghanistan, again.
Next, again across the river, is Mazar-i-Sharif. Your eye then crosses the river, and you see what remains of 2500-year-old Termez (much of it was destroyed by Genghis Khan).
All the while, you are standing on top of a Buddhist complex of 10 monasteries that thrived between the 1st and 10th centuries. Two of those were occupied by Nestorian Christians while the other 8 housed Buddhists. The last two centuries of its existence were under Islamic rule.
The monasteries were excavated 97 years ago, and they were still being excavated when we visited. They still find exquisite paintings to this day. There are column bases that are clearly Attic based on designs that Alexander brought from Greece. The second largest archeological treasure-find in history after Tutankhamun was found in this region.
The area surrounding it is about 80 hectares of Buddhist sites under excavation.
The reason for the existence of this massive Buddhist area is that when Kanishka converted the Kushan empire to Buddhism he needed a launch pad to convert his territories. This is the place where Mahayana crossed over and you are standing on the launchpad. Just imagine the Roman Empire and the Kushan Empire right next to each other and separated by the Persians in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and the Kushan territory extending beyond Xian in China.
Oh, and getting back to the present, there is a barbed wire no man’s land between you and the river (which means the river is pristine and the soldiers claim to have caught a 60 kg catfish!
All of this, except for Alexandria (that is about 20 km away) are visible on a clear day - which is most days."
