The Sapphire / WLBOTT World Tour

UC#3

Subject: Kazakhstan- the golden warrior, yurt, and chocolate

Gents – I am mentoring an Engr grad student at Rice who is from Kazakhstan. When we met in January after he went home Christmas, he brought me a gift a golden warrior replica, a leather jewelry box shaped like a yurt, and chocolate bars.

The replica statue is modeled after a major archaeological find of an 18 year old warrior buried in around 200 BC in his gold armor and the student says there are large statues of this figure all over the country. The warrior is sitting on some sort of gryphon. And apparently Kazakhs are very proud of their chocolate and it is yummy.

I believe a transportable yurt is the solution to our housing needs while on the twine tour.

I was wondering if UC#1 made to any of the ‘Stans’ in Asia after the break-up of the USSR?

UC#1

Hi, all,

I agree, a yurt is an ideal solution. Perhaps we can incorporate it with a VW microbus, sort of a yurt-on-wheels.

UC#3, Alas, I never made it to any Stans. In fact, I only made it to three former USSR countries, Russia, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

UC#4

So… a combination yurt/WLBOTT/Mountain Sapphire Tour bus? I’ll begin soliciting quotes.

UC#1 has graciously promised that I could be an unpaid roadie intern on the 2024 Sapphire tour. Not to be presumptuous, but can you also extend this offer to UC#3? It will be the modern day equivalent of the Texas Cattle Drive – beans and biscuits and bunk houses and rock ‘n roll.

A BLOTT A Day Keeps the Indictments Away

UC#1

Gentleblots,

Of course, UC#3 can be a roadie on our next world tour, now tentatively scheduled for fall 2025. We are waiting for confirmations from London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, Yamoussoukro, Ouagadougou, Johannesburg, Capetown, Tokyo and Shenyang.

Yurts

But before getting on to the exciting news of the Sapphire / WLBOTT World Tour, let’s get a little background on our travel accommodations.

A yurt or ger is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Inner Asia. The structure consists of a flexible angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent as a roof. The roof structure is sometimes self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs.

Yurts take between 30 minutes and 3 hours to set up or take down, and are generally used by between five and 15 people. Nomadic farming with yurts as housing has been the primary life style in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia, for thousands of years.
Wikipedia

By Matti&Keti; Lorenz King, Giessen university.de – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Stans

Roof crown of Kyrgyz yurt, Tengri symbol, used in Kyrgyzstan flag

By https://www.flickr.com/people/ifl/ – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifl/3968091347/sizes/o/in/set-72157622374703389/

The shangyrak or wooden crown of the yurt is itself emblematic in many Central Asian cultures. In old Kazakh communities, the yurt itself would often be repaired and rebuilt, but the shangyrak would remain intact, passed from father to son upon the father’s death. A family’s length of heritage could be measured by the accumulation of stains on the shangyrak from decades of smoke passing through it. A stylized version of the crown is in the center of the coat of arms of Kazakhstan, and forms the main image on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.
Wikipedia

Because everything in Kyrgyzstan is hunky dory, time to fix the little things.

Kyrgyz lawmakers approved a bill in final reading on December 20 amending Kyrgyzstan’s national flag amid protests. The draft legislation, initiated by President Sadyr Japarov, says the wavy yellow rays of the sun on a red field depicted on the current flag resemble a sunflower. The Kyrgyz word for sunflower is “kunkarama,” which can also mean “dependent.” Japarov is now expected to sign the bill into law, which, according to the lawmakers, will allow the “straightening” of the sunrays to make the image look more like the sun. Several rallies protesting the move have been held in the Central Asian nation since it was proposed in October.
Radio Free Europe

Maybe our Republican brothers and sisters can emigrate to Kyrgyzstan after they turn America into a fascist wasteland, because this is the kind of thing they live for:

In late 2023, a debate was led in the Zhogorku Kengesh (parliament of Kyrgyzstan) to straighten the wavy sun rays due to its supposed similarity to a sunflower, which in Kyrgyz culture can signify “a fickle and servile person willing to switch allegiance for personal benefit“. The bill passed its first reading on 29 November, and second and third readings on 20 December.
Wikipedia