{"id":1703,"date":"2010-01-13T16:28:13","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T16:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2019-07-07T17:23:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T21:23:26","slug":"climbing-the-thousand-year-old-burana-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2010\/01\/13\/climbing-the-thousand-year-old-burana-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbing the Thousand-Year-Old Burana Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We spent one day visiting the ruins of the ancient Silk Road City of Balasagun, including the thousand-year-old Burana Tower.  Balasagun was the capital city of the region when Genghis Khan showed up in the 13th Century.  He didn&#8217;t destroy the city (which was apparently quite out of character for him), but just renamed it.  There&#8217;s not too much left now, except the tower, but they have collected some old tombstones and put together a small museum.  The highlight, though, was the climb up the high, circular staircase, in the dark, to the top of the tower.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1705\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8355.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1705\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8355.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8355\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1705\" width=\"427\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8355.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8355-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1705\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christina in the window of one of the out buildings<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1706\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8357.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1706\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8357.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8357\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1706\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8357.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8357-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1706\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">William, with the tower in the background<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8361.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8361.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8361\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1707\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8361.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8361-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8362.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8362.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8362\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1708\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8362.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8362-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8363.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8363.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8363\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1709\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8363.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8363-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1711\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8369.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1711\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8369.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8369\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1711\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8369.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8369-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1711\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Myrna, with her new Kyrgyz hat!<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1712\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8373.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1712\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8373.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8373\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1712\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8373.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8373-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1712\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Entering the tower (and don't miss the super-cool hat)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8375.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8375.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8375\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1713\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8375.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8375-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1714\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8376.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1714\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8376.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8376\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1714\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8376.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8376-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1714\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climbing (it was completely dark in there without the flash)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1715\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8382.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1715\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8382.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8382\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1715\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8382.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8382-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1715\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex and Aliciya coming up<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1716\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8388.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1716\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8388.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8388\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1716\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8388.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8388-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1716\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Myrna making the top<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1717\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8393.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1717\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8393.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8393\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1717\" width=\"427\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8393.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8393-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1717\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Memmott Family at the Top of the Burana Tower<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1718\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8394.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1718\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8394.jpg\" alt=\"A closer look at the tower\" title=\"_MG_8394\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1718\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8394.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8394-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1718\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A closer look at the tower<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1719\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8396.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1719\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8396.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8396\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1719\" width=\"427\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8396.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8396-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1719\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">William, on top of what used to be the palace<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A collection of carved stones, perhaps headstones from graveyards, has been brought together from all over Kyrgyzstan to the tower.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1720\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8400.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1720\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8400.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1720\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8400.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8400-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1720\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aliciya, with one of the headstones<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1721\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8402.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1721\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8402.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8402\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1721\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8402.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8402-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1721\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And Christina, with her favorite headstone<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1704\" style=\"width: 437px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8404.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1704\" src=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8404.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"_MG_8404\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1704\" width=\"427\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8404.jpg 427w, http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MG_8404-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1704\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tower, with the mountains in the background<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We spent one day visiting the ruins of the ancient Silk Road City of Balasagun, including the thousand-year-old Burana Tower. Balasagun was the capital city of the region when Genghis Khan showed up in the 13th Century. He didn&#8217;t destroy the city (which was apparently quite out of character for him), but just renamed it. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,52],"tags":[21,15,20,154,166,23,14,22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1703"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5096,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions\/5096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}