Turkistan

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmat Yassawi

Turkistan is a city about 160 km northwest of Shymkent, and we headed here after leaving Otrar.  We arrived at around 2 pm and wanted to eat and warm up some more.  We stopped at a small restaurant and had lunch (I had lamb shashlyk--like a kebab).

Like Otrar, Turkistan was an important city during the Silk Road Era, and it is about 1600 years old or so.  In the 1390s, the Kazakh king Timur built a large mausoleum to Khoja Ahmat Yassawi, a revered poet and Sufi mystic.  This unfinished mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage to many Muslims and is also a UNESCO heritage site.

Our driver dropped us off, and we started walking.  There was a museum on one side of the parking lot, and a row of small souvenir shops to our left.  The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining bright.  The wind was less fierce now and we weren't feeling as cold.

 At first a tree blocked our view of the mausoleum, but we took a few pictures.  There was a very hairy camel, which we probably could have ridden.  It looked quite ready for the Mongolian desert or a Kazakh winter.

The camel

As we got closer, we saw an owl in a hole in the ground, glaring at us with bright yellow eyes!  We stopped to take pictures.  Then a man approached, and the bird flew to the man, and we noticed that it was on a rope.  The man said it was a holy bird, and I remembered learning about it at the Nature Reserve museum.  The guide had said that these birds have a pattern across their chest, and on one bird the pattern looked like it said "Allah" in Arabic, and so now it is considered to be a holy bird.

To our left was a smaller mausoleum, with a fancy tiled dome top.  In front of us, great and looming, was the famous mausoleum of Khoja Ahmat Yassawi.  It wasn't as colorful as I'd thought it would be, it was just mostly brown.  Still, we took plenty of pictures, and I liked the wooden door, carved very intricately.  A woman with two small girls stopped to talk to me.

When I entered, a woman at a desk stopped me and asked me where I was from and how many were in my group.  At first I thought this meant we'd have to pay, but, no, they were just keeping a record of who came here.

Inside it seemed that quite a bit was being fixed up, but we still were able to enter many rooms.  No photos were allowed though.  We went into a lot of large, mostly empty rooms, and passed by a lot of low-lying rocks with names next to them--grave markers?  A lot of people were silent and in prayer.

There was a blocked-off room with Ablai Khan's tomb; I don't know who he is, but I do know that Astana has a street named after him.  Some people sat next to this room and prayed.  I realized that we don't take the girls to holy places very often, and had to hush them.

Another room was a mosque; it also contained many stands with information in Russian and Kazakh.  Several women prayed on rugs in front of the "altar," a very pretty tiled section of the wall.

When we left, the girls were happy and we let them run off and play.  We walked around to the side, and I saw that the side was not as plain as the front, but rather full of beautiful tiles.  There also was a guard-wall on this side; we went up it and it seemed like a wall from the Middle Ages, with tiny windows from which you could watch who's approaching.

the guard wall, with mountains in the distance

Then we went to the back of the mausoleum, probably the prettiest section of it.  The tiles along the top showed Arabic letters, most likely something from the Koran.

After more wandering and picture-taking, we stopped in some souvenir shops and then headed home.  We wanted to go to the museum, but it was 4 pm now, and we wanted to be at the airport by 8:30.  In the end, we got back to Shymkent at 6 pm and had plenty of time!  Luckily, we persuaded our driver to drive us to the center of town to the Mega shopping mall, and he kept all of our luggage while we ate dinner, before driving us to the airport.

The airport was tiny but had free wi-fi.  Our flight home was uneventful.  We were very excited to have had the opportunity to go to a place of such history and beauty.  Maybe we'll find our way back here some day!

Otrar - Ruined City of the Silk Road

Sunday was our big day.  We woke up early and left at 8 am.  The taxi driver whom we'd met at the airport was wonderful; he had taken us to the Nature Reserve on Thursday, and we really liked him.  He's quiet (rather than inquisitive or flirtatious), and he's mostly a safe driver.  If we ever thought he was driving a bit fast, we could ask him to slow down, and he would, no problem.  (Some taxi drivers will laugh at that suggestion, and many driver rather crazy.)  He also was quite willing and ready to stop whenever we wanted to--for apples sold on the side of the street, for Sophia's stomach to calm down (motion sickness!), for me to take a photo.  So we hired him to drive us to Otrar and Turkistan.

These two cities are northwest of Shymkent and made up part of the Silk Road.  Otrar was founded most likely about 2000 years ago and was seiged and destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1219.  It was rebuilt, but by the 18th century it was mostly empty, and is currently a "ghost town" under excavation by UNESCO.

It took us about 2 hours to get there (I didn't do a good job keeping track of time) and the driver let us out in front of a fence; beyond the fence were some buildings spread out on the desolate steppe, with paths leading to the buildings and tall grass between the paths.  The wind was fierce, and although it was bright and sunny and above freezing, and I was dressed quite well for this temperature, I soon became quite freezing and felt like my fingers would become frostbitten.

We soon learned that all the buildings were mausoleums, and we went into one.  Two older men were caretakers there and they let us in and talked to us.  Their ancestor was someone well-known in the area and important in the Muslim religion (at least locally) and this was a mausoleum to him.  There were plaques on the wall for each of his children, and my friend R. told me that some of the names were rather rude words in Kazakh.  Every culture, I have learned, has people who give their kids odd names.

We then left and went to the biggest mausoleum.  We saw some people taking water (most likely holy) out of a well.  We were told we could enter and an imam could give us a blessing.  But we had to take off our shoes, and we were cold and not in the mood.

Then we learned that this was not Otrar, this was a holy site with mausoleums, but Ortrar was somewhere else.  Absolutely freezing by now, we hurried back to the car and explained to our driver that this was not it!

He asked directions of someone and off we went, down a small dirt road that ended at another dirt road in front of a large, dusty hill.  Right or left?  He turned right and as he sped down this road, I could tell that he wasn't sure where he was going.  R. talked to him, and they decided to turn back and check out that hill.  R. remembered reading in my Lonely Planet that Otrar is a mound, and she thought that hill might be it.

She was right, and we noticed that the hill was surrounded by a fence, and we soon found the entrance.  R. and the driver got out and it took about 5 minutes for them to find and wake up the guard, asleep in a small guard house.  He then opened the gate and we went up a dusty, wind-swept path.  Soon we were near the baths, and we got out to explore.

The Baths

After we we'd had enough of being outside (that wind!!!) we got in the car and drove up more.  We got out near some other ruins.  R. said that much of Otrar had been underground, and we could see trenches or hallways or whatever dug out below us.  I can't describe it, so I shall put up pictures.  We wandered around this for quite a while.  There were bits of pottery and bones strewn around all over the place.  It  was exciting and fascinating to be somewhere that had once been a relatively thriving city, and to wonder what it must have been like to be on the Silk Road, traveling across this desolate steppe, with this fierce wind, and coming to one of these cities.

Finally I was so frozen I had to return to the car and my fingers burned as they slowly regained their warmth.  (I had been wearing gloves!)  We drove back down and paid the 500 Tenge entrance fee.  Then off it was to Turkistan.

Part of the ruined city of Otrar

Looking at our car from the ruined city

Shymkent - a Lazy Day

Our 3^rd day in Shymkent was a nice and relaxing day, although we didn't do anything special. My friend's daughter had round 2 of her figure skating competition, and after that we went to the nearby mall, Mega, which was quite similar to the Mega mall we have in Astana. Next was the closing ceremony for the Kazakhstan Winter Games (my friend's daughter came in 8^th out of 15 in her division) and we got to watch the winning figure skaters do their routines again.
Then we walked back towards Mega and went shopping at TsUM, the large shopping center across the street from Mega. I don't know what TsUM stands for (Ts probably stands for “center” or “central” and M probably stands for “store”) but Almaty and Astana also have a TsUM. TsUM is older than Mega (Mega is not listed in my “Lonely Planet,” which is about 5 years old, but TsUM is.) TsUM is a bit more like Artyom in Astana—a large, multi-storied building full of alleyways and small, enclosed spaces—shops. It looks like it should be cheaper than a modern, Western-style shopping mall like Mega, but it didn't seem so. I think you can bargain more in a place like TsUM, but in Mega you can hunt for sales and discounts (just like at TsUM, I guess). We did find a necklace for 2 million Tenge. That's about $12,000.
We went back to eat at Mega. Later that night, my friend commented on what a lovely vacation we were having, how much she liked Shymkent. “You like being on vacation,” I said, reminding her that we hadn't done much in Shymkent that we couldn't do in Astana. She laughed and agreed with me.
So how is Shymkent different from Astana, since in so many ways it's alike? Well, I think if you take Astana—or Almaty—and take away most of the the modern, Western elements (in Astana, this would be all the funky, modern architecture; this would also be restaurant chains like Pizza Hut, Hardee's, and even my favorite pizza restaurant, Il Platio), and keep the Kazakh/Soviet elements—the Soviet architecture (very square); the wide streets; the small cluttered shops; the Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkish, and Russian food; the people (though slightly less stylish)--then you have Shymkent.  I'm not too good at describing it, but it seemed more Kazakh, which, well, it is.  It's known for having more Kazakhs than many other cities (such as Astana, Almaty, or Karaganda), but a quick wikipedia search tells me that it is 65% Kazakh, just like Astana...  Maybe the difference is that in Astana, Russians make up most the rest, whereas in Shymkent, Uzbeks and Russians tie for second place...  Whatever it is, as I sat in the Mega food court, I noticed almost no Russians.
In Shymkent, I stood out as a foreigner.  Even before I spoke, I was recognized as a foreigner.  I was a novelty, and lots of people talked to me or asked my friend where I am from.  This happens in Astana, too, but was more frequent in Shymkent.
All in all, I liked Shymkent.  We didn't get to see all of it--I later learned that there is a Central Bazaar which is quite cheap--but I enjoyed the parts I did see.  Nothing fancy, nothing new or different, but a nice, familiar vacation.
On Sunday we went to Otrar and Turkistan...  That was fascinating and will be in the next post!

Shymkent - the Bazaar

Today my friend's daughter had only ice skating practice in the afternoon, and our morning was free.  We took our time getting up, enjoying the free breakfast the hotel serves (I had coffee, eggs, and blini -- Russian crepe-like pancakes; Sophia had sausage and blini).  Then we decided to get a taxi to the bazaar, so we'd have time to shop before heading to the ice skating rink.

The taxi driver said there are many bazaars in Shymkent, which one did we want to go to?  ("Bazaar" is the Kazakh word; "rynok" is the Russian word, meaning market... Both words refer to a shopping place and not necessarily what we foreigners think of when we hear the word bazaar.)  I looked in my Lonely Planet and gave the street names of the one mentioned in the book; he said there is no bazaar there.  So we said the biggest; he said there are three.  The biggest and the closest, we said, and so off we went to one called Eurasia.

(I later learned that there is a large and extremely cheap Central Bazaar, which definitely was not the one we ended up at.)

It didn't look like what I'd had in mind, and it was rather dirty, but we decided to try it.  It was a large cluster of shops around dirty alley-ways, and several of the shops were empty.  But once we got started, I enjoyed myself, because I enjoy shopping.  I found a pair of gloves that I really wanted, but the vendor wasn't there, and so I wasn't able to buy them.  I found a dress I really liked, not cheap but not outrageously priced either, and so I bought it.

I've always wanted a decent fur hat for the winter, and so I tried some on.  One hat in particular suited me very well.  The vendor asked where I am from and then he asked if I am married.  He said he wanted me to be his daughter-in-law.  I told my friend to tell him that I'm married.

The vendor clasped my hands in his very tightly and seemed unwilling to let me go.  He told my friend that my being married didn't matter, he would kidnap me.  I know he was mostly joking, but I also know that bride kidnapping used to be a bit common in Kazakhstan, and it still happens from time to time here, and it happens with greater frequency in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.  So a joke about kidnapping me isn't very funny.

He said I would get the hat for free if I married his son.  It's a $200 hat, but that's not enough to make me want to marry some stranger's son!

I managed to decline and get out of there.  Once I had overcome my shock, I realized I had the perfect response to, "will you marry my son?"  I should have asked if the son can cook and clean, because, really, that is what I need--a stay-at-home husband (or live-in maid, that would be just as fine!)

Shymkent - to the mountains and back

Several years ago, I went to Almaty for the first time.  Everywhere you go in Almaty, you can see beautiful, snow-capped mountains.  We took a taxi to the most popular ski resort part of these mountains, only to find out that everything was closed due to the weather.  I was so disappointed.

Today reminded me of that time.  The Aksu-Zhabaghly Nature Reserve is located not far from Shymkent, and when we found out that we were free for the afternoon, we decided to go there.  (We didn't know the ice skating schedule until today.)  We booked the same taxi driver who had taken us from the airport, he is very friendly and a safe driver.

As we left Shymkent, we could see beautiful snow-capped mountains to our right; I think Uzbekistan is on the other side.

We drove for two hours, the mountains always on our right, but slowly we got closer and closer.

Finally, we were so close we could almost touch them, and we arrived at a closed gate.

We were told to go back to the small village to get passes at the office.  We went there, and went to the second floor and walked into a room full of people sitting around a powerpoint presentation on the English language.

The workers were learning how to say "wild boar" in English.

Unfortunately, they said, the Nature Reserve was closed because it's winter.  They could, however, arrange a horseback-riding trip, but they needed a day's advance warning.

We pleaded with them, but the most we got was a tantalizing tour of their museum, where we learned what we would have seen had we been able to get into the Nature Reserve.  Okay, we probably wouldn't have seen golden eagles or wild boars, and we definitely wouldn't have spotted the elusive snow leopard... But it looks so beautiful, with steep mountains, ravines, a canyon, glaciers, and a wide variety of plants and animals.

Finally, we got back into the car and drove back to Shymkent.

I'm not sure if I'll ever come to Shymkent again--I love to travel and have so much on my agenda, Shymkent might not make a second round.

Oh well!

Shymkent - in search of a restaurant

Thursday morning my friend's daughter had ice skating practice and round 1 of the competition, which we watched.  Afterwards, we decided to go eat.

At first we were looking for a restaurant where other ice skaters had said they were going, too.  After walking quite a bit, and meeting few people who knew how to direct us to this restaurant, we decided to just find a place for ourselves.

We walked into quite a few restaurants that we instantly decided we didn't like, and we joked that we're getting picky!  Some restaurants looked too dirty, some looked too dark, and quite a few had people smoking inside.  I try to be open-minded about food, but I am a somewhat picky eater, and many restaurants here serve traditional Kazakh or Central Asian food, super cheap and super-greasy.  I am sometimes in the mood for plov or pelmeni or other traditional dishes, but I rarely am in the mood for the cheap-and-greasy versions of these foods.

My friend's daughter really wanted KFC, so we told her to ask people if they knew where that was.  The answer:  "Who's KFC?"  They definitely hadn't heard of it, and I doubt Shymkent has a KFC.

We found a promising-looking pizzeria and crossed a busy street to get there, only to find someone smoking inside.  We asked a passer-by if she had any suggestions, she recommended a place across the street, said it was really good.

We really didn't want to cross the street again, but we did, and when we entered the restaurant--smoke!  But then we were told that the next building was the non-smoking part of this restaurant, so we went there.  It was small, but light and airy, without loud music playing, and although every table was taken, we decide to stay.  A worker had been sitting at a messy table near the back, and they cleaned this up for us.  We sat next to the stand of yummy-looking desserts.

My friend had a club sandwich, I had a croissant with chicken, lettuce, tomato, and garlic sauce.  The vegetables were fresh, and I could see other customers eating salads that looked fresh and delicious.  The girls had chicken nuggets which were dry and they didn't eat, and also a cheese pizza, which they did eat.  There was a large selection of coffees, but I wasn't in the mood for anything fancy.

For dessert I had a banana "milk cocktail" (like a smoothie), the girls had chocolate ice cream, and my friend had one of the best tiramsus I've ever had.  Simply delicious.

The total for all of us--4 people, 4 dishes, 4+ drinks (extra water and coffee), 4 desserts--was 6000 Tenge ($40), so not a bad price.  The places we'd passed up were probably cheaper, but I'm sure this was better.

The place is called Madlen, on Ilyeva Street, and we were told that they are located in Astana!  I'd seen a restaurant called Madlen before, but had never gone there.  I probably will try them now!

So now I know of one restaurant in Shymkent that's good!

Shymkent - the Airport

Our school has a four-day weekend this weekend; the idea behind it is so people can go skiing.  This weekend coincided with my friend's daughter's ice skating competition in Shymkent (southern Kazakhstan), and I leapt at the chance to visit another part of Kazakhstan.

Trains to Shymkent take about 20 hours, so we chose to fly.  We had a choice--Air Astana or Scat Airlines.  At that point I had never heard of Scat, but I had flown and enjoyed Air Astana, and I trust them safety-wise.

The day after we booked our tickets for Air Astana, a Scat Airlines flight from northern Kazakhstan to Almaty crashed and killed 22 people.  I was so relieved that we had chosen Air Astana!

The flight is only 2 hours, but Air Astana made sure to feed us sandwiches and Kit-Kat candy bars.  I love Air Astana.

When we arrived, we exited the plane to a bus, which took us to a one-room building marked "Tranzit Hall."  Inside, we saw a sign for luggage, and we waited in a large crowd for a few minutes before we were directed back outside.  Our luggage was brought here and left for us to sort.  Outside a one-room building.

Where was the airport?

I think it's important to mention that wikipedia lists Shymkent as the 3rd-largest city in Kazakhstan, we weren't traveling to some tiny, middle-of-nowhere town.

We got our luggage, walked through the one-room building and exited it, and found a taxi driver amongst the many men standing there calling out, "Taxi!" A ride to our hotel would cost 2000 Tenge, which greatly surprised us, since that is the cost in Astana to travel from the airport to the city.  We'd thought it would be cheaper here.

It was dark, and as we walked to the car, I looked behind.  There did seem to be a slightly larger building, not attached to the Tranzit Hall we'd come through.  Perhaps that's the airport?

Strangest airport I've been in yet....