Far Away

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Hi everyone! I have a pretty fast internet cafe here in Shymkent, Kazakhstan so I can update the ol' blog. I think I am the oldest person here by several years. The average age has to be under 15. No pictures today unfortunately; I forgot my SD card adapter for my camera. So, I left Almaty a couple days ago via sleeper train. I must say, I am very impressed with the quality of the Kazakh sleeper train. It was a long journey of about 20 hours or so from Almaty to Turkistan (Turkistan is not a country, but a town). The train car had a room with just two beds and a big window; you can shut the door and open the window. I think I had my head out the whole time. Once again, the Kazakh landscape is hours and hours and hours of absolutely nothing. Again, no roads, no fences, the occasional tree, no buildings. Just open steppe. It really is incredible. Its like riding a train across a green ocean. The train compartment comes with fresh, crisp sheets, a table, chair, reading lamps, and hand towels. I tried to steal one but you have to give back your sheets and towels before disembarking. It was that Kazakh blue and had the Kazakh Rail logo on it. Good souvenier.

So, now I have arrived in Turkistan, it is 10:00am on a Saturday morning. There are no clouds and it is already hot. Turkistan is home to Kazakhstan's most beautiful building: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Khoja_Ahmed_Yasawi. It is bigger than expected and really quite stunning. It is unfinished, so the beautiful tile work is only on half the building. Nearby there is also a nice bath house from the 11th century. It reminds me of the bath houses in Korea. Hot/Cold rooms, baths of course, massage room. Pretty good place to relax. I also checked out the nearby museum where a guy spoke excellent English. I chatted with him for a while and ate a fantastic lunch afterwards. Lamb over rice, raisens, salad with cucumber and tomato, fresh dill, and draught beer. Perfect to eat in the courtyard of the restaurant.

After Turkestan I headed to Shymkent where I would stay for the next couple of days. It is a fine city; kind of just another town really. Nice parks, tree lined streets, Euro feel. My hotel is terrible. The shower leaks (although it is hot) there is no seat on the toilet (although it is a western toilet), the floor is all torn up, paint peeling off the walls (although there is a painting...), I guess its not so bad. It does come with an excellent breakfast. Similar to German breakfast with fresh bread, jams, cheeses, juice. Also had pizza for whatever reason. Still good though! Oddly enough I ate breakfast this morning with two German girls that were heading to Tashkent, UZ today. I am very jealous. Ah, to go back a few hours, for dinner I ate alone (getting tired of that!) at a restaurant recommended by ol' Lonely Planet. Food was excellent again: fried noodles with high quality meat and fresh baked bread. Fresh bread is a recurring theme in my journey so far and was totally unexpected. I've also visited a couple of Kazakh supermarkets that are surprisingly western. I do not see anything strange or gross or hardly anything I don't recognize. I guess I'm hard pressed to find things I don't recognize thanks to China... Now THEY have some different stuff.

So today I went to Sayram which is a very very old city. It has a lot of mousaleums and a mineret that you can climb to the top of. You can see distant mountains from the top of it. I went to three or four mausoleums and I entered my first ever mosque. Kinda cool. Rugs everywhere and you had to remove your shoes of course. There was no one there aside from one sleeping gentleman. Sayram (pop. 40,000) has a large Portuguese population (what??). I asked them what language they were speaking (it DID sound a little like Spanish, but I thought, "that couldn't be). They are speaking Portuguese! I almost forgot; I spent a significant amount of my day checking out the Central Bazaar in town. Sundays tend to be the best days to do this. The place was absolutely buzzing! You see all kinds of different people and can try all kinds of different things. I had fresh apple juice/vinegar which is much better than it sounds. Tangy apple juice really and popular in China as well. I had some strange tasting fizzy soda drink that was hand, uh, pulled? How do you say that... Does a soda jerk jerk soda? Hand jerked soda. She put in the syrup and the soda water seperately. Regardless it tasted odd. I think it was supposed to be lime. One strange product I saw which made me laugh out loud was some dish detergent called "BARF". I thought this was hilarious. Stacks of tubs of Barf. I definitely have a picture. Green and red tub, too. I stopped for a beer at the bar in the very center of the bazaar. A popular spot for sure and they have the local Shymkent Pivo on tap and I wanted to give it a try. Through a mix of bad English, Chinese, Lonely Planet phrasebook Kazakh and Russian, I was able to "converse" with the locals. All were "impressed" that I was American. I shared the peanuts that I had bought with some others and I ended up with free dried apricots, some pastries, more apple vinegar, and another glass of free beer. Kazakh people are so wonderful.

The plan tomorrow is to head to Aksu-Zhabagyly Nature Reserve which is supposed to be excellent. I will have a chance to spot an ibex of all things. That will be something different. I have my binocculars just in case! I should be in the reserve for a couple of days. I want to hike slower this time. I've discovered that hiking for 12 hours a day only allows me to enjoy it for a maximum of two days; after that I don't want to do it anymore. So, I will keep my hikes under 8 hours and take frequent breaks. Okay, I should go, no time left and I want to save this. I miss you!

Love, Michael

P.S. this is titled "Far Away" because I have passed the farthest point of my journey. I will be getting closer and closer to Kunming from here on out.

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Photos

Train Ride
Enjoying myself on the train

Open Spaces
This is your view for 18 hours.

Turkistan
The Mosoleum of Khoja Akhmet Yassawi

Khoja Akhmet Yassawi
This took quite a few tries with my camera timer

Barf
This product is used for cleaning dishes

Bartender and Fly
The bar in the market in Shemkynt.

Comments

[Ma]

far away, off the map
Made my day to hear your voice this morning. Wherever you are is off my map. Saw photos of 4-horned sheep--will be quite the thing to see in the wild, as well as the ibex and golden eagles. We are so happy about all you are seeing and learning. Love, Ma

[Leigh]

Barf!
That is awesome! I am reading this post on a flight to San Jose, CA (oh, the wonders of internet on an airplane!) and snorted really loud. I hope you picked up some Barf to take back to China with you. Love you lots. L