Kazakhstan in Pictures
Kazakhstan was my last country on the nearly three-month central Asia silk road tour. By the time I got here, I was pretty exhausted from continuous travel, so I didn’t see as much as I wanted to.
Sayram's minaret to the Kydyr mosque, 10th century.
Inside the mausoleum of Abd al-Aziz-baba and Seyt Kozhakhan-ata,
Front view the cathedral. of the Interiors are designed by the artistic workshops of Moscow and Kiev.
Our trip started from the land border crossing near Tashkent which was a harrowing experience (very crowded, need to be aggressive, and fight off swarms of taxi drivers and money exchange touts). We arrived at Shymkent and enjoyed a relaxing evening around its extensive park system. Unfortunately our trip to Turkestan had to be cancelled the next day because we missed changing the timezone. Rookie mistake!
Three-Domed Mausoleum originally built by the order of Timur
There are many pre-20th-century mausoleums in Sairam, close to Shymkent.
A leafy street in Almaty
Statues of (?), Shymkent
Tram parking lot, Almaty
Almaty is a large city with numerous shopping areas and a couple of pedestrian streets.
The pedestrian section of the Zhybek-Zholy (Silk road), also knon as Arbat street. Moscow has a very similar street by the same name.
Shopping center (bazaar)
Good place to stock up on souvenirs and chocolates.
Almaty is a very large city, and very cosmopolitan too. There were a large number of restaurants, shopping malls, cafes, and tons of recreational activities like museums, parks, etc. The city is surrounded by mountains to the south (there’s lots of pollution), but we were too exhausted to venture out.
Soup and a plate of plov, the national disk of Uzbekistan but also popular here.
Laghman noodles with beef, also a regional specialty
I’m sure I’ll visit Kazakhstan once again, probably on a trip that includes Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
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