Life from abroad

The 25-hour train ride

Posted on Saturday, 12 June 2010 by robjkentjr

Normally, you can buy your train tickets online but since Rasa and I are cheap we waited until arriving in Kazakhstan to get our tickets from Shymkent to Astana. Despite there only being 3rd class tickets left (and the cramped, stuffy beds) we really enjoyed the ride and having a chance to interact with the locals, especially getting to drink fermented mare’s milk.


	Rasa and I arrived at the station about an hour early and waited for the train and sunrise, while sneaking some pictures in between patrols.


	We were adopted by several families on the train. They made sure we tried their fermented mare’s milk and soggy pasta with sheep’s fat.


	This was the corridor for our 3rd class car. It was cramped and very stuffy.


	We could not even sit up in our bunks; they were only for horizontal use.


	The toilet drained right on to the tracks and the conductor would lock the door at stations so you could not flush. Very considerate I think.


	I was so happy to see the spring tulips blooming. It was like this for the first couple of hours out of Shymkent.


	It seems every Russian landscape worth photographing has to have electoral wires and pylons in it.

The biggest problem on the train was getting harassed by the police for taking pictures and then having to delete all my photos because of security concerns (thank you Scandisk for recovery software). Luckily, this was not so much of a problem in the Fantasyland capital of Astana while we were with people who have diplomatic status.

Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan | Tagged beds, car, happy, kazakh, Kazakhstan, Kent, landscape, mare, pasta, photo, photograph, picture, rain, Rasa, sheep, shymkent, sunrise, sunset, train, train tickets | Leave a comment

Shymkent, Kazakhstan

Posted on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 by robjkentjr

We managed to make it to Shymkent from Tashkent despite us going to the wrong border crossing and arguing until we were blue in the face over the taxi fare, then we realized where we were. Once in town, it was your standard Soviet layout in the middle of nowhere with nothing special to offer, except a shorter trip from Uzbekistan.


	As soon as we crossed the border the landscape turned to wide open fields for grazing. Here was this nice herder taking his lamb for a ride.


	Shimkent was an unremarkable city but it did have the distinctive wide Soviet designed avenues.


	Walking along those streets we saw lots of Soviet style buildings that seem to be crumbling in place. A fresh coat of paint would do wonders.


	Mega Mall; the big attraction of the city complete with ice skating rink. I was so happy to find Wi-Fi here even if it did take 2 hours for uploads.


	For $70 a night these were some pretty dingy hotel rooms, We even had to use a shared bathroom!


	The bonus to our overpriced rooms was the complimentary sauna visit, which was our only way to shower. This must really be nice when it is -42 degrees out but for the warm summer it is just not the same.


	Getting ready for our big train ride, we packed up our lives into 4 bags totaling 80 pounds. And that is with our new tea pot set!

We had hoped to spend two nights at the Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve but all the tour operators Lonely Planet had recommended were closed so we spent our time waiting for the next available train to Astana. The best advice for traveling in this region is book early because for our 25-hour train we could only get 3rd class and that is no picnic on a Soviet train.

Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan | Tagged avenues, bath, bathroom, border crossing, city, happy, herder, hotel, kazakh, Kazakhstan, Kent, lamb, landscape, Nature Reserve, night, photo, plane, pretty, rain, shymkent, tashkent, taxi, taxi fare, tea, tour, train, travel, uzbekistan, walking | Leave a comment

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Posted on Saturday, 29 May 2010 by robjkentjr

Completing our tourist loop, we returned to Tashkent by shared taxi from Samarkand. This city was actually our favorite (despite there not being any real sites) because we stayed in a great hotel, did not feel like tourists and paid decent prices for amazing food.


	On our last day in Tashkent we had a beautiful rainbow and ominous sky to watch while we had pizza at the Italian restaurant.


	The Kulkedash Madrassa near the Chorsu Bazaar taken early morning.


	The Juma Mosque which is on top of a hill overlooking the grand domes of the Chorsu Bazaar. Other than the subway, these really are the only architectural delights of the city.


	Just outside our hotel I caught this woman doing her daily ritual of sweeping the street. Amazing how all that dust accumulates each day.


	One of the great things about staying with families is that they cook for you! Here is the cook at the Gulnara Guesthouse preparing the standard dough used to make many different dishes.


	This is a plov pot. Good plov should have the lamb fat dripping down your arms as you eat it. We thought this to be the best plov on the trip.


	My cheap pair of two month old Columbia sneakers being repaired by the shoe man. He sewed up the rip that started because of all our walking.

We ended up staying in Tashkent for an extra two nights, partly due to us debating about buying a tea-pot set with an oversized serving dish. Well, we bought it and now have to lug it around, which was fun during the border crossing to Kazakhstan.

Posted in Asia, Uzbekistan | Tagged bazaar, beautiful, beautiful rainbow, border crossing, city, cook, decent prices, food, good, great hotel, hotel, italian restaurant, kazakh, Kazakhstan, Kent, lamb, madrassa, night, ominous sky, photo, pizza, rain, Rasa, restaurant, samarkand, sky, tashkent, taxi, tea, tour, tourist loop, tourists, uzbekistan, walking | 2 Comments

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Posted on Saturday, 22 May 2010 by robjkentjr

Samarkand was the biggest and most expensive city we visited and with the sights spread out, there was a lot of walking to see everything between rain storms. The highlight for us was people watching in the bazaar and street side cafes along the Registan.


	The Registan complex in Samarkand is made up of three preserved madrassas that are the biggest in all of Central Asia and among the oldest in the world dating back to 1420.


	The inside of the Tilla-Kari Madrassa dome at the Registan. This was one of the most ornately painted buildings we saw in Uzbekistan.


	The Bibi-Khanym Mausoleum lit up in the setting sun with an ominous rain storm coming in behind it, which we got caught in.


	The Shah-i-Zinda is an avenue of impressive blue-tiled mausoleums for Qusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin to the Prophet Mohammed. If you continue walking through the tombs you end up in an overflowing graveyard.


	I loved watching this lady walk down the street hitting everyone up for money. She was a sight with her one snaggletooth.


	While in the market, how could we resist buying sugared nuts from this lady when she is offering a sample with such a golden smile?


	These ladies were selling yogurt in the bazaar. I loved the one on the left with all gold teeth. The younger girl in the middle with the white powdered face is considered vogue by the locals.

Overall, we were disappointed by Samarkand because of the clear price gouging for tourists, which is a shame because this was the place we were most looking forward to visiting. After spending a fortune and having to haggle over everything we were glad to be heading back to Tashkent where we could just blend in and not feel like the tourists.

Posted in Asia, Uzbekistan | Tagged Asia, bazaar, central asia, city, cousin, highlight, Kent, love, madrassa, money, photo, rain, rain storms, Rasa, registan, samarkand, shame, street side cafes, tashkent, tour, tourists, USA, uzbekistan, walking | 1 Comment

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Posted on Sunday, 16 May 2010 by robjkentjr

Coming from the enveloping city of Khiva, Bukhara was more open with grander architecture and too many tourists. The main delight though was wandering all the market streets looking for carpets and the hidden places where locals eat.


	We hit the first carpet shop we came across and found no dearth of choice for beautiful silk carpets. The only problem was that they were all done in the Persian style, not local designs.


	These tapestries are more in the traditional style except they were too small for our taste; we are going for massive carpets.


	During dinner I sat there with my camera to capture all the locals enjoying their tea. This lady was more colorful than the big Russian women consuming steins of beer.


	The Nadir Divanbegi Khanaka behind the Lyabi-Hauz pool. These bath pools were notorious in the 1800s for spreading the plague because the dirty water was rarely flushed from the system.


	Rasa photographed me sitting in front of the Mir-i-Arab Madrassa while waiting for the sunset to set it ablaze in reds and purples. I am going to make this my new Facebook picture.


	The Mir-i-Arab Madrassa just starting to change color with the setting sun.


	All the shoes left outside the mosque while their owners pray.

Bukhara was the most touristic city we visited and probably for good reason because of a nice mix of accommodation, sites and activities. Going to Samarkand next, it is a more developed city with even bigger blue tiled madrassas and mosques.

Posted in Asia, Uzbekistan | Tagged architecture, bath, beautiful, beer, bukhara, car, carpet shop, city, dinner, earth, good, madrassa, market streets, persian style, photo, photograph, picture, pool, Rasa, samarkand, silk carpets, sunset, tapestries, tea, tour, tourists, tradition, uzbekistan, water | 1 Comment

Life abroad: As Robert sees it

The 25-hour train ride

Shymkent, Kazakhstan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

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