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Shymkent, Kazakhstan

Posted on June 9th, 2010 in Asia,Kazakhstan 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.

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Posted on May 29th, 2010 in Asia,Uzbekistan 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 .
On our last day in Tashkent we had a 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.

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