Virgil
A Walk Through Shymkent
by , 05-23-2010 at 01:09 PM (4743 Views)
The days get long not being with the comforts of home, not having any TV channels in English, and not knowing a soul in town. Our U.K. friends have gone home now that they have passed their court date, and there is only so much reading one can do. Thank God for the internet. It’s a life line. Today we decided to go to the bazaar. This town was known as a stopping point along the Silk Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road) to China, and the bazaar is the marketplace for local commerce.
Not sure what Shymkent looked like when it was founded in 1365, but supposedly Tauke Khan Avenue was part of the Silk Road. It does run East/West and I assume it continues once out of town as a road out to Almaty and ultimately China. Here are a couple of pictures of Tauke Khan Avenue.
Shymkent is supposed to mean “turf city” which must reflect a sort of oasis stop. To keep up its green heritage (though I would hardly call this place environmentally conscious) there are lots of little parks all about and the streets have these patches of rose gardens randomly placed. Here’s a picture of one:
Also there are a number of statues scattered through town, and they seem to be statues of Asiatic people from the area, not of Russians. I don’t know who they are nor what their accomplishments are, but they are interesting. Here’s one:
Kazakhstan is known for its religious tolerance. Muslims and Christians seem to get along quite easily here. If I can I think I will try to visit a Russian Orthodox church one Sunday, if I can find one. I would love to see the difference in their liturgy with the Catholic mass. I would also like to visit a mosque as well but I would need someone who knows the conventions to guide me; I would hate to unknowingly do something disrespectful. We did come across a nice looking mosque along the way:
We also came across this obelisk monument on our way. I have no idea what it commemorates. It’s not even in our guide books. But it’s really cool. It also has a large fountain in the center, but it was not turned on when I took the pictures.
The top of the obelisk has a really neat statue:
Finally the bazaar. This is pretty much how I pictured it. It’s large and a maze and crowded.
I bought a nice leather belt for 1000 Tange, which is under $7. I was supposed to bargain with him, but for under seven dollars and with the difficulty of the language, what the heck. We stopped and had lunch at a shish ka bob stand. He had various kinds and again I flapped my wings to indicate chicken. This guy understood me. This is the stand right inside the bazaar:
Kazakhstan is also know for their breads and they have been delicious. And some of them are really artistically presented. We bought this loaf for 30 Tange (about 20 cents). Isn’t this beautiful. I hate to cut it up and eat it.
Finally we stopped at one of the parks, Ethno Park, which has themed displays of various Asian cultures. Here are a couple of pictures from inside Ethno Park.
Hope you enjoyed this.
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