Ruins, Mausoleum and more Ruins

Monday 25 September 2023

Today we hired a driver to take us around old things.  He collected us at 0900 and we headed north for Sauren to see the ruins of what was once a major city on the Silk Road.  No subtle boundary markers on the roads here.

The ancient city of Sauran was first mentioned in the 10th century as a large city surrounded by seven walls, with a mosque in the inner city.  Covering over 40 hectares, it was a major city in the region, until the decline of the Silk Road, from the 16th Century, lead to its demise.  


We could certainly see parts of the walls, but most have been weathered/repurposed by locals: apart from the obviously rebuilt bits.


After an hour or so we drove down to Arystan Bab Mausoleum.   Another interesting Kazakh road feature (in case there is a highway-spotter reading this) is that there are these ramps dotted all over the place at the side of the road.  Apparently they are for when you break down - you somehow crawl your vehicle to one of these ramps to make it easy for the mechanic to look under your car.  We never saw them in use and I figure that, as they are about 50 km apart, the chance that you break down within limping distance of one of these is low.

A dust storm whipped up.

We spotted some wild camels - our first dromedaries (one hump) not the expected two (Bactrian).   

Anyway, back to Arystan Bab.  He was a mentor of Khoja Ahmed Yassaui (see yesterday) and a peer of the Prophet Mohammed so a visit here is a must-do for pilgrims.

It’s full of graves, as being buried near a spiritual leader is a plus for the after life.  Some of these weren't terribly strict Muslim as they had images of the deceased on the gravestone, which is apparently not a correct Islamic adherence.

There wasn’t an awful lot to see here. We managed a mini faux pas we think when we left our shoes at the mosque entrance. We tidied them up to the side, stashing them perpendicular to the entrance. When we returned they had been moved to be parallel with the doorway which is what everyone seemed to have done.  But we were dutifully obeying the dress guidance which they helpfully signed at each entrance.

And we weren't chased down by the tourist police.

The site is once again camel-ised and stylised with massive pots and I couldn't resist a quick hop on a camel before we left for Otrartobe.

Otrartobe has the remains of the town Otrar, another relic of the Silk Road rise and fall.  It’s a bit mix and match of 8th to 14th centuries with a heavy handed recent rebuild in tow.  But it’s well signed and, of course, they bought the brass camels too.

This extensive site has quite a few archaeological digs showing the 1000+ year old city with its mosque, bath houses, markets etc.  Pretty old pipes for the bathhouse.

It was very windy so I wrapped up in my scarf and, yes, sigh, I sat on a camel again.

It was also full of grass hoppers!  This is a parent and child - oh, unless it's a pair mating which explains why they didn't hop off when I got close.

We arrived in Shymkent for supper.  As we were here for two nights in a row (fancy that? A rest on holiday) I did a hand wash and kind of unpacked.  We ate in the hotel restaurant which was lovely food but sporadic service.  But it was lovely going to sleep knowing that we could have a lazy day tomorrow.