MIR Corporation's Travel Blog:
Chinese Turkestan & Central Asia

Andrew Barron, MIR's Director of Scheduled Group Tours, visits the ancient Silk Road in Western China and the 'Stans with the Chinese Turkestan & Central Asia scheduled group tour. Read about his journey from Almaty to Urumqi, Kashgar and Bishkek.

• Day 1: Arrival in Almaty
• Day 2: Almaty - What Kind of Potatoes?
• Day 3: Almaty - Thin Ice. Very Thin.
• Day 4: Turgen Gorge, flight to Urumqi - Waterfall
• Day 5: Urumqi, flight to Kashgar - Hints of What's To Come
• Day 6: Kashgar Sunday Market - The Real Thing
• Day 7: Shache - The Edge of Nowhere
• Day 8: Kashgar, flight to Bishkek - Goodbye Group; Cats & Dogs
• Day 9: Bishkek - Tightrope
• Day 10: Bishkek, Lake Issyk-Kul - Don't Quit Your Day Job
• Day 11: Bishkek, departure from Almaty - The Universal Language of Border Checkpoints

May 15, 2008

We got an early start today to allow time to see more of the city highlights and still have time to drive out to the Medeo sports complex for lunch. Winding up the road into the mountains you can see successive avalanche barriers that were constructed over time. Almaty sits at the bottom of an area that is quite avalanche prone, and the first ranks of barriers were not effective. Eventually a vast earthwork was put in place, which ended the threat to the city. We got to the foot of the earthwork where the Medeo Ice rink is and it was amazing. We would have needed hours more time to climb it and come back, so we satisfied ourselves at the panoramic view over the open air stadium.

Where there was no ice. There was a place where the ice would be, and on it were set up basketball courts. Our guide explained that there is ice year-round but that the cooling system was currently drained for maintenance. It was definitely cooler up here in the mountains, and the fresh air and mountain vistas were a very nice change from the heat of the city. We also saw a very good folk show while we ate lunch in a yurt restaurant and dined on traditional Kazakh dishes. The carrot salad was delicious, and the horsemeat sausages were surprisingly good. I think the traditional stuffed pasta went over a bit better but it was a good chance to try something a bit more exotic.

We got back into town in time to go see a Russian Orthodox service at Zenkov Cathedral, also located across from the hotel, in Panfilov Park. I didn't stay for the entire service, but was there long enough to be censed by the priest, and to admire the evening light slanting into the icon-rich sanctuary.

Photos from this leg of the tour: