| Turkestan
(KAZAKHSTAN) |
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| Turkestan
(KAZAKHSTAN) |
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Our next country is Kazakhstan. To
complicate matters, the first place we visit is called Turkestan. And there is a university for Turkish
people, probably attracted by the name? Anyway, that's the reason for the
Turkish flag next to the Kazakh flag.
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| The children learn English in school, and they liked to talk to us. With their lesson book we had a nice conversation. And we could need some help, at the restaurant they only had a menu in Russian. |
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The main reason to visit Turkestan is the Kozha Akhmed Yasaui mausoleum. He was a Sufi teacher, who retired to an underground cell at the age of 63, in mourning of the prophet Mohammed who had died at this age. The tomb of Kozha Akhmed Yasaui was already a place of pilgrimage when Timur ordered a far grander mausoleum to be built here. |
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| You visit Turkestan not for the grandeur of the
building: the ones in Samarkand are much more beautiful, both outside and
inside.
But Turkestan is unique because of the pilgrims coming here. Lots of people visit this place to honour the Sufi teacher, and it is nice to see that. As a tourist, you feel a bit out of place, but not unwelcome. |
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Our bus, although built in Holland, was not as
reliable as we had hoped it would be. They might call this the Silk Road, but it
doesn't mean the drive is smooth as silk. Especially when the shock absorbers
broke down. Fortunately our driver was also a good mechanic, as we did not like the idea of hitchhiking for several hundreds of kilometers. |
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 At one of the mausoleums, an Imam was passing out bread, to share in the luck of the newly wed couple. Which we joyfully accepted; we wished them all the luck in the world (and were also a bit hungry after all the trouble with the bus). |
Close to Taraz, where we stayed the night, lies the mausoleums of Aysha-Bibi and Babazhi Katun. This is also a place where newly weds come for a blessing. The story of Aysha-Bibi is very romantic: a girl had to wait a long time before her lover came home. When she heard the news he finally came, she ran all the way to him. From love and exhaustion her heart broke when she met him, and she died in his arms. |
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