Sue's Travels: Silk Road - 20 May 2009 - Turgen National Park, Kazahstan

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Silk Road - 20 May 2009 - Turgen National Park, Kazahstan

Astana is the current capital of Kazakhstan. It was selected because it is in the middle of the country, but it has required significant development. Almati has trolley cars like those I barely remember from my childhood. There are tracks and overhead wires.

The day’s activity was going to Turgen which is close to the border with China. On the way to the National Park, we stopped to take pictures. Once we stopped at a gas station where we got pictures of the TienShen Mountains, which have snow on top. There were fields of red poppies, which reminded me of the poem from World War I about Flanders Fields. We also passed Shaka burial mounds which date to the 4^th or 5^th Century BCE. We stopped and took pictures of Angora Goats that were being herded by a man on horseback.

One of the big symbols of Kazakhstan is the Golden Warrior, found in a burial mound with armor made of gold discs. We stopped at the site where he was found. They have a replica of the Golden Warrior and they are building a museum at the location.

When we arrived at the park, there was another replica of the Golden Warrior, a burial mound and yurt shaped structure used for storage. There was also a wishing tree with the rags tied on it that represent wishes. The Sacred spring is supposed to make on youthful.

We were supposed to hike up to a water fall. I made it about half way up before I gave up. It was fairly steep in some places, the path in many places was covered with stones and there were streams to be crossed. All in all, it was just too much for me.

We stopped by the side of the road to eat the lunch prepared for us by the hotel. It was a lovely site with a stream running by.