Arrival Shymkent

Friday, September 28, 2018

Shymkent, South Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan

After the grand modern station in Astana the arrival in Shymkent was a sharp contrast. The station was just an outdoor track and all the passengers piled out after the long trip and mixed in with the locals.

We had to scan our bags to get into the station building to get out which caused a pile up. People then kept yelling 'taxi' in my face or even 'Tashkent' as though I wanted a ride to Uzbekistan.

The street from the station leads to the Independence Park. There were different monuments and some strange chimes coming from speakers.

The park leads to the main roundabout where people were gathering for midday Friday prayers. I was too tired with my bags and long train ride and just wanted to get to the hotel.

I had to walk west for about another km along Turkestan St until the movie theatre, when I had to turn right to cut across to my hotel. It was a much more provincial town than modern Astana and people were selling foods and various items along the cracked curbside.

Arrival at the hotel was a relief. It has some average reviews about being a Soviet era hotel but it was completely redesigned and vary modern. I asked for a higher room floor which faced the back but was quite large and spacious.

I tried to rest and shower after my overnight journey and watched some local day soaps with ethnic drama.

Early evening I wanted to go out to look for food and buy drinks as the hotel strangely didnt have a room service menu. There was a flower market west of the hotel which led to a supermarket.