Sauran, South Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan
Today was my birthday and I had a busy for stop trip planned exploring the Turkestan region. I had slept from 9pm-3am. I arranged to meet my guide Dildabek at 730 due to the long day. He wanted 7am but that was when the hotel breakfast started so I wanted some time to get some food.
I slept a bit in the car along the way. Due to the four stop itinerary we were doing the long drive to the northern most stop and would work our way back.
The highway was quite modern and relatively deserted this Sunday morning. The odd distraction was from cattle crazing who sometimes wondered across the highway stopping traffic.
We chatted more in the car on some of the background. Sauran was an ancient Silk Road settlement that was abandoned due to wars and change in the river flow of the Oxus river.
Entrance to the site was free and nobody was on duty. The town used to be surrounded by an outer moat.
Ghenghis Khan had attacked along with other wars but the ultimate demise was as the water dried up. The high outer walls were always visible so it was no secret to archaeologists that something existed here.
As we went in there were giant clay pots. I said they must have been fake, nobody would leave antiquities lying around like that but Dildabek insisted they were real and that nobody will steal them.
Japanese researches have recreated some structures in the centre to illustrate how the site may have looked. The outer walls are quite a distance though showing the scale of the site.
On every step there were pottery fragments. There were so many nobody would ever notice if a tourist took one but I wasnt sure if that was the right thing to do. Horses sometimes wonder into the vast space as fresh manure piles were visible.
Dildabek asked what I thought and I wasnt sure as didnt really have any expectation. Except for pictures of the moat walls I didnt know what to expect and was surprised at the scale of the site. Interesting first birthday stop today with three more to go.
2025-05-22