This morning we met for the first time to meet our guide and review the trip. In Road Scholar terms this is a Let’s Go trip, the most active level. That means three to five miles walking each day and covering as much territory as possible. We will cover 2,500 miles in 17 days by various conveyances and by foot.
Our first stop was the National Museum. We spent a bit more than an hour there with a focus on the nomadic people who settled this part of Asia, their lifestyle, their implements, their costumes both of the elite and the common people. This is a relatively nw home for these artifacts.
This large map shows the massive size of Kazhakstan, the costumes of leadership three centuries apart the earliest on the left second century BC and on the right approx tenth century AD.
Our next stop was a hilltop park called Kok-Tobe. A small amusement park, restaurant and cafe, Ferris wheel, travel mementos and a cable car that reconnected us to a spot several blocks from our lunch restaurant. Notice the smog. It reminded me of a good day in LA in the 1970’s. I was told by Jama, our guide that this was a good day because it was Sunday and during the week it was much worse. Yikes.
daily woodring 