From the train this morning we could see a vaste grass plain, almost treeless and extending flat to the horizon in every direction; at least every direction we could see from the various train windows. The plain is dotted with occassioal herds of horses and every now and then a village passed by; they looked poor and very soviet in style with blue framed windows and the ever present yellow above ground gas lines.

We arrived in Taraz about 8:00, and found that the platform was a sort of mini-bazaar with many stalls selling various snacks and drinks. Exiting the train station required no security check and just to reinforce that we are no longer in China, there was not even a ticket check.

A short drive with our local guide and minibus brought us to the hotel Zhambye. We had rooms at this hotel for the day but did not stay overnight as there was yet another overnight train planned for the evening.

Taraz is an old city, celebrating its 2000th anniversary in 2001 and in current day Kazakhstan is the main city of the Zhambye region. Historically it was at the cross roads of two of the traditional Silk Road routes and according to our local guide had been sacked by invaders a number of times.

Our sightseeing for the day were visits to a number of mausoleums, two extensive archeoligical digs, and a museum. The mausoleums were recent (2004) restorations of buildings destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. The two digs were uncovering acient churches, mosques and caravansary.

The museum was a whole different story, a step into the modern world. It was part of, and is located in a massive new complex of buildings and square all in Islam style, close to a modern shopping mall.

Following the sightseeing we returned to the hotel for dinner and to rest until train time.