This
weekend was a great time for us to take an epic bus ride! We had the idea to
just hop on a bus and ride it for the entire route, Sunday was our chance. The
bus stop is right outside of our building, and we constantly hear them pulling
up and yelling out their destinations. Since they yell in Kazakh it’s very
difficult for us to understand where they are going, but we figured it’s an
adventure and doesn’t really matter.
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| The front view of the bus. (I know it says 76, but the other side says 69) |
We stood on
the curb watching a few buses come by that were pretty full – not our ideal
situation to be squished on a bus when we’re trying to take in the view.
Finally, number 69 came rolling up and we took our chance. We found a great
spot to stand by the window and take in the sights. Once the bus pulled away
from the curb the ‘yeller’ came through to collect the fare. It cost us $0.66
for both of us. He made small talk and asked where we were from and we
explained that we are from America
and that I’m there to teach. He smiled and moved on to collect other fares.
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| Graffiti - I have no idea what it's about. |
We’ve seen
this bus pass by the big mall, Mega, so we had an idea of where we’d be off to
at first. There are only 2 stops to Mega, so we know that in the winter, when
it’s icy, this bus will be ideal to take for grocery shopping.
Only a few
blocks past Mega the bus took a right turn and we headed into familiar
territory. Two of my co-workers live on the street, pretty far down, but we
recognized it right away. So we’ve made another note of where we might take
this bus if needed.
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| An interesting building. Love the colors! |
It followed
that street pretty far before taking a left. Now we were in unknown territory.
What could it behold?
We were on
the outskirts of the city, so the shops became fewer as houses started to take
their place. We could see large houses with high gates and we could see smaller
houses smooshed together side-by-side. I started to think that maybe this ride
would be boring and uneventful, but I was wrong. The bus was caught in a
slow-moving traffic jam with a lot of horn blaring. As we inched along a huge
market came into view. It looks very similar to the one behind our apartment,
but much larger. Both sides of the street were crammed with cars, while shops
and people lined the road. There wasn’t really a bus stop, per se, but the bus
just stops in a general area on the road and people run over and jump on.
Since we
were just having a look as to where the bus was going we didn’t jump off to
check out the market. The bus moved on through some back streets that were part
of several neighborhoods, but as we emerged from that area we found ourselves driving
along the road near the airport. Although the bus only stayed on that road for
a short time it gave us a better idea as to where we were. There is a huge,
white mosque on the side of the road that we were unable to get pictures of,
but would like to go back and check out (we can’t go inside, but to get some
pictures would be nice).
The last
stop for the bus (before starting back on it’s return route), is a small market
near the mosque. All of the shops are in an enclosed building and a few
make-shift shops are directly across the street.
Overall,
this bus route wasn’t too bad. It can get us to some key places and some
interesting markets. Next week we’ll try a different bus with a different route
and hopefully discover something new.
As we
returned back towards Mega we jumped off the bus and went walking up the
street. We’d heard tell that there is a fast food burger joint whose burgers
are pretty similar to home. About 3 blocks up we found it. Inside was packed
with people. There were only about 12 tables, each big enough for 4-6 people. Behind
the counter a lady was taking orders so we placed ours and took a seat. We
watched as a worker slowly carved meat off of a schwarma stand and lay it in
piles on a baking sheet. On down the line they were stuffing the meat,
cucumbers, tomatoes, mayonnaise into tortillas and grilling the whole bit ready
for eating. It looked pretty awesome, but we’d come for burgers. Once our order
was ready we realized that we should have just taken a seat and they would have
taken our order at the table. Oh well! We sat with our ‘to-go’ bag at the table
and they brought us proper glass plates for our food. The burgers were better
than we’ve had in other places in the city, and enough to hit the spot, but
there was something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on. At least I
know there’s a place I can go if I feel the need for some good [sic: nasty]
fast food!
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| A Burger Land worker preparing to cut schwarma. |
After
eating we walked a bit further up the street to hunt for the bowling alley. It
was only about 2 blocks up and looked just like any other bowling alley. Right
next door is a 24 hour karaoke bar and on the other side is some other type of
pub. Across the street was an Italian and Chinese restaurant.
All in all,
our excursion produced some good resources for a future time. Shopping,
bowling, karaoke, and drinking – you can’t go wrong!
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| Graffiti on our walk. |
