Day 42: Aral Sea
I arrived at Aralsk at about 8am.
Check the train timetable as I began to wonder if this place can be done in a day then I can save on accomodation again. However it seems not possible as the sights I wanted to visit are very far away from the town (but actually it is still possible, just that I did not realised it). So I ended up staying here for a night at a very expensive and not worth the money hotel. If I had gone on a night train, then I can visit 1 more city.
I am going to visit the Aral Sea today. The Aral Sea is shared between Kazakhstan and Ubezkistan. It is one of the biggest environmental problem for both the countries as this sea had began to shrink. It is now less than half the size of what it used to be. Huge environmental problem. It had dried up and is now splited into two with the bigger half in Uzbekistan and the smaller part in Kazakhstan.
Light blue is what is used to be. Dark blue is what is remain now. Very environmental tragic. The shore is now 65KM OUT from where it used to be. Can you imgaine? 65km of water dried up? That is even longer than from Woodlands to Harbourfront in Singapore. Jesus!! Thats a lot of water.
Now, because water had dried up, animals can roam freely around the area. There are foxes now in the former sea area. They came from the mountains nearby. Despite the bad situation, Uzbekistan is not doing anything to save the situation. Kazakhstan is. A dam was built in Kazakhstan by the world bank project and results was shown. There is a plan to build one more dam in 2009 to further improve the situation.
Danish students who were studying this problem of Aral Sea also tried to help. Because of the dried up sea, fishermen were affected. These students helped to bring fishes back to the sea. But still, it does not help much as the water is now different (Salt water and fresh water), and so were the fishes. The fishermen had no idea of how to catch this type of fish which they had not seen before.
Just as they were trying to figure out a new technique for catching these fishes, a local found an old USSR book on fishing which had a technique for it. So, the problem of fishing is solved, but there were still no market for these fishes as this kind of fish is "new" to the local. SO the Danish students helped them by bringing these fishes to bigger places like Alamty, which is the former capital, to sell. And it works.
Then things started to change again. The water is changing (Salt water and fresh water). So there might be a new problem soon. All in all, USD$1 million had been spent on saving this part of Aral Sea. So if Kazakhstan is doing something, will Uzbekistan doing something about it too? PLEASE?!
The first place I am going to visit is the ship cemetery. Because the water had dried up, these ships had been left there just like in the open. They were just rusting away. There is no way they can sail anymore and thus the name of the place is ship cemetery. They were died there.
There used to be 12 of these ships lying in the cemetery but in 2006, people started to go to these ships and cut them apart to sell as scrap metals as they were so poor and they need money to survive. Now, there left only 4 ships. People are still cutting them and so if you want to witness this tragic site, you better make a trip there fast.
On the way to the ship cemetery. Driving on the former sea.
Animals on the former sea. I love these cows. It looked as though they were wearing masks.
The ships lying in the cemetery. Can you see it?
While walking towards these ships, it is easy to know that this is a former sea bed as you see many seashells lying around.
The ships
The wind is pretty strong here. And as the wind blows it was as if I can hear the waves of the sea. This place kind of remind me of Cambodia's Angkor Wat where something similiar happened. Suddenly, I decided to take photos in black and white to give it a bit more feeling.
Then I went to the present sea shore. It was so beautiful. It is a pity that it had shrank and it will be a pity if this sea disappear.
Leaving my footprints behind.
This is me confused. HAHA.
Me at the Aral Sea.
My guide and me.
The former shipping factory which is now deserted.
Back to the Aralsk town.
My hotel.
The place where I got my guide. Oh yah, I paid hell lots of money to get to these places that I been to today. Dont even ask. :(
That night, I had a real difficult time trying to find something to eat. Hand signs and body languages works everywhere but I do not know why is does not here. I went to a couple of cafes, tried to buy food, but they dont wanna sell me anything just because they dont undestand me. It was really bad. I felt quite helpless. There were no lights on the streets and it was cold. One cafe after another. they told me to get out. Finally I got to the last one on the streets, went in, spoke nothing, sat down and just wait for them to get me anything. And this was what I got.
Same thing as breakfast and not filling at all. Well, what to do? At least I got some food.
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
Check the train timetable as I began to wonder if this place can be done in a day then I can save on accomodation again. However it seems not possible as the sights I wanted to visit are very far away from the town (but actually it is still possible, just that I did not realised it). So I ended up staying here for a night at a very expensive and not worth the money hotel. If I had gone on a night train, then I can visit 1 more city.
I am going to visit the Aral Sea today. The Aral Sea is shared between Kazakhstan and Ubezkistan. It is one of the biggest environmental problem for both the countries as this sea had began to shrink. It is now less than half the size of what it used to be. Huge environmental problem. It had dried up and is now splited into two with the bigger half in Uzbekistan and the smaller part in Kazakhstan.
Light blue is what is used to be. Dark blue is what is remain now. Very environmental tragic. The shore is now 65KM OUT from where it used to be. Can you imgaine? 65km of water dried up? That is even longer than from Woodlands to Harbourfront in Singapore. Jesus!! Thats a lot of water.
Now, because water had dried up, animals can roam freely around the area. There are foxes now in the former sea area. They came from the mountains nearby. Despite the bad situation, Uzbekistan is not doing anything to save the situation. Kazakhstan is. A dam was built in Kazakhstan by the world bank project and results was shown. There is a plan to build one more dam in 2009 to further improve the situation.
Danish students who were studying this problem of Aral Sea also tried to help. Because of the dried up sea, fishermen were affected. These students helped to bring fishes back to the sea. But still, it does not help much as the water is now different (Salt water and fresh water), and so were the fishes. The fishermen had no idea of how to catch this type of fish which they had not seen before.
Just as they were trying to figure out a new technique for catching these fishes, a local found an old USSR book on fishing which had a technique for it. So, the problem of fishing is solved, but there were still no market for these fishes as this kind of fish is "new" to the local. SO the Danish students helped them by bringing these fishes to bigger places like Alamty, which is the former capital, to sell. And it works.
Then things started to change again. The water is changing (Salt water and fresh water). So there might be a new problem soon. All in all, USD$1 million had been spent on saving this part of Aral Sea. So if Kazakhstan is doing something, will Uzbekistan doing something about it too? PLEASE?!
The first place I am going to visit is the ship cemetery. Because the water had dried up, these ships had been left there just like in the open. They were just rusting away. There is no way they can sail anymore and thus the name of the place is ship cemetery. They were died there.
There used to be 12 of these ships lying in the cemetery but in 2006, people started to go to these ships and cut them apart to sell as scrap metals as they were so poor and they need money to survive. Now, there left only 4 ships. People are still cutting them and so if you want to witness this tragic site, you better make a trip there fast.
On the way to the ship cemetery. Driving on the former sea.
Animals on the former sea. I love these cows. It looked as though they were wearing masks.
The ships lying in the cemetery. Can you see it?
While walking towards these ships, it is easy to know that this is a former sea bed as you see many seashells lying around.
The ships
The wind is pretty strong here. And as the wind blows it was as if I can hear the waves of the sea. This place kind of remind me of Cambodia's Angkor Wat where something similiar happened. Suddenly, I decided to take photos in black and white to give it a bit more feeling.
Then I went to the present sea shore. It was so beautiful. It is a pity that it had shrank and it will be a pity if this sea disappear.
Leaving my footprints behind.
This is me confused. HAHA.
Me at the Aral Sea.
My guide and me.
The former shipping factory which is now deserted.
Back to the Aralsk town.
My hotel.
The place where I got my guide. Oh yah, I paid hell lots of money to get to these places that I been to today. Dont even ask. :(
That night, I had a real difficult time trying to find something to eat. Hand signs and body languages works everywhere but I do not know why is does not here. I went to a couple of cafes, tried to buy food, but they dont wanna sell me anything just because they dont undestand me. It was really bad. I felt quite helpless. There were no lights on the streets and it was cold. One cafe after another. they told me to get out. Finally I got to the last one on the streets, went in, spoke nothing, sat down and just wait for them to get me anything. And this was what I got.
Same thing as breakfast and not filling at all. Well, what to do? At least I got some food.
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
posted by ZeeVinCeZ at 7:36 AM
1 Comments:
o man.. its really a tragic sight to see at the aral sea. =(( and poor you.. no proper food. =/
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