Sauran is a city that has mostly turned into mounds, but what mounds. On the steppe northwest of Turkistan, not far from Kentau, the ruins of a medieval walled town rise from the plain, with long lines of mud-brick fortifications, bastions and gates still tracing a shape that can be read from a distance. For centuries this was one of the important towns on the northern branch of the Silk Road, a market and a fortress on the edge of the nomad world, and it changed hands between powers that wanted its walls.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it became a significant point in struggles between Timurid, Shaybanid and Kazakh forces, and by the sixteenth century it was a centre of the Kazakh khanate. Then trade shifted, wars wore it down, and by the eighteenth century it was abandoned. Archaeologists have uncovered streets, houses, a bathhouse and a sophisticated water system, and the scale of the walls shows how seriously people took defence. Today the site is a quiet open-air museum, and you are likely to have it largely to yourself.
The ride out is a short drive from Turkistan and Kentau on mostly paved roads, followed by a short stretch of rougher track, so check conditions after rain, when the clay turns slippery. It is dry, wide-open steppe, with grass, thorny shrubs and the occasional shepherd or herd of horses. Wind and sun are the main discomforts, and there is little shade, so bring a hat, water and sunscreen. Spring, when the grass is green and flowers scatter the plain, is easily the nicest time.
You will not find fuel or food at the site itself, so refill in Turkistan or Kentau, and carry a snack. Walk the wall for a few minutes and look out across the steppe: it is not hard to imagine caravans arriving at dusk, the gate closing behind them. The mud brick is fragile, so be careful where you step and leave stones where they lie. It is a modest stop with an enormous sense of time.