The ruined town of Kostobe lies in the broad valley of the Talas river, a few kilometres from Sarykemer and about sixteen from Taraz, in the south of Kazakhstan. It belongs to the string of settlements along the Silk Road that UNESCO recognised in 2014 as the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor, and its low mounds and eroded walls recall a time when caravans passed through here between China, Central Asia and the Middle East. Details of the excavations are the business of archaeologists, but the general picture is clear: a walled medieval trading town on fertile land, close to a river and a major route.
The region is famous for one event above all. In 751, near the Talas river, an army of the Abbasid caliphate met a Tang Chinese force, and the Chinese were defeated. The battle is often said to mark the end of Tang expansion westward and, according to a well-known tradition, to have passed papermaking technology from Chinese prisoners to the Islamic world, though historians debate the details. Taraz, the nearby city, is one of the oldest in Kazakhstan, and it keeps older treasures: the Aisha Bibi mausoleum, a little way west of the city, is a small masterpiece of eleventh or twelfth century terracotta tilework.
The riding is easy and open. The main road between Almaty, Taraz and Shymkent crosses a plain with the snowy line of the Alatau always to the south, and the surface is mostly good, with heavy trucks and some stretches of rough patching. Spring brings green fields and poppies, summer is very hot, and autumn is a lovely time of golden light and fruit stalls at the roadside. Winter is cold, with ice and strong winds. Sarykemer is a small town of about fifteen thousand, and has fuel, shops and cafes; Taraz, a city of more than three hundred and fifty thousand, has everything.
Ruins like this have little for the casual visitor to see, since time and ploughing have worn them down, so go with a modest expectation and an interest in the landscape. Stand on a mound, look at the mountains, and think of how many travellers have stopped at that very place. In Taraz, a bowl of beshbarmak, boiled meat with flat noodles, is the traditional meal for guests, and the tea is always strong.