Shymkent was founded in the 12th century as a caravanserai to protect the city of Sajram on the Silk Road. One of the oldest human settlements in Transoxania, this place miraculously escaped the influence of Soviet architecture. Thanks to this, I was able to admire the numerous mausoleums that are the only remains of the city's former glory. It was here that Ahmad Jasawi was born, a poet and philosopher whose tomb I admired in Turkestan.