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Orphaned ships, Moynaq

While in Nukkus, I took a day trip to Moynaq to visit the former shores of the Aral Sea. A monument in the shape of a sail sits on the former bank; in the distance, a new lake has been formed, but the new lake is a pale shade of what once fed a vibrant fishing community. Now, the area is mostly desert. The town is small and shrinking, though I saw children in the streets with bookbags on their way to or from school.

The Aral Sea has been considered one of the worst environmental disasters of the modern age. Once the world's fourth-largest inland body of salt water, the sea has now shrunk to 10% of it's original area, after the rivers feeding the sea were diverted for irrigation.

To get to Moynaq, I took a series of shared taxis, first to Kungrad, and then onwards to my destination. On the way back, I found a shared taxi from Moynaq that left the town quickly. I couldn't believe my luck (at times I would have to wait hours for a shared taxi to depart for its eventual destination) as we sped east through the desert. I closed my eyes, certain of arriving back in Kungrad in an hour or two, and fell asleep.

I awoke to a thumping and grinding. The car slowed. The driver pulled to the side of the road and looked under the car. He sat down and turned the starter. The car ground its gears together and we crawled forward. The driver stopped again and peered under the car. The road was empty before and behind us. He got back into the car and we limped forward. The time it would take to return to Kungrad would double, then triple as we drove at a snails pace through the desert. But at least we were moving.