one thing that became clear to me in my time living in taraz, the city had a really bad reputation. whenever i spoke to kazakhs from other parts of the country, they had the impression that southern kazakh cities, and taraz in particular, was a crime-infested violence-ridden hell hole. at least one tarazi insisted that shymkent (another southern city), not taraz, was the crime capital of kazakhstan. nevertheless, i always felt pretty safe there and when mrs. noz was living there alone, crime wasn't what i was worrying about.
but we spent almost all our time in the town center. they say the "microregions" are where the crime is. i can't say i ever spent much time in any of them.
in any case, it was entertaining to read this post about my recent home away from home.
