Things to do in Kyzyl
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Vostorg
Perched above a supermarket of the same name, Kyzyl’s best cheap eat is a plasticky no-frills self-service cafeteria where cash-strapped students and office workers fill up for a few roubles on generous platefuls of pelmeni, bliny, meatballs, plov, pork roast and Ukrainian holubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat). Fresh doughnuts and pastries make this a perfect budget breakfast spot.
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Delovye Melochi Bookshop
Maps are very hard to find but are sometimes stocked in Delovye Melochi Bookshop in the basement next to Kafe Dom Pechati. It also sells decent Russian language guides to Tuva (R200).
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Throat-Singing
Throat-singing is Tuva's great draw, yet finding performances is rather haphazard. Sometimes they're listed on www.tyvantranslator.com. If not, try asking at the National Theatre.
On the 1st floor of the sizable Cultural Centre, the Khöömei Centre can help arrange throat-singing lessons - to find it, walk between the cloakroom and snack bar and keep going. However, to simply hear a sample try going up to the 3rd floor from here (by the back rather than the main stairs) to a room where Tuvan musicians practise most afternoons around 14:00. Alternatively, contact Aylana Irguit or Aldar Tamdyn, who can usually arrange a short demonstration of the various styles. Around US$20…
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centre-of-Asia monument
If you take a map of Europe, cut out Asia and balance the continent on a pin, the pinprick will be Kyzyl. Well, only if you've used the utterly obscure Gall's stereographic projection. However, that doesn't stop the town perpetuating the 'Centre of Asia' idea first posited by a mysterious 19th-century English eccentric and still marked with a concrete globe-and-obelisk centre-of-Asia monument on the riverbank, at the end of Komsomolskaya ul.
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Aldan Maadyr National Museum
The Aldan Maadyr National Museum finally moved into its new state-of-the-art home in 2008. As well as the old museum’s array of stuffed animals, 6th to 12th century stone figures, and banknotes, stamps and photos from the 1930s independence period, the 16 halls also house freshly installed exhibitions on throat singing, European art and Tuvan shamanism.
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Cultural Centre
On the 1st floor of the sizable Cultural Centre, the Khöömei Centre can help arrange throat-singing lessons - to find it, walk between the cloakroom and snack bar and keep going. However, to simply hear a sample try going up to the 3rd floor from here (by the back rather than the main stairs) to a room where Tuvan musicians practise most afternoons around 14:00.
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Dungur Shaman Centre
Visiting a shaman is fascinating if you have a translator and a tangible 'problem' to have examined. This might be a medical, mental or emotional purification or perhaps seeking 'luck' with your travels. Less authentic 'shaman shows' are organised for tourist groups.
Dungur Shaman Centre is one of several options.
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Kezhik
The only central café to serve authentic Tuvan fare such as sogozha (stuffed grilled liver), manchi (mutton ravioli) and the dreaded han sausage. Gaudy black and gold decor and carefully laid tables lend it a grander ambience than it deserves.
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Tos Deer Shaman Centre
Riverfront totem poles and reception yurts make Tos Deer Shaman Centre the most photogenic. If someone has stumped up the cash, there might be sunset ceremonies here but shamans are touchy about (unpaid) photography.
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Khöömei Centre
On the 1st floor of the sizable Cultural Centre, the Khöömei Centre can help arrange throat-singing lessons – to find it, walk between the cloakroom and snack bar and keep going.
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Tsechenling Datsan
Two blocks east stands the white pagoda-style Buddhist temple Tsechenling Datsan Brightly-coloured prayer flags flutter in the breeze outside but it’s disappointingly plain inside.
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Arlekina Kafe
Bright colours, Venetian carnival masks and big-screen DVD make this clean, family-friendly place an upbeat choice. The menu is extensive and the R100 lunch is filling, if unexciting.
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Alash Travel
Offers full-scale rafting and climbing expeditions, and can arrange horse-riding trips between Tuva and Altai. English spoken by some guides but not in the office.
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National Theatre
The distinctive white concrete National Theatre slightly oriental wooden flourishes make it the city’s most architecturally distinctive building.
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Kafe Dom Pechati
With its hand-written menu of Russian stodge and snarling dinner ladies, this hard-to-find basement stolovaya offers a more Soviet dining experience.
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Art Kafe
Neither arty nor a café, the rather threadbare theatre restaurant has affordable lunch menus, a R50 evening cover charge and poor service.
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Adyg-Eeren Shaman Centre
Adyg-Eeren Shaman Centre looks like a used-car lot but in one room there is a stuffed bear and all the shamanic accoutrements.
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Kafe Shek-Peer
Presentable café with a short menu of tasty dishes that include rice or potato garnish in the price. Wine available by vodka-sized glass.
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Eco Tuva
Enthusiastic tour agency offering horse-back trips with throat singing and yurt stays as well as week-long tours coinciding with Naadym.
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Aldar Tamdyn
Instrument-maker and member of group Chirgilchin. He speaks OK English and can help you contact local musicians when he's not on tour.
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Museum of Oppression
A tiny Museum of Oppression has moving, dog-eared, copied photos of those who disappeared in the Stalin years.
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Market
The market has a range of fresh produce and is ringed by several cheap cafés and shashlyk grills.
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