Moynoq is a city in Qaraqalpaqstan. This town used to be a prosperous fishing town, but since the Aral Sea disaster, it has become a poor town with lots of problems, not least health risks caused by pollution and unemployment, as fishery was the only resource.
A tour from Nukus will take you to all the interesting places.
- The monument for the Aral Sea - there is a monument near what used to be a bank of the Aral Sea with a board telling the history of Aral Sea. Al Gore has visited this monument. There is also a fleet of rusted trawlers there, still lined up in the desert where once the quay stood. You can walk down to the old sea bed and explore the boats. A better-preserved trawler is nostalgically displayed at the bus station. The Aral Sea is over a hundred kilometres away, and still shrinking, the level dropping about a metre per year. The man who maintains the memorial might talk to you. He used to be the captain of a fishing boat - he last went to sea in 1978, which was the last time Moynaq had access to the sea. He will refuse donations, preferring that you spread the word about the sea.
- There is a museum with intermittent hours and a low entry cost. It has an interesting exhibit about the history of the sea and the problems caused by its destruction.
- The fish factory, which used to provide work and now is abandoned, the equipment left there to rust.
Avoid drinking tap water. The water supply is heavily polluted with defoliants, pesticides and fertiliser.
There is at least one bus everyday which leaves Moynoq at 15:00 and cost 13,000 som. Ask around in the bus station in Nukus to comfirm this as it seems to change quickly.