Blogs from Almaty, East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Asia - page 3

We arrived in the town of Kurmenty and unpacked the van and the driver went back to Almaty to get the transmission fixed with something besides bailing wire. We were treated to a traditional Kazakh dinner in the home of one of our guides family members. The meal consisted of Beshbarmak: The national dish of Kazakhstan means ‘five fingers’ referring to the fact that it is eaten by hand. It consists of boiled meat (traditionally horse but nowadays often lamb) and large noodles that look like sheets of lasagna in an onion gravy/broth. Ours was made with fresh killed lamb. Along with our meal we had Buarsak a traditional fried roll. A little Black Currant jelly and you have a doughnut a little gravy from the meat a dinner roll. Delicious meal!! After dinner we were ... read more

a few updates:from Kim....The first day we were here, the school had bought some groceries for us. a large bottle of yellow liquid ( looked like juice or tea).... Dave took a big swig! it was cooking oil! haha. We had a box that had a picture of foamy ocean waves, we thought it was laundry soap- nope- salt. oh well, I heard that salt can clean out a dirty washing machine. We don't have a dryer- but a clothes drying rack out on the balcony worked well- we need to buy fabric softener! The people are stoic - but it isn't in a rude way- the city is big and they drive like maniacs- making three lane as from two- there are very few beggars or drunks on the streets- the women dress really nice- ... read more

here is a map... read more

Day 20 - Almaty and around: Yet another peculiar day. We got our admin out of the way in the morning. We knew already that driving into China was impossible without taking their own examinations, and that the controlled border area was up to 100km wide in some places, passable only with a permit. Furthermore, there is little to see or do around the Khorgos border crossing into China A good compromise to show that driving to China was indeed possible but quench our need for scenery and adventure would be to cross into Kyrgystan via the Karkara valley border checkpoint and then fill ourselves to bursting with mountains and valleys going south around Isyl Kol lake. The Karkara valley crossing is one of the most remote in the world. It was closed for many years ... read more

I flew with Air Astana to Kazakhstan. The local carrier has most of its fleet registered on our neighbouring island of Aruba, with the code “P4”. Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and the former capital with about 1.5 million people. Astana is the capital since 1997 but I did not go there because it’s the second coldest capital in the world and I’m not really friends with the cold. Even though it was early spring, the weather in Almaty wasn’t too cold! I think curiosity (as a Geography teacher) was the main reason for me to visit this country. The five “Stans” (part of the former Soviet Union) are very unknown and mysterious for most people because not so many people visit the region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. You hardly hear anything ... read more