Blogs from East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Asia - page 3

We leave on Monday to travel the Silk Route through Central Asia. We will start in Almaty in Kazakhstan and then travel on through Kyrgyzstan, then Uzbekistan and on to our final destination of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. On route we will be hiking and wild camping in the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains. At Song Kul lake we will stay in traditional yurts before a few nights with local families. Then onward to explore the fabled Silk Route cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Finally we will cross the wild Karakum Desert. We might also get to the state opera and see Carmen! Internet access could be a little intermittent but, whenever we can, we will be blogging.... read more

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