Blogs from Kazakhstan, Asia

Hello again! I know it has been a while since my last entry and I have a lot to update you with this time. Currently I am in Bishkek and the internet is awful and they charge by the kilobyte, so I can't upload pictures now. I will do so when I get back to China (after 5-6 days I think). Let me start by sharing my experiences at Aksu-Zhababyly Nature Reserve in Southern Kazakhstan. I arrived in the mid-afternoon at the small town near the park entrance. There is a place mentioned in the Lonely Planet that has guides and other services. So I went to see about the "other services" i.e. lodging. So they drove me up to their little camp (they charge to drive you 8km to stay at THEIR hotel. That is ... read more

Hi everyone! I have a pretty fast internet cafe here in Shymkent, Kazakhstan so I can update the ol' blog. I think I am the oldest person here by several years. The average age has to be under 15. No pictures today unfortunately; I forgot my SD card adapter for my camera. So, I left Almaty a couple days ago via sleeper train. I must say, I am very impressed with the quality of the Kazakh sleeper train. It was a long journey of about 20 hours or so from Almaty to Turkistan (Turkistan is not a country, but a town). The train car had a room with just two beds and a big window; you can shut the door and open the window. I think I had my head out the whole time. Once again, ... read more

Hello again everyone! I got a good night's sleep last night despite having the feeling like I was moving for a lot of the time... My host is currently cooking dinner (a quiche) and I'm just sitting here doing my thing. Not a bad deal. Apparently there are a lot of Korean expats in Almaty, so I would like to take her to a Korean restaurant and show her what that is all about. We shall see. So, today I woke up and ate some breakfast and played with her cat (she had already left before I woke up). Also, not a bad deal. I wandered up to where the Kyrgyzstan Consulate is to get some information about my next destination. Some good news here: as of July 27, 2012, citizens of (giant list of countries ... read more

It only takes 2hrs 45mins at the border – that's amazingly fast to get 12 bikes out of Russia and into Kazakhstan. They're friendly too, as soon, as we get the last stamp on our little piece of paper the official shakes our hand and says “ Welcome to Kazakhstan”. From the border the Kazakh steppe stretches off into the distance. In the sunlight the grass seems to be a mix of all shades of green, yellow and brown and the streams are the deepest blue - all very scenic against the clear blue skies. At first glance it looks just the same as the last 20 miles or so of Russia. But its so not the same, as soon as you start riding through it its so totally different – its quite a shock. There ... read more

The Kyrgyz-Kazach border crossing was like a human traffic jam. People with full bags of something smuggling through the gate to sell it in a Big Brother neighbour which is the job destination land for many of ex soviet countries. The queus were messy, and everyone tried to be smarter than his neighbour to get in first. Soon after passport control we could observe another pretty site. One of the officers accidently stops people with no matter larger or smaller bags, and the caught-ones soon give their ‘tax’ – some money pushed quickly whilst shaking hands with finally happy looking officer. We seemed to be innocent as he waived and shouted something like welcome to Kazachstan in Russian. Corruption is a big thing in post sovietic countries. It is unwritten rule when in Kyrgyztan or Kazachstan ... read more

Prave jsme v oblasti okolo mesta Almaty. Cesta pres Petropavlovsk, Astanu do Almaty nas vedla zajimavou stepi, skalnimi utvary, kolem jezera a poslednich zhruba 700km od jezera Balkas uz byla jen rovna step. Kazakhstan je 9ta nejvetsi zeme sveta a osidleni prakticky zadne. Hlavni mesto Astana je moderni metropole, ktera vsak postrada historii. Spousta modernich budov, vkusna architektura, ale to ja tak asi vse. Almaty je oproti tomu hezke zelene mesto plne zivota na upati vecne zasnezenych hor. Zde je videt, ze mesto zije, spousta obchudku, bazaru, trhu, lide ziji na ulici. Cestou jsme se vykoupali v jezeru Balchas, v nemz je v casti voda sladka, a v druhe casti slana. Lide jsou zde prijemni, ale s ruskou pohostinosti se to neda srovnat. V rusku i cizi clovek byl vic nez pratelsky, zde je uz videt ... read more

May 11-12, 2012 Flight: Austin (AUS) to Houston (IAH); United Airlines 737, econ Flight: Houston (IAH) to London (LHR); United Airlines 777, econ Flight: London (LHR) to Almaty, Kazakhstan (ALA); British Midland A319, econ Hotel: Holiday Inn Almaty, 5k+$60/nt So finally the day of departure arrives and our plans are in disarray. Being busy with work and last minute preparations I hadn't had a chance to call up United to get our tickets changed. My friend was using miles on his ticket, but my ticket was a paid fare which made things more complicated. Dean and I did decide to visit Erbil for a day, then fly to Albania and do a mad dash loop through the southern Balkans, ending in Athens. I had booked the Supershuttle to the airport a bit tight on time, made ... read more

As the plane landed I felt genuine trepidation. “Why the hell am I in Kazakhstan?!”. This question with the subject changing from time to time to another “stan” was to become a recurring theme of this trip. As I stepped through the plane doors, away from the safety of the BMI flight, I was confronted with sight of what can only be described as a “North Korea-esque” soldier. I felt like getting right back on the plane. Alas this culture shock was short lived. The streets of Almaty are paved with petro-dollars. Once a Soviet backwater, pre-Borat Kazakhstan was best known as Stalin’s destination of choice for troublesome minorities from Germans to Koreans. A gas fuelled boom has transformed the country. I was arriving at an ungodly hour so I booked accommodation and a transfer from ... read more