Blogs from Kazakhstan, Asia - page 9

Tue 20 aug 2013 After a good night rest somewhere near Shubarkuduk, I emerged from the local ГОСТИНИЦА, I crossed the road to the cafe for some food. I set my SatNav for Oktyabrsk, my next destination. 10 minutes later on the road, I saw a stranded motorist seeking help from other motorists but no one stopped to help. Before the start of my journey, I made a pledge to help someone on this trip if I can. Knowing that there was no AA or its Kazakh equivalent, this motorist is in real trouble, so I stopped to help. The man tried to explain to me that the engine has failed with no prospect of roadside repair. He asked for a tow to the nearest big city of Aktobe more than 100 miles away. I initially ... read more

In the year 2002 when Kazakhstan had just enjoyed 10 years of independance, i was there. The country was still building itself and creating an identity. I happened to live in Almaty but visited for weekly trips to Astana and Atyrau. There are Russians and Kazakhs who dominate the population but in Almaty you can find a lot of Uzbeks and few Afghans. A mix of islam and christianity and pagans and tatars. I did not see any conservative people in the cities, maybe there are some in the villages. A very cold country where people are hard working and lots of night life and open culture.... 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

From Almaty its a 900km dash north across the steppes to the Russian border. The landscape is identical to that 2500km to the west that we were riding through several weeks ago; long straight roads through the flat steppe, lined by stumpy trees with enormous eagles perching in them. The eagles aren't actually that big its just that the trees are so small and the eagles look really comical perching on the tiniest of branches. We do get the occasional change in scenery as we are skirting round the foothills of the Altai Mountains to the east and sometimes we have to leave the flat plains and go up and over. But somehow this just emphasis how flat the land actually is – as you reach the crest of the pass the flat steppe land stretches ... read more

From Kakakol we continue our circumnavigation of Issyk-Kul lake. We're heading up the eastern shore and our 1stdetour soon arrives. Some sketchy instruction and a GPS co-ordinate take us down a gravel track to what should be an old Soviet submarine/torpedo testing base. We don't really expect to find it but, amazingly, the co-ordinates lead us straight there!! The derelict main buildings and rusting cranes are all fenced off but by the shore are the old jettys and all sorts of strange slipways and pipework. None of the locals cycling past seems too bothered by us wandering round taking photos. Close-by is the Przewalski Memorial to the man the horses were named after. He was a polish born Russian geographer, biologist, spy, explorer and enthusiastic Great Game combatant. He made his home here on the edge ... read more