Blogs from Kazakhstan, Asia - page 8

As the title suggests, having done the relevant background reading, it was almost an imperative that a trip to Charyn Canyon was on the cards, as after all, this is the world's second largest canyon (after the blatantly obvious canyon), and the visuals were bound to appeal. Hiring a car plus driver is a sound way of achieving this trip, and the journey can be broken up by a brief stopover in either Shelek or Kokpek towns, neither of any great size, but both suitable for at very least taking a breather. Arriving at the canyon's national park area, a nominal admission fee will allow you to drive as far as the ridge of the canyon, and the start of the unmarked pathways which lead to the viewing spots. Sure footing is something of a requirement, ... read more

Kazakhstan..Lovely Kazakhstan... FIRST and foremost..The blogs I have read and maybe you as well if you planned to go to Uzbekistan were not my experience at all...it was quite pleasant actually. There were no babushkas shoving and throwing elbows at all leaving Uzbekistan. The immigration process at the border is pretty straight forward as you must fill out the immigration paper again ( the one you arrived with) and stand in line where a drug sniffing cocker spaniel will lay down and want to play lol. Then you get to 2 gentleman on computers you give them you documents and they look through your stamps, fascinated almost and they give you your passport then go around the barrier and put your bags, jacket etc etc on a scanner and walk through getting wanded in the process. ... read more

Let me know if you agree... Beautiful architecture, nice cafes and fancy restaurants, lots of parks, elegant women, the opera and people who love French literature... Almaty is a great city! I left my bike in Bishkek and crossed the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border to spend 4 days in Almaty. I hadn’t planned on visiting Kazakhstan on this trip. It’s such a huge country, I thought I would eventually make it there someday and spend a month traveling from Astana to Almaty in the future. But in October, I needed to get the transit visa for Turkmenistan, and there is no Turkmen Consulate in Bishkek. My only option was to go to Almaty or wait until Tashkent to get it. I chose Almaty because I didn’t want to be stuck for a week or more in Tashkent and ... read more

Sun 25 aug 2013 Aralsk, Kazakhstan Next destination was Taraz. From Aralsk I drove Southeast on the M32, passing through Ayteke Bi, Baikonur, Dzhusaly, Kyzlorda,Turkestan, Shimkent, and finally reaching Taraz. Taraz is a city in the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan and also near the border with Kyrgyzstan.Taraz was a major trade centre along the Silk Road. The area was once ruled by China during the Qing dynasty in 1755. The city flourished as a stop along the Silk Road from Europe to China until it was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.... read more

We have a nice and easy going flight from Tbilisi to Almaty. During our time on board we can see the Caspian Sea, the long never ending Kysylkum Desert and the remains of the Aral Lake. The distance is around 3000km and the flight only takes three and a half hours. Looking at the map it´s amusing to realize that we have just spent the last five months covering the same distance overland. Before arriving in Almaty we had found a Couch surfing host Veronica, a friendly Kazakh girl who actually grew up in Mexico, lived the last 10 years in Dubai and has come back to live where she originally comes from. She is living in a very impressive penthouse apartment with a lovely view of the lake, the mountains that surround Almaty and the ... read more