a friendly wave

Driving to China (ish) - Day 19

---

May 19th 2015
Day 19 - Balkash to Almaty: On day 19 our luck with the police ran out. From Balkhash it was a 400 mile drive to Almaty, the old capital of Kazakhstan. The route on the M36 highway hugs the shores of Lake Balkash in an anticlock arc for 250 miles, then runs due south to the city. The grassland around was quite barren but the road began to undulate a little to relieve the monotony. We zipped ... read more

Asia » Kazakhstan » East Kazakhstan » Almaty

---

Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. D... ... read more