Our flight from Istanbul to Almaty, in Kazakhstan, started well when we saw a very entertaining safety demonstration on the plane. They used all sorts of things that Kazakhstan is known for to demonstrate the safety features. The seat belt was used in a tug of war between teams of hefty nomads, Genghis Khan pointed out the emergency exits and the hostie strolled past yurts. It was one of the best we’ve ever seen.
We were like a pair of excited kids when we landed in
Kazakhstan. This was such new territory for us!
We breezed through immigration, with a cheery “Welcome to
Kazakhstan” from one of the security people. We had read that they’re very
strict on importing medicines here. We always carry things like antibiotics and they don’t even like people bringing in codeine. We had gone
through all our medicines in Bulgaria and threw out everything we thought we
might not use. We had all the medicines packed into one bag ready to declare
but when we got to the “Something to Declare” gate, it had something blocking
it. We wandered through the “Nothing to Declare” one instead and were soon
outside! So much for all that worry.
Almaty is in the far south-west of Kazakhstan.
At the airport, we had to wait 20 minutes for a taxi to get through the traffic
to pick us up (the traffic is bad in Almaty) so we got some local dumplings for
dinner. That was a good start!
Bizarrely, the small dumpling shop also sold four different types of
wine and they were all Australian!
Our taxi driver spoke English and was a really interesting
guy. He had two young boys and wanted two more children. He didn’t want a girl
though because then he would have to watch what he says in front of her!
We had picked a good travellers’ hotel in Almaty to get us
started. Our room was compact but had everything we needed. When I say 'compact', the bathroom was 1.5 metres square. In that they got a toilet, a basin, a shower, a large rubber squeegee thing for wiping the water off the floor after the shower, and a clothes drying rack. That's good use of space! A big bonus was
the English-speaking, very helpful owner, Kamel. He was a great guy.
Almaty is a modern city. It was very hot and didn’t really
have many sights, but we managed a walk each day and got a feel for it. We
started at the Green Market where fruit, veggies and all the usual culprits
were displayed beautifully.
There was a huge section of pickles. You could get them by
weight, like this, or in jars.
They even had lots of Georgian sweets. These are nuts coated
in a sweet paste.
We stayed not far from Panfilov Park where the impressive Zenkov
Cathedral (it seems to go by a few different names) is built entirely of wood.
There are no nails used in its construction at all.
We came back another time on a sunnier day.
Nearby, people sold old soldiers’ uniforms and war gear,
strangely. The kid under the table is obviously finding it all a bit tiring!
Yet another soviet-era Monumental Megalith was nearby. This
one was a WW2 memorial, a depiction of soldiers from all 15 soviet republics
bursting out of a map of the USSR.
There’s a cable car that runs to the top of a nearby hill.
It took us ages to walk to where the cable car started and we were nearly
suffering from heat stroke by the time we got there. We sure enjoyed the ride
up in the coolish cable car!
Much to our surprise, there was an entire amusement park at
the top! There were permanent attractions set up like a maze of mirrors, the
standard rocking pirate ship and the non-standard huge traditional Kazakh
swing.
Weirdly, there was also a bronze sculpture of The Beatles,
put up at the request of local fans. Even weirder was the piped Beatles music
that was being played - the songs were cover versions!
There were plenty of ways to spend money at the amusement park. You could even get dressed in nomad robes and fluffy hats and pose for photos to play out your inner Genghis Khan fantasies! (Kazakhstan used to be part of the Mongolian empire.)
The upside-down house was different.
The only ride we did was a downhill coaster. We raced down
the hill and were pulled back up to the top by a cable. It was fun but it only
lasted a few minutes. For about $25 it was very expensive.
Back in the city, on these hot days, we really appreciated
this open area where a fine mist of water was sprayed and people walked through
it to cool down.
We didn’t eat traditional Kazakh food for the rest of our
stay here as we figured we’re going to get only local food where we’re heading.
There are a lot of Koreans in Almaty that were forcibly removed from far eastern Russia in 1937, and we had some great Korean food!
Horse featured on many menus. We have a lot to learn about the strong horse culture here, but it's sad to know that such intelligent and loyal animals are slaughtered for food.
One night I had a chicken in pineapple dish. It was quite
tasty and very impressive-looking!
The people seem really lovely. There are many Russians living here but the local Kazakhs, the ones who descended from tribes from Mongolia and Siberia, seem so kind.
They remind us a lot of Sherpas.
Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim country, but we found it was quite relaxed. If women wanted to wear short skirts and tops, they seemed free to do so, particularly in Almaty. We later saw more headscarves and long robes in country towns but they still were the minority. Also, the mosques weren't amplified. What a relief!
We spent a lot of time working on the rest of the trip
still. We will be renting cars in three central Asian countries and each one
has been the most expensive and difficult car rental we’ve ever made. It didn’t
help that we need four-wheel drives in these areas. To top it off, just as we
finally had everything sorted, we received a text from the Kazakh car rental
company the day before we were to pick our car up to say that the previous
renters had crashed the car we had booked! Looks like our old Pajero is now
going to be some sort of Asian 4WD that we’ve never heard of. Sigh…
John wrote that day in an email to someone, “Heading off on a Kazakhi road trip tomorrow in a Chinese clone of a Mitsubishi Pajero. What could go wrong?” What indeed! We rolled up early to the car rental place, filled out all the paperwork and paid. We had a list of things to check, some of which we picked up from previous reviews, and one of them was to check that it had a spare tyre and things to change it with. It didn’t!
The nice young girl assured us it was normal in Kazakhstan
to not have a spare tyre. If we got a flat tyre, just call them and they’ll
send someone out from the nearest town to fix it. We would be driving into the
desert. We could be hours from a town. There’s not a lot of phone signal where
we’re going. How could they not see the problem?
We refused to budge until they came up with both a tyre and the tools. They got a tyre pretty quickly but the tools turned out to be problematic. It took a while but they got them from somewhere in the end.
Driving out of Almaty in our Chinese tank was challenging
but John did a great job. Every car company we spoke to had spoken extensively
about speeding fines and we soon learned why. There were speed cameras and red-light
cameras every few hundred metres in the city and there were still plenty in the
country. We reckon by the end of the first day we had at least one speeding
fine (it was often very unclear what the speed limit was) and one red light
camera fine. Bugger!
We had a long drive that day. One of the few points of
interest along the way was the town of Konaev. Built on the shores of the
humungous Lake Kapchagay, a man-made dam, it became a designated area for
casinos and industry. The casinos are still there but industry collapsed when
the Soviet connections weakened and apparently the town is full of old
abandoned factories.
As we left the town, dark clouds rolled in over farming
land.
After an hour or two, we headed onto the steppe.
Vast barren areas fanned out around us.
There was nothing for miles then this huge factory loomed on
the horizon. It turned out to be a concrete plant and it was much bigger than
this photo shows. We were so distracted by it that we didn’t see the slower
speed limit sign near its entrance until it was too late. I wonder how much
these speeding fines cost?
Rugged hills soon appeared out of the plain.
Again, black clouds gathered, making a striking backdrop
against the steppe.
Our destination was the small oasis village of Basshiy
(spelled in a variety of ways) in the Altyn-Emel National Park. We found both
the park’s visitor centre, where nobody spoke English, and our accommodation,
where nobody we spoke to in the first few hours spoke English. We did, however,
find a couple of Aussies from Melbourne!
The accommodation was a good place to meet people as we all
sat together for dinner. There was nowhere else to go so we had to eat there,
haha. The other tourists were a great source of info. Everyone was visiting the
same places, so we were able to get an understanding of where to go and what to
expect.
Breakfasts are nearly always included at these places and there
were some interesting foods here. In the long crimson bowl with the three
sections in it in the photo below, the foods are:
Left – Millet ground with butter and sugar. We never did work out how to eat
this. It was tasty but very hard.
Middle: Qurt – sour, salty dried cheese balls. They’re made from strained
fermented milk then they’re salted, shaped into small balls and dried in the
sun. They were invented by ancient nomads as a way to preserve milk for long
journeys and storage. The taste wasn’t very nice, but it was the texture that
got me. They suck all the moisture out of your mouth. It’s challenging to eat
one without needing water to wash it down! They’re popular though and we see
them for sale everywhere.
Right: I don’t know the name of these but they’re made from milk and they’re
sweet. They’re like a cross between fudge and haloumi. Weird.
The next morning, we were up early to go to the Singing
Dunes. They’re called this because, when the weather conditions are right, they
vibrate and emit a rumbling, sometimes singing sound.
Despite our early start, we weren’t the first ones there,
but we did beat most of the rush. The 150-metre-high dune looked stunning.
The climb up the main dune was harder than we expected. A strong wind blasted sand onto us, giving our lower legs a good exfoliation! The sand was soft underfoot though and just walking up the dune was hard work. Every time I took a step, the sand would slip downhill, and I’d only travel half the distance I expected to.
To make the dune ‘sing’ the weather has to be dry. You then
have to agitate the sand, usually by sliding down the side of the dune. The
problem was that you then had to scramble back up the steep side! A tour group ahead of us
said it worked for them, so we gave it a go. It took a few attempts but we both
felt a very slight vibration and maybe a slight hum. It wasn’t exactly amazing,
but the walk itself was far more interesting than I expected.
We saw this sign on the way back. Who’d have thought you
could get mud flows in a sandy desert?
Our last stop for the day was the Oshaktas, two-metre-high
stones that sit alone in the desert. Nobody knows their purpose. Best guess is that they’re connected
to some ancient burial mounds in the area. There are other theories though, one
being that they’re part of a circle of stones set up by Genghis Khan’s men to
hold a huge pot that could boil four horses at once!
There are supposed to be wild animals in this national park. Parks always say that
and, in most places, we rarely see anything, but we actually saw some! We got reasonably close to this Goitered Gazelle.
We also saw Steppe Eagles a few times.
One thing we soon learned is that this part of Kazakhstan is
changing fast. Our small hotel was new. Behind it was a whole new hotel complex
that seemed to belong to the same owners. New construction was going on in the
spare spaces between other buildings. There were two mini-markets in town, both brand-new. I looked at
the sleepy, dusty village and realised that change is happening very fast for the
locals.
I was excited about visiting the Aktau and Kakatau Mountains
the next day. We had seen amazing photos and wanted to see these colourful,
sculpted mountains for ourselves. The two mountain ranges lie within the
Altyn-Emel National Park. From my research, I gathered that the Aktau were the
more spectacular of the two ranges, so we got up very early and were at the
park gate a bit after 7am, which is when they opened.
I was keeping an eye out for wildlife and spotted something
in the distance. It was a herd of kulans, or wild asses. They were hunted to
extinction in Kazakhstan but were successfully reintroduced to Altyn-Emel in
1982 using animals from Turkmenistan. They’re very skittish so I was lucky to
get some photos. Even from this distance, they ran away soon after I took my
photos.
The road disappeared into the horizon.
If we thought the road to the Singing Dunes was rough the
day before, this road took the cake. It wasn’t potholed or boggy, just
corrugated. For 50 or 60 kilometres, the corrugations were never-ending.
Weirdly, when we had to slow down to pass someone, it became very tricky to
drive. The car just jumped sideways and couldn’t gain traction. 60km/hr seemed
to be the sweet spot.
There was only one trail of sorts at the Aktau Mountains, and it led along a dry riverbed. Even though it was getting hot, there was a few
spots of shade where the river cut through small a small gorge.
I loved the gorgeous shapes and colours.
Soon, coloured mountains started rising around us.
The mountains were spectacular! ‘Aktau’ means ‘white’, and
many of the mountains were a whitish colour, however many were completely
different colours too. Millions of years of wind and (some) rain had sculpted
some of them into amazing shapes.
Some of the white mountains had bands of colours striped
across them. The range of colours was amazing!
All along the riverbed were pieces of this very cool rock. It
was like crystalised quartz, only it was clear. We found out later it was gypsum.
It was opaque and the structure of some pieces reminded me of the green part of
a Peppermint Crisp!
We walked along the riverbed for a couple of kms or so until
the colours ran out and the mountains were just white.
We had earlier got talking to an Indian guy and his local guide at the
base of what was obviously a walk up a hill to a viewpoint. They had
just climbed it and the Indian guy seemed quite apprehensive about recommending
it as it was steep and the footing was unstable. The guide said there were a
couple of tracks behind the hill that led to the same viewpoint that might be
better.
We had passed a few tracks leading up to the viewpoint so we
picked one and started to climb. It soon became obvious that this was a very
difficult climb. It was very steep and what looked like a solid surface was
actually just hardened sand and dust. We would go to take a step and the surface
would break, leaving just sand and dust which then slipped down as we stood on
it. We were soon climbing on all fours so I put my camera away so there are no
more pics after this one.
We finally reached the top of the first section and considered our options. There was no way we could walk back down. The only way down would be on our bums at a fast speed. Not an option. It didn’t look as steep ahead so we forged on.
Some parts weren’t so steep, but several sections were quite bad.
John estimated the pitch of the crest of the spur was 45 degrees at times. But the sides were much steeper. The problem was, if we
slipped, it was all straight down. There was nothing to stop the slide. We
probably wouldn’t kill ourselves, but we would certainly do some serious
damage.
In a few places, I got scared. I couldn’t move forward and
couldn’t go back, and I was perched on the side of the hill with my calf
muscles screaming. I didn’t dare look down or I might lose the small amount of
composure I had left. John was my hero, offering to go behind me and a few
times he braced one of my feet so I could get enough purchase.
We climbed up maybe 300 metres in altitude, all along an
exposed ridge that threatened to crumble at any step.
Finally, we could see people at the lookout point, not that
far above us. They could see we were in a tricky situation and started calling
out encouragement. To rub salt into the wound, the last 5 or 10 metres were the
steepest. Every time I took a step I slid backwards again. If I lost my balance or grip here, it was 300 metres down. I was at the bottom
of my reserve fuel tank and was starting to grunt and groan like a professional
tennis player. In the end, with John’s help, I made it up a few more metres.
The people above then formed a chain and grabbed me and pulled me up. Just to
make me feel like a complete wuss, John climbed up without any assistance.
I was beyond exhausted. I felt sick from the heat (I’m not
great in the heat). I sat down in the full sun (because there was no shade) and
recovered enough to pull the camera out and take some photos. The views were
spectacular!
My feet are pointing at where we came up the hill. You can
just see our tracks at the end of my feet.
I edged forward and took a photo of where we had climbed up.
We started at the river bed in the top left of the photo. You can faintly see
our tracks coming up the ridgeline.
The people who helped me up were part of a Dutch tour group.
One of them took this photo.
We sat there for a while until I felt strong enough to
attempt the descent down the main track which was still pretty steep.
The views on the way down were superb!
John looks like an ant against the massive hills.
We hadn’t seen a lot of birdlife, but this little guy sat
still long enough for a photo.
We made it back to the car and turned the air conditioning
on. I’ve never been so grateful for it.
This was one of those experiences that you learn something
about yourself from. I have been in trouble enough times in my life to know what
I had to do. Firstly, don’t look down. That’s a given. I’m not afraid of
heights but this was more about knowing I was in a dangerous situation and
looking down just accentuated it. Fear was surging through me and I knew that I
could easily have panicked. If I had, I would have frozen and would have been
stuck there. There was no possibility of any help, unless someone at the top of
the hill happened to have a very long rope, and the chance of that was about
zero. So I had to keep my shit together and just keep going. I only looked at
the metre or so ahead of me and tried to stay calm. Sometimes, it really is mind over matter.
We continued on to Kakatau Mountains. They were also
colourful, but not as spectacular as the Aktau Mountains. They were impressive
from a distance.
Luckily there were no big walks here that we knew about cos
we wouldn’t have done them anyway! There was an amazingly sculpted rock near
the car park and we were happy to just see that.
We drove back along the long, corrugated road. At times we
caught up to other cars. The dust was all-invasive!
Last stop was a 700 year-old willow tree. It grows near radon
springs, and one theory about the tree’s enormous size is that the
radioactivity has spurted its growth!
Back on the bitumen road home, we passed a car on the road
with a flat tyre. I recognised the people. They were the Dutch group who helped
me up the hill! We pulled up but it turned out that they were in a group of
three cars and the other two cars came back to help as we were talking to them.
Strangely, all three of their cars had spare tyres, although one was a
space-saver. We knew that because that car also had a flat tyre.
We later met a lovely German/Kazakh family at our accommodation,
and they too had a flat tyre. They’re pretty common on these roads. It just
reinforced our opinion that our car should automatically have come with a spare
tyre and tools, especially as there’s no phone reception in the national park!
On our last morning, we checked out the local cemetery as it
looked interesting from the road. It was surprisingly large but ramshackle.
Weeds grew around, and in, the graves. I had to dodge thorny bushes just to move through
the cemetery.
There were lots of very cool domed graves, but most were
run-down. The Islamic crescent moons on each grave were the only things that
looked polished. They must have been made from something that resisted the
brutality of the desert.
A few graves had photos of the deceased person. This lady
looked gorgeous in her traditional gear. Or maybe she was a nun. It’s all just
guesswork really.
All the graves had large mounds of dirt on them, even though
some were quite old. My best guess is that it’s hard to dig deep so the bodies
aren’t that far down. I really don’t know.
We loved our stay at Altyn-Emel. The sights were spectacular
and our newly-built accommodation was great. It was a wonderful place to meet
other travellers. Not a lot of locals spoke English so we didn’t really get to
know them, sadly.
I also feel that we’re really travelling again. Even though
our accommodation is all very comfortable, Kazakhstan is much more of an
adventure than Greece or even Bulgaria. Woohoo!
Heather and John
