2 buildings in the middle of nowhere constitute the border post between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Being British means I don’t often have the opportunity to walk between countries, and so when I’ve been on my travels this year crossing land borders, I’ve found it really fascinating. We all got stamped out of Kyrgyzstan and then walked a short distance to the Kazakhstan border to be stamped in (like Kyrgyzstan, no visa needed).
Then we set off on a big coach into Kazakhstan. Our first stop was at Moon Canyon, also known as Yellow Canyon, within Charyn Canyon National Park. Definitely had the feel of a lunar landscape. Our next stop, where we also had a picnic lunch, was at Black Canyon, where you could see the river meandering through the canyon. The landscape so far was softer than Kyrgyzstan.
We arrived at our overnight stop, Saty village, in the mid afternoon. A typical southern Kazakh village, with small holdings, animals, a mosque and surrounded by mountains.
In the afternoon we drove a short distance for a hike to Kaindy Lake, where there are lots of drowned trees standing tall in the lake.
Dinner at the guest house and then an early night for me as a few long days and a slightly unsettled stomach had caught up with me.
I felt a whole heap better the next morning as we set off back to Charyn Canyon National Park, and to Charyn Canyon itself where we had a couple of hours walking along the canyon rim and down some of the spurs. Not on the same scale as the Grand Canyon by any means but nonetheless a pretty spectacular landscape.
We then drove for the rest of the afternoon to Almaty where we would stay for 2 nights for the first time on this Stans trips.
A free evening so I went with another person on the trip to a Kazakh restaurant which had been recommended. Smoked horse meat salad to start (quite like mild beef) and then veal and potatoes for main. All in all, pretty good.
After dinner we walked back through the bustling Arbat Street where there were street musicians playing and plenty of people out enjoying themselves. We finished the night admiring the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Panfilov Park which is lit up at night.
The next day we had a city tour in the morning covering Independence Square, the Green Bazaar and the cathedral.
In the afternoon we went on the metro to a couple of museums. Almaty metro has some very nicely decorated metro stations, like Tashkent, so definitely worth stopping off at a couple for pictures.
That evening we had a farewell dinner at a Georgian restaurant as a couple of our group were finishing in Almaty, and we would get a new tour guide for our next country, Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan is a vast country, the 9th largest in the world by area, and I only saw a very small part in the south but the scenery was beautiful and Almaty was a very pleasant city to wander around.
Next up, Tajikistan…
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