We crossed the border from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan and went to the Charyn Canyon. It’s a very beautiful canyon.

And it was pretty touristic. There were a lot of other tourists which was not often the case in the stan countries. Here is our walk around the canyon on Komoot.

After the canyon we went to Almaty and were pretty surprised how organized everything was there. Getting spare parts for Rosinante was super easy and a lot cheaper than in the EU. Especially in the maze of car city the super small shops are perfectly organized and there were always helpful people.

After the city we went to Tamgaly Tas, a big rock climbing area. It was so nice there!

There were almost 300 bolted routes and we climbed a lot of them.

The maximum temperature in the sun was 56 degrees Celsius and so we only climbed in the morning and evening. In between we jumped and hung around in the nice and cold river right next to the rocks and Rosinante.

We spent more than three weeks there. When we first entered, we had to pay about 8 Euros for the entry. When we went to the supermarket, we took the phone of the guard with us so that he could receive new messages. Because in the climbing area there was absolutely no signal at all. From the second visit on, we always paid our entry in beer and Cola.

Something I love about this nomadic car life: repairing stuff. It started for me because it’s often not easy to get a replacement. But now I love it.

Alien creatures.

Every week we went to a nearby lake to relax and have an internet signal. We met Simon a friend of Whoopie who became our friend in Georgia.

In Almaty we had stickers for Rosinante printed. A dino for me.

And a Rhino for Racki. She had a Rhino on her car Thor as well and I thought it would be nice to keep it that way now that we are traveling together in Rosinante.

After a whole lot of research we added an additional leaf spring to Rosinante’s suspension. We payed about 30€ for the work. The prices for most services  are much lower in Kazakhstan compared to EU and Georgia.

To let her carry as much as this truck 😁

Maybe a tyre upgrade as well?

In the mountains south of Almaty we met Sarah and Wouter again. We got to know them in Georgia and it was super nice to meet again, spent time together, playing Pandemic and Exploding Kittens, talking, having fun. I love these relationships with friends we met again and again. They feel deeper and it’s nice to not talk about the same stuff again and again like we often do when we meet new people.

We wanted to go to another climb area but the road leading there was restricted to electric cars. So we did an awesome hike instead.

It was super fun.

And the views were awesome. Here is the hike on Komoot.

From Kazakhstan we took the border crossing to Uzbekistan. The road after the crossing was the worst we’ve ever experienced. This photo shows the new road which was still in construction. But we illegally crossed from the old, broken road to this one because the old one was so crazy. Before we tried to go next to the broken road through the dirt and dust but that worked not as good as well. On iOverlander there are reports of travelers going ten kilometers per hour on 250km of distance. We could go much faster but still it was crazy. I got really mad about this. And it’s weird: on an off-road track I don’t mind going slow, but on this road… The potholes were so deep, big and there were so many. And there were trucks. A lot. They had to go really slow, nearly stopping. If the locals go like that, you know about the conditions of a road. We’ve never seen so many cars broken at the side of the road. At some point I started just acceleration and braking hard because I just wanted to pass this road. Didn’t make sense but… fuck it!

But of course the locals knew how to pack their stuff.

We skipped the Aral Sea because we didn’t want to make the detour and went to visit an old sand stone fortress.

It looked interesting how the sand stone “melted” over the years.

Some proper sight-seeing in Buchara.

I liked these wooden pillars.

Buchara is a crazy tourist town.

Racki got a new haircut.

We met again friends we got to know before in Georgia and had a great time together.

Together we did some maintenance on their bikes and we crafted some custom made spare parts. On the road we learn a lot about repairing and crafting.

These little vans are the most common cars in Uzbekistan. They are like ants. Thousands and everywhere.

We found an amazing camp spot.

And parked as accurate as ever.

Met a lot of super friendly people.

Racki crafted jewelry and other stuff.

We had our signature meal: selfmade Pampe (kind of spread) with Lavash (thin bread/ wraps).

We went there primarily because we wanted to try the climbing crag there but the crag was just a small rock and the routes were nothing like the climbing routes I did before. The stone was loose, the distances between the bolts were huge and the positioning of the bolts did mostly not make any sense for me. When falling these bolts would not really do there job. I did not really enjoy climbing there. It was more a practicing rock for alpinism.

But the scenery!

It was super beautiful and we went for a nice hike/ mountaineering tour.

At one point we had to climb a few meters high, very steep slope (not on the photo). The rock was loose and sometimes crumpling under our hands an shoes. I was not used to this and did not feel so good about it. Under the slope were a few rocks and then a hundreds of meters long steep snow and ice covered slope. A nice place to fall, roll and slide like shit… But despite my worries, we made it easily. Still it was kind of a near death experience for me. Racki did it in proper Racki-style and did not fear anything.

The view and the colors!

At the summit.

🥳

🐎 Here is this tour in Komoot.