In between all the things we did in Almaty, we went to Tamgaly Tas to climb there again. And this time I had my favorite birthday present with me: a custom handmade dino tail chalk bag!!! This thing is so awesome! Thanks, Racki!

The climbing felt great again. And it was interesting to climb on these rocks again. To me, it felt in a way easier and simpler than the climbing in Malaysia and Thailand. And the scenery was super nice. Especially the big birds of prey flying close to us while we were on the wall.

A lot of friends came to visit us in Tamgaly. It was very nice. For a couple of days, our friends, the Startroopies (Sarah and Wouter) joined us, and this time not only them, but Wouter’s father, sister, and brother as well.

His father celebrated his 65th birthday with us. It was very nice. And the Startroopies gifted us another special chalk bag: a yeti-style one!

And the same day, he tried sport climbing for the first time.

One day, our friends “The Gügels” visited us. Together we went for some climbing, and the boys tried to catch some fish. Together we figured out a very good option for me to get a new smartphone: asking the regular group of German expats if somebody would be flying soon from Germany to Almaty and could bring me one.

The dinosaur tail found a lot of friends, and one day, I lent it to a Kazakh climber who gifted me a dino shoe sticker for that. Dino fans!

Merel, Leon, Arni, and his dog Cleo joined us as well, and we climbed a whole lot!

Everybody had a good time, and it was so nice to see everybody continuing the climbing experience. Arni especially got really into it after trying sport climbing for the first time with us. After his first day, he immediately got climbing shoes and a whole lot of equipment. And thanks to Arni’s Starlink, which he lent us, Racki and I were able to stay for three weeks in a row in Tamgaly.

Something was different in Tamgaly than last year: our stray dog gang was missing. But one day, all of a sudden, they were all back and as crazy and cute as ever. We think that some locals had taken care of them during the harsh winter and brought them back.

We had a look at a nice mountaineering competition of a mountaineering club from Almaty.

In between, I got a new guitar: Phoebe! Absolutely beautiful and super nice. I kept practicing almost every day.

And Racki and I decided to change our plans: instead of going west, we decided to pay the money and go east: Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Cambodia, Laos, China, Kazakhstan. We were very excited about it and especially curious about climbing in China!

Together with the Startroopies, Merel, and Leon, we had a fantastic karaoke night! It was hilarious: riverside motherfucker!

And we had some minor sandstorms! Interesting to have about 15% humidity again after 90% in Southeast Asia.

One day when I was belaying Racki, I had a look around and discovered that some Kazakhs had somehow managed to drive their pretty small car pretty deep into the river. Even for the Kazakh level of driving and treating cars, this was a new level for us. There was nothing we could do about that because driving there, to the other shore of the river, would take us hours.

They didn’t seem to be happy about the car in the river. At some point, they started fighting, and when one guy was punching the other several times in the face and pushing his head under water several times, I didn’t feel so good anymore about this whole situation.

The river was wide and there was nothing we could do about it, but still it didn’t feel good. Luckily the guys stopped fighting soon, and the next morning, their car was out of the river again.

Racki and I climbed a lot of newly bolted routes and older routes we had never done before. I was especially happy with two more 7a routes which took me quite some time to figure out, but after solving the puzzle, they went very well. I loved the climbing life!