Tag: Kazakhstan

Three months of climbing paradise with friends in Kazakhstan: Tamgaly-Tas (September to November 2024)

We made it back to the climbing area we had visited months ago. This time the weather was perfect. Last time it was way too hot. The entrance fee was still beer and cola.
We did a whole lot of climbing.
And learned a lot, lot, lot.
Sarah and Wouter, the “Star Troopies” (travelers we had met before several times in different countries) joined us and tried rock climbing for the first time.
It was super awesome and they did super good. Although they had no own climbing shoes. Racki’s shoes were good for Sarah, but Wouter suffered a lot in my way to small shoes.
Climbing on the wall.
Climbing on another wall.
Climbing on an overhanging wall.
We had a whole lot of fun climbing,
hanging around,
and relaxing.
Slowly, slowly it was becoming Autumn.
Simon visited us and although he was afraid of heights, he made his first rock climbing experience as well.
Maria, who we had met before in Murghab on the Pamir and at the border from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan, and her “half-human-half-dog dog” Vedi and another friend came as well and together we had a great time.
At one weekend there was a big climbing festival organized by the biggest “climbing company” Skala in the climbing area. Unfortunately the weather on that weekend was not very good. But nevertheless a whole lot of climbers joined the festival.
One day Kali and Didi, travelers from the Netherlands, came to the climbing area and we climbed a lot together, shared stories and experiences.
Didi brought trad (traditional climbing) gear and let me try it. It was my first time using that stuff and it was very interesting. In the sport/ rock climbing the bolts in the wall where you attach your robe are already set. In trad climbing you have to set these points by your own. To do so, you carry a lot of fancy and expensive gear around.
And we had water melon with the cheapest vodka we could find. It tasted like it had back when I was sixteen.
Sarah and Wouter came back and this time Wouter brought his own, brand new climbing shoes! It’s always nice to see if people love the rock climbing.
Again we had a great time at and in front of the rock.
Halloween!
Our last days of climbing on one of the last warm and sunny days of the year.
After the weather got too cold, we drove to Almaty and met a whole lot of our new friends we had met in the last couple of months.

An awesome rock climbing area, canyon, rhino, dino, friends and more in Kazakhstan (July, August 2024)

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.

Through Russia in the crazy hot steppe of Kazakhstan and someone got stuck (June 2024)

One of my favorite photos from Kazakhstan. But before:
From Georgia, we entered Russia with our transit visa we got in Armenia. The crossing went well, but very bureaucratic: the language barrier made the process of filling the customs papers for our car more difficult and so we needed three trials until everything was fine. Some travelers got pretty crazy in this process.
After the border we went to a rock climbing area right next to the main road. The approach to the climbing routes was crazy steep and the routes themselves were super difficult.
I was not very happy in that area because I did not feel very good about being in Russia.
We took the direct route to Kazakhstan and visited some Buddhist temples. But all of them were closed.
The military checkpoints in Russia were very friendly and we made a lot of jokes about mainly football and German beer. Only one Russian soldier was grumpy but not more than the ordinary Georgian 😁
But still I did not feel so good about being in Russia because of the relationship between the German  and Russian government and the war in Ukraine.
In the end it was like so often: regardless of the governments, the people are super friendly and helpful.
But I still thought that I would not like to meet a Russian soldier who’s friend or family member got killed in Ukraine and now had to deal with us,  German tourists.
This was a  floating bridge which was constantly pushed to the side by the river. On one end of it they installed a couple of outboard motors to keep it in place.
We crossed the border to Kazakhstan and entered the steppe!
The temperature rose to more than 40 degrees Celsius and sometimes we liked to continue driving just to have the comfort of Rosinante’s air conditioning.
Driving through the steppe was a crazy experience. Sometimes there was no turn, bend or corner for hundreds of kilometers.
Driving became pretty boring because the distances were huge. My favorite thing to watch were the camels.
One day we witnessed the funeral of my grandfather who had died in Germany when we were still in Armenia. Although participating online was better than not participating at all, it was weird.
After so much heat in the steppe we wanted to have a swim and went to Aktau, a coastal coty at the Caspian Sea.
There we went to an old amusement park and took a ride in a carousel. These carousels and attractions! I guess some would use them as a test of courage.
After having dinner we met a group of Kazakh celebrating a birthday and had a great time with them dancing to all kinds of music.
The stone formations in the Ustyurt National Preserve area were amazing!
They look like the back of Godzilla sleeping in the steppe.
There were some plants. But only very little ones.
And these rabbits.
Normally we do a lot of hiking, climbing and physical activities but in the heat of the steppe there was not much to do. So we decided to just take a walk around and run back.
While running, we scared a little gerbil-like animal which immediately run to a hole in the ground to take cover.
Unfortunately his ass was a bit to big and he got stuck in the hole 🥳
He tried hard to push himself in but did not succeed. He tried to go reverse but had no chance.
So we helped him a bit and gave him a push.
The vastness of our first offroad track in the steppe.
Sometimes it was like a video game in which you have to pick the best track.
A lot, lot, lot of dust! I loved it and it always reminds me on Mad Max.
Bit the dust could get pretty nasty on and inside of Rosinante.
The first version of our automatic washing machine.