Tag: technology

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 an 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 to 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.

Leaving the snow, moving together, healing, fixing and improving Rosinante in Georgia (March, April 2024)

In Gudauri, my ear started hurting a lot. It was super confusing and partly depressing because especially sounds like loud laughter and voices became very hurtful for me and so it got partly painful to hang around with others.
So I decided to drive down to Tbilisi to have my ear checked in a clinic. It went all super good, friendly and pretty cheap (about 70€ for two diagnoses and medicine). A week later my ear was already very good again.
In Tbilisi, I met Whoopie, Paul and Adrian with his dog in a parking lot and together we had a lot of fun and tried to get rid of a squeaking noise that only occurred when turning the steering wheel of Rosinante.
We did not manage to locate the origin of the squeaking noise but found a part of the front wheel suspension that got loose and we fixed that.
Back in Gudauri, Racki and I started to prepare our leaving of the Pappartment.
After months staying on the same spot, we had to tow Thor through the mud.
Back in Tbilisi, we met Whoopie at her work place and more friends and had a great time.
Racki and I had decided to permanently live and travel together and now it was time to actually move together in one car, Rosinante. I was super happy and loved the idea that we’ll stay together. And I was very curious of the adventures we would experience and how our relationship would develop.
We got rid of a whole lot of stuff. Especially Racki gave away so many things and clothes… It was crazy.  Especially because for her most of her things are reminders of special friends and occasions.
We cleaned and prepared Thor for sale and advertised him in German car markets. Whoopie’s chefs (who have a caravan rental) were very interested in buying him but one of their workers said that there was a law in Georgia that prohibits the import of cars older than ten years.
Ogri our temporary oger-dog-friend.
We upgraded our lifepo4 battery with an automated heating system.
And improved our electricity system.
Rosinante looked crazy in the process.
When I brought Rosinante to a Toyota garage in Tbilisi, they found the issue that caused the squeaking noise: ball joints that I had exchanged on Cyprus. I should not have them exchanged back then but at that time I was not so familiar with all the car topics and believed more in the mechanics.
And we found some bushings that needed to be exchanged. That was a pretty clear case.