To Shimkent,

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Arrived at Camal bus station at 7.45am in the morning and the sky is still pitch black. Had to wait until almost 8.45am to see sunlight.

Shimkent is the 3rd largest city in Kazakhstan. The city is not far away from Tashkent so the city has both Kazakhs and Uzbeks.

Today is still an official holiday so most shops were closed, including the museums.

Bazaar

Different parts of cow

Pig’s leg?

Took a shared taxi (100 Tenge ~USD$0.6) to Sayram which is a small town 10kms away heavily populated by Uzbeks.

Mountains around the small town

Making Camca (Pronouce as Samsa)

Took another minibus to Taraz at 4pm (3 hours ride, 700 Tenge~USD$4.6).

Took another overnight bus to Almaty at 10pm. The further away the seats from the front, the cheaper it is. Paid 1200 Tenge for the 8 hours ride.

I have been getting a lot of wrong information for the passed few days. After realizing the border with China was closed, I thought about going back down to Krygyzstan and then taking the Irkeshtam pass to Kashgar. However, someone told me that the border crossing with Krygyzstan was also closed.

Went to Sayram bus station in the afternoon taking bus 65 to ask about bus schedule to Shimkent. I was surprise to notice that there were minibus to Bishkek waiting for passengers. Spent some time thinking if I should go to Shimkent or to go to Krygyzstan instead.

To use the Krygyz-China border crossing, I would have to get to Bishkek, take another car to Osh, then to Sary Tash and then to the border. Since it’s late in the afternoon on Wednesday, it will be a little risky if I want to cross the border before the weekend because I might not make it to the border in time. The Irkestam pass only opens from Monday to Friday. If I arrive at the border after Friday afternoon, I would have to wait for a few days up in the mountains.

Another option is to cross to Urumqi and then fly to Kashgar. I was surprised that Chinese travel websites are so advance now and they even have sites similar to travelocity.com and kayak.com in the US.

Decided not to take the chance of rushing to the border because crossing the border up in the mountain on Friday is quite risky. If the border is close, then I will have to waste a few days in the mountain.

Went back to Sayram bus station in the evening and took the 8pm bus to Shimkent (12 hours ride, 1850 Tenge~USD$12.50)

Spent half a day asking about bus, train and flight tickets because I only realized today that the border will be close for independence day celebration staring from tomorrow. Flight to Urumqi cost more than $300 so it’s out of my budget.

I was supposed to get out of the country on Monday but stayed another day and now I am stuck in Kazakhstan for another few days. I spent another day here because I tried to get more information about job opportunities in the country and wanted to visit the American Chamber of Commerce. Kazakhstan economy has been growing 8-9% a year before the financial crisis. The country is full of natural resources and it’s right between Russia and China, 2 of the BRIC countries, it’s also not far from India. It’s one of the wealthiest country among the CIS countries and there are many new consturctions going on at the south part of the city Almaty economy. I think the country will have a potential for growth.

City View
The air quality here is quite bad because of the traffic

Took bus 99 (50 Tenge~USD$0.30) up to Kok Tobe (Cabel car cost 1500 Tenge~USD$10). Kok Tobe is one of the higest spot in the city to get a bird eye view of Almaty.
Kok Tobe

Kazakh Flag and the symbol of Almaty, an apple

Dec 14th Mon

Internet Cafe is slightly more expensive in Almaty compared to other countries.

Went to an Asus computer repair center to fix my netbook but they couldn’t do anything cause it’s in Polish. Electronics are more expensive here. A similar netbook like mine cost almost $500 here. I got my netbook in Poland for $400 but I can easily get one in US for $350. A microsoft Windows XP CD in English cost around $250.

New part of Almaty around AL-Farabi st at the southern part of the city

Went to Megacenter. One of the bigger mall in Almaty.

There wasn’t any McDonalds in Almaty yet and I thought it will be a great business to open one.
Opening a McDonalds Franchise FAQ

KFC?

Strawberry is quite expensive, around USD$8-9 for a box. In US, it will only cost around USD$2.

Took a wrong bus and went to Sayran bus terminal. A Kazakh guy helped me asked about the schedule to Urumqi. He is friendly but since he doesn’t speak English so some information is lost during our communication. There is a morning bus daily to Urumqi from Sayran and there are also buses leaving from Yalan bazaar which I asked few days ago. I thought about taking the bus from Yalan bazaar the next day since it’s cheaper and leaves at night. However, I only found out the next day that the border will be close for 6 days because of Kazakhstan Independence day celebration.

Dec 13th Sun

Museum (70 Tenge~USD$0.50).

Tried taking a bus to Medeo, then to Chimbulak which is up in the mountains. Met a Kazakh guy at the bus stop and he invited me to go hiking with him and his 5 years old son.

Cute little Kazakh boy

Mini bon fire

He is a journalist and his background was in anthropology so he told me some stories about the Kazakh people.
The term Kazakh was formed in the 15th century and before then Kazakhs was not a distinct group. In 1468 an internal feud split the Uzbeks into 2 groups. Those who stayed north remained nomadic and became Kazakhs which mean free rider. Those who stayed south became settlers and became farmers. So actually Kazakh people came from Uzbek who wanted to live freely and who don’t like settle life. Some Kazakhs look like South East Asian, like Filipinos, some look like East Asian and some even has blue eyes and blonde hair.

Met some travellers in the mountains and went for dinner at a restaurant inside Ramstor at the south part of Almaty. The southern part of Almaty has more new buildings and looks like a newer part of the city.

Got back to the hostel and chatted with Danier, a Chinese Kazakh and his family in his room.

Dec 12th Sat

Golden boy at Republic Square

There were’t any Starbucks here but found Gloria Jean cafe. If I have enough capital, I would want to open a Starbucks or McDonalds here. Was going to use their Wi-Fi but there were something wrong with my netbook and spent time trying to fix my netbook. My OS is in Polish so it’s difficult to troubleshoot the problem.

Streets in Almaty.

Panfilov Park

Wedding at Panfilov park.

Zenkov Cathedral, a 19th-century Russian Orthodox cathedral located in Panfilov Park, is the second tallest wooden building in the world. The building wasn’t destroyed during the earthquake because it’s made of wood.

Darigo showed me around the city and brought me to a Georgian restaurant and met some of her lawyer friends.

Dec 11th Fri

Hostel room

Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world. The country has only one president, Nazarbayev since independence 18 years ago. Kazakhstan is ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during Stalin’s rule. There are more than 100 ethnic group in the country since the country is at the crossroad of Europe, Middle East and Asia. The country is rich with oil, gas and minerals. It is the top 5 countries in the world for oil reserves. It has 2 of the biggest oilfields in the world, Tengiz and Kashagan. The country also has a big gas reserve.

From Wikipedia,
” Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves, the third largest manganese reserves, the fifth largest copper reserves, and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. It is also an exporter of diamonds. Perhaps most significant for economic development, Kazakhstan also currently has the 11th largest proven reserves of both oil and natural gas.”

Kazakhstan is thought to be one of the original homes of the apple and the name Almaty means rich with apple.
Almaty is a city of around 1.5 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929-1997 and most recently, the capital was moved to Astana because the President wanted the country to be closer to Russia. Almaty looks modern and I think it’s the most developed city in Central Asia.

Almaty is quite cold and the temperature was around -10C.

Took bus 120 (50 tenge) at Ablay street to Yalan Bazaar

at Balakolkha which is located outside the city center. Asked around for bus information to Urumqi and Yining.

Sleeper bus to Urumqi

There are many Chinese shops around the bazaar.
Had Chinese dumplings for breakfast.

There were many Chinese, Ugyurs and Kazaks traders at the market.

City Pics
Mosque

Zelyoni Bazaar meaning green market has fresh vegetables, dairy products, and meat.

Jhibek Jolu street, sort of like the shopping street of the city

Had coffee with Dariga at Medley Cafe and at night Aiganym invited me to Soho bar/restaurant. The place is for mostly expatriates and has live music.

Dinner at Kafahat, a food court which later I become a regular customer of the shop

Night view

Dec 10th

Went to the Kazakhstan embassy in the morning to get back my passport. Took 4 marshrutkas to the embassy because I got on a wrong marshrutka. It’s funny that the guy in the embassy still remembered me since he didn’t give me receipt when I submited my passport.

Bishkek

Met Farizat, a friend I met few days ago at the American University in Central Asia and she brought me a restaurant which has one of the best laghman called Faiza (take bus 35 towards the north west part of the city, on Jibek Jolu).

Went to Tsum (meaning central department store in Russia), a big department store to find someone who can fix my camera but unfortunately that person was not there.

I planned to go to Almaty the same day after getting my passport, so took bus 35 to the bus station at 2.30pm and waited for 2 hours for the minibus to be full before leaving for Almaty (4 hours, 200km, 300 Som~USD$7).

After an hour on the minibus, we reached the border of Krygyzstan and Kazakhstan. Crossing the land border of Krygyzstan-Kazakhstan wasn’t that difficult and was quite fast. Arrived at Almaty Sayran bus station at 9pm. I didn’t realized that it was Sayran bus station until later. Since the public transportation system in Almaty shut down after 9pm, I took a taxi to the 3rd Dormitory which was listed as the cheapest option under lonely planet. It’s actually a university dorm which is open for travellers.

I made a silly mistake and paid the driver 4000 tenge~USD$26 (1USD~150 Tenge) instead of 400 tenge that was agreed upon. He didn’t say anything and I even thanked that guy for the ride. I realized my mistake when the dormitory receptionist told me to pay her 1000 tenge~USD$6.70 for the first night. I immediately rushed out but the driver was gone. This reminded me of a Japanese trader who bought stocks for the wrong price, with more zeros than the correct price.

Met some Chinese students at the hostel. They are not Han Chinese, but Chinese Kazakhs who live in China. In Chinese, they are called Ha.
Chinese Kazakh family

There was an uprising against Russia in 1916 when Russia tried to mobilized Kazakhs for World War I. Many Kazakhs moved to China in around 1916 after Russia violently surpressed the Kazakhs uprising and killed hundread thousand people.

Dec 9th

It was snowing the whole day today. Started the journey down from Arashan at 10am. However, the van broke down half way and had to hike 3 hours down to the village.

Car Broke down

Hike down

In normal circumstances, I should able to get a small refund if the car broke down but the hostel owner blamed the driver. A lesson I learned was if possible, always pay later.

Got to the bus station at around 4pm and took a shared taxi back to Bishkek (450 Som~USD$10). After spending around a week in Kyrgyzstan, I would say most people here are not that friendly. However, met a friendly lady on the taxi who can speak English with her son. She even taught me a few Russian words.

Arrived in Bishkek around 11.30pm. Went to Hotel Semetei but it’s full, so I walked to Sabrek guesthouse. No one answered the door so I had to took a taxi to Hotel Ak Say for a 6 beds dorm at the north part of town (250 Som~USD$6). It’s low season now, so there wasn’t anyone at the dorm like most hostels I stayed at for the passed few days.

Russian Orthodox Church

Jashilik Bazaar

Took a bus to Pristan and visited the Przewalski museum.

It’s around 30 minutes ride (10 Som). Przewalski is a famous Russian traveller during 1850s that made 4 expeditions around Central Asia, China and the far east.

On the bus back to Karakol

Karakol is considered the 3rd biggest city in Krygyzstanand is the adminstrative center for the Lake Issyk Kol region. The city has a population of less than 100,000 people. The city is quite small and it’s easy to walk around. There weren’t many tourist at this time because the weather is quite cold now.

Stopped by the tourist information center and they mentioned that I am the first tourist that dropped by for the passed few days.

Krygyz Kids playing

At at Dinara cafe recommended by the people from the tourist info center. Had Alsyhanfu (cold noodles)

and Ganfan (rice with vegetables and meat) for lunch (120 Som~USD$2.80, Karakol food)

Ak Tilek Bazaar

In the evening, the owner of Yak Hostel persuaded me to join his tour to Altyn Arashan. I was not keen on going for the trip because it’ll be just me. From Uzbekistan to Krygyzstan, most places I stay, I am the only traveller and haven’t met many tourists. HOwever, later I decided to go up the mountain mainly because Altyn Arashan is sort of a must do activity in Krygyzstan which is famous for its mountain and hot spring.

He gave me a discount of around 1700 Som~USD$38 which included transportation, food and lodging for the trip.

Dec 8th

Bought a used H&M flea sweater for 100 Som~USD$2.5. Valentin, the owner of the hostel brought me to his house in his motorbike,

he has all kinds of animals in his house, Yaks, Lhamas, chickens…

Lhamas

Closeup shot

Ate Dongan food at a small cafe, Ashlanfu

There are many Dongan people in Kyrgyzstan. Dongans are Chinese Muslims that moved out from China many years ago.

Got on a 4 wheel van at 12pm towards Altyn Arashan. There were 9 people together in the van, they were were Valentin’s friends and workers. He wanted me to go for the trip so I can pay for the food and gas for the trip (1000 Som for the driver and 700 Som for lodging and food). The road was pretty rough up the mountains and it took 2 hours for the 25km trip. Half way through, they had to put chain over the wheel so the van won’t slip.

My Olympus camera fell from my pocket and was broken so I wasn’t able to take many photos of the nice scenery.

Up to Arashan

Spent time in the cottage

and went to the hot spring later in the evening. There a guy taught me that it’s healthy to put snow over the body after spending some time in the hot water. He even suggested to jump into the cold water. I think the weather was around -5C.

Met some travelers at a café and exchanged information.

Took bus 48 to the bus station which is located at the north west part of the city. Then took the 3pm bus to Karakol (around 400 Km, 8 hours, 250 Som~USD$6).

I was kind of worried on the bus because Karakol should be on the east part of Bishkek but my compass kept showing me the bus is going to the west. There is another city called Karakul on my map and I thought I got on the wrong bus. Then I thought maybe my compass might be wrong because of some other magnetic influences.
Arrived at Karakol around 11pm and took a taxi to Yak Hostel.