Landlocked but lovely - Kazakhstan

 Following our plane ride from Osh to Bishkek, we took a taxi to the border to cross into Kazakhstan via the Korday border crossing. Once we'd crossed into Kazakhstan, we took one of the private buses - a Marshrutka (they ply every half hour, or whenever they get enough people) into Almaty. We were staying somewhat centrally at a youth hostel, since we were going to make a day trip to various places, before deciding to explore Almaty. 

Interesting toys that the kids were playing with

Felt an immediate urge to dine at this restaurant. Sadly, they didn't serve dinner at 4:00 pm in the afternoon

Our first day tour covered the Charyn Canyon, Kolsai Lake, and Kaindi Lake. 

Charyn Canyon

Our tour started early in the morning from Almaty, taking us to the Charyn Canyon, a national park situated close to the Kazakh-Chinese border, about 200 kms away. 

We walked down the canyon to the valley of Castles with our guide, before climbing back up. Now, we've been to the Grand Canyon, and while that is massive and awe-inspiring, we didn't get to walk through its valleys - and that is an experience that is altogether unique. 

The walk was a short one, but we stopped so often to click pictures that it took us about 1.5 hours to cover the distance. 

The winding Charyn river

There are refreshments and restrooms at the top of the canyon, and if you ever decide to take the tour, I'd strongly urge you to make full use of the facilities, because the places we visited later were woefully short of toilets. 

A serendipitous visit to the washroom

Kayindi Lake

We then went on to Kayindi lake - by went on, I mean we went there part of the way, after which, we were loaded into a dodgy-looking 4 x 4 which looked like a relic of the soviet era, with a bus driver who looked barely out of his teens, and completely in love with Bollywood music. The chap played the Kazakh translation of every Bollywood song you could think of, all with a huge grin and a complete disregard for the rear ends of his passengers.  

You've got to admire the change of colours

We reached a river crossing, where you get on a horse (yes, another adventure with horses who have absolute scorn for me) to get to Kayindi. Kayindi, or Quayindi , meaning the "birch tree lake", has a wonderful blue-green hue, with trees jutting out from the water. 

The birch trees jutting out of the water

The trees are part of the forest that was submerged during a 1911 earthquake. It was one of the most beautiful sights and of course, like all tourists, we went slightly nuts clicking pictures of the lake from various angles. 

Here's another view

And another

Another death-defying ride atop a wayward horse back to the 4x4, and my rear was thanking all the fat I'd consumed during the trip, which had helped form a decent cushion. 

This horse with a deathwish, that chose to walk at the very edge of the cliff, occasionally stopping if he felt I was getting too comfortable. 

Kolsai Lake

We had to walk down to lower Kolsai, which wasn't half bad, except for the crazy fellas proposing to their girlfriends, complete with balloons, photographers and an army of event managers

Our next stop was Kolsai Lake, but not before we stopped for lunch in the local village. The food stop was absolutely chaotic - people shouting out orders, struggling to get a decent table, and the less we talk about the toilets, the better. If you're planning to take this trip, come armed with toilet spray, wet wipes, tissues, and a strong bladder (start practising those kegels, ladies). But all of this was completely wiped out from memory once we got to Kolsai Lake. 

Hello blue skies

The waters were too tempting not to dip our feet. We unlocked a new level: Retractable toes. Bloody freezing waters.   

Also, pretty windy. But oh-so-pretty

These lakes, fed by glaciers, are beautiful bodies of water surrounded by Spruce trees. We walked down to lower Kolsai, but decided against the trek to middle and upper Kolsai - it was a good 2-hour trek, we were told (and I had had enough of horses for the day). We did, however, walk along the shores of the wonderfully clear waters,  where you could feel like you were the only two people on the riverbank. 

We headed back to Almaty, tired, but SO glad we decided to take this day trip. 

The national circus building was close to the stop where we got off. Looks like it would be an interesting watch if we ever came back here. 

Almaty and Medeu Valley

The next day, we decided to cover Medeu Valley rather than stay in Almay, so we made a quick trip to Ascension Cathedral (Although Kazakhstan is largely Islamic, it has its fair share of churches. 

They wouldn't let us in the church the first time. Clearly, we didn't look Christian enough. The second time around, we passed muster. 

The Ascension Cathedral, or the Zenkov Cathedral, is one of the tallest wooden structures in the world. It survived the 1911 earthquake (yes, the same one that gave Kaindi its in-house trees) despite being built without any nails. The recent restoration seems to have returned the church to its former glory.  

Such a pretty wooden structure! 

Here's another view at night. It really is a very pretty building

Beautiful on the inside too

It was just after easter, so some of the easter decorations were still up

We caught the local bus to Medeu on the outskirts of Almaty. It is the world's largest high-mountain speed skating and bandy rink- but since we were visiting in April, there was snow in the upper two levels, and the ice rink was more concrete than ice. 

The stages are connected by a cable car, rising to a height of 3200 metres. I have never seen these many desis congregating at any one place outside India. There was even a large gaggle of aunties in chiffon sarees, with their pot-bellied spouses in colour-coordinated jumpers, fulfilling their Shah Rukh dreams of posing in the snow. I promise you, there were more pictures taken by the Kazakhs of the aunties than of the surroundings. We ended the day with a metro ride around Almaty (can Indian metros please take a leaf out of their book and pretty up our stations?)

Got to love the subways of Almaty - they even have  book vending machine

Also loving the subway staff's uniforms. And the murals and floor mosaics

We did do a quick round of the supermarkets and parks. Nice. Pleasant. The president's park was a bit worse for wear. 

Some local tipple. Didn't try them but they looked interesting

The trip ended far too quickly for our liking - would we visit again? Definitely! Would I want to have samsas again? Not for the next decade or so, thanks. 

That's the entry to the President's Park. Massive, but the insides were a bit run-down.

Horse riding and Kyrgyz hospitality

Our journey from Samarkand to Osh was an absolute blast - we caught a late train from Samarkand

 Railway station to get to Andijon. It was the old train from the USSR era, with 4-to-a-coach sleepers. Our co-passengers? Two friends - Rustom and his brother. Lovely octogenarians from Andijon, who collectively didn’t speak a word of English between them. 

Our lovely co-passengers on the train

They, however, took quite a shine to the baa-lamb and me, and we were promptly offered the choicest apples from their stash for breakfast. With a lot of gesturing and sign language and Google Translate, we discovered that Rustom was an ex-Olympian, they were disappointed that Arun didn’t eat ‘proper’ meat, and were extremely pleased that he did, however, drink. 

The sleeper coaches were a lot like our desi coaches, but with much larger luggage racks

They were also a bit of Bollywood fans, and clicked many pictures of me with them (this, I found a running theme in this trip), Rustom's brother was convinced that I resembled his daughter-in-law, and we spoke to Rustom’s wife - the poor thing, who was possibly expecting to talk to her husband, not a total stranger who didn’t speak a word of Russian or Uzbek. That didn’t, however, stop her from offering to host us at her place for a meal, or tea at the very least. 

We crossed the border into Dostyk, Kyrgyzstan and carried on into Osh. Osh is an old trading town on the Silk Road, and would be our base before we carried on deeper into the mountains. 

Sary Mogol

In the afternoon, we took a taxi to Sary Mogol, a good four hours away from Osh on the Pamir highway. 

We went from this...

to this...

to this in the space of a few hours. 

We moved from an elevation of 800 metres to 3000 metres after reaching 3600 metres en route. Sary Mogol is high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, close to China and Tajikistan. Our drive to Sary Mogol along the Palmir highway was in a private taxi with a guy who, along with us, took in a couple with the cutest, roundest baby on earth, a pregnant woman, and a few other folks. It was a lovely ride- with absolutely stunning views. 

We arrived at our destination late-ish in the evening: our host's home. We were shown into a warm room, and treated to home-cooked pasta, fresh salads and cheese, all made by our hosts's wife and daughter. The only snag in the plan was that the toilets were absent in the house- they only had outhouses - and with no lights and it beginning to snow,  I decided I could do without a visit to the washroom in the night. The next morning, we woke up to a veritable winter wonderland, with everything under a white blanket of snow. 

Our guide and my completely wayward horse

We were to go to nearby places for sightseeing, but since the only sight that we'd be seeing would be under a layer of white, our host decided to take us horse riding around town. But first, he had us duly dressed for the winter ride before introducing us to the horses. Now I don't know what secret training the Baa-Lamb has been taking, but it turns out he's a horse-whisperer, with horses falling all over themselves to please him. Me on the other hand - a complete joke. The horse I was on knew exactly what an amateur I was and decided to do exactly as he pleased. 

My husband, the secret horse-whisperer.

Our guide had to lead not just his horse, but also had to have a firm grip on my horse's lead as well, lest he decided to make a break for the hills. He led us through his village- showing us the school, the hospital, the sheds, and the fields beyond the river where the horses roamed wild (my horse seemed to express a strong desire to join his wild brethren). He also pointed to the site where they'd built homes for the Uyghurs -- he said they are originally of Kyrgyz origin. I asked him, since they lived so remotely with livestock, if there were veterinary hospitals in the vicinity. I was told with a smile - if they don't survive, they're food for the family. Hm. I stuck to a vegetarian diet for this part of the trip. 

Meanwhile, in the village, tiny babies on horses, looking at me indulgently, as one would look at their idiot child

We set out back to Osh in the same vehicle that drove us in (accompanied by the driver's young son), and the landscape was completely different compared to the drive up, thanks to the snow showers overnight. 

the return journey view

The woman looks on...

As we tried to comprehend this rather deep Kyrgyz poetry

We stayed at Oldman’s house, which is both our host's residence and the Airbnb. Richard was a wonderful host with a lot of stories - he’s lived in loads of places before settling down in Osh with his Kyrgyz wife, Melissa. He's quite knowledgeable about the local sites, and he and Melissa cook up an excellent breakfast, with enough food to feed a teenage football team. 

our wonderful hosts in Osh

Pushkin - who tolerated us admirably. 

They have lots of cats about the place, and they only add to the place's charm. We did a quick walk about the main city centre (not much to see, but like most erstwhile USSR states, seemed to be big on murals on the sides of their buildings) -- 

As I'd mentioned - a bit keen on the muralling. The mountain in the background is the Sulaiman Too-Sacred Mountains, which we didn't have time to visit.

we retired early, it was beginning to drizzle, and we have a very early start to Almaty the following day

The tiny flight from Osh to Bishkek

Spectacular views from the flight

From Osh, we caught an early flight to Bishkek, and then a short drive into Almaty. So did I end up trying any of the local cuisine? Well, had a bit of fermented horse milk. tasted like slightly sweetened chhaas, not bad at all. As for the rest of it, erm, do Samsas count? 

Kumis - basically horse milk yoghurt. Best had in small doses. Not this massive 1 litre bottle.