Sparkchaser went to Kazakhstan. If you care, click here.

[sparkchaser]

I got back from Kazakhtrip on Saturday and here are some pics in case anyone at BAR is interested. More pics and more words will appear on my blog eventually.

I arrived in Almaty around midnight. Clearing immigration & customs was super easy. Since I arrived at an international airport, registration was automatic. I checked into my hotel and met my fixer/guide/translator the next morning. She was invaluable and would prove to be worth every penny I paid for her services.


Russian Orthodox Zenkov Cathedral in Panfilov Park in Almaty:





WWII Memorial in Panfilov Park in Almaty





Digging up the old heating system to replace steam pipes.





Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.





Grilled horse with homestyle potatoes at some brewpub in Almaty

 

[beer good]

Mmmmm... horsie.

Looks awesome!

 

[sparkchaser]

Yes, horse is as delicious as it is majestic.

The first destination was the Aral Sea. It was a 30 hour train ride from Almaty to Aralsk. It was hot outside and the air conditioner in the sleeper car could barely keep up so it was a warm in there.

At the longer scheduled stops we'd get out and buy water, juices, fresh fruit, and street food. When a train stops, the locals show up with their food carts and what not. This is what a typical stop looked like:

 

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This is what one of the train bathrooms looked like (the other one was a squat toilet):



You can't really see it but the floor is wet. Presumably not with water. Also, the toilet "flushes" straight to the tracks.


Aside from the constant jostling and the ever present "ka-thunk ka-thunk", sleeping on the train was not as bad as I thought it would be. We had second class berths (my fixer's suggestion because she said it would be a good way to meet people) and the "bed" was easier to get a good sleep on than in a coach seat on a trans-Atlantic flight.


We arrived in Aralsk at 8:30PM and it was hot and dusty.

The mural in the Aralsk train station:

 

[sparkchaser]

My fixer arranged for a homestay for us for three nights. The owner, who will henceforth be referred to as "Kazakh mom", met us at the station and we took a gypsy cab to her house.

Her house:



The blue "deck" you see is where the family sleeps in the summer as it is much cooler here than in the house. This is a very common practice by the people in this area.

My bedroom:



Kazakh mom explained to me that Kazakh houses have very large rooms and very little furniture. She said that this allowed people to host large groups of people for visits, meals, and sleeping over. My bed was more comfortable than the train bed so awesome sleep, right? Wrong. It was too damn hot. I slept like shit.

Speaking of shit, the toilet was an outhouse with a squat toilet.

This is where we showered:



Presumably one of her two children would climb that rickety ladder and fill that small metal barrel with water in the morning. By evening the water would be pretty damn hot. There was a simple butterfly valve you had to turn to get the water going. It was basically a permanent camp shower.

 

[sparkchaser]

Kazakh mom was a very sweet lady. She taught Russian at the school and the homestays were her side business. She was in the middle of installing a "Western-style" bathroom in the house, complete with flush toilet and shower. It wasn't finished yet. :sad:

Kazakhs are a curious people. Her and her mother were always asking me questions. "Are you married?" "Do you have children?" "Why not?" "What do you think of our city?" etc.

The homestay included all meals and either Kazakh mom or her mother, who lived next door, would cook our meals. Every evening after dinner we would always have milk tea and cookies.

Beshbarmak - a horse meat and pasta dish with potato and onion although they used beef here. Or maybe it was mutton. I can't remember. It was gooood.



Plov, a very tasty Uzbek dish. Fried rice with carrots and beef:




Being located in a now desertified region, Aralsk is hot and dusty.

 

[sparkchaser]

The old port. Kazakh mama could remember when you could see the sea in the distance. Kazakh grandma remembers when the sea reached the cranes.




Suddenly a random camel appears!




We hired a driver that would take us to the sea. Approx $300-350 for two days of excursions. This is what we rode in:






More later.

 

[MsBlueEyzz]

Wow! So far it looks like you had quite an adventurous trip

 

[Sneezy]

It's happening again.

 

[sparkchaser]

It's not exactly the same.

 

[beer good]

I'm trying to figure out what that graffiti says... Hmmm...

Something Saturday?

 

[sparkchaser]

There is a very good chance that it is Kazakh and not Russian.

 

[Sneezy]

It's not exactly the same.

I suspect it will be more appreciated here, same or nae.

 

[beer good]

That would explain why Google Translate refuses to recognize it.

Dude, you were so far gone you were out of Google's reach!

 

[sparkchaser]

That would explain why Google Translate refuses to recognize it.

Dude, you were so far gone you were out of Google's reach!

:

I suspect it will be more appreciated here, same or nae.

Aye.



Back to the story:

Our first major stop in Aralsk was "the dam". Officially named Dike Kokaral but referred to by everyone as “the dam”, it is a small dam that separates the North Aral Sea from the South Aral Sea. After its construction the water level in the North Aral Sea increased from less than 98ft (30m) to 125ft (38m). Meanwhile, the South Aral Sea continues to shrink, partly because of the dam (although I suspect not as much as the Uzbeks claim) and partly because of the amount of river water feeding into the Uzbek portion of the sea being diverted for irrigation. I'd like to visit the Uzbek side one day.


We left early in the morning before it got too hot. We started off a fairly well maintained 4 lane highway which after 30 minutes or so abruptly ended at ongoing construction and so we drove off the road onto a bumpy dirt road that ran parallel to the road construction.

Random village we passed:




The "road".




After a few hours of bumpy, dusty “roads” and seemingly random turns onto unnamed dirt roads we arrived at the dam.

When we arrived at the dam, I was expecting something a little bigger and more impressive. The dam really isn’t that big.



To the people in the area it is a big deal, and understandably so. The water quality in the North Aral Sea has improved quite a bit and several fish species have been reintroduced.

Some fishermen.

 

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On the way back, we came upon these cows chillaxin by a substation.



See the white on the ground? That's salt.


A bit further along we saw a herd of horses.



Not wild horses. That would have been badass.


And then, outside of a small village, some camels decided to block the road.




That's a cemetery in the background.

 

[Hugh]

Cool! thanks for sharing. Best thread ever!

 

[Alix]

Looks like a true adventure. Can't wait to see more pix and hear more stories.

 

[Leonardo Noto]

Cool man!

Cool man! That was a heck of a long trip. Didn't you leave in April? Thanks for posting the pics. If you have anymore please post them.

leonardonoto.com | Physician, Paratrooper, Boxer/Grappler Turned Grumpy Old Writer!

 

[sparkchaser]

No, this was only two weeks. April was England.