30-day Bishkek – Ashgabat overland: Day 13 – Day 15
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world as well as the world’s largest land-locked country. I reached Kazakhstan before noon on September 7 and left its border before 4pm two days later. What have I done in 52 hours in Kazakhstan? I spent most of the time in our truck which has covered some 600kms in distance. But I have hardly seen the country – and I didn’t even get to see their most famous son, Borat!
Day 13 (September 7, Friday): Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Zhabagly, Kazakhstan (350km)
I was sad to leave the Asia Mountain Hotel at 7am. Around 9am, we reached the border and left Kyrgyzstan without problems, and walked over to the Kazakhstan side. The immigration officers at this small Kazakh border check point had never seen a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport and did not know about the visa-free agreement between the Kazakhstan and the HKSAR. They were very courteous and kept me for an hour. Finally they let me enter the country at 11:30am. But Al had to wait to have the truck x-rayed and went through the customs service. We were pleased to see the truck again at 12:30pm.
It was a long drive and the road is not good. I could see the Tien Shan Mountain range on the left side and the flat steppes on the right. We made a brief shopping stop at Taraz which was once an important stop of the Silk Road.
 Arriving in Kazakhstan! |
 Our dinner |
 Home stay |
We did not arrive at our host family in Zhabagly till 8pm. On the way, I saw my third most beautiful sunset (The first one was in Kathmandu in 1978 and the second one was in Western Australia on my way to the Bungle Bungle National Park in 2002). The sun was firing red while the clouds were golden or pinkish or purple red. The expansive crop fields looked golden. Unfortunately I sat on the wrong side of the truck and did not manage to take photos. But the remarkable hues will stay with me forever.
Zhabagly is a farming village with some 2,000 inhabitants. Ten of us stayed with one family and the rest with another family in the village. Our host has a sizeable house with four bedrooms. Hortensia and I slept in the sitting room. We had a lovely vegetable soup with meat, nice bread and a salad. After a good shower and a nice meal, I had a sweet sleep!
Day 14 (September 8): Zhabagly – Aksu – Zhabagly National Park
I had a wholesome breakfast with three fried eggs and a bowl of porridge at 9am. We then set off for the Aksu – Zhabagly National Park. Though the Park is 25km away, it took us over two hours and the road is most bumpy.
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 Alex (L) & Finn (R) |
The Park, the oldest national park in Central Asia is covered by forests of Central Asia juniper, high mountain lakes, glacier reservoirs and well-preserved flora. On arrival, our local guide took us on an 8-km walk to the President’s Place. From time to time, I walked close to the rim to take a good look at the canyon below. The walk is a bit boring and I together with the guide, Norm, Alex and Helen finally arrived at our destination at 3pm.
As I wanted to take the second short walk to the canyon, I immediately returned to the starting point while the rest had a lunch under a huge Jupiter tree. I walked as fast as I could and took two hours to get back. Then I walked down to the canyon the path of which is not as steep as I had thought. I took 40 minutes to reach the river. As it was getting late, I did not take a swim and started my uphill hike after a brief stop to wash my face. I caught up with Mark, Gabbi and Hortensia and arrived together at the camp site before 7pm. It turned out that I was the only person who had done both treks! I could not believe that I could have done it!
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 President's Place |
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The camping site is gorgeous overlooking expansive rolling farming land below with some rugged mountain tops of the Tien Shan Mountain range on the right side. We had a most enchanting starry night. It was not too cold and I was very tired. But I still could not sleep and lay awake for three hours before it was time to get up.
 Mark(L), Hortensia(M) & Gabbi(R) |
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Day 15 (September 9): Aksu -Zhabagly National Park. Kazakhstan – Tashkent, Uzbekistan (350km)
We had to get up early and set off at 7am. It was a boring long driving day. We stopped at Shymkent briefly to buy food for lunch. The scenery is relatively dull: the land is arid and flat and there is not much vegetation.
We were supposed to exit at Yallama and enter Uzbekistan at Chinoz which is close to Tashkent. Unfortunately, Uzbekistan has closed the major border crossing at Chinoz for renovation (!). Al had therefore to drive 90km more to another border crossing. We reached the Kazakh border at 3pm and left the country without problem.
Remarks
It has been a waste of time to speed through Kazakhstan in less than three days. Had the political situation in southern Kyrgyzstan been more stable, our truck would have gone to Osh, driven along the Fergana Valley and reached Tashkent without several long driving days. Anyway Dragoman has taken us to see the Aksu-Zhabagly National Park in order to make the journey more appealing.
I have no knowledge about Kazakhstan after the visit. As there is now a direct flight between Hong Kong and Astana, I am sure I may visit this country one day!