In our league table of areas visited so far, Western Kazakhstan is, unfortunately, in the relegation zone…along with Belgium.
This is down to a variety of factors, and some of these have more to do with us, our preparation and expectation management, rather than the country. Allow me to digress…
Firstly, our pace was starting to take its toll, both on us, and the Scarlet 4x4.
The blat across Europe to be at the Kazakh border for the visa start date had been exactly that. We could not help but feel that Europe was more about hourly and daily km’s driven rather than stopping to enjoy places, or just…stopping.
We had left a full month after the first possible departure date, when our fully visa’d up passports were returned to us.
This delay was due to both injury and the 1001 previously un-thought of tasks that leapt onto our pre-departure “to do” list. This meant some tasks were left for completion or catch up ”on the road”. Expensive pieces of photography and video equipment bought in the UK remain in their boxes, their manuals unread, their operation a mystery.
Country guides and travel books remain in our library box with pristine covers and un-creased spines – nagging at my conscience.
I was now in the habit of torturing myself with what we could have done with those extra days;
A couple in Bruge as originally planned would have had two outcomes, firstly to propel Belgium from the relegation zone (with a liberal application of Belgian beer), and secondly would have given our trip a holiday, rather than rally, feel from the outset.
A couple in Amsterdam to catch up with friends were also regretfully missed.
The Bavarian Black Forest remains un-trekked and un-explored, seen instead from the Autobahn at the mind numbing speed of 97kph/60mph – the fastest the Scarlet 4x4 has ever been driven by us. (We overtook a van that day, I’ll never forget it, we still talk about it sometimes even now....)
Alpine scenic routes and Salzburg were dropped in favour of faster bitumen and the Czeck and Slovak republics were postponed to the return leg.
European high points had been Munich, Budapest, Eger, Northern Romania, Chisinau, and Odessa. A few more days to loiter (and supp light ales and wines) in each, rather than keeping an eye each on calendar and odometer, were sorely missed.
From a vehicular perspective, maintenance checks and thorough underbody inspections were also being neglected. Two days had already been lost to clutch cylinder replacements and compressor wiring modifications in Germany. A rain soaked evening of swearing and bickering in the delightfully named Austrian alpine town of Mooswirt had reduced HID headlight failure frequency to a weekly rather than daily occurrence – but this was still not enough.
Other mechanical warnings were a frantically clicking relay somewhere under the dash console every time the ignition was turned off (a relay that I had by now convinced myself was UTTERLY VITAL to our forward progress) and an increasingly noisy under-bonnet “chirruping” noise that sounds to my in-experienced ear like a bearing contemplating a visit to the Dignitas clinic.
Oh….and we were 1000km’s overdue an oil change too.
Which brings me back to Kazakhstan, and a need to change the pace and substitute driving and navigation for relaxation, reading, sleeping, overdue maintenance, and playing with some of our new techie toys.
We had told ourselves that we would take things easier once we reached Kazakhstan. We were wrong. Unfortunately the season, geography, road conditions and our route choice prevented any of that.
Kazakhstan has become our yardstick of effort.
Subsequent hard days crossing the Uzbek Kyzylkum desert, or lurching along rough sections of the Tajik Pamir highway are noted with the comment “Well, at least it’s not as hard as Kazakhstan”.
To be fair though, there were real highlights, and most people were warm and welcoming (with a few notable exceptions).
This is down to a variety of factors, and some of these have more to do with us, our preparation and expectation management, rather than the country. Allow me to digress…
Firstly, our pace was starting to take its toll, both on us, and the Scarlet 4x4.
The blat across Europe to be at the Kazakh border for the visa start date had been exactly that. We could not help but feel that Europe was more about hourly and daily km’s driven rather than stopping to enjoy places, or just…stopping.
We had left a full month after the first possible departure date, when our fully visa’d up passports were returned to us.
This delay was due to both injury and the 1001 previously un-thought of tasks that leapt onto our pre-departure “to do” list. This meant some tasks were left for completion or catch up ”on the road”. Expensive pieces of photography and video equipment bought in the UK remain in their boxes, their manuals unread, their operation a mystery.
Country guides and travel books remain in our library box with pristine covers and un-creased spines – nagging at my conscience.
I was now in the habit of torturing myself with what we could have done with those extra days;
A couple in Bruge as originally planned would have had two outcomes, firstly to propel Belgium from the relegation zone (with a liberal application of Belgian beer), and secondly would have given our trip a holiday, rather than rally, feel from the outset.
A couple in Amsterdam to catch up with friends were also regretfully missed.
The Bavarian Black Forest remains un-trekked and un-explored, seen instead from the Autobahn at the mind numbing speed of 97kph/60mph – the fastest the Scarlet 4x4 has ever been driven by us. (We overtook a van that day, I’ll never forget it, we still talk about it sometimes even now....)
Alpine scenic routes and Salzburg were dropped in favour of faster bitumen and the Czeck and Slovak republics were postponed to the return leg.
European high points had been Munich, Budapest, Eger, Northern Romania, Chisinau, and Odessa. A few more days to loiter (and supp light ales and wines) in each, rather than keeping an eye each on calendar and odometer, were sorely missed.
From a vehicular perspective, maintenance checks and thorough underbody inspections were also being neglected. Two days had already been lost to clutch cylinder replacements and compressor wiring modifications in Germany. A rain soaked evening of swearing and bickering in the delightfully named Austrian alpine town of Mooswirt had reduced HID headlight failure frequency to a weekly rather than daily occurrence – but this was still not enough.
Other mechanical warnings were a frantically clicking relay somewhere under the dash console every time the ignition was turned off (a relay that I had by now convinced myself was UTTERLY VITAL to our forward progress) and an increasingly noisy under-bonnet “chirruping” noise that sounds to my in-experienced ear like a bearing contemplating a visit to the Dignitas clinic.
Oh….and we were 1000km’s overdue an oil change too.
Which brings me back to Kazakhstan, and a need to change the pace and substitute driving and navigation for relaxation, reading, sleeping, overdue maintenance, and playing with some of our new techie toys.
We had told ourselves that we would take things easier once we reached Kazakhstan. We were wrong. Unfortunately the season, geography, road conditions and our route choice prevented any of that.
Kazakhstan has become our yardstick of effort.
Subsequent hard days crossing the Uzbek Kyzylkum desert, or lurching along rough sections of the Tajik Pamir highway are noted with the comment “Well, at least it’s not as hard as Kazakhstan”.
To be fair though, there were real highlights, and most people were warm and welcoming (with a few notable exceptions).
The Russian border crossing between Krasny Yar and Ganyushkino was relatively uneventful.
The floating pontoon bridge a few kilometres from the border was as exciting as the lengthy queues at the last few Russian garages were worrying.
I got it fixed into my head that Russian fuel must be cheaper – but I needn’t have worried. Kazakh diesel is cheap, plentiful, good quality and absolutely delicious…
The floating pontoon bridge a few kilometres from the border was as exciting as the lengthy queues at the last few Russian garages were worrying.
I got it fixed into my head that Russian fuel must be cheaper – but I needn’t have worried. Kazakh diesel is cheap, plentiful, good quality and absolutely delicious…
We lost our place in the queue on the Russian side trying to get a Kazakh green card at the multiple insurance booths just prior to the border gate. Despite tantalizing hoardings listing every Eastern European and Central Asian state you could think of, they sold Russian, only Russian. Also, despite multiple booths it seems as though you are only ever directed towards one, and only one is ever open? We took our cue from our recent Russian rudeness experiences and pushed back into the queue.
Russian side was a doddle and we were out within the hour.
No mans land had us briefly confused by being about 5kms long, but once into the Kazakh side the ever friendly and helpful border staff had us through in another hour.
Booths immediately after the border soon had us green carded up for three months, and a money changer gave us the necessary Kazakh Tenge at a rate only about 4% worse than the banks in the cities. We can’t begrudge anyone 4% profit margin for making a living! Good luck to ‘em!
A high point was the “elderly” insurance broker getting excited at sharing the same birthdate with Cheryl (35), and yet he looked a good 15 years older than me (a youthful and gorgeous 41)…
Straight after the border was our first Army check point.
A pimply youth with a pathetic orange mini light sabre held together with sello-tape flagged us down and sauntered up to the window. He gave the steering wheel a desultory half-turn through the open window, and then fiddled with our dash mats, before turning his attention to our two cab 12v fans and shyly made clear that he wanted them. Yes, those very same fans that I took a day to mount to the internal roll cage on custom brackets with hand fabricated aluminium plate, and soldered in extra long cables and dust proof 12v plugs?
Why sure, help yourself!
I used The Force on him (“These aren’t the fans you’re looking for…”) shaming him into committing hari kari with his stupid light sabre before we moved on and hit the pot holes.
The border was one of those that marks not only an arbitrary human delineation from country to country, but also definite changes in people and landscape. There were less Caucasian Russian features and peoples faces had a more oriental appearance. Gone too was the fertile green Volga delta, replaced with drier, flatter and dustier steppe.
Russian side was a doddle and we were out within the hour.
No mans land had us briefly confused by being about 5kms long, but once into the Kazakh side the ever friendly and helpful border staff had us through in another hour.
Booths immediately after the border soon had us green carded up for three months, and a money changer gave us the necessary Kazakh Tenge at a rate only about 4% worse than the banks in the cities. We can’t begrudge anyone 4% profit margin for making a living! Good luck to ‘em!
A high point was the “elderly” insurance broker getting excited at sharing the same birthdate with Cheryl (35), and yet he looked a good 15 years older than me (a youthful and gorgeous 41)…
Straight after the border was our first Army check point.
A pimply youth with a pathetic orange mini light sabre held together with sello-tape flagged us down and sauntered up to the window. He gave the steering wheel a desultory half-turn through the open window, and then fiddled with our dash mats, before turning his attention to our two cab 12v fans and shyly made clear that he wanted them. Yes, those very same fans that I took a day to mount to the internal roll cage on custom brackets with hand fabricated aluminium plate, and soldered in extra long cables and dust proof 12v plugs?
Why sure, help yourself!
I used The Force on him (“These aren’t the fans you’re looking for…”) shaming him into committing hari kari with his stupid light sabre before we moved on and hit the pot holes.
The border was one of those that marks not only an arbitrary human delineation from country to country, but also definite changes in people and landscape. There were less Caucasian Russian features and peoples faces had a more oriental appearance. Gone too was the fertile green Volga delta, replaced with drier, flatter and dustier steppe.
The road into the city of Atyrau was mostly sealed but of variable quality and frequent potholes that caught both us, and suspension, by surprise if the surface was not given full concentration. Big, big skys and big, big potholes, ridges, and even tarmac corrugations…
We saw our first two humped Bactrian camels, some of whom were sporting the most awesome quiffs, incredibly long and frequent trains that seem typical of Kazakhstans rail system, and clusters of lonely, tiny mausoleums outside every town and village.
We saw our first two humped Bactrian camels, some of whom were sporting the most awesome quiffs, incredibly long and frequent trains that seem typical of Kazakhstans rail system, and clusters of lonely, tiny mausoleums outside every town and village.
Atyrau was surprisingly OK. There is nothing really of note here, apart from fact that it straddled the river border between Europe and Asia. But it has banks, shops, cafes, decent accommodation, lots of wifi, and the Class 10 Micro SD cards we craved…
It also provides a venue for free and relatively straightforward Police registration.
I liked the incredibly warm and effusive welcome at the hotel from the staff, which provided massive breakfasts that both we, and the flies, loved in equal measure.
This hotel provided secure, gated parking in a dirt lot around the back, whose piles of discarded refuse yielded all the containers necessary to facilitate our overdue oil change….
Hotel Raikhan
N 47.05.767 E 051.54.262
Decent rooms with awesome Kazakh telly for $50 (cheap for Kazakhstan)
We wanted to register sooner rather than later so headed to Rozzer Central and the guys there had us processed in less than an hour and for free – one less thing to worry about during our stay.
GPS coordinates N47.09.347 E051.92116 (courtesy of Scirocco Overland).
1 x photocopies of passport, visa with entry stamp, immigration slip and 2 x vehicle registration doc (UK V5) required.
We are glad we did too, as we have heard subsequent stories of people struggling to get registered in the smaller towns and being faced with a $200 fine on departure.
It also provides a venue for free and relatively straightforward Police registration.
I liked the incredibly warm and effusive welcome at the hotel from the staff, which provided massive breakfasts that both we, and the flies, loved in equal measure.
This hotel provided secure, gated parking in a dirt lot around the back, whose piles of discarded refuse yielded all the containers necessary to facilitate our overdue oil change….
Hotel Raikhan
N 47.05.767 E 051.54.262
Decent rooms with awesome Kazakh telly for $50 (cheap for Kazakhstan)
We wanted to register sooner rather than later so headed to Rozzer Central and the guys there had us processed in less than an hour and for free – one less thing to worry about during our stay.
GPS coordinates N47.09.347 E051.92116 (courtesy of Scirocco Overland).
1 x photocopies of passport, visa with entry stamp, immigration slip and 2 x vehicle registration doc (UK V5) required.
We are glad we did too, as we have heard subsequent stories of people struggling to get registered in the smaller towns and being faced with a $200 fine on departure.
My culinary error in Atyrau was to assume that the shashlik (kebabs) served in our venue of choice the first evening were representative of the size everywhere. Two left me hungry for more, so the next evening in another Kafe I ordered three, making the schoolboy error of not checking the sizes first.
Three lambs on sticks were delivered and in my effort to amaze and impress the young waitress with how much red meat I could force on myself, I forgot the basic rules on food hygiene and tucked into the unpeeled salad offerings too…
This meant a further unplanned day in the hotel whilst I “purged” myself and also gave an opportunity to sleep off the fever that came with the poorliest bottom this side of the Ural mountains…
Three lambs on sticks were delivered and in my effort to amaze and impress the young waitress with how much red meat I could force on myself, I forgot the basic rules on food hygiene and tucked into the unpeeled salad offerings too…
This meant a further unplanned day in the hotel whilst I “purged” myself and also gave an opportunity to sleep off the fever that came with the poorliest bottom this side of the Ural mountains…
Decision time:
Out of Atyrau, we were now faced with a choice of route.
One which seemed an easy choice at the time, but has been endlessly debated since…
Our original plan A, which we stuck to, was to head North East towards Aktobe, and then South East via Embi & Shalqar (B) to cut out several hundred kilometres of road, before turning South East through Aral (C), past the Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kyzylorda, Turkestan (D), Shymkent (E) and then the welcome cool of the Tian Shan foothills in the Aksu-Zhabagyly Nature Reserve.
This would allows us to cross into Uzbekistan at Tashkent, South West to Samarkand (F), but then heading North West back towards our starting point in Atyrau to take in Bukhara (G) and Khiva (H) and then turning back, repeating that Uzbek route (and nearly 1000kms again) to head finally to Termiz (I) on the Uzbek / Afghan border, some 4,100 kms in total.
One which seemed an easy choice at the time, but has been endlessly debated since…
Our original plan A, which we stuck to, was to head North East towards Aktobe, and then South East via Embi & Shalqar (B) to cut out several hundred kilometres of road, before turning South East through Aral (C), past the Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kyzylorda, Turkestan (D), Shymkent (E) and then the welcome cool of the Tian Shan foothills in the Aksu-Zhabagyly Nature Reserve.
This would allows us to cross into Uzbekistan at Tashkent, South West to Samarkand (F), but then heading North West back towards our starting point in Atyrau to take in Bukhara (G) and Khiva (H) and then turning back, repeating that Uzbek route (and nearly 1000kms again) to head finally to Termiz (I) on the Uzbek / Afghan border, some 4,100 kms in total.
Option B, which had unfolded with further research, was to head from Atyau (A) straight to the Uzbek border, via a temperamental and sometimes difficult border crossing (depending on who you read or talked to). Then negotiate a few hundred kilometers of hard desert crossing via Nuxus to Khiva (H), then Bukhara, then Samarkand and Termiz. In effect missing out the above Kazakh itinerary (and some 2000kms), but preventing retracing almost our entire subsequent route through Uzbekistan.
Option A had been explained to both countries embassies with our visa applications. We now convinced ourselves that with the entire state surveillance apparatus of both nations focused (naturally) entirely on us, they would view our route change as malignant intent…
Lonely Planet details the above Kazakh itinerary as it’s “Southern Highlights” tour. Yes, some were highlights, but some were frankly not worth the effort, and the spaces in between were difficult to navigate – to say the least.
Option A had been explained to both countries embassies with our visa applications. We now convinced ourselves that with the entire state surveillance apparatus of both nations focused (naturally) entirely on us, they would view our route change as malignant intent…
Lonely Planet details the above Kazakh itinerary as it’s “Southern Highlights” tour. Yes, some were highlights, but some were frankly not worth the effort, and the spaces in between were difficult to navigate – to say the least.
Aral was as spectacularly hot and dusty as it was depressing, and the opportunity to witness one of the worst ecological disasters on the planet that is the Aral sea left me a bit glum (but not as glum as Aral’s blighted inhabitants).
The Baikonour Cosmodrome is a low huddle of buildings on the distant horizon, viewed from the wreckage of the M32 motorway, and not the opportunity to drink beer and shoot pool with Yuri Gagarin, and a free flight to the ISS that I had been expecting.
The Baikonour Cosmodrome is a low huddle of buildings on the distant horizon, viewed from the wreckage of the M32 motorway, and not the opportunity to drink beer and shoot pool with Yuri Gagarin, and a free flight to the ISS that I had been expecting.
The Kozha Akhmed Yasaui mausoleum at Turkestan IS truly spectacularly beautiful, but if you have already done the Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand trinity then you may well already have symptoms of the 4Ms (Mausoleum, Mosque and Madrassa Malaise) in which case you may consider passing it by? We are very glad we saw it first though. It’s not the scale of Uzbekistans offerings – but late morning or early evening you pretty much have the place to your self, yielding some incredible ‘photo opportunities.
Give the Hotel Turkestan the widest possible berth though. LP talk about “well looked after rooms, helpful staff, fine restaurant”. Things have changed…decrepit rooms, sullen, rude and unhelpful staff and a filthy, non-functioning “restaurant”. I’ve still to pour sufficient scorn on that appallingly run establishment on Trip Advisor…
Give the Hotel Turkestan the widest possible berth though. LP talk about “well looked after rooms, helpful staff, fine restaurant”. Things have changed…decrepit rooms, sullen, rude and unhelpful staff and a filthy, non-functioning “restaurant”. I’ve still to pour sufficient scorn on that appallingly run establishment on Trip Advisor…
The Aksu-Zhabagyly National Park was also a most welcome relief. Ascending to the cool and beautiful mountains and canyons we had a few days trekking and horse riding in sun, blessed rain, and at times cold to recharge our batteries.
I would have loved to stay a few days longer, but seven hours with my “gentlemans vegetables” mashing into the pommel of a Kazakh saddle was quite enough. Thanks.
We also picked some great accommodation (details to follow in next blog). Again, we think if your subsequent itinerary includes Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan then this may be more of the same – but it came at just the right time for us and was well worth it. Excellent!
I would have loved to stay a few days longer, but seven hours with my “gentlemans vegetables” mashing into the pommel of a Kazakh saddle was quite enough. Thanks.
We also picked some great accommodation (details to follow in next blog). Again, we think if your subsequent itinerary includes Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan then this may be more of the same – but it came at just the right time for us and was well worth it. Excellent!
The unholy Kazakh alliance of 45 degree heat, dust, the most variable roads on the planet (from Autobahn standard to cratered surfaces that would make the Michelin Man weep), little shade, more dust, flat empty nothingness, and long, long summer days with no let up from that infernal heat made for a week of some of the hardest, arduous, most monotonous driving we have ever done (and we’ve been through Milton Keynes).
But that great expanse of steppe meant that most days we were spoilt for choice for some truly memorable bush camps (once the heat of the day finally started to dissipate)….
But that great expanse of steppe meant that most days we were spoilt for choice for some truly memorable bush camps (once the heat of the day finally started to dissipate)….
I think it all boils down to our own expectation management.
More research on our part would have allowed us the realise the folly of our “taking it easier in Kazakhstan” expectation – especially in mid / late June - and we could have rested up more beforehand?
Reading this now a month after the event and having heard a few similarly bad experiences on the Baynew – Nuxus road, we are glad we stuck with Option A. We are glad we did not miss Turkestan and Aksu-Zhabagyly, but Aral and Baikonor were a trifle disappointing…
More research on our part would have allowed us the realise the folly of our “taking it easier in Kazakhstan” expectation – especially in mid / late June - and we could have rested up more beforehand?
Reading this now a month after the event and having heard a few similarly bad experiences on the Baynew – Nuxus road, we are glad we stuck with Option A. We are glad we did not miss Turkestan and Aksu-Zhabagyly, but Aral and Baikonor were a trifle disappointing…