And you thought there was no Blog 13!

Friday 19 September

It was an early morning departure for today’s adventure, the start of a 4 day trip around the National Parks to the east of Almaty almost to the border with China. The weather – some cloud and light and not too cold – just perfect for a long drive. Our vehicle, a six seater Land Cruiser, complete with roof rack and water proof bags on top. It was a neat fit inside, with limited luggage space and minimal leg room for those in the back seat.

Our driver Sergey soon had us leaving the peak hour traffic behind as we headed north from Almaty. The Kazak government is committed to infrastructure building and this is evident with all the road works, dams and power lines. It would seem they like to replace the roads in long stretches at a time. They still use train to transport freight and it is not unusual to see very long freight trains especially coming from China. We also came across ‘Las Vegas’ of Kazakhstan quite in the middle of nowhere. Apparently the local in Almaty has decreed there are to be no casinos in the Almaty city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We turned off the main highway and headed to the Altyn Emel National Park, (approx 5200ha and 200 km long, running between a mountain range to the north and a reservoir to the south}. We also noticed several military installations along the way. (border security) We spotted a small group of wild horses and also some gazelles. The gazelles appeared in the distance on the southern side of the road and then proceeded to sprint right across the road in front of us. According to Greg the gravel roads are good, at this stage he was not sitting in the back seat and being bounced up and down and sideways. Another feature of note was the lines of small earth mounds that appeared. On closer observation they were they were the contents of a fairly deep channel about 1 metre wide and deep – the Kazak version of fences in National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were the official entrances to parts of the park, and if there were no response to the beeping of the horn it was simply a matter of driving around the small fenced area and out the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some time in one of the gorges viewing the petroglyphs (pictures etched in the rocks), mainly camels, deer and goats. There were also remains of buildings from the bronze age & some more recent finds. Then more bouncing up and down, we arrived at some burial mounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were from the iron age, and set out in a precise manner. National park authority has built an example of inside the burial mound, wooden log construction (no nails) and reed roof. Apparently the real burial mounds have been plundered for their treasures long ago, so that all that remains is a large hole in the top.

 

Picnic at nature (provided by tour leader) was indoors because of the wind. Excellent food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, seating arrangements changed & a much smoother ride to the Singing Dunes ensued. Alas no singing today as the earlier rain had left the sand too damp. This turned out to be a blessing, so instead of one step forward followed by a step back, we could actually manage 2 steps forward to one step back. It was of the order of 150 metre high, but took quite some time to climb. The wind was fairly howling, and particularly unnerving  as it affected your balance the closer you got to the top. No need for a facial here, plenty of microdermabrasion from the fine sand. The view was spectacular and well worth the climb. Once at the top the only way down was to toboggan. Good fun and lots of laughter. The only downside was having to empty 1/2 kg sand from each shoe and shake out the socks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We eventually arrived at our accommodation for the next 2 night at the Altyn Emel Hotel – the only accommodation in town for tourists. A very spacious room with a spectacular view of the sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: After dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel, we had planned to have an early night. We discovered there was a wedding to be held the next day. Three of the hotel guests (2 dressed in police uniform) were socialising in the open area between our room and the bathroom. We spent some time trying to converse with them and had to find Dina our interpreter only to discover that we had been invited to celebrate / toast this important event. Only two vodkas later did we escape. Bruce conveniently was downstairs and missed the action and Greg declined an additional drink graciously.

 

Saturday 20 September

A relaxed start to today. Left the village at about 10 am and headed east towards the Chinese border. The road was sealed for a small distance and then we were back to our “good” gravel road. It was flat nothingness either side of the road with a mountain range to our left. We turned off the main road and headed for the Katutau Mountains (which translates as severe mountains in Kazak).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definite red tinge to the mountains and as we entered further in it vaguely reminiscent of the Flinders Ranges. (Sedimentary rock with some volcanic extrusions). We spent considerable time climbing to the highest points and trying to capture the scenery with our cameras with limited success. We spotted a herd of fast moving goats in the distance, too fast to get a picture.

 

From here we headed to the Aktau Mountains, so called as “ak” in Kazak means white topped. We followed a small canyon / water course into the mountains, and proceeded to explore. Mountain tops to climb, and slide down. In parts it looked like sand but really sandstone. There appeared mud dried in bubbles, crusty on top and soft as we broke through the crust. Very difficult to describe all the features, best to look at the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We staved off hunger pains with a banana at 3pm and eventually arrived at the lunch place at 4pm. Very idyllic setting with lake and large trees. Supposedly a 700 year old willow tree, the buttress approximately 1 metre in diameter. (I could be corrected on this). Obviously, it had succumbed to aging and needed some support. Supersized lunch of roast chicken pieces and rice, the usual tomato and cucumber, bread, biscuits and chai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrived back in Altyn Emel about 5.30pm. Dinner was held in a small room in the hotel as the large dining room was being used for the wedding. As fortune would have it, it was too cold for them outside so their music was contained and had little impact on sleep. They partied long into the night.

 

This is Bruce’s 4th blog, but the staggering 14th overall. Hope you’ve all managed to stay with us so far, despite the amount of stuff landing in your inbox/facebook ! Actually, it’d be nice to know who is still with us, so make an effort to “Like” the facebook post or leave a blog comment or email. Sometimes it feels a bit like we’re sending all this off into the void 🙂

I’ll let the pictures mostly tell the story. This takes us out of the Altyn-Emel national park and eventually back to Almaty via the south east corner of Kazakhstan.

Here is also some random bits of >>video<< of various treks, including the singing dune, and Sergey’s shortcut through the mountains.

Here’s the rocket >>video<< again as many seemed to have missed it.

This is likely my last blog from this trip. We have one more day in Almaty faffing around, then Greg heads back to Melbourne, and 3 of us head to Perth for the Australian Orienteering Championships (& Sprints, & MTBO). It’s been fun !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

Greg Reporting

Tuesday 16th September 2014

As Ewen reported we arrived here in the afternoon and were collected by just one interpreter and a mini van driver. Our hotel is reasonably flash, with Bruce and I scoring a very nice room. Dinner was at a nearby venue which was closing at 9 and we arrived about 8:20.  It was a cafe style with all the food on display and a group of microwaves to heat things in.  We pointed our way to a pretty good meal and Ewen spied several counters full of nice sweet things that finished the meal off well. Breakfast was buffet style in the hotel dining area and had lots of fascinating stuff, one needs to be careful!!

 Wednesday 17th September 2014

The guide and van picked us up at 10:00 and we started our tour of the city sights. Usually this is undertaken on foot but as we were retired (most of us anyway). They decided to take us in the van. This meant that we spent a lot of time driving and jumping in & out.  Almaty facts: population about 2 million;  started as a small village that was sacked by Genghis Khan, then the Russians built a fort here and that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1887. Russian power was established in 1918 and the city has been growing since then. It became the capital of the Kazakh Republic in 1927 and was the first capital of the independent Kazakhstan in 1991. Thus it is the business and financial capital of the country despite the political capital being moved to Astana in 1997.

Almaty seems more real than Astana, which seems to be built for wow factor.  The streets are wide and there are lots of parks around.  There are many grand Soviet era buildings and a large number of newer ones.  There are still many Soviet era apartment buildings and from what I understand these are government owned, thus little maintenance seems to done.  We have seen numerous new apartment buildings with many more being built.

Now to the photos and a look around!  First was a park with an Orthodox Church (Ascension Cathedral) completed entirely of wood and no nails, bolts or screws in the structural section of the building. This was completed in 1907 and has withstood several earthquakes.

 

On the others side of he park the bath house was located we were informed that you get a Russian bath here where a guy with a beech broom sweeps you clean, there were no takers from our group!! After some more strolling in the park we came upon a monument dedicated to 28 soldiers from Almaty who volunteered to go to protect Moscow in WW2, none of them returned,  there is also another’s WW2 monument showing unity amongst the USSR people.

 

Others buildings which caught our attention was a musical instrument museum we did not have time to look at but have it on the agenda for next week when we have a spare day back here.

We then had a look at the Green Market the array of food was Spectacular and very well presented, although there did not appear to be any refrigeration for the meat.

 

After looking around town we headed south east into the nearby hills on the way we passed a ski jump facility constructed for the Asian winter Games in 2011. Our destination was near the location of the ice skating arena built for the games. Above it is a special dam designed to stop mud slides ,which evidently are a common occurrence. The views in these mountains are fantastic as there are always snow capped peaks in the background.  There is a flight of stairs from the arena to the dam wall. There was mention of a challenge to ascend this in less than 60 secs. Bruce did the last section in 45 secs so we claim he met the challenge!

Our next stop was at the top of a hill closer to town, more to the east. This has a huge television mast and restaurants.  When we got there we found a small zoo a bit like Collingwood children’s farm and a carnival.  The boys resisted the temptation of dodgem cars and the like and after examining a Beatles statue we retired to a yurt shaped building for lunch. Ewen did get a chance to look at the latest in Soviet cars and he could be considering it as a Magna replacement!

Lunch was horse meat, cha grilled veggies, soup and a sweet made from deep fried pasta and honey with berries.  All washed down with tea.

We returned to the hotel for a rest, some taking a nap while others just listened to those napping! Then it was off on a excursion to locate a dining experience. On the plane Jenelle and Greg had read about wine making in the Assa Valley  in Kazakhstan well, what do you know? We find ourselves standing out the front of their centre, so in we go for a tasting. The wine was pretty good and we think some will find its way home on the plane.

Diner was found at a sports bar and was a simple affair as we has a great lunch, then it was back to the hotel via the chemist where we restocked on “Kyrgzstan belly” medication.

Thursday 18th September 2014

Free time this morning so we were off exploring  around the city. Yesterday we had noticed that there were water trucks washing the streets, mainly the gutters, and they would blow their  hors to warn pedestrians of their approach, today we experienced this from the pedestrians viewpoint, jump back! Before you get covered in water and leaves, it’s autumn here.  Reception had directed us to the post office and with some help we managed to locate it and sent off post cards to those that had requested them. The idea of looking for a red P did not help! We wandered through a couple of the parks and past the library or Tech College, or Tech College Library. And then back to the hotel to begin our afternoon trip to the mountains to the  South of town.

We drove into the Great Almaty George  on the way there were numerous restaurants and private homes in this very select area. Evidently it had been a famous apple growing area (Almaty is named after the apple) but has now been sold off.  We climbed to 2600 metres there were snow capped mountains in the background, that you may be able to see in some of the pics. At the top of the climb is a national park, requires special permission to drive in, and a lake known as Great Almaty Lake, this provides water for the city and as Bruce found you are not allows too close to the water, an armed guard appeared to signal him back! The lake is 1.5 km across is nearly circular and 40 m deep in the centre.

Lunch was a feast at a restaurant on the way down and the proprietor plied us with his own home made “Cognac” which included nuts from local trees.  It was very smooth and he claimed you could drink a ton of it and not be drunk the next day, something I was skeptical about.  Further down the mount we stopped of at a hunting bird and dog farm.  They had eagles, falcons and others birds plus hunting dogs. Evidently there is usually a display but due to a movie shoot on the mountain it was off.

So it was back to the hotel then a quick bite at the same restaurant we found Tuesday night. We have an early start tomorrow so off to bed for us it’s 10:15 pm.

 

Astounder.

Friday 5^th

Flew from Bishkek to Astana. The contrast between the cities is so great I thought we must have slipped into another world. Bishkek is a bit tired and run down. Astana near new, much new building work, a mall about 200 metres wide and 2 km long with immaculate garden beds and fountains which are lit with multi-coloured lights at night.  Some of the tall buildings are also lit with ever changing patterns of light.

Eventually arrived at our apartment on the 37^th floor of the hotel. Magnificent view of the city. We then spent some time trying to find out when we would picked up and transported to the competition area. After several garbled phone calls and a few SMS’s we determined that we were to be collected at 10 AM the next day, from the apartment. We then went for a walk along the mall and investigated a few restaurants for dinner, eventually picking an Italian style place where we had a good meal later in the evening.

 

 

Saturday 6^th.

 

As we expected to be collected at 10 we slept in a bit and were just starting breakfast when there was a knock at the door and two people appeared to collect us. A taxi driver and an interpreter.  We asked them to wait for a few minutes while we scoffed a bit of breakfast and packed. The car was a Toyota Camary, which is not designed to carry 6 people, let alone with 4 large suitcases and miscellaneous small backpacks, however with 4 across the back seat and Ewen’s large case we departed for the airport where we spent 2 hours waiting for other teams to arrive. Eventually we all packed into a minibus and after 3 hours on a 6 lane tollway we arrived in Burabay. The country side is generally flat for as far as you can see and appears to be used for cropping.  Our accommodation is spacious but the bed is horrible. Food is generally OK. I won’t mention the team leaders meeting.

 

Sunday 7^th.

Off to the training area to get a look at the country we will be running in and to check the equipment. This revealed major unexpected problems with our two metre receivers. Of the ten we have only two work correctly. Possibly 2 more will be OK but we didn’t have time to check them. We have a work around but nobody is looking forward to the two metre event. The 80 metre equipment  worked well.

After training and lunch we headed off to the opening ceremony. We arrived a little early and found the children still rehearsing their dancing routines, accompanied by rather too loud music and directed by a screeching lady. Ewen resorted to ear plugs, much to the amusement of the people seated either side of him.  The speeches were short, even though they were translated into Russian and English and the young kids put on a magnificent display of singing and dancing. A very good opening ceremony.

 

 

 

So much to see and talk about. Enjoy

Jenelle

Monday 1 September

 

While the local school children returned to school for the first day of the school year, we headed out of Bishkek for the resort area of Issyk Kul. Felt rather sorry for them in their pristine white shirts and ties and long black pants, considering the forecast for today was 30 + degrees.

It was all going well when we came across a police road block. Soon after there was a flurry of police cars, quickly followed by some smart black vehicles, all heading our way. Unfortunately not our escort.  What followed next, resembled something like the starting grid of formula one race, much jostling for positions from all the traffic that had been stopped.

Back on track we visited the Burana Tower, built ~11 to 12 century . The climb to the top of the tower was quite a challenge, once inside the tower it was pitch black, apart from a slit window halfway up the tower. Coming down was just as challenging. In islamic times was used to call followers to pray. Apparently it was part of a larger complex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The adjoining area consisted of pictorial headstone collected from the surrounding area. Some looked decidedly recent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had travelled part of this road before on our trip to Naryn and had observed that there seemed to be much duplication in the roadside stalls. There were several stalls selling the same produce, whether it be lumps of dried cheese, melons, apples and dried fish.

The trip to view the petroglyphs was a non-event as they had suffered over time and were almost unrecognisable. But we were quite entertained by the unofficial drag race down the disused airstrip, complete with flagman waving the start. After a short pause one car started off, the other missed the start altogether.

Our accommodation is a resort with private beach on the shore of the lake, so we could not miss the opportunity to “take the waters”. Cooler than Aquarena at Doncaster, it took Ewen considerable time to submerge himself. With an elevation of 1600+m, swimming was quite a challenge aerobically. We are now becoming more familiar with the local cuisine, lagman (noodles),  a rice dish, and assorted dumplings & ofcourse tea. Tonight’s dinner at the resort cafe cost us the princely sum of approx $16.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 2 September

 

We were most intrigued with the wifi set up at Three Crowns holidays resort. There were several located along the fence directed at each of the blocks of units.

The first stop today was the cultural centre. Five buildings all in a circle, representing the five spiritual influences in Kyrgyzstan, Buddhism, Kyrgyz paganism, Islam, Orthodox & Catholic. We were introduced to many of the Kyrgyz “heroes”, artists, writers, politicians & philosophers. Incredibly well manicured lawns, spied someone clipping around the rocks with hedge clippers. Tree of knowledge, the frog with the pearl of wisdom, eggshell artwork & wood carving, bronze sculptures. We also visited a display yurt, and being female got relegated to the side of the yurt with all the pots and pans. Well worth the visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another 150 km of tarred road with many patches and we reached the second largest town in Kyrgyzstan – Karakol.

We visited the Prevzalsky museum situated on the shore of the lake. Prevzalsky was a Polish scientist funded by the Russians who mapped an extensive area in Central Asia and documented the local flora and fauna. He succumbed to a waterborne disease and is buried here. Like Shackleton he is buried where he did most of his work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also visited the local mosque (in the style of a Japanese pagoda), where again gender rules apply and I had to wear a purple coverall. Beautiful carpets in the mosque.

Also visited a local church, but they saw us coming and locked the door. Intricately carved woodwork around the gables and doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I eventually got my picture of school children. They were playing hide and seek. They looked immaculate in their school uniforms.

We took in the sites of local zoo, animal rescue centre (actually). they receive no government  funding, a few kyrgyz horses, owls, porcupines, a very lonely bear, deer, monkeys, snow leopards, chooks and sheep.

To wind down after a very busy day we dined at an outdoor restaurant. The wine list featured red Chardonnay (which seemed a contraction ). It received the seal of approval from the red drinkers amongst us.