Kazakhstan - Plans Goes Pear-Shaped in Almaty - Part Two
Michael the mechanic was happy to see us again. He and Colin have a nice bromance going on. He arranged to have another auto electrician test Lolly and once again we were told that the error codes were cleared. We booked another night in the weird hotel, but when we went to check in they said they had no record of our booking. The receptionists just kept talking at us in Russian, then on a translation app said they had no spare rooms which we found a bit hard to believe. W
20 hours ago13 min read
Kazakhstan - Plans Goes Pear-Shaped in Almaty - Part One
We had a smooth quick border crossing, purchased motor insurance, then we were on our way towards the Charyn Canyon which is a highlight in the Almaty region. We had wondered if the scenery in East Kazakhstan would be totally different to what we had experienced in the West, but we were straight into wide open landscapes with the road stretching out into the distance. We pulled in at a viewpoint and were immediately reminded how friendly Kazakh people are. A young guy came
3 days ago10 min read
Kyrgyzstan - From Issyk-Kul to Karakol
Issyk-Kul is a another spectacular high-altitude lake in eastern Kyrgyzstan, nestled in the Tian Shan mountains. Its name means “Warm Lake”, because despite sitting about 1,607 metres above sea level and being surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it rarely freezes due to its slight salinity. Some highlights: It is the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan and one of the deepest lakes in the world, reaching a maximum depth of about 668 metres. The lake is approximately 182 km (113 miles) lon
Aug 15 min read
Kyrgyzstan - Land of Lakes and Horses
After stocking up with fresh supplies at a large supermarket in Osh, we were glad to hit the road again. We were heading to Song-Kul, a high altitude lake ringed by mountains further north of Kyrgyzstan, which would take us two days driving to reach. We have been asked how we go about planning and navigating our routes on this trip. We’re not terribly good at forward planning in detail, but we have an overall route in our mind and tend to work out the detailed plan once we’re
Jul 287 min read
Kyrgyzstan - To The End of the Pamir Highway
We had to drive through 20km of no man's land to reach the Kyrgyzstan border post. The road condition was pretty dreadful and we were lucky to be doing it on a dry day. There were muddy rutted sections and we could see where the road had collapsed - we felt for the brave cyclists and motorcyclists who had to navigate this road. We were stopped at a checkpoint part way down, and all was OK until they spotted the Polish guy (sorry we don't know his name) in the back. They lo
Jul 187 min read
