Uzbekistan - Check
Tajikistan - Check
Krygistan - Check
And... wait for it....
Kazakhstan - Now can Check!!!
Okay, although nice to say I've now been to all the Stan's (minus Afganistan and Pakistan, umm.. no offense, not to keen on going there), I am not one to travel places to tick them off, I REALLY have enjoyed all of these Central Asian experiences and want to go there because I find it so so interesting. Each one has a charm. Although closed and a bit 'off' to say the least, Turkmen was probably the most interesting because it is so different and relate it to what I feel N. Korea would be like. And the people stunning, the women especially in their fitted sari-like outfits yet hair wraps almost African style. Uzbek the most culturally rich with all the Islamic architecture and mosques and mausoleums, and got the most feel of the Silk Road. Tajik and Kryg gorgeous with the mountains and loooved the hospitality and kindness of the people. Kazakh is probably the most modern and developed of them all. Yet all of them very humbling and although the old communist feel is still there, they are slowly yet surely getting out of it and each country is unique in displaying individuality. Would say that these Central Asian countries had the Russian roughness, yet Asian softness. I love it how they tell and see it how it is, no b.s.'ing or beating around the bush. I know some people find it quite off-putting, but others like me find it refreshing. The people overall so lovely and ... "real." Although yes, there is Western influence like Starbucks and Costa Coffee, they are very into their own culture and preserving their own culture, which I so so appreciate. I also love it how these countries aren't blowing up with tourism, which on one hand is nice to see because it is quite authentic and people were honestly impressed I was from USA, but on the other hand a shame that people are missing out on so much! I am soo soo thankful that these countries are just 4 or so hours away from Dubai and that I've had the opportunity to visit them. Although am a bit of a snot in not preferring to re-visit countries, gosh, still sooo sooo much to see in them and really would consider it. Also, think these countries have a soft spot in my heart because of my background and also having an understanding of the culture. I was in Almaty and this was especially interesting because it seemed to me that most everyone spoke only Russian, and the people that we were with in the mountains didn't know any Kazakh language, which I find interesting. Then was told there are Kazakh and Russian schools and although one or the other is taught in each school, it is mostly the countryside that people only speak Kazakh and not Russian. And of course, my mom will kill me for saying this, but REALLY wish I spoke Russian and that she pushed me when I was younger to learn it. Ahhhh well.
Sooo, when I had planned to do this "last Stan," I planned to do trekking because of an upcoming trekking trip. When I spoke of it, the main purpose of it was trekking and then some sightseeing. So two separate friends were keen on going, which was nice because although don't mind my own company, when you do these trips on your own, have to admit it can be quite bor-ing (aka my trip to Kryg last year). My Liverpool friend Paula from Dubai had never done trekking and was keen on going in prep for an upcoming Kili trip and this other friend Sandra, whom I had met in S. Korea a couple of years ago and we stayed in touch, had some vacay days and has done trekking and wanted to join as well. No probs with me! So despite some 02938402394832 messages from Paula before the onset of the trip, bless her, it was her first trekking trip, so she was a bit nervous, I kept saying "it's a walk in the park, just walking with heavier boots," hehe. This came back to haunt me later :-)
I won't bore with ALL the details, but long story short, we flew Air Astana, were delayed because of "loading luggage," had a super flight with nice giveaways, a nice meal, and just when we landed about to stand up we were informed that there was a fire at the Dubai airport and NO luggage made it on the flight. WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?! And of course being in a Russian country, there was pretty much NO explanation and NO help and the only information was "come back tomorrow and the same flight will bring the luggage." Umm.. really? With a full flight and double luggage? How can that happen? Needless to say, we were not happy, but remained calm - what to do? As we were supposed to start the trek the next day, immediately had to contact the organization and tell them what happened and basically delay it by a day. wah wah. Thank gawd it was more or less a private group so they were too nice and accommodating and really thank them for that. So then we had to basically re-arrange our trip from back to front, so our plans for our return were now switched to the front of our trip and we had to get another night hotel at another hotel because ours was full, blah blah blah. So funny enough, here I left Dubai to get away from malls and the first thing we did is go to Dostyk Mall and shop for toiletries and some clothes. Sigh.
So now our first day was a nice sleep in (quite nice actually) and to do our spa'ing that we had planned for after the trek, at Arasan Spa. We loooooooooooooooved it, 2.5 hours for about $75USD! It started with this 10-minute single steam, then a salt scrub, then a 30-minute bath, then another scrub and massage, then a messy seaweed wrap, then a mini facial. Who knows where the time went, but it was sooo soo relaxing and super nice facility. Although enjoyed, kept on thinking it would be much more magical to do after the trekking, ha ha. The day was at quite a slow pace and reminded me to be patient and to relax. I guess I can be a bit of a busy body when traveling and try to be as efficient and do/see the most as I can, but when traveling with others who aren't like that, well, it is actually good for me (hehe). So Paula and I headed to the airport to pick-up our luggage to only find MY luggage which the airline made me put in this huge box was there and Paula's tiny backpack was not. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! The luck! Only 2 bags from the previous flight didn't make it, hers and someone elses's. Poor thing totally panicked and was really set to go back home as felt it wasn't meant to be. Managed to calm her down with vodka shots and crisps, ha ha, and ... had to again postpone our trek by another day.
Felt super bad about this as I know the planning that goes into this but there was no way even sharing the clothes between us wouldn't be enough as mountains are COLD and you really do need the gear. Sigh. We uplifted her by going to this traditional Kazakh restaurant called Alasha where we finally had the famous horsemeat ("kazy") besbarmak (ethnic dish, horsemeat with the thick noodles), a tandoor dish (tandoor especially known and good) called 'samsa' these puff type things, and 'manty' these steamed big dumplings - delish. And also some delish Kazakh wine. We actually had a super nice night, got to wear some traditional clothes and also met these lovely ladies that were having a bachelorette party. They spoke great English and it was super sweet to have a chat with them.
Now onto our unexpected extra day in Almaty, we had to change hotels and then decided to go cultural and go to the National Museum. Usually National Museums are quite international, meaning translations in different languages, etc., but when we went to Information, not only did the lady not speak a lick of English, but almost laughed and did a big o "NYET" when we asked about an English guidebook, "This is Kazakh, only Russian and Kazakh." Haha. The museum was nice, had some nice history of the war, Mongolian influence and also nomadic life, but nothing to brag home about.
We then sent Paula off to the airport again while Sandra and I went to via a cable car to Kok Tobe, the peak of Almaty and a tourist destination, has a ferris wheel, restaurants, souvenir areas, and has a super view of the city. We did a bit of souvenir shopping and then saw this amazing sunset until Paula joined us... with her luggage! Yayyyy! Phew, such a relief!!!!
Don't know this connection, but Beatles statue here! And below one of those moments where we were in line to take pics and somehow with the moving around this family thought I wanted a picture with them and was too funny as they were probably like "eh?" and I got confused too why they were in my picture. Hahahha.
Then that evening we came across a nice cafe that had super good food (yay! Finally had borscht soup!) and these really fun cocktails which we had to have.
FINALLY! Off to trekking on the 3rd day of the trip. To backtrack a smidge, I got the 'company' info (Adrenalic Silence) from one of our doctor's patients friend. An appeal was it was private, substantially cheaper than other companies I looked at, and... always nice to have a recommendation and support local people. So granted I based my trust on this recommendation and had to defend it a little bit when Sandra got a bit panicked by the minimal info she had gotten. I guess I have traveled to these countries before and it is definitely not as hand-holding as it is with other trips and there IS a lot of unknown, but it is Central Asia after all and not some huge tourist area. Luckily, we got more info and everyone got a bit more relaxed. I guess this is what happens when I do all the planning and although they all had the information, they didn't look into it that much and only started asking questions when we got there, ha ha. So anyhoo, we met our 'group,' Yuri - the guide, Yulia, his wife, Sergey and Vladimir, brothers who were more or less 'porters,' and Anatoli, their friend and the goofball of the group. None of them spoke English, or very very little English except Yulia. Their English was almost the equivalent of my Russian, which isn't much to say the least - we understand more than we can speak. Anyhoo, we took this lovely gondola ride up and passed the famous Madeo skating rink and went all the way to the top of the mountain and off we went!
I don't know how this was altered due to our shortening it by a day, but here is what we were supposed to be doing:
Area: Northern Tien-Shan mountains, National Park Ile Alatau, Kim-Asar gorge, Left Talgar valley, Ozernaya gorge
Accommodation: in tents
Trekking route: Almaty – Medeo – Kim-Asar gorge – Butakovskiy pass – Left Talgar valley – Tourist’s pass – river Ozernaya – Big Almaty lake – Moon glade (Chukur gorge) – Alpine Rose hotel – Almaty
To summarize the trek, well, if anything I have to say it was awesome. The scenery and mountains gorgeous and beautiful, and besides the first day when we came across some other trekkers, we didn't for the rest of the trip. The first day a bit too much downhill if you ask me and some rocks, the 2nd had some steeper rocks and windy and the 3rd day had a bit of everything - weather and terrain wise. The weather went from cool and cold to hot and sunny to flurries and snow to hot and sunny again, to another snow 'storm' (flurries and cold) to cool and dry again. Terrain was literally almost ledge of the mountain to rocks to traversing across a glacier to uphill and downhill, and was a loooong looong day. We literally set off at 8:30am and finished at 8:30pm and got home after 9:30pm. Phew!
Anyhoo, my experience was lovely, loooved the fresh mountain air, the trees, the sun, more fresh air, the nature, and just being outside. Yes, some parts did seem rather loooong (especially the downhill bits, not my fave!), but was just nice to be active and just being outdoors. I'm a bit clumsy so was very slow on the rocks and downhill bits and wasn't too excited about that, but loved the uphill bits. Traversing the hills on rocks also hard!
Sandra the opposite! She loved the downhill but was very tired on the uphill. So her experience was.... well, she got some altitude sickness, fatigued legs, and hence some appropriate wingeing. Paula's experience - bless her, for her first trekking trip and being afraid of heights, she was a true trooper. Good thing is she has a hi-larious sense of humor, laughs at herself, and was in relatively good spirits besides being scared for her life. There were some jokes for a helicopter to rescue her, lol, but she survived. So needless to say, she had her trekking 'boyfriend' Sergey at her side the whole time to pretty much hold her hand during the many dangerous bits (traversing on ledges), Yulia to help both her and Sandra, and the other blokes to support her and all of us. I and the others ended up carrying half her gear to help make it easier, and it was just ... entertaining. Although not in her comfort zone, she was also quick to smile and pose for pics, quite photogenic that Paula!
As the hours went by, we all became more and more comfy with each other, meaning the Russians and us. Funny how despite language barriers we all had a good laugh and got along and managed. Anatoli was the group clown and took a liking to me and that made it funny all his teasing and think I'm in a good 0293230948 pictures with him, hahah. He was too too sweet and surprised Paula and I by showing up at the airport and he gifted me this solar powered charger and this nice little USB adapter thing. Sooooooooo incredibly nice that he went out of his way to send us off like that, the people here too too nice!!!!
Also a good laugh from all, especially Paula and her hiking 'boyfriend' Sergey. Vladimir was kind of in the middle, videoing and also helping us, and Yuri was just entertained by us. I swear, this must have been the slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowest group evvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr for them, they were miles ahead of us and would just sit and wait and wait and wait, and boy, they have ultimate patience. Almost felt bad it was probably sooo bor-ing for them, but I think Paula kept us all entertained with her "Oh my gawd's" and "F***" at each terrain we came across that was remotely dangerous looking, which was a lot. I had to guide her on how to arrange herself in the tent, how to use the loo outdoors, and too many things and all too funny.
But what a kind and beautiful soul she has, always appreciate a person with an open heart and that is willing to laugh at herself.
Here is a fun before and after:
We ended up getting back super late, we were exhausted, and as it always is with trips like this, you become soooooooooooooooo appreciated of life - hot showers, electricity, the things we have (i.e. not living or carrying a backpack), so Paula was beside herself with this 'joy' of 'normal' life. Too too funny. We crashed and slept like babies and the next day, basically the day that we were leaving, was the Green Market, a nice 'traditional' market (darn it, bought more shalls by a super nice Kazakh, am obsessed!) and surprisngly, a S. Korean influence on Almaty and had some nice Korean food.
We also back to the Doysk Mall where the girls stocked up on beer and wine and most especially vodka, lol.
Although I like to plan and had planned a lot of things, it teaches and shows me that life happens. Am glad was relaxed about the complete change of events with the luggage mishap and as with everything, it somehow all worked out. In hindsight, although our missing luggage was a total pain in the arse, the whole time the girls were soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thankful that it happened otherwise they would have complained and suffered even more (don't know how that can be! hahahh!) by having an extra night and day in the mountains. So everything happens for a reason. I also don't think I've had that much fun on a trip as I did on this one in a long long time, really really some good hearty laughs and we made the best out of it. Had a lot of time during the trek to reflect and did reflect on how good it is to be adaptable and flexible and not so rigid and planned and also good for me personally to do group trips because living by myself and being single, it really is a good teaching to be accommodating, sharing, flexible, and letting go of control. So we all learned something about ourselves and each other, feel am totally on a super vacay high and hope it lasts!
Hmm... have more pics from the trek to share as too many coming in from the group, may do another blog with them! Stay tuned!
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