6. 5 July to 18 July 2011 - Almaty and Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan

The last 500 km from Taraz to Almaty was in stark contrast to the rest of our drive across Kazakhstan. The road virtually follows the Kyrgyzstan border along the snow-capped Alatau Range, and arable farming country extends right to the foot of the mountains. Now we were seeing a beautiful landscape of green trees and crops with a mountain backdrop - no longer the flat, hot desert.

We have noticed how hitch-hiking is an 'everyday event' here in Kazakhstan. Mothers and children, young people, all ages are out hitching - apparently it is a way for a driver to reduce fuel costs and is a common form of transport. We have also noticed again the insane driving which has been with us since Russia. Overtaking on hills and curves and towards oncoming cars is 'everyday' and normal, with inches to spare as cars duck back on to the right side of the road. Sometimes oncoming traffic has to move onto the verge to let a passing car get by, and we have seen four high-speed lanes made out of a regular one-lane-each-way road. Everything is at breakneck speed no matter the age or capability of the vehicle. Policemen have a field day, appearing out of nowhere waving their fluorescent pink batons to pull in speeding traffic. Of course flashing lights mean police ahead, but at times it seems drivers have a sixth sense about where the police check is up ahead and approach at a crawling pace. It always pays to slow down when the locals do! As soon as the danger has passed, they are back to that break-neck speed again.

Almaty is not the capital of Kazakhstan, but it is the largest city in the country as well as an educational, cultural and financial centre. It is nestled into the Zailysky Alatau Range, part of the great Tian Shan Mountains, still snow-capped though the days are very hot. It is busy and bustling, and although it is a long drive into the city from the west, the streets are all named clearly above the intersections, and it was our least difficult entry into a city so far.

No camping available in Almaty, so once again we enjoyed a rather too-expensive hotel over the next few days, while having the vehicle serviced, getting our Kyrgyzstan visas (in half a day!!!) and visiting some of the city sights. We also had a meal with David, another overlander from Jersey, UK, whom we had met in St Petersburg. We had been texting all the way down through Russia and across Kazakhstan so we really enjoyed sharing stories over a beer and dinner.

We left the city over a weekend to visit Charyn Canyon. We camped on the edge of a village - Kokpek - on the first night and then on to the canyon next day, and after finding all the photographic viewing points, we relaxed and enjoyed the view from higher up, where the breezes made it an excellent day camp. It's quite a beautiful landscape with the colours constantly changing, and the Charyn River racing below. David arrived late in the afternoon and we all decided to drive down into the canyon and camp on the river for the night. Before we even started the descent, we were met by a 2 wheel drive little van, well and truly stuck just short of the top, with a Kazakh fellow doing all he could to get the vehicle moving upward again, with his passengers - three women, perhaps his wife, daughter and a grandmother - looking on rather nervously.

David's first attempt at pulling him out from the top, with his tow rope attached to the van's not-so-flash rope, failed when the van's rope snapped. By this time quite an audience had gathered of park officials and other onlookers. So then it was a matter of backing his Landrover down closer to the van so that his tow rope would reach. Success!! The fellow was so happy and they were all so grateful.

The descent into the canyon was fine, though quite steep at the start, but a night next to the Charyn River on the flat river bank amongst the trees was not to be. Our vehicle was inches short of fitting through an arch of two big boulders, though David had managed with his Landy. We even let air out of the air springs but it was frustratingly impossible to get through. So after a drive with David to see the river and what looked like a perfect campsite, we spent the night back in the canyon surrounded by its sheer jagged walls. But it was still good fun and peacefully quiet and serene.

With the car serviced back in Almaty, we still had six days before we could enter Kyrgyzstan. The local Kazakhstan manager of ARB kindly gave us some ideas of bushcamps in the mountains further south of Charyn Canyon. This was on the way to the border crossing further south again near Kegen, where he said foreigners could cross into Kyrgyzstan.

Our first campsite in the rocky mountain landscape above Bartoguy Dam was very pleasant and we stayed a few nights. On the second night a UK couple, Jonni and Stephen, camped with us which was good fun. As they were leaving next morning, a Swiss couple drove past and pulled up for a chat. We are now starting to see more overlanders as we travel further south, as we had also met a Polish couple as we were going towards Charyn Canyon.

Our second campsite was a little further on towards the border. There was a rainstorm in the early evening, followed by the best rainbow we'd both ever seen, completely framing our camp. We drove on to Kegen, and to the border post next day. It all looked suspiciously quiet, with a mob of horses resting in the middle of the road at the border gate, and razor wire either side as far as you could see. A couple of army-uniformed guys approached looking like we'd interrupted their breakfast, but friendly enough, and with the arms-crossed sign and 'nyet', it wasn't hard to get the message that this wasn't a border that we would be crossing that morning.

Well that's travel - nothing for it but to turn around and back-track the 450km through Almaty and back along the Kyrgyzstan border to Korday, a much busier crossing. We camped along the way about 100km past Almaty at yet another cafe/truck stop. This one we called our 'Las Vegas Cafe Camp' with its Vegas-style glitzy flashing-light pretend palm trees outside a pink building with a huge cafeteria style restaurant, hotel lodging upstairs, fuel, a mini-market and even a prayer-room. We opted for camping in the truck/car park and it was quite OK, and the palm trees were very pretty by night.

On the way to the border crossing next morning we passed two cycling couples, one from Germany and the other from Austria. They were also hoping to get to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan that day! We had the usual to-ing and fro-ing at the border with documents and passports, but it was over in an hour and a half, and we were on our way to another of the Silk Route towns in a new country, though still Russian-speaking.