On my first full day my hosts gave me the options to first stay in the city to explore, or go with them to Burabay 250 km by car in the north of the city. Burabay is a town with a big national park and many things around, perfect for me!
The ride there
We started in the morning by eating breakfast and going to buy some food for the trip. The breakfast tasted amazing, like always and I didn’t even know what to expect in general. I had in mind to maybe sleep on the ride, but having conversations with my hosts was by far the better thing to do. We talked the whole 250km and got along super well. I enjoyed looking out of the window as well, basically just flat land and some forests and water in between. It was nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Due to the sanctions against Russia, MCDonald’s had to change their name in Russia, but also in Kazakhstan they were changing it due to being the same thing somehow. I didn’t fully understand it in Kazakhstan, but it is like that!
Even though the ride was long, due to my hosts it didn’t feel like that and the time passed really quickly, when arriving there I was thinking the whole time we would pick up their son there, who was staying there for the weekend. But it was just meant to be a trip for us.
Arriving in Burabay
When arriving in Burabay it was just beautiful with all the colorful trees due to autumn. I guess autumn is also my favorite time of the year, not too cold and my allergy isn’t kicking in and of course it looks beautiful!
We were going to grab something warm to drink and go to the bottom of a hill, which we of course had to climb. I am not the biggest fan of hiking, but I like the result, so being on top of the hill with the nice view is something why I always get motivated for doing stuff like this, also this time. The mountain was quite hard to walk up, but with some power from the hot chocolate it was working out well. When arriving on top of the hill, it was just stunning to have all the lakes underneath you and seeing super far with only nature and a street surrounding you. It was quite windy, but still amazing.
We were taking many pictures on top of the mountain, to also learn the functions of each other’s cameras. The location was just great for that, not many people and just stunning nature around.
Time for swimming
Like mentioned above, many lakes were around, so when it comes to lakes I am really tempted to swim! The issue was, it wasn’t warm at all. All the people around us were wearing jackets and packed in winter clothes. Kind of weird going swimming then, but why not sticking out of the crowd?
After we were eating lunch it was time for it! We went to the pear and the view was great. Some mountain in the middle of the lake, to which people were going by boat and exploring that little island.
When going in the water, it was super muddy and not deep at all. Besides all of these factors, it was refreshingly cold. People were confused seeing me like that, but I enjoyed getting refreshed a lot! In winter I do that sometimes, but I assumed that it could be actually a common thing to do in Kazakhstan, because it wasn’t their winter yet.
The water didn’t get deeper, it didn’t matter where I was, because of all the mud and in general it was dirty, that was for sure not as nice, but in general a fun experience!
When I got out there were some locals who were talking to me in English and they were kind of assuming that I must have been from Scandinavia or even Germany. Not many people are really speaking English, so it was nice to meet some of them!
Glade of Abylai Khan
Abylai Khan was an old leader of Kazakhstan and there were some monuments for him, like a big glade with the bird of the flag on top of it. There was a “throne” which was basically a big rock, which tells when you walk around it several times (don’t know the exact number) your wish will become reality.
There were many people selling traditional clothes and offered to take pictures in the traditional clothes as well, which looked amazing! You are also able to do archering. I was taking some pictures of the people from the photoshooting as well. It is located with forest and mountains (from one side) around you. It was basically in nowhere and then it arrived with many people visiting and after it again nothing. Weird for sure, but a nice place for sure, so when being in that area anyway then visiting should be done.
Cheese cheese and more cheese!
We went deep into the countryside of the Burabay region and there it was time for something unexpected, world class cheese. Also we drove on shitty roads and stopped in the middle of nowhere in front of a house. We went inside the garden and knocked at a door there. When the guy inside opened the door, there were high end machines for cheese production. The guy dedicated his life to making amazing cheese with which he was winning prices worldwide as well.
He was telling us about the production and showed us the cheese in the back as well, several tons of cheese. Also we were able to try some and just wow the cheese tastes amazing and different from cheese I usually eat. I wasn’t expecting to learn anything about cheese production on this trip or in my next 10 years of living, but it was great to do. I was able to ask anything I wanted and understand concepts of it. Different types of milks make different colors and for some types of cheese you need to use more or less milk and need more time. So overall it was super interesting and my hosts were buying a lot of cheese. It wasn’t cheap, but cheaper than the same cheese in the supermarket.
Driving back
When driving back to Astana it felt way quicker, besides being in some traffic before arriving home and it was such a lovely day with great experiences. I enjoyed all moments of that day in Burabay and felt super glad that both of them took me and wanted to spend the time with me.
What’s up next?
The next article will be about my trip to Almaty, where I flew right after my time in Astana!
