I was not planning to go back to Kazakhstan this quickly, but doing a transit in Kazakhstan made financial sense. My plan was it to go to India to meet up with my friend Bana. He is traveling since April and we thought of doing some meditation.
Arriving in Almaty
It was my second time in Almaty, but the first time without having any internet. This is important to mention, because you could only have internet at this airport, when having a local sim card.
I found a host outside of Almaty in the countryside. I wanted to take a taxi for 30-30min and some guy came to convince me to drive with him. The price wasn’t super high, but of course he wasn’t an official taxi driver. Last time I was using some application, but due to not having my local sim card that wasn’t a possibility.
I went with the guy to the ATM in order to receive some cash. Kazakhstan is a country with not that much cash use, but for locals in taxis there are no options. Most people who receive any payment are using an app where you can pay with QR code, but for this a local bank account is needed.
Back to the story, because it’s interesting. The police approached me with four officers and pushed me away from the guy. They supported me and told me how much money I should take from the ATM and booked me a ride with these applications. It was so surprising but nice of them to help me like that. I am not a unexperienced traveler, but even for me it was a great help!
My host
I was excited to be back in the country. Irina, my host, wanted to host me during my last stay, but I had a different host already. She is living with her daughter and some roomate in her house with a huge garden and a view of the already white mountains.
She is having chickens, two dogs and a lot creativity. Most things in her home were self made and it was very inspiring there. No wifi available which was actually good for me, because I was able to write and read more which is always good for me. Sometimes I receive the internet from her mobile data though.
With her daughter it took a bit to get fully warm, also her daughter wasn’t speaking any English, but we still got along somehow and played a lot of games. She started liking me after a while which was nice, but she had a lot of energy and I struggled a lot with being rejected from a girl, who I mentioned in the new year post. I was rejected while being there and it was very painful for me, because I was hoping to see her when I come back again, that was most of my motivation for that trip actually.
What did I do in the transit time?
I was staying three full days and two nights with Irina and her family. My original plan was to meet up with some friends in Almaty, but it didn’t happen. Irina was doing some sort of Yoga with me and we did some meditation as well. It was perfect for my start on the trip after.
We were sharing a lot of food together, tasty food! I cooked sometimes and Irina the other times. It was time for some adventure as well. Irina, her daughter and I went out for a little trip. We were taking a bus first for around one hour, I didn’t book a ticket and was due to the QR code thing not being able to. I could have asked Irina, but I also didn’t think they would check.
Hitchhiking with Irina and her daughter
When we got out, it was time for some hitchhiking, that was something I didn’t expect to happen. We started and it was so much easier with someone speaking Russian in order to understand the others directly. We were hitchhiking in the direction of a national park with a beautiful lake. We made it to the entrance. The corrupt guards didn’t let us in, without paying them some money, which was not necessary originally.
We were hiking up the mountain next to it and went like that around the fences and were back on the road. The problem was that there were not really people driving on the road, it was empty. The only people driving were construction workers, who were done with work for the day.
More than 8 km to the lake and it started to slowly get dark already, so we tried to do some alternatives, by going up some mountain to see some special stone, but we didn’t find it. While walking up there, we found a yurt and I managed to open it. Super cool to be in it and see it from the inside. The area the yurt was standing on was empty, it was more for tourism purposes.
The day was about to finish
We were walking a bit along the river and my foot got super wet due to trying out to cross it. It was time to leave the park, we walked in the direction of the entrance and were not able to see the lake.
There was one car driving in the direction of the lake and I tried to stop them, which actually worked. They ended up wanting to go to the lake, to take some pictures being surrounded by snow. We were able to drive with them and made it to the lake at the end. It was pitch black, so we couldn’t enjoy the beauty of it, but at least we made it. They were also taking us back home! The two guys were police officers in Almaty and had to bribe corrupt police officers in order to get down the mountain and reach the snow. It was such a surreal situation.
After being back home I discovered the supermarked and they had really cool things. One thing I had to buy was horse milk, yes it tastes the same bad as it sounds.
Spending relaxing days
I was in my head a lot, the two yoga sessions every day helped to stop focusing on the negative feelings for an hour each. I tried to get better, to make my feeling better and tried to do things which would do me good. It wasn’t that easy, but the time went by.
Her home was perfect to calm a bit down, besides her daughter who was nice but full of power.
At the end of the second day we were going for a walk with the dogs, it was nice because we went into the mountains we were able to see from the home already. The landscape was very beautiful and I enjoyed it a lot. Fresh air and a lot of peace was there. It was great, but that’s also a reason why I like Kazakhstan a lot, they have a bunch of nature!
On the way back there were some street dogs, who tried to attack our two dogs. I was able to send them away with my stadium voice, which was quite satisfying.
I had to have some time for myself, because there was just too much around me, so I decided to go for a little walk and “explore” the city. I actually just wanted to eat a pizza! The store I wanted to go to wasn’t there somehow, so I ended up in a bar where they served pizza. The pizza was bad compared to the pizzas I had back then in Kazakhstan. Super satisfying, but it was okay.
Starting the new trip
The time in Kazakhstan was short but nice, it was for sure one of my favorite countries out there. This time wasn’t that easy for me, I suffered a lot from emotional pain, but on the other hand I was able to get a bit into the healing side. It was great to be outside of cities and just be able to relax a bit.
I took a ride to the airport and during the waiting time was able to write and read a little bit, which was great! When I don’t have access to the internet I am just so much more productive.
What’s up next?
Next you gonna read the start of my trip in India, so stay tuned!
