Overland with Kids

Jessica says: “What is a steppe?”

Mum says: “It is a very large, dry, cold grass covered plain without trees - much like what you’ve been seeing throughout our trip in  the lonely, huge landscapes of Kazakhstan” (Anne looked it up on Google).

Jessica says: “Yes, but the nature around it is very interesting. I really like it.”

Dad says: “I hope you don’t climb over anyone else’s vehicle the way you climb over ours.” (Andrew talking to Jess and AJ about the way they climb all over the Land Rover, both inside and out, all of the time).

Jessica says “Yes dad but, no-one else I know has a vehicle like ours that is so much fun.”

AJ says (after leafing through the first aid book in the car) “Can I do a brain operation on you mum? You know, just open you up and cut a tiny slice out of your head and put it back in again?……Pleeeeeeeease!”

AJ also says every minute of the day “How many more days until my birthday?”

And “Are you getting me a present?”

Mum “Stop picking your nose!” (to Jessica)

Jessica “We’re travellers. We can do things like that!”

Route to Almaty continued…

Before sleeping rough for the night en-route to Kazakhstan’s old capital, we headed to a cafe nearby Balkhash where we’d helped the car transporter earlier with our winch (Andrew and Jessica had been delighted to haul a broken down car onto the ramp). There, we saw two cafes - one with a Kazakhstan party of people dancing in full swing to loud music (a disco!) complete with delicious smells coming from the hot ambers of a part outdoor wooden barbeque hut attached. We chose the second cafe for peace and quiet, failing miserably with our order for dinner (we were learning there were distinct differences rather than similarities we had initially thought between Kazakhstan and Russian cyrillics/pronounciation). The waitress looked blankly at us until two Indian contract engineers sitting at another table came to our rescue - one from Kerala and the other from Mumbai - both really nice people who had been in Kazakhstan working for one month. We chatted and the engineers translated our order for us - chicken kebabchi’s (kebabchi’s we learn later are common fare in Kazakhstan)- the most delicious chicken we’d ever tasted in our lives. Previous meals in differing countries (even home) and many more meals later at differing intervals in our trip gave us the view that ‘chicken in Kazakhstan is the most delicious in the world!’. In fact, we thought that all the Kazakhstan food we ate was good generally.

Continuing our journey early the next morning, we stopped and had breakfast by the roadside - weetabix, bananas, french bread, biscuits, tea and coffee from our own supplies. Andrew found the skeleton of what looked like a cow in a field we’d stopped by and took photographs. Opposite us was the one single tree we’d found by the siding but a lorry had already bagged it for shade from the sun. Driving on, our surrounding views included a sight of our first camel with it’s owner by the roadside selling milk - we were baffled about how they’d got there, miles and miles from nothing. We also saw our first yurt, we hadn’t expected, in the back garden of a solitary small stone house, again in no man’s land. We pulled up when we spotted two Turkish lorry drivers whose cargo bore the name of the shipping agent ‘Karenendiz’ we had used in Zonguldak to ship us and our vehicles to the Ukraine from Turkey a while back. On recognising the shipping logo, we stopped to say hello and when we mentioned the Turkish shipping port, there were smiles of surprise and we were invited to sit down and join them both for chai (tea). We declined, saying our good-byes but wondered afterwards about the great distances lorry drivers generally do and the countries and experiences they must see and taste themselves. In Russia, it was the norm for lorry drivers to spend four days crossing large expanses of their country and here we had stumbled on two Turkish lorry drivers transiting through Kazakhstan. We felt like babies in our travels in comparison - for them long-distance travel through several countries was a simple everyday occurence.

Continuing on, there were many isolated cemeteries far away from the animal herds and numerous simple wooden shack-like farming villages. Also, shops made out of makeshift metal shipping containers side by side - even with windows and doors. Otherwise there were still vast expanses of nothingness except for the odd cafe, petrol station (far and few between), plentiful eagles swooping, horses, cows, donkeys, melon sellers on mobile phones and Bart Simpson like clouds (Jessica and AJ’s description of the clouds). There were lots of local hitch-hikers - normal to hitch a lift to and from destinations. We realised, just like the views of Balkhash Lake - we hadn’t seen any trees - not even as far back as leaving Astana. During the drive, we got excited if we saw a small hill or mountain in the distance only to feel disappointed the nearer we got as they turned out to be large mining mounds or a single grass hill. Our route so far on arriving to Kazakhstan till now, had presented no camping opportunities we could see - it was too open (nowhere to hide) and boggy and marshy in places. There were no trees or plant life anywhere - just never-ending flat green carpets of grass and one long, unending road.

Approaching Almaty, our views changed in the blink an eye as the huge beautiful snow-capped mountains (the Tien Shan range) suddenly greeted us (we learned later they are approx 930+ miles long - longer than Land’s End to John O’Groats in the UK with a heights of over 7,000 metres at it’s peak). We tried but failed at getting any decent sharp photos of the mountains as their tips melded into the clouds, making it difficult to differentiate them from the sky and to separate them even just by staring at them for ages. Then we saw trees!!! Lots and lots of nice, cultivated years old, trees!!!!!! - so many, we thought they’d all been plonked down this end of the country while the rest of it’s expanse had been forgotten about from what we’d seen so far. Even in Astana, although there were trees (we were starting to get a fixation), these had seemed unnoticeable, relegated or reserved for the especially allocated parks there. But in Almaty it was different - huge big green mature trees lined the streets very close together everywhere, providing much needed shade for pedestrians as well as shelter from the traffic.

Once in Almaty, the traffic was busy with lots of people milling about (it was Saturday - providing a mental reminder for us - don’t drive through major cities on a Saturday!) - about four lanes wide in places though officially there should have only been three - traffic self-creating the extra lane. There were tons of 4wd vehicles - many expedition kitted out, others for off-roading - most with BFG Mud Terrain tyres plus the obligatory load of the posh blacked out ‘don’t touch me’ Japanese imported beasts we’d seen on our travels throughout Russia. People were obviously out enjoying their weekend. It was hot - much hotter than we’d experienced in the north. We got lots of honks, waves, thumbs up and several smiles of welcome from the vehicles along our route. Some drivers would lean out of their window to eye our Land Rover up and down - only once satisfied they liked what they saw, would they acknowledge us - they seemed especially interested in our BFG All Terrain rubber. For others it was mostly the UK plate and the oddity of seeing a grubby looking Land Rover Defender vehicle poodling along the streets.

Our Mission in Almaty

Arriving early afternoon, we stayed at the Astra Hotel - very nice and good value at approx 50 Euros per night for all of us including a really good breakfast and unlimited internet access. We accidentally found and investigated other hotels later during our stay while walking around. These hotels were more expensive and more centrally based but we thought the Astra was the best - not just in terms of value but because it wasn’t located in the more expensive and more central, difficult to navigate district of the city . Here we were able to shop for groceries (and much needed chocolate!) at local prices, were in walking distance of a huge cheap fruit and vegetable market up the road from us and still had reasonable central walking access. Taxis and buses were also nearby if needed. We decided to stay for 3 nights.

In a bid to be good with our money, we had a quick walk around on arrival, hit a cheap cafe (we were starving) and got much needed haircuts (top priority) for the boys (at long last!!!) - from a lady barber practically next door to us which cost next to nothing (1.80 Euros each). We were feeling pleased with ourselves. But, our pride was short-lived as we annihilated our budget the following day with a meal in a restaurant - blowing just over the equivalent of one night’s hotel stay. We were being weak and just couldn’t resist following an incredibly long day, walking out and about in the city. Talking to the waitress in the restaurant, we learned that her average wage was approx $600 US dollars per month with rent approx $100 out of this. It put the cost of our trip - our lives in the UK - even the cost of the meal we’d just paid for - into context.

Almaty for us was much more the capital in our eyes that we would have expected to find in Kazakhstan rather than Astana. Astana was beautiful, clever and stunning in our view but so new and so shiny. Almaty on the other hand was lived in and mature and we liked this (Almaty had been the capital until 1998 but moved to Astana - reasons cited being due to no further expansion possibilities, already over-populated, limited transport infrastructure expansion, it’s proximity in conjunction to neighbouring borders and it’s earthquake risk - the city had been virtually flattened during the last earthquake of 1910).

Apart from about 3 lines of text we had about the city (being unprepared for this leg of our trip, except for a map of the country), we didn’t have much information to hand. The one piece of information we did glean from our notes was that there was an interesting tall wooden structure - possibly the tallest in Asia - which had been constructed without using a single nail. We decided, apart from a look around the city and some much needed fun for the children after being cooped up in the car, that this would be a ‘must see’ - to find the structure during our short stay. We managed to pick up a free local city map from the hotel reception which identified where the supermarket, parks and some places of interest were and we were off on our tour.

We loved walking around the city of Almaty from it’s very posh shopping streets that could be found anywhere in the world to it’s abundant parks, markets, cafes, restaurants and stalls. Like Astana, the roads and the traffic were busy but this time the trees provided a nice blanket everywhere we walked - especially from the hot day. We decided to head for Glory Park where we found the beautifully brightly coloured Ascension Cathedral, plentiful playgrounds and bouncy castle attractions, a horse and carriage and an abundance of pretty gardens of flowers. We moved onto have a look at the war memorials which were very striking and found several wedding parties having their photos taken - it was Sunday - anywhere else we had been travelling - wedding parties had tended to appear on a Saturday. Moving onto the Recreation Park which houses a zoo and a huge funfair complex, the children tried out their first Kazakhstan horse for size, met Sponge Bob Square Pants and had a great day milling around and playing. We spent ages in a crowd watching a group of basket ball players play their match and stumbled on another crowd in the car park, performing traditional style dancing amongst themselves. The place was a hive of activity with people and families everywhere. There was even a swimming pool with fun slides at the park - had we known, we would have brought the children’s swimming costimes. On the way back, we went through the labyrinth of market stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables and hooky goods, stopping to get the children some fresh fruit drinks which they loved. We also spotted what we think was Yak’s milk being sold but unsure of ourselves and our stomachs, decided to give it a miss for the moment.

The cultural diversity of mainly Kazakhstanians and Russians living together side by side together was very interesting. There were an abundance of parks and fountains everywhere, bouncy castles and plenty for children to do at every turn. There was still no visible sign of the wooden structure we’d been keeping an eye out for so, following dinner, we headed back to the hotel to search again the following morning.

The next day, we spotted a subway selling toys galore (secretly deciding to make a quiet return visit in time for AJ’s birthday but not before the children bought some small pocket money toy soldiers and tanks for themselves). We headed up much further north into the city - this time looking at the grand buildings, more parks and monuments and generally getting lost about the place exploring. We enjoyed our day but we still hadn’t found the wooden structure we were looking for. We did find plenty of camping, 4×4 specialists, tyre places and garages and particularly liked a place called Dream 4×4 - full of Aussie specialist toys like heavy duty suspension, compressors, Hannibal roof tent, roof rack systems, shower systems and other accessories for the road and so forth. Almaty definately a good stopping point for any specialist gear or repairs it seemed.

Before checking out of the hotel, Andrew decided to ask reception and the guests in hotel about the wooden structure and it’s location (we decided to try again on our way out of the city to find it) while Anne trotted off to buy AJ’s surprises from the birthday fairy. There were puzzled looks but it eventually turned out that we’d seen the wooden structure on day one of our visit - it had been the colourful Ascension Cathedral we’d seen in Glory Park on our first day - doh! - we hadn’t even realised. Andrew zoomed into to get close up views of the photographs he had taken and both Jessica and he agreed - it was in fact wooden! The Ascension Orthodox Cathedral also known as Zenkov Cathedral we later discovered is 41.4m high from it’s base to it’s cross tip. We had been looking for a place called Panfilov Park from our 3 line notes which we couldn’t find but it is actually Glory Park according to our city map. The Ascension Cathedral is the second tallest wooden building in the world. The cathedral survived the 1910 earthquake with minimal damage. We read initially that it had been built using no nails but we’re not sure of these facts - only that very specialist techniques had been employed to withstand earthquakes. Mission accomplished!

Diary (Blog)