Time for another summer adventure! This time Central Asia and Turkey are calling. First stop Kazakhstan…. Of which I knew nothing about until about 4 weeks ago.

Central Asia was impulse decision based purely on avoiding rocketing flight prices to Europe or Africa. So far it has turned out to be a great choice.

We landed in Almaty and were very quickly impressed with friendly hospitality and how easy traveling is.

That said our first accommodation was not the best. A small old lady shouted at us on arrival as she led us up dank stairs to a very simple set of rooms in a run down apartment block. But it was cheap and central. We didn’t want to spend long in the city anyway. Nature was calling.

We did enjoy a day wandering Almaty streets. Checked out the park, cathedral, cable car and steak house.

But the trip really got going the next when our 4×4 was delivered! Excited we stocked up on noodles and other camping essentials ready to hit the road! Kazakhstan roads are amazing, something we really didn’t appreciated at the time. Just a few hours later we were at Charyn Canyon but it felt like worlds away.

A relatively short (2.7km each way) but sweaty hike took us to the river at the bottom of the sandstone canyon. Despite the tall towers offering snippets of shade we were all ready for an ice cream on return to the car. Everything was clearly sign posted and the facilities were great! Toilets, coffee shop and of course ice cream. Kazakhstan seemed setup for independent travel!

Next stop Saty and the lakes of Kazakhstan’s southern mountains. We were hoping to wild camp and first headed to Kaindy lake…. However on arrival at said wild camping spot there were two problems…. 1) it was basically a rocky car park and 2) it was raining on and off.

But as we were there and there was a pause in the rain we decided to make a dash for the lake shore. Google said less than 1km walk. After about 800m the heavens opened and this time it was hail! With no where to shelter we pushed on. Middle man had decided not to bring his coat so suffered the most. Thankfully about another 600m the hail lessened and we reached the lake shore.

With the sunsetting and middle man requiring some warmth we decided to sake off camping find a guest house. Easier said than done but after a few failed attempts or ridiculous prices we found a cosy wooden guest house on the edge of town. They also served amazing lamb kebabs which the boys devoured before falling asleep warm and cozy!

All in all not a bad start to the holiday!