Lakes, canyons, and Astana

Kazakhstan is a vast country with very little public transport so the easiest way to see some of the natural highlights is to join a tour. There isn't much tourism infrastructure outside of the cities in Kazakhstan so a coach load of people are split into groups and stay in someone's house for a couple of nights, being collected every morning for the sightseeing. On the first day of the trip we hiked to visit a few lakes. Kaindy Lake was formed by a landslide during an earthquake in 1911 blocking the flow of glacial water and resulting in a sunken forest. Kolsai lake is a large lake that you can take boat trips on, so me and a few other tourists that I had made friends with went out on a pedalo.
Back in the house that I was assigned to with some other Kazakh tourists, we had a good home cooked meal of dumplings and lots of tea. Then all of the people on the trip were meeting back up for a bonfire and dancing. The other tourists I was staying in the house with couldn't speak any English, but they were nice people and we tried to chat. They told me that we were supposed to prepare a dance routine for that night's bonfire, which is something I had somehow missed in the earlier briefing! Each house group had been sent a video by the tour leaders and had to come up with a dance for it. I had no idea what was happening but I just followed my housemates lead to learn a thankfully very simple dance routine. At one point they even had me dressed in a traditional Kazakh outfit, but luckily they took pity on me and told me that I didn't have to wear it! Which I was also grateful for as it was freezing outside! We all headed over to the bonfire which warmed us up a bit, listened to some music, and then everyone did their dance routine. It wasn't as embarrassing when you see everyone else in the same boat as you! This carried on into the evening with more games and dances, again I didn't really know what was going on but it was very funny. The next day we were off to see some canyons. The largest and most spectacular was Charyn Canyon.
After my trip into the Kazakh countryside I flew to Astana, the capital. Until 1997 Almaty was the capital of Kazakhstan, what is now Astana was a small town that the previous president Nur Sultan came from. It was even named after him at one point. As a result the majority of Astana is very new and there isn't much interesting about it. There are some flashy monuments including Baiterek, the monument of the transfer of the capital from Almaty to Astana. It is supposed to symbolise the egg of a rare bird in a tree, and has an observation deck in the globe. Astana was my last stop in Kazakhstan and after a day there, which was more than enough, I flew out of Central Asia for the next part of my adventure!Read more