A Daytrip to Tamgaly & Kapchagay

The downside of only doing a 2D1N excursion to Charyn Canyon was that I was left with too much time in Almaty. I spend a whole day to find bike parts and do much needed maintenance to Bragge changing the sprockets and chain then servicing and tuning up the bike but then that was it.

Everything that required attention was complete and there was a free day before meeting up with Bern & Ita to get the Wise Card. The whole purpose of coming to Almaty was to get the Wise card but I had too much time to burn. 

Finding ABUMOTO to get bike parts in Almaty Kazakhstan

Then round the corner to find a Mechanic to fix up the parts 

The danger of Almaty was my primary poison, there was a smattering strip of casino just off the city 75km north towards Kapchagay. May & Chye was not helping too feeding into my poison, softly cueing me of the blissful enjoyment of some sweet gambling. 

So even with all my effort of trying to distract myself and doing other things, it was an unavoidable daytrip to Kapchagay. I was still in resistance mode and decided if we were to go to Kapchagay, a visit to Tamgaly should be included at least since it was nearby. 

Off Road to Tamgaly National Park

Tamgaly National Park

I was dead set on not doing a pure casino daytrip. It should be a day trip to Tamgaly to see the petroglyph and visit the resort city of Kapchagay and its beach side by Kapchagay reservoir and lastly a short drop by to to one of the many Casino in the region.

Tamgaly was about 100km from Almaty so the additional distance of 25km from Kapchagay did not feel so bad but what we did not expect was there was no proper roads to the ancient site. 

10Km of off-roading was required to get to Tamgaly and it was fairly easy until it was fairly scary. The last stretch where we needed to go downhill to the river was through a sandy off-road.

At one point the sand was so soft that I had no control of the bike and slip slide down, eventually forced to let go the bike to drop on the side. By some luck, a local in a 4x4 pick up passed by and help me pick up the bike. 

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddha at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddhism Script at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan 

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddhist Script at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan 

There was no way to turn around in that downhill slope so I had to go through it even with all my internal alarms telling me this is going to be multiple falls.

First time for me going downhill on first gear fully and I was really careful not to brake too much making sure the tire would roll instead of slide but the downhill went faster and faster and scarier every minute. Luckily it was a short track and I manage to get down safely then it was a shorter ride to Tamgaly National Park.

Tamgaly National Park Petroglyph cost 500 tenge and it was filled with sand flies attacking non stop. I went to have a look at the Petroglyph, A few beautiful Buddha carvings, some scriptures and that was practically it. 

Locals Paddleboat from upriver Tamgaly

Locals Paddleboard from Upriver Tamgaly

Locals that know the place would camp by the river a few days just swimming and enjoying the summer heat. We also saw many locals doing river activities such as canoe and stand up paddle boarding.

The detour to Tamgaly took longer than expected due to the off-road but then after it was time to explore Kapchagay. It was a small town with nothing much to speak about. Beach was crowded with massive people and while it was nice, I had no idea how to enjoy a beach with so much people.

City of Kapchagay - Kazakhstan

Kapchagay Beach

Kapchagay Beach - Kazakhstan

Lastly was Casino. I lost money that night as expected. It was inevitable since I was already trying very hard to avoid the casino in this region since I knew about it when still in another country (Kyrgyzstan). I had an inkling but the itch was scratch at least so the pull to find another casino will be but for a while.

Montana Casino - Kapchagay Kazakhstan

Traveled on: June 2024

Exploring Black Canyon and Kolsay Lake

Packing up the Campsite after a night in Charyn Canyon, I decided to do a detour before heading back to Almaty. First stop was the Black Canyon which was really just a scenic photo stop admiring the canyon that was somehow black in earth strata.

After Black Canyon I continued on the P-16 road all the way to Kolsay Lake. Initially I had only wanted to visit the Black Canyon and started the journey back to Almaty but breakfast with the local officer gave me more information on the roads to Kolsay. It was good tarmac roads all the way he said and I should not missed it so Kolsay was now on the list.

Black Canyon - Kazakhstan
If the weather was good, I would have camp at this very spot for the second night

The road to Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

The detour to Kolsay was a good 150km detour round trip. Roads were lovely through beautiful landscape with backdrop of mountains far behind. When I reached the small towns, I was really tempted to camp another night in this remote and beautiful place.

Kolsay lake was a touristy spot with many daytrip tours available from Almaty so while the road to Kolsay was devoid of much vehicle, somehow arriving at the national park entrance was many minivans bringing tour groups to the lake.

The Road to Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

The Road to Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

The Road to Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

Little Town just before Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

The lake was beautiful and had two parts to the view. Lower Kolsai Lake and Upper Kolsai Lake. The upper part required a hike through a well made trail of 14km one way. I being the lazy bike traveler skipped the upper part and just enjoyed the view of the lower Kolsai Lake.

The weather change very abruptly while I was enjoying the quiet time while thinking of where to camp that night. The black clouds and rain shower could be seen from far away and that was my sign to head back to Almaty. 

Kolsay Lake - Kazakhstan

Track to Upper Level of Kolsay Lake 

Quiet Time in Kolsay Lake

I watch the storm changing the landscape and somehow manage to skirt the storm all the way to Almaty, checking into the Hostel before it catch up and poured down.

Two day one night excursion to Charyn Canyon, Black Canyon and Kolsay Lake was a good decision.

Traveled on: June 2024

Camping at Charyn Canyon

I had to find things to do while in Almaty for a few days or rather I had to burn time doing nothing. I decided to make a 2 Day 1 Night day trip to Charyn Canyon just because I could. 

I figured that places I covered and explore now can be skipped hop later. My initial plan of visiting this part of Central Asia last, has now changed as I was here awaiting Bern & Ita return from KL with the Wise card.

On my way to Charyn Canyon - Kazakhstan

Charyn Canyon National Park - Kazakhstan

Charyn Canyon was a good 200km ride one way and while the roads were good, the ride was dreadfully boring. I thought I would be happy with good roads after going through long unforgiving dirt track in Kyrgyzstan but now I think I am becoming pampered really looking for that sweet spot. Good roads with maybe 20km of off track to for the last bit.

I reached Charyn Canyon in the afternoon and did a walk on the top ridge to see the second largest canyon in the world. Yep its the second largest which even I did not know about it till a few days ago hence decided to make the detour trip. 

Walking the Top Ridge of Charyn Canyon

Walking the Top Ridge of Charyn Canyon

Me taking a Photo of Charyn Canyon - Kazakhstan

I figured I would camp at the Canyon but after trying multiple dirt track to get down to the bottom of the canyon without success I back track and decided to find another camp spot.

Leaving Charyn Canyon for the main road I headed south towards one of the smaller towns. Ioverlander helped me this time and I found the little track from the main road going into the bushes which turns out to be the beginning valley of Charyn Canyon which is outside the national park. 

I pitched my tent by the river that evening as the sunset and just sit there alone in the forest by the canyon wondering if any bears would come out and eat me in the night.

The begining of Charyn Canyon

Dirt Track all the way down to the river bank for a campsite for the night - Charyn Canyon - Kazakhstan

I don’t know if anyone of you had the experience of camping alone in remote areas. It takes a certain amount of crazy to do it and after you take that one lovely picture, there is nothing else to be done other than go back to your phone or laptop.

One can only look at scenery while smoking for so long before getting bored. The place I choose to camp had intermittent reception as well so I was mostly reading a pre-downloaded offline book.

Sleep comes early during camping when you have nothing much to do. So I was fast asleep, yet somewhere around 1am when I woke up to the sounds of purring and rustling of bushes. 

It can’t be a bear I thought to myself and just went back to sleep but then later I could hear whispers of people talking. It was soft so I could not make out the words or maybe it was in Russian but it sounded like people and not animal.

I woke up for a piss but could see no one around. Yet the whispers were still barely audible. What could be worst than bears I thought, ghost would be way worst than bears. I quickly went back into tent and wrapped up for sleep ignoring every sound that came my way.

A new friend while camping at Charyn Canyon - Kazakhstan

The next morning while I was packing up camp, a guy came round the bushes and greeted me. He had a green uniform which looked like a ranger so I just waved back. Somehow that was not enough and he engaged me in conversation which after a few words I gave up and brought out the translator.

Turns out my ghost was him creeping up at 1am in his vehicle only to see me and then back up to go around another bush. I got invited to breakfast which his wife made and we continued conversation with the translator. 

I was crazy he said. There are bears here in this region he said. You were camping here as well I told him and he replied that he was a traffic police and had a gun. He came here to go hunting for bears and I was the crazy one camping alone.

My baffled look only gave him more laughter but he was really serious about the bear. Anyway I was packing up so I wished him luck for the hunt while I set off for another adventure.

Travelled on: June 2024

Exploring Almaty on Whoosh

After crossing the border in Korday, It was a long boring ride to Almaty where the landscape changed drastically to open grassy plains. 

I met up with Chye & May in Almaty joining up with them at their preferred hostel which was quite a distance away from downtown city center. That night was chores as usual, sim card obtained and food stocked up, the next day I went exploring.

Chye & May was already in Almaty for nearly a week and they were doing maintenance to the Camper Van while applying for their Russian Visa. Hence I had a day to explore Almaty on my own. 

Almaty was the largest city in Kazakhstan and I did not want to ride around in a busy city. I noticed they had electric kick scooters everywhere and decided to try registering with the app WHOOSH to access the system.

Almaty

Picked up a Whoosh electric kick scooter in Almaty

It required a local Kazakhstan number to register and luckily the new simcard did the trick. The cost on the high end side if compared to busses yet it was cheap enough that a 10km journey which usually took 15 minutes would cost about 1000 tenge. (Around SGD 3) The taxi would maybe cost 2000 tenge and the bus 100 tenge.

The crazy thing was, the scooter was the fastest means of transportation in Almaty during rush hour. The traffic jams in Almaty could rival those in KL and after getting caught in one for an hour I decided to stick to the scooters especially when the weather was 24 degrees outside.

Apparently its a Strip Club. I thought it was a Bar

Exploring downtown Amaty 

I Whooshes downtown just seeing how the city was like then stopped for a walk where it looked nice and then picked up another Whoosh to go through the boring streets to the park, seeing the Ascension Cathedral before zipping away again to find insurance for Bragge.

Suddenly I had so much time in Almaty with the Whoosh. Initially thinking I would need a few days to explore Almaty, the Whoosh helped me speed up the sightseeing so I decided to take the cable car up to Koktobe hill. 

Inside the Accession Cathedral in Almaty

Accension Cathedral in Almaty 

Koktobe was a little amusement park on top of a hill just at the edge of Almaty city which gave a bird eye view of the city itself.

City of Almaty - Kazakhstan

City of Almaty - Kazakhstan 

Traveled on: June 2024

Border Crossing from Kyrgyzstan (Ak-Zhol) to Kazakhstan (Korday) with a Malaysian Passport & Motorcycle

Going from Bishkek to Almaty was not in the original route planning. This was a detour for only one major purpose and it was to meet up with Bern & Ita as they fly back into Almaty from Malaysia helping me bring over a new WISE card. 

That said, I was also bored of Bishkek and with not much thing to do, I decided to jump over to Almaty and explore while waiting.

From Bishkek to the Ak-Zhol border was a simple ride but filled with many traffic police along the way. They seam to ignore bikes mostly but cars were pulled over non-stop by the police. 

At Ak-Zhol Border - Kyrgyzstan 

If there was a free policeman, he would pull over a vehicle almost for sure. I reach the border and there was a queue with the gate closed. Naturally I skirted to the front of the line.

The border gate opens and lets in a bunch of Vehicles to be processed together. In a way it was like a sheep lock pen. I got in and first it was immigration. 

At the counter I handed over my passport together with the Vehicle Ownership Certificate. I also passed a copy of the Temporary Vehicle Import Permit obtained in Torugart border and then it was just a long wait while the officer punch in the details.

A small piece of paper with a pen was at the immigration counter. Every driver was taking a piece and writing their plate number on it so I just follow suit. Immigration stamped me out and returned all the documents and gave a small little stamp to the little piece of paper with Bragge number plate.

Next was customs. They barely check much just randomly asking me to open the box and looking through. Sniffer dogs walked around and did not bark so within a few minutes the customs officer proceeded to place another stamp on that little slip of paper with Bragge number plate.

Off to the next gate and handed over the little slip of paper and I was allowed exit into the next border control zone of Korday Kazakhstan. 

The process was similar on Kazakhstan side. Immigration then customs. This time however there was no Temporary Vehicle Import permit issued on the Kazakhstan size. Everything was just keyed into the system and with that I was good to go.

The whole process took an hour at most but that was because I was on a bike skipping queue. Cars & camper van would be subjected to the traffic queue and can be anything between an hour to 4 hours. The over all experience was a friendly border with no funky side money involved.

Hello Kazakhstan, and the landscape change immediately to open vast land 

New country Kazakhstan …. It was time to ride

Traveled on: June 2024

Applying for a WISE Credit Card while traveling abroad.

These days travel, a Fintech Credit Card seams to be a mandatory thing. The amount of savings and safety control just makes it impossible to not get one. I had one Fintech card when I started the journey, and it was under YOUTRIP Singapore. Unfortunately due to me leaving work for travel and no longer having a residency status in Singapore, the YOUTRIP decided to cancel my account due to this reason.

The cancellation of the card also came at an unprecedented time, the day I entered China. I figured it was still ok since I had back up credit cards and atm cards so did not think on it much until a month later entering Kyrgyzstan. The four digit pin ATM machine made all my cards useless and the one card that had 4 digit pin was the canceled YOUTRIP card.

While traveling in Kyrgyzstan meeting up on and off with Bern & Ita bumping into each other throughout the common route, I found out that they were going to fly back to KL for a week to sort out some of their important things. They offered to bring me some love from home like Chicken-rendang canned food or Kicap Maggie.

It did not register in my mind at that time somewhere at 7 Bulls canyon, but a few days later I figured if there was a chance of carrying stuff, I might as well see if I could get another Fintech Card. 

Stamps are one of the few things I buy as momentos when traveling

Checking the web and WISE was the more popular and reliable one for Malaysian citizen so a quick download of the app, punched in all the details and uploaded a few photos of documents and viola, my account was active within minutes.

The digital card was also active within minutes and now all that was left is to somehow transport the physical card from Malaysia to Kyrgyzstan. From here it was a tracking game. Card was send to my home where Dad picked it up and later met up with Bern & Ita at the airport handing it over and a week later when they flew back to Almaty Kazakhstan, I was there the next morning at their hotel collecting the WISE Card.

Using the WISE card throughout the four central Asia countries, Kazakhstan – Kyrgyzstan – Tajikistan – Uzbekistan was seamless and made the travel much easier in my sense. A prepaid credit card which tells you immediately the exchange rate of the purchase instead of getting a surprise a month later was much better than a bank credit card.

The best feature I would say about WISE app is that you would know immediately if the transaction is approved. Sometimes the vendors keep swiping the card and informed me that it did not go through and without the ability to read Russian, there was no way for me to verify if I would get charged double. This immediate notification of transaction done on the app makes it much safer than a normal credit card.

The only draw back would be the monthly free ATM withdrawal limit of RM 1000. Long term traveler like me always exceed this amount.

Traveled on: June 2024

Exploring Bishkek the Capital of Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek city was not a memorable city. It’s easily the most boring places in the whole of Kyrgyzstan but I do enjoy a good boring city walking around. Even with errands in between to get the Russian Transit Visa, I spend a good five days in Bishkek yet there is not much to write about.

It was lovely weather around 20 degrees during the day and the modern new city was designed with plenty of greenery and large sidewalks making strolling around getting lost the best past time. It became one of my downtime place to just rest up and recharge while cafe hopping letting the mind be free of thoughts.

Bishkek City

A local diner in Bishkek 

A Shopping Mall in Bishkek

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek seam like the main tourist thing to do which was a mumble jumbo mess of a big market selling almost anything you can think of but when it comes to specialized things that I was hunting such as bike parts or unique stickers, of course there were non to be found.

Nevertheless it was a good walk around Bishkek city going from bazaars to shopping malls to street trinket tables. I did however found rolling tobacco in Bishkek which was very welcomed since all my supply since Malaysia had been used up.

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek

Tobacco Shop in Bishkek

I visited Bishkek state history museum which gave a quick overview of Kyrgyzstan history but not much depth could be gleamed. I find this mostly true for the whole of Central Asia when I travel. 

My lack of Central Asia history makes it even harder to gain the in-depth understanding of their culture and society even when visiting the museums. The people while friendly, were unable to fully converse and impart deep conversation due to language barrier.

A Day at the Museums in Bishkek

State History Museum - Bishkek

State History Museum - Bishkek 

The last unexpected find in Bishkek was finding a Casino. Here I paid the learning fee on how to play a new game called Russian Poker.

Traveled on: June 2024