Riding to Taldykorgan and Camping at Alakol Lake

The ride from Almaty to Taldykorgan was boring. Taldykorgan was also one of those town that had nothing much for tourism. I kinda like this quiet town actually, reminds me of Kyzylorda. 

Taldyqorgan

In Taldykorgon I managed to find the cheaper hotel thanks to Yandex map. Usually, I find hotel base on google map just by searching hotel then clicking each and every one of them to see the review or sometime with luck a review mentioning the price.

Central Asia however most people use Yandex map for some reason and the information seem to be more precise compared to Google Map. For example, a lot of establishment would be outdated in Google and only updated in Yandex map and also there was information on public bus route system in Yandex but none in Google Maps.

A clean and comfy room in Taldyqorgan - Dana Hotel

Dana Hotel - Taldyqorgan

Somewhere along my research after being unable to find cheap suitable hotel in Kazakhstan non-touristic cities, I started using every means possible to find information and Yandex Map yield more information than even I-overlander, booking.com and even google maps. That’s how I found Dana Hotel in Taldykorgon for a nice clean double room pricing 7000 tenge a night.

I took a ride in the evening around Taldykorgon but it really was a small town this time. Nothing much to speak about and it was decision time in the morning to either extend a day of rest and do nothing or move on to Alakol Lake

There was much time for me to burn before reaching the border with Russia so there was this thinking of chilling back another night since the hotel was reasonable priced at 7000 tenge.

Sarkand Stop for Lunch

The decision became more of a contingency plan in a way. Move on to Alakol and give more time for travel going up north in case something goes out of the planned variable. The ride from Taldykorgan to Alakol was good asphalt road all the way to Sarkand village where I stopped for lunch.

After Sarkand I decided to take the shorter route but off the main road. I really hoped for a scenic road but not too much off road. From Kabanbay village I took the offshoot and the roads were reasonable small patched and bumpy but not off-road kind. 

Only about 20km of patchy roads and it changed to good asphalt road where I could ride and curve around between the valleys of two mountain range on both sides.

Countryside Road from Kabandy Village through the Mountains to Alakol Lake

Simply Beautiful

From Kabandy Village to Alakol Lake

From Kabandy Village to Alakol Lake

The view was beautiful and I really missed this type of quiet lovely ride just enjoying life. It was a good thing I took the scenic route as well for the was a heavy rain cloud on the left which would have made the main road to Alakol wet, cold and miserable.

I reach Alakol Lake specifically near the village of Oktyabr. It was camp for the night where I quickly set up tent first while watching the rain clouds moving closer. Once the camp was set up the rain started to pour and I had to shift everything quickly under tent. That day was the first time for me trying to cook dinner under the tent instead of outside.

Rain Clouds incoming - Alakol Lake

Alakol Lake

Cooking in Heavy Rainstorm - Alakol Lake

Camping at Alakol Lake

After dinner was cooked safely without burning the tent down, the rain decided to stop, and I venture back out just to relax. The campsite was crawling with some sort of bug on the floor that look like long, tiny worm with hard shells. They were attracted to the light I had put on just to chill. It was really creepy since there was so many of them.

I ended up inside the tent fully zipped up where the bugs could not reach me and they just gathered around the little light my laptop was giving out. Morning all the bugs were gone and not a single one was in sight. Its things like that that one can’t tell when camping really but once you are there, it was quite difficult to change spots in the dead of night.

Alakol Lake, beautiful.

Alakol Lake

Alakol Lake

Travelled on: Aug 2024