Ochen Priyatna

Big Almaty Lake

The rented van came at 8am to pick us all up to the mountains, thanks to great coordination by Din. After 1.5 hours on the van and scheming guards trying to bribe our entry, we were at the mountains that housed the Big Almaty Lake.

So, according to the bus driver, he couldn't bring us any further from the barricade and we had to hike our way up to the lake. We would find out later that we were duped as we saw many cars while hiking up and there were even parking lots available just outside the Lake.

Getting there: most people would take a taxi (about 1500 Tenge) to the entrance of the mountain and then hiked from there (this would take approximately 2-3 hours, about 8 km). In our case, the taxi drove us to the foot of the mountain, so we only need to climb the mountain for about 3km uphill. Along the way, many local families would be having their picnics and gatherings beside the river so it is a pretty cool sight as well. For the entrance fee, we paid about 2000 Tenge for 11 people.

If you are travelling in a group, I would recommend hiring a shared van to share costs. My buddy contacted a shared van service and we rented a shared van to and fro and it cost us (11 people) about 1500 Tenge each.

Blogging this 3 months later, I kinda forgot how beautiful the lake was until I came across this picture while editing and even in it's original, unedited form, the blueness of the lake was incredible and I still can't believe I saw this gem with my eyes. Close up, the lake is still half frozen which contributed to the seemingly shaded blue colours since the frozen bits were of a lighter shade of blue. We were camping on the dam, having some snacks and taking all these scenery pics when a hailstorm approached. We were stuck there and at the mercy of all the falling ice - drop, drop, drop. We were suffering tremendously from the hailstorm and the falling temperature but thankfully all these cleared and we were ready for our next expedition - down to the middle of the lake (to take chio pictures hahaha)

Our shared van, which has a sign behind that says children.

We ended our BAL trip by crashing a grad trip of local students! We were walking downhill to meet our van driver when a bunch of people graduating from KIMEP called out to us and got us to join them for all the food and fun! We were interrupted with light rain but that didn't stop us from chatting with them and enjoying all the delicious food they've prepped. Thank you for the warm hospitality, Kazakhs!

Jeju Island: "Look at all them flowers! ...and that photospot HAHAHA"

School have started in Singapore, and perhaps its due to the subject i'm taking but it's highly similar to reading course materials for International Business back in Kazakhstan. Only tough part is there are lessons every 48 hours hahahaha Thankfully i'm leaving for a break sooon to the land of smiles~ yay PHUT YOUR HANDS UP

Have a one more post on Bolshoe Almatinskoe Lake before I sum up my exchange trip and hop along to South Korea. But i'm too lazy to edit the pictures of BAL so that is the main cause of the delayed BAL post. Slowly editing them bit by bit when I remember them.

Exchange withdrawal symptoms mainly occurs when my mum nags. Or when my dad showers excessive concern over my swollen infected foot

"Don't walk too much"

"Don't eat poisonous food like chicken or fish"

But...the doctor clearly said i could eat anything...but he did tell me to rest more at home but summer term is forcing me to head to school every other day. Which reminds me, my friends and I explored the new SMU labs yesterday and it was A-MAE-ZING. OMG almost everything I wished for in a workplace is there and everything is just really cool and novel and we concluded SMU is super rich to be able to do this lab up for students. Kudos to zp for being an extremely informative guide and bringing us noobies around the labs. Hope we didn't sound like overly excited kids when we were touring ooops.

Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan

I always tell my friends, I'm more of a interactionist (I travel to interact with cultures) than a naturalist and that hopping from scenery to scenery is likely to bore me to bits. But this trip was highly recommended by my Kaz friends and we spotted a discount on chocolife (the groupon of Kaz) so...why not?

Looking back, I'm not sure if the whole 14 hr journey was worth it because I ended up with sore legs, an extremely tired body from the rocky bus rides and possibly damaged lungs (the bus was leaking fumes). Anyhow, let the pictures talk for themselves about the trip~

Korean travel companions looking modelesque

Random Korean boy who was on our bus

Our bus actually stalled on the way to Charyn Canyon and we were left to explore the vast lands of nothingness with no informatin of what happens next. Ended up spending the hour camwhoring and stealing bits of our packed lunch.

Jarred's very helpful yellow SJ Cam

Breaking bad anyone?

Finally we arrive at Charyn Canyon and started our descent into the Canyon.

Every angle of the canyon was a photospot, no joke

i took picture with every signage. HAHAHA

A stream at the end of our walk

Angry. Because the ATV rentals were crazily expensive

Getting there (from Almaty): we bought a Chocolife coupon for about 2400Tenge (~USD13) inclusive of both ways but exclusive of lunch. Pick up point was at the Central Stadium but it may vary depending on which agency you book under!

Tip: some websites priced Charyn Canyon tours at almost USD100 so do check out chocolife for discounted prices instead! Or get a local to buy it for you to prevent getting "tourist prices".

Ahmet Yassaui Kesenesui, Shymkent

So....I'm back in Sunny Singapore and my body has yet to adapt to the harsh conditions in Singapore - Sweltering heat + ongoing construction work everyday. Anyhow, I received a private message yesterday from a fellow couchsurfer who was heading to Central Asia. She was pretty much as lost as I am when I was heading to Kazakhstan and since I have the experience of dealing with this lost land, I figured I should emerge from hibernation and continue writing on my Kazahkstan Adventures.

Armed with comfy shoes and my all-time favourite - Samsa

Peacocks parade around the central square

gosh my phone's camera really suck

Don't forget to pack some Biskrem or Flint! The walk around the Mausoleum can get pretty tiring.

Getting there (from Shymkent): Take a Taxi from the Samal Bazaar bus station (Camal Bazar AftoVokzal) and it should cost about 800T for a one-way trip to Turkistan. The ride takes about 1.5-2 hours depending on traffic conditions.

Turkestan also has a train station so you can get a train ticket directly to Turkistan from Almaty.

Do choose your seats wisely if you are not in a rush...on my way back to Shymkent, the driver hurried me into a Taxi that only had one vacant seat and I had the most unpleasant ride ever with zero leg space and a breastfeeding mum beside.

Ochen Priyatna

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