Kazakhstan

We reached the Russian border two days early, and had to hang around because our Russian visa specified that we had to enter on 20th November. More precisely, we arrived … Read more

Mile after mile of nothing. The road was utterly appalling and passed a number of small oilfields which seemed to be closed. There were plenty of new tracks in the … Read more

The temperature was -16 when we woke up at Aktobe. The van took ages to heat up and we sat and shivered. It was a bit of a struggle getting … Read more

Climbing out of the cosy warm bed, I switched on the dashboard of the van to look at the outside temperature. I thought it was a bit cold to be … Read more

It was a fine sleet falling as we went to sleep, I optimistically assumed that we wouldn’t get snowed in, although a jovial Russian came up to me and told … Read more

Got as far as Dossor, following a Kazakh truck on a beautiful road and spent the night on what looked like a truck stop in the centre of the city. … Read more

You might not think that there is much to write about in the arid steppe of north-western Kazakhstan. However just walking in this vast empty space, flat as a pancake, … Read more

Went to see the grandiose theatre before setting of for Sarai Batu. We were sorry to leave Astrakhan, a gentle place that moves as slowly as the Volga and with … Read more