Kazakhstan has to be the most boring country on earth. And it is HUGE. Over one million square miles, bigger than Western Europe, and the 9th biggest country in the world. And apart from the mountainous south-east, the landscape is virtually identical, ranging from parched scrub-land with small xerophyllous bushes to semi-desert with the occasional small withered plant. It is flat as a pancake in all directions. We drove the 289 kms from Turkistan to Kyzyl-Orda at a leisurely pace, basically because we were stuck behind slow-moving trucks with too much traffic coming the other way to overtake. And there was nothing to stop and look at. Just endless semi-desert.
The only bright spot was stopping at a truckers caff and having a nice plate of manti (dumplings with mince in them), chips and a tomato salad with various sauces. The pic shows a massive windfarm blade manufactured in China and being carried on huge transporters to a windfarm in northern Kazakhstan. Dozens of them and we got stuck behind all of them.
