Suddenly Kazakh music. Rare is the wedding that goes without this song (:)

In dry weather, a huge long column of dust rises behind the car. That's why drivers maintain a distance of several hundred meters on such steppe roads. And if oncoming traffic suddenly appears, they slow down to let the dust settle.

This is what the roads look like in the national park.

Hard to believe, but driving at 100 km/h is actually pretty comfortable. And get this—if you slow down to 40, the road ridges are so intense that you don't want to drive at all. The faster you go, the fewer potholes there are (:

But navigation? That's a total nightmare. They don't give you any maps at the entrance. Roads change all the time: old ones get closed and they put spikes on them (!), but they almost (!!) always block off closed roads with barriers. Some intersections don't have any signs at all. If you don't know where you're going, it's easy to get lost.

The only reassuring thing is that you have to register when you enter and specify your exit time. If you don't come back by that time, they wait another day and then send out a search party.

No, this isn't a typical steppe Kazakh dwelling (:

This is an outpost in Altyn-Emel National Park. A ranger is stationed here. The conditions are extremely spartan: no toilet, no water, just steppe all around and nothing else. But there is a satellite dish (:

There are also more substantial outposts. With houses and gardens. Families actually live there.

But the climate is harsh. Right now it's a comfortable +25. In summer during the day temperatures usually exceed +40. Sometimes it even reaches +60.

The endless steppes of Kazakhstan.

The photo really doesn't capture how vast it actually is.

If you were to take a train from Almaty to Moscow, you'd see pretty much the same view the entire way through Kazakhstan. And that's a full day of travel (!)

Social advertising. And a hint at gender equality 🤷‍♂🤷‍♀ But the police officer is only a man 👮‍♀
Oh my, you Kazakhs :)

I thought I'd come to Kazakhstan and stock up on kazy, just gorge myself here. But after the first trip to the store (and then the second one), it became clear that kazy prices are absolutely insane.

For the package in the photo they want almost 500 rubles. The price per kilogram is over 1500. Moscow prices are way better.

Although maybe I'm not looking in the right places. I'll try to look around some more...

I unexpectedly ended up at an event with tons of people in traditional national costumes. It looks really cool and unusual. Everyone's taking photos. All sorts of journalists with cameras showed up.

Actually, at first I wanted to write that everyone just dresses like this here. But in reality, you only see people wearing clothes with national motifs on the streets if they're older. And not even all of them. But even that looks so colorful and distinctive.

You can't help but notice the huge number of pawn shops in Almaty. Literally at every turn. They're practically on top of each other. Guess there's demand for it.

Since I wanted to go, I figured I had to go, I thought. 4 hours of flying and I'm in Almaty. Hooray :)
First impressions — it feels like I've landed in a very quiet, peaceful provincial town on the outskirts. Let's see what happens next.

I'm really craving Kazakhstan for some reason... I can't help it, I just want to go to Kazakhstan so badly :)