Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan

nameless-berk (60)in #travel • 6 years ago (edited)

30/10/17
Today I awoke with understandind that I need some rest - as usual, intense walking gave me bloody blisters on my feet. It would be great, I thought, to get a workout and then go to sauna.
However, just before leaving the hostel, a tab in my browser got my attension. There was some useful info about Central Asia in general and crossing the borders there in particular (caravanistan.com).
To my great dismay I found that Karkara, the border crossing I needed, was closing for the winter from the end of October to the middle of May. I called the crossing post and found out, it's gonna happen tomorrow in 18:00. So the choise was either to change a route or to make it there before they close it and I choose the latter, 'cause "Winter is coming".
Southern Kazakhstan still had some places I wanted to visit but only one was on my way there - Charyn Canyon. I decided to hitchhike all the way to the Canyon, spend the night there and cross to Kyrgyzstan the next day. Having arrived there I now type these words in my tent, completely offline, hearing only soft murmurs of a stream in the Canyon and the hooting of owls.

View from the inside of tent