Luckily for us, Nick found a local rental car dealership that had some cars available for the days we wanted for our roadtrip. The itinerary I had planned is possible with taxis and busses, but it would have been way more inconvenient and expensive. With our rental car we started our Kazakhstan roadtrip with a 2.5 hour drive to Charyn Canyon. We enjoyed our lunch of granola bars, cucumbers, and apples while looking over the canyon. There was also a couple of short hikes there, one along the top and one along the bottom of the Valley of Castles. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon (but smaller). At one point the wind started blowing wildly and there was rain and hail. Fortunately for me Nick let me borrow his rain jacket since I was wearing white. He likes to joke that we “share”: he carries things and I use them.

The hike along the bottom of the Valley of Castles was the highlight. It was just over 10km long out and back. It was a gradual downhill the way out from the parking lot. There were many rock formations in the surrounding cliffs. At the end was a river, which was fabulous for washing off sweat and cooling down. The way back was much worse due to the heat and constant uphill. It’s hard to recall who it was, but one of us was definitely complaining more on the way back than the other.

In Saty our stay was right around the corner from the best restaurant in town. To be fair, we only ate at this one place, but it was phenomenal. For dinner our first night we had plov, a rice dish with lots of vegetables, garlic, and soft meat. Accompanying the plov we got monti, a type of dumpling from central Asia that we got with horse meat inside. To drink we shared 1 liter of apple kompot, which is a mildly sweet drink made from boiling fruit and adding a bit of honey. For dessert we shared a condensed milk pie, which was so good.

Our first day in Saty we drove to Kolsai Lakes, which was close by to the village. On the drive we passed by some rangers who were riding their horses on their way to work. After we left the parking lot there were beautiful purple flowers and horses having some breakfast in the fields in front of the lake. There are 3 lakes in a row. The first lake is a short walk from the parking area and this one gets crowded by late morning. There are little boat rentals and a resort there. Then following the trail leads to a second and then eventually a third lake. We heard from other hikers that the access to the third lake was closed so we only could hike to the second lake and back.

The hike from the first Kolsai Lake to the second Kolsai Lake and back was around 10 miles and took us 5.5 hours to do, including our lunch break at the second lake and all the flower photo taking stops. At some point I may have been told no more flower pictures, but they just kept getting better. The trail was muddy from being used by many horses and recent rain. It was filled with wild flowers of various colors and varieties. There were also waterfalls dotted along the river. For the most part the trail was in the forest, but a small section along the first lake was open.

At the second lake it was rainy, but we had it all to ourselves for our lunch break. There were two beautiful ducks at the lake that were unfortunately too shy to let us approach them, but I tried my best to photograph them. Nick and I sat on a rock overlooking the lake for a while. All the wildflowers were gorgeous. Our hike back to the parking lot went quickly as it was all downhill. Dinner was lagman (fried noodle dish), almond pie, and condensed milk pie again.

The third and final roadtrip day included an excursion to Kaindy Lake. The road to this lake is very rough and only certain types of vehicles can drive up there; our little rental car didn’t make the cut. Our farmstay helped us organize a truck to take us there and back. The drive on the road was over one hour long each way and very bumpy, with several river crossings. I tried to capture some of the road, but it was so bumpy I could only get a picture during the time where the road was smooth. From the parking area to the lake and back was just under 3 miles long and took us one hour to hike. It was along a road going steeply uphill for most of the way. There is a shuttle bus and horse rides for purchase to get there from the parking lot.

Once we finally made it to the actual lake we enjoyed about 10 minutes of a great view. The lake is famous for its sunken forest where the trees still stand tall in the middle of the lake. There is a mountain in the background, and pine trees along the shoreline as well. As usual for touristy spots in Kazakhstan there was an eagle for taking pictures with, which we opted out of. I say we had 10 minutes of a great view because this was the only amount of time we had with no wind. When the water was still the trees made a beautiful reflection. When the wind came for the rest of our visit the lake had no more reflection. We were grateful we got to see it at least for a few minutes at the start after all that effort to get there. It was gorgeous.

After we were back in the village to get our rental car we got to witness a bunch of baby cows taking a nap all cuddled up against their owner’s motorcycle. It was super adorable. On the drive back we wanted to stop at the Black Canyon. When we pulled in at the viewpoint sign we saw that we had to pay money to park there. We opted to keep driving and found a place just down the road that people use to pull off and park for free. The canyon was beautiful and a nice leg stretch spot. We enjoyed a few more days in Almaty before packing up and heading to our last country in Asia, Kyrgyzstan.