The World Needs to See How Beautiful KAZAKHSTAN is!
Incredible this is the kind of landscape we've never seen before refreshing I'm starting to get a hang of this Kazakhstan continues to blow me away this is it? oh thank you hello we booked a car hi i'm Note nice to meet you all right this is your contact in Russian and English so I brought my friend to help me with the contract and stuff so while Note is reading up the car rental contract I'll give you guys a quick introduction and update of what is happening today so we are leaving Almaty and going on a little road trip towards Charyn Canyon towards Saty which is another smaller city it's a smaller town I say outside of the city we are really lucky because a couple days ago when we first arrived in Kazakhstan we have some subscribers that reached out to us so Karly and Azat are locals here and we had coffee with them asked them all the questions we had about Kazakhstan and Azat even offered to come to the car rental company with us to just check to make sure everything is okay because we don't speak Russian we don't speak Kazakh so far it seems to be going well though so yeah I think we're going to get a car today and we're going to start on the road trip so we are renting it for 17 days and it's 20,250 KZT per day but we have to put down 200,000 KZT deposit which we will get back in 2 weeks and he already sorted out all the insurance and stuff for us to cross the border to Kyrgyzstan oh okay our brand new ride the Chery Tiggo this is a Chinese brand right yes it's very nice yeah it's like a mini SUV mhm I'm excited oh wow okay and this is for extra fuel thank you so much we can put it in the front yeah Azat here has been so kind to us taking care of us here in Kazakhstan lending us his equipment thank you thank you so much I'll give you a hug thank you so much for everything without you it would have been so difficult okay oh okay you're that side this is like driving in Canada you're driving on the left side you're on the right side of the road right I still have to get used to it because we've been living in Thailand for like 7 years well I didn't drive in Thailand so maybe I should drive but it's a nice car it's quite new look it even says right here please remove the protective film before use it's that new oh yeah so now that we have the car our first stop today is Charyn Canyon which is one of the most popular tourist attractions sites that are outside of Almaty we have seen photos and it looks pretty amazing we're excited to go check it out it's about a 2.5 hours drive outside the city how are you feeling good I'm getting used to it people here drive really close to you and really fast and the road has no lines has no dividers so I'm just following what everyone's doing you're doing a great job we were also told by our friends that there's a lot of cameras so we have to be careful with the speed and also even if you're like at a stop sign like a stop light sorry you pass the stop line you probably yeah you would get a fine and it would be like maybe like 5,000 KZT or something so we just have to be careful with our speed yeah but so far so good yeah it's crazy because we are driving in Kazakhstan that is that is very crazy but there's also a sense of freedom I think because we've been taking the metro we've been taking Yandex Go and honestly Yandex Go was a bit scary for me because I thought that the driving was a bit crazy I even opted for a more expensive car because I was thinking that maybe if it's a more expensive car they would drive a bit more careful so now that we have our own car I'm pretty happy about that and I think we don't even need to name the car because the car comes with a name Chery Chery she's going to take care of us Chery which is also our favorite fruit we're not even there yet but the drive is so gorgeous we still have 40 minutes till we get there but this is the kind of landscape we've never seen before I guess this is probably already part of the canyon isn't it it's like really rugged mountains sharp rocks actually and not many trees actually not a single tree it's so beautiful imagine without the road people used to be doing this on horseback wow that's so epic oh man I'm loving this imagine how beautiful the canyon is going to be yeah this is way more developed than I was expecting I just used the washrooms in here super clean super nice and they also do like guided tours but I think we probably just want to explore by ourselves yeah and they have a nice restaurant here overlooking the canyon we brought some chicken and some bread we were going to do a little picnic at the canyon but good to know there's also a restaurant really nice you can even go glamping up here you see those those houses and there's also a yurt wow real quick we were excited to come to Central Asia but also a little bit nervous knowing that English isn't widely spoken here and now that we're leaving the big city for smaller towns in Kazakhstan the language barrier is about to get real but from our experience traveling is so much more fun when you can communicate with locals so learning a little bit of Russian is going to help us connect with people get to know their culture better and have more unique experiences here a way that we've been preparing for this is with Rosetta Stone who is also the partner of today's video in case you haven't heard of them they are experts in immersive language learning with over 25 years of experience I love learning languages I can speak English Mandarin Cantonese even Thai but Russian has been a completely new challenge for me those guttural sounds are so hard to pronounce that's why the pronunciation exercises are great I get immediate feedback and since the audio is by native speakers it helps me to develop a more natural accent nice another awesome feature is the ability to access downloaded audio lessons so I can practice without Wi-Fi perfect for when we're on the move if you love diving deeper into a country's culture through language consider getting the Rosetta Stone Lifetime Subscription you get access to all 25 languages exclusive content advanced features and no renewal fees right now it's a great time to invest in yourself with an exclusive deal that's over 60% off so click the link below and add language learning to your list of new hobbies so we're just starting on the trail now I think it's about a 20 to 30 minutes walk to go down to the canyon where the river is what is interesting is this whole area feels very free like there's no barriers it's just natural there was also no entry fee to come in here oh actually sorry we did pay an entry fee totally forgot about it but it was so so cheap yeah it was cheap can I have some too it's dry huh yeah Crocs is not a good idea for this quite slippery wow that is so epic it's it's breathtaking I feel like we went back in time seeing all these rocks that are formed by nature here it's crazy because I never thought Kazakhstan would be this beautiful this natural and looking at photos does not justify the experience of coming here and actually seeing it it's pretty cool but how did the Canyon form is it because of like the water there used to be water here I actually looked it up because I also wasn't sure but it was because canyons are formed when the water the river like pushes through it and then it erodes the rocks and over the years it kind of forms this valley and these rocks here are actually 12 million years old so it has taken so much time to form this enough room for everyone I hope so let's go let's go hi hi 500 KZT 500 each oh yeah that's pretty good I have it here it's a pretty cool truck like a Soviet truck I'm not sure but it looks like it it's so cool it fits perfectly with the environment so it costs 500 KZT a person which is like a dollar yeah a dollar a person for one way so on our way back then we're going to to pay another 500 KZT you guys from Philippines or Malaysia or Indonesia Thailand Thailand you got it wrong you you're all welcome thank you the driver look so badass and I think he's a tour guide he looks like Jay Park who's Jay Park the Korean singer he's in 2PM oh I don't know how can you not know Jay Park you watch Kdramas all the time I don't listen to Kpop it's so interesting like Asian looking face but fluent in Russian and Russian sounds like a very hard language to learn it sounds intimidating cuz it's deep yeah it's like what's up bro where are you guys from thank you this is a lot easier than hiking thank you let's go to the river yeah find a nice quiet spot and eat our lunch chicken chicken kebab that we got from the grocery store and some buns I can hear the river you think it's over over there yeah I have no idea I don't know I see this path and it looks nice let's go I actually wanted to go into the river but it's a fast one yeah looking at it now that wouldn't be a good idea but just coming down by the river you can feel the breeze and it's much less hot compared to the top we can dip our feet in the river that would be nice oh my god oh wow it's ice cold that's so cold that's so cold wow that's crazy chicken is still warm from the heat that might not be a good thing that looks like a very good lunch we even have a little dessert too some chicken kebab uh I think it's onion bun there's onion inside and jalapeno chips we never had this before Chicken is so dry yeah chips are nice though you need to show them our new favorite snacks we picked up from the market the other day we're getting used to it I wouldn't say it's our favorite snack but we're getting used to it this is called Kurt or qurt at first we thought it was a cookie yeah sweet cookie that was like a little butter cookie but it's actually fermented milk and then they dry it and then make it into these little balls but it has a very long history very important history in the Kazakh culture because they say a long time ago the nomadic people right they would carry the horse milk or the camel milk or the cow's milk in the leather pouches and then they would be on the horse all day and then it shook shook shook and then it started to curdle and then they started to get the curds and then which they dried in order to make these ones and these ones were like much lighter in weight and they could carry for a long time like this technically if stored correctly without humidity can last 10 years no way yeah and it tastes like dry milk tastes like dry yogurt but you get used to the taste after a while yeah and then also for Kazakh people this is something that they would eat during you know if they're eating drinking beer this is salty so this goes really nicely with beer or also if they needed a little boost of like electrolytes or energy they also eat this which is very interesting you can also use it with slingshot cuz it's so hard there's also an interesting story about this from like World War II in a part of Kazakhstan I think like Northern Kazakhstan I'm not 100% sure but there were some prisoners of War like the wives and children from German soldiers and I think other countries they were all in this prison or in this camp I should say and a lot of the Kazakh ladies in the village saw that and then they started to throw these little kurt balls in there and in the beginning of course the prisoners of war they were thinking that oh they don't like us at all they're throwing stones at us but then once one of them tasted one and be like it's salty it's actually food and then they realize that Kazakh women are trying to feed them feed them and help them so it's very interesting it's like a food of resilience and a food of humanity in Kazakhstan such a good story keep going keep going go up on this hill and now turn that away oh wow so incredible we're surrounded by mountains we didn't realize that yeah we didn't see any of this landscape when we drove in yesterday because we were quite late it was like 8:00pm or 9:00pm and I guess you can stay in a yurt instead of the homestay it's almost like a communal residence with one shared washroom in the back but it was lovely it was very cozy good morning good morning you want to sit down there yeah let's go over there at the end of the table another day another feast yeah yeah we walked in here yesterday and it was pretty crazy because the whole table was just full of cookies and condiments and candies and snacks and she also served us dinner even though we came in late and we had the dumplings called mantis and inside is just filled with carrots I think maybe like potatoes and beef I wonder what's for breakfast it's kind of nice not having to think about it so we got our breakfast I got two eggs assorted nuts and dry fruit few crackers and you got porridge you got fried eggs and some bun and unlimited cookies mhm and candies so much food and they leave this all day you can come in anytime and just snack on it oh and we have this too oh salami yeah yeah nice should be enough I think so and then we go explore and then we come back for lunch yeah this time we brought our Maggi from Thailand with us because when we travel sometimes we have trouble with the food and it's always good to have Maggi and boiled eggs can never go wrong with this combination so we're all set for the next few months yeah we stocked up on two bottles this time we forgot to mention that we are now in a small village called Saty which is about an hour and a half drive from the canyon yesterday and now we're heading to one of the most popular lakes around this area called Kolsai Lake it's actually part of the national park here it's a very beautiful drive already getting to the lake and I think it's about 20 minutes people do come here on a day trip from Almaty but it is a 5H hour drive that's a long day trip yeah and to go back as well to Almaty so I think Saty is the most common village for people to stay if they're planning to do an overnight trip we're trying to get to Kolsai Lake but then we came across this parking lot and it didn't seem like there was another road to go higher up so we're just going to maybe ask people try to figure out how to get the lake we may need to hike or we can hire a horse you want to take a horse can you take a horse you're quite allergic to horses how much how much is a horse one horse 1 hour 10,000 KZT 10,000 KZT 1 hour 10,000 okay lake cave waterfall three locations 5 kilometer five miles okay miles okay let me check with my wife let me ask my wife yeah two horses but let me let me ask her first okay yeah I'll come back thank you he said it's 10,000 KZT per person one guide discount including a guide so that's like $20 for an hour ride and you go up to the other part photo waterfall photo cave so about 5 miles he said 10,000 KZT I don't know what do you think okay okay okay we come back so we made a deal for 15,000 KZT for the two of us without a guide but I'm not sure what that means I'm also not sure but is it just the two of us with the horses well this couple is also going without a guide okay yeah let's go get my medication get your medication okay we'll come back okay okay come back yeah that Indian couple also is going by themselves without a guide okay so I don't know what it means the horses know to go and come back you know how to ride horses no you know how to control them should we pay like an extra 5,000 KZT for a guide no no it's too much this is an adventure we'll figure it out ourselves I actually overheard it those guys are paying 7,000 KZT each but don't push it you already shook hands yeah that's fine I'm happy with the price already you don't need one right no just in case you're not like severely allergic to horses it's just last time when we went horseback riding in Canada your face got swollen it was pretty severe so just don't touch your face yeah I think he's choosing a horse for me let's see here this is quite pleasant I've always wanted to do this this is pretty crazy though wow this is definitely a very cool experience that I don't think you should miss if you come to Kazakhstan if you come to Kolsai Lake wow are you enjoying this loving it are you allergic yet not yet let me see your face my finger is a bit itchy uh oh oh oh okay we're here at the cave how was it it was scary going downhill but then once we're kind of on this path it's quite enjoyable and you're a good horsey good horsey are we going to the cave I think so oh we're going to the cave do you want to go in deeper I don't know if I want to go in deeper there's no light at the end of the tunnel you know what I mean there's no light yeah there's no light okay I've seen enough let's go out okay okay we're going to go out yeah I don't like caves oh okay okay so right and left and go gotcha so all of the sudden wait he just let us go by ourselves it's just us oh my goodness he taught me how to ride a horse so we're good he taught you how to ride a horse in 10 seconds yeah maybe instead of renting a car and do a road trip we should have rented horses huh Rent a horse with a backpack yeah oh look oh no no no my horse wants to run my horse slow down slow down okay no you guys don't run you guys just chill wow Kolsai Lake is beautiful you can take the boat out yeah I see over there there's rowboats or like a bicycle boat yeah what do you call those you want to do that or you're done riding things that would be nice though you have tissue with you oh is it your horse allergy did you touch your face just now no it just got me it's not as bad as last time though last time your eyes were like so swollen that when I turned around I was like who's that so this is actually the lower level of Kolsai Lake there is another second and I think third level to it but the third one I don't think you can even go to cuz it's too close to the border of of Kyrgyzstan so this one is 80 meters deep and it is the most popular one because it's easy to get here even though it's the most popular one it doesn't seem that busy maybe we got lucky and it's a weekday so if you were to come here come on the weekday definitely we went from horses to riding a boat now lots of entertainment lots to do here thank you thank you we got to go backward wow I should have gotten a smaller life jacket oh watch out oh okay so you have to use this this is for the direction right yeah cool this is so chill I love it Kazakhstan continues to blow me away like the scenery the nature the people as well people are so friendly even though we always feel a little bit intimidated in the beginning because of the language barrier but they're all so friendly and so helpful and this is only like the southern part of Kazakhstan there is so much more to explore especially in like the North and the West even has deserts we do have one tip for you who are planning to come to Kazakhstan which is the big cities are pretty much cashless like you can pay cash but you can also just tap your credit card for a lot of the expenses but once you leave the big cities then you do need to have cash so make sure to withdraw enough money before you leave because we haven't really found ATMs or even that many gas stations once we left the big city there's honestly nothing in between yeah so get everything from the big city yeah so that is a major tip especially if you're going to road trip and we'll link our car rental company as well in the description box because I think it was so properly done and our car Chery is wonderful after this we're going to be driving to a country that we never knew existed until we started researching Kazakhstan so we'll be crossing the border by land to Kyrgyzstan I have no expectation other than it should be even less developed than Kazakhstan and we are choosing to cross at the border that is not popular most people don't cross at this border so fingers crossed we'll see you in the next one and you'll see what happens at the border crossing have a wonderful day and thank you for watching bye byebye
2024-09-17 12:05
