From Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan

Instead of taking a bus back west to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and then another bus north and east again to Almaty, Kazakhstan, I hired a driver with a sturdy 4x4 and traversed the eastern border between the two countries--the Kegen border, as it's called for the nearest town to the border in Kazakhstan, which is not so very near.  The border crossing was pretty desolate--really nothing there except the cluster of shacks where one country's officials stamped me out and the next country's officials stamped me in.  

Although the Kyrgyz people and the Kazakh people are quite similar in history and culture and language, some of the differences between the two countries were immediately obvious.  The Kyrgyz-side road to the border was (as most roads are in Kyrgyzstan outside of the few good-sized towns/cities) unpaved (a euphemism for damn near impassable).  The Kazakh-side road was paved smoothly with lane-lines painted clearly right there on the asphalt.  Kazakhstan, you see, has a ton of oil and gas and the revenues therefrom.  Kyrgyzstan has mountains.  Great for outdoor tourism (mostly the French tbh), less good for swift and massive economic progress since independence 30 years ago.

Two steppe-dominant hours past the border, my jeep enters Saty village, a zero-stoplight wide spot in the road whose primary traffic comes from folks like me trying to get to two of Kazakhstan's national parks.

Kaindy Lake is also called the drowned forest.  In 1911, a massive earthquake caused a limestone slide that dammed the gorge where the lake now sits.  The spruce trees that were submerged in the water turned lustrous white and the water, fed by glaciers and dusted with pulverized limestone, changes from dark blue to turquoise.  

The Kolsay Lakes are easier to get to and more touristy--or at least the bottom of the three lakes is. It has paddle boats for rent.  The general vibe reminds me of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.  There are two additional lakes--one about a 3-mile hike further up, and one another 4 miles after the middle. The one bummer is that it took some time to drive from Karakol and across the border, and also to visit Kaindy Lake, so when we arrived at Kolsay, it was pretty late in the afternoon and getting dark, so I didn't hike to either of the further lakes.  Ah, well.  Something to do next time I come to Kazakhstan.