3 weeks in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, preliminary travel questions (page 11 of 12)

Sure, you can find real cafés in the city, but you're not going to Kyrgyzstan for the cities... 😏 (Well, for 99% of travelers, anyway)

On the menu at countryside restaurants, it's tea, lemonade with fruit, kompot (a sort of fruit juice but not really—a natural, non-chemical thing), cola, Fanta, water...

In the city, alcohol, beer, and wine depending on the place. 😉

Live update...😏

What jokers these meteorologists are...😏

There are still thunderstorms every day in the late afternoon. Better to be a morning person!

So... haven't wrecked the 4x4 yet? 😏

Covered in mud, a repaired tire (3.5 €, my budget takes a hit...) but still intact! 😉

By the way, does anyone know what these things are?

At first glance, they look like pebbles—but why pebbles in the sugar bowls, dried fruit dishes, etc.? The other compartments were filled with peanuts and raisins.

These are chocolate candies.

Made by Vladimir to offload Russian dentures on the Kyrgyz... 😏

😉

Yikes! 🤪

It's a bit of the Wild West out here... 😏

The Lenin Peak and the view from Sary Mogol are amazing.

Did you find fuel easily?

Safe travels.

They're chocolate candies.

Actually, more precisely, they're драже...

Surreal—"Attila" is in the store where they sell these and comes here to ask what they are. Seriously, some people are real characters...

On Ozon, there are tons of "pebble" dragées, or even "chocolate pebbles" шоколадные камушки: https://www.ozon.ru/category/turetskie-konfety-kameshki/

As the Ozon URL and some designations indicate, they're Turkish—specifically from Turkic peoples, meaning the slant-eyed neighbors of the Mongols, like Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Turkmens. In the 18th and 19th centuries, much of what is now Uzbekistan and parts of surrounding countries was called Turkestan. Currently, Turkestan is a Kazakh city between Kyzylorda and Shymkent, home to an important medieval mausoleum. Anyway, this isn’t about culture here...

Good evening Esantirulo,

Well, okay, this isn’t about culture here...

Never, ever give up on explaining things. Shymkent itself is an interesting city. And who knows, maybe our wandering Auvergnat is sleeping tonight in some corner of Ergenekon, unaware of it.

Michel

The rented car needs to be filled with 95 octane fuel. It's rare once you leave the most populated areas.

To get to Sary Mogul, the last pump with this type of fuel was in Gulcha. There are other pumps after that, but only with 92 octane or diesel.

There's a pump with all three fuel types in Kazarman.

No issues for the rest of the trip.

You should read the messages you're referring to more carefully...

No need to ask if I'd been to a store—Google Translate handles that. 😛

Super useful, by the way, for realizing all the junk sold in the country’s stores.

Eco-conscious travelers must fast their entire trip here. Those who pay attention to what they eat too...

Kyrgyz people must have strong stomachs and no fear of cancers caused by a diet full of things that aren’t exactly halal (well, Muslim in this case...)

Yuka would be all red here. 😏

So you're giving us a pre-travel journal? 😄

Super quick pre-travel journal! 😉

To lure you and Bruno into the future travel journal, here’s today’s photo...😇😛



We previously tried Kyrgyz wine, but it’s definitely better to order Georgian...

For Perju, Jef, and Christian:



For Michel:



For Esantirulo:



(Vlad got impaled by Xi on his own turf... What’s left for him, we wonder?)